Father's Day Keychain

Father's Day is just around the corner and the what to make dad dilemma had us stumped once again. It is always a bit of a challenge to find a practical, yet thoughtful to gift to give. We decided to combine our perpetual love of acorns with something he will use daily... a keychain!

Inspired by the lovely Father's day quote "From great oaks little acorns grow" this is what came to be.

To create you will need: 

A flat round of wood or a tin juice lid

oak leaf

acorns (we used two ~ one to represent each daughter) there was still some on the forest floor ~ but perhaps you are acorn-crazed like me and keep a stash at all times!

mod podge

embroidery floss

keychain ring

glue

needle

To create:

Head to a forest and hunt out an oak leaf and acorn.

Brush a layer of mod podge on your wooden round or juice lid.

Lay your oak leaf on top and brush on another layer of mod podge.

Allow it to dry.

Drill or hammer a hole in the wood round and tie it to the key ring.

Thread a needle and poke it through your acorn cap.

Tie it to your key ring as well. 

Tie a knot inside the acorn cap.

Glue your acorn back into it's cap.

 Add on as many acorns as there are children giving it as a gift.

 Write the Father's Day quote on the back.

There you have it.

Ready for gifting!

 Hope your Little Acorns enjoy creating and your Great Oak enjoys receiving.

Pressed Flower Mobile

With flowers beginning to bloom all around... here is a sweet simple craft you can do to preserve them and enjoy them for years to come!

To create you will need:

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cup corn starch

3/4 cup of warm water

rolling pin

round cookie cutter or cup for cutting your clay circles

pressed flowers

mod podge (we used outdoor so we could hang it outdoors)

paint brush

fishing line

embroidery hoop

To begin

Follow this tutorial to make the white clay. 

Cut out your clay with a cup or a round cookie cutter and poke a hole where your string can slip through to hang.

Bake at 100 degrees C for an hour. 

Once it is cooled you are ready for the fun part!

Gather up your pressed flowers, leaves, ferns...

Apply a layer of mod podge to the clay and then place your pressed flower on top.

Gently apply another layer of mod podge. 

They will remain a little milky looking, but leave them to dry overnight and you will be happy to see it dries beautifully.

Once they dry completely, you can flip them over and repeat the process on the other side.

 Lovely little flower gems!

To make the mobile:

Take two pieces of string (or we used raffia), fold them in half together and knot a loop.

Measure equally across the embroidery hoop and mark at the four compass points (NESW).

Tie the string on at the four points. 

Ready to add your flower gems!

Tie on your clay flowers with the fishing line at varying lengths.

Hang and enjoy!

Loved how pretty they were spinning in the sunlight. 

If you happen to have a wind chime around... tie it on!

Somehow it just seems to give the mobile that extra magic.

This can make a great gift for any flower lover in your life. I was inspired to create this for my Mum for Mother's Day. It now it twirls its flower faces for her daily and hopefully when the chime tinkles in her backyard, she is continually reminded of her how much I love her.

Have fun playing with flowers!

Plant A Rainbow

The time for gardening in our little neck of the woods is finally here! As we prepare our space for planting, we are also dreaming up the colors and faces of the flowers we hope to see sprout from the soil.

Not long ago my friend sent me over the etsy link for these rainbow seed bombs. I fell in love. I decided I needed to figure out how to make them! 

Aren't they lovely?! Here is the etsy link for those of you who would rather buy them all ready to go. I think they would make a great gift for a green thumb loved one.

If you want to give them a go, we did some playing around with recipes online and found a system that worked.

Here's how we made them.

To make you will need:

colored construction paper 

seeds (we used a wildflower pack so we could plant all the colors of the rainbow!)

food processor

cheese cloth

elastics

cups & bowls

To begin: 

Tear up your paper. One color in each bowl.

Therapeutic process I tell you. Something about the feeling of ripping up paper. A little addictive :)

Pour water over your paper bits until the paper is covered.

Let your paper soak for 15 to 20 minutes.

Taking one color at a time... add the bowl of water and the paper to a food processor and blend.

Cut out a square of cheese cloth, lay it over a cup and secure it with an elastic.

Pour half of your paper/water pulp into the cheese cloth to begin draining.

Sprinkle a small amount of seeds onto the pulp and then pour on the rest of your paper mixture on top.

Undo the elastic and give the cheesecloth a squeeze to drain out more of the moisture.

Roll them in your hands until they are nice and round.

Let your seed bombs dry.

There you go! 

Sink your beautiful little bombs in some soil... water them well... then wait as they eventually explode {in slow motion} and burst into a bright rainbow of fresh flowers!

You could also "bomb" areas in need of some beautifying. Throw them around and spread the rainbow love. 

Perhaps it's time for a rainbow revolution!

May your day be bursting bright with color and beauty.

Flower Print Sachets

With bright green shoots peeking out, but few flowers yet to be seen... we thought we would find something fun to do with these lovely pansies that were gifted to us. Then, with the added bonus that  Mother's Day is on its way, we decided we had some serious flower crafting to do!

I have always wanted to try doing flower prints on fabric and thought we'd give it a go. We were delighted by how beautifully and easily the flowers transferred! Not to mention... how fun is it to get to pound with a hammer. My littlest couldn't get enough of it! 

After admiring our flower kissed fabric we decided we needed to make something with it. Seeing as every mama loves flowers and these flowers never die, we thought why not fill them with more flowers!

So here is our flower printed ~ no sew ~ rose petal filled sachets.

Here is what you need to make them:

white cotton fabric (we just cut up an old pillow case)

hammer

fresh flowers for pounding

double-sided fusible interfacing or fabric glue

iron 

dried flowers (we used some roses we had dried)

To Begin 

Fold your fabric in half, measure out a square and cut it out.

Keep the fold, as that will be a seal for one side of your sachet.

Choose your layout for your flowers and then flip the flowers face side down.

 Fold your fabric over top of your flowers.

Take your hammer and on a solid surface pound the flowers.
Yep. I think she could have done this part of the craft again. and again. and again!

You will see your flowers begin to bleed through after a minute or so of pounding. 

I know. It seems barbaric. Poor little flowers. Just think though, this is a way they can have a much longer life!

By this point they should have transfered nicely.

Gently peel off the flowers and admire the results. 

Lovely!

I loved how the back of the sachet has the backs of the flowers transfered onto it. 

Hard to believe just a piece fabric, a few flowers and a hammer can create this!

Now to seal up part of your sachet for filling...

At this point you can either glue the sides (leaving open a hole for filling).

Or this process...

Cut out a square of interfacing the same size as your square, so that it tucks neatly inside.

Fold over your fabric over.

Carefully iron (an inch or so in) on two of the sides.

Be sure to leave one side open for pouring your flowers in.

Crush up your dried flowers.

Now you can fill your sachet with those sweet smelling flowers.

Iron the last side shut and there you have it. 

A lovely flower printed ~ flower filled sachet!

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Have a lovely day!