Butterfly Peg People

Okay…here's my confession…I enjoy my craft time as much with my kiddies as without…

today while they were gone I pulled out the peg dolls and decided to play!  

Inspired by Spring and the promise of butterflies, 

(and a prayer that there are more in our yard this year than last), 

here's a little something I whipped up…

To make your own you will need:

wooden peg blanks

paint & paintbrushes

(whatever colours you wish)

wool felt in matching colours to your paint

glue gun and glue sticks

white wire

small beads

healthy dose of imagination and wonder

Line up your pegs…talk to them…see the butterfly emerging from within!

(I buy all my pegs from STOCKADE…they're a Canadian company and have great prices)

To begin paint your peg bodies and hair…this is how I did mine…

Next paint on your eyes, (toothpicks are great for making little dots)…

then a bit of beeswax crayon for the cheeks…

you can decorate with paint however you wish here…

I strongly encourage imagination!

Cut out your wings…I recommend using wool felt…

(cheap felt is fine too, but wool felt lasts longer, is more durable and SO lovely to work with)

If you don't feel up to the task of making up your own template, google "butterfly wing templates"

there are loads already all done for you!

Using a glue gun, glue on your wings...

Then I made them some headbands and glued on some antennae…

the antennae is composed of white wire with beads glued to the end…

the headbands are skinny rectangles of wool felt…glue the antenna to the back

of your headband, then glue the headband onto the head.

The inspiration for the little headbands came from the marvellous 

Mrs Bloom at We Bloom Here.

She has a book all about making peg dolls

which can be purchased HERE

(her creations and imagination just inspire me to no end)

Gnome Couple

Inspired by the peg doll swap over at We Bloom Here 

I was overcome with the urge to create some sweet new peg dolls.

If you've been a fan of our page, you'll know that I have this "thing" for

gnomes and toadstools.

(it drives my tween crazy!!!)

So…here is my Gnome couple…and the DIY instructions if you should feel so inspired

to make your own.

You will need:

wooden "peg" doll forms

watercolour paint & black acrylic

paintbrush

toothpick

wool felt

scissors

embroidery floss

glue 

To begin get out your peg doll forms.  

I get mine from Stockade.

Using your watercolour paint, paint on a wash of colour…

don't feel limited by what I did…use your imagination.

Cut out your bits and pieces from wool felt

*I cannot stress how lovely wool felt is to work with…it's well worth buying

For the lady gnome we did a hat, belt and apron

For the dude gnome we did a hat, beard and belt

If you are stumped or don't feel capable of winging these patterns yourself head over to

 Wee Folk Art

they have patterns for every type of gnome imaginable, (for FREE)

For the lady gnome we made little braids out of embroidery floss.  

I took 9 strands and cut them to size…glued them to the top of her head, 

then braided them and tied them off with red embroidery floss.

Glue on their hats, beard...

Now this is where you use your imagination…

using a chain stitch I stitched a little heart on the apron, and stitched the belt as well.

Then using our glue gun we glued it all in place.

Using a toothpick or very small brush make two small dots of black for eyes…

and I put a touch of beeswax blush on the lady gnome…just because.

Oh my…these two fit right in here at the Gnomestead!!

I'll be making a few more sets for the peg doll swap…so excited!!!!

Mama & Baby Bunnies

With spring now officially here (YAY!!) we were inspired to craft up some fresh faces for our spring nature table. My daughter Luna, has a real love of  bunnies and I have a real soft spot for all things itty bitty... combined these baby bunnies and their mama just needed to be born!

They were short and sweet to whip up.

To create you will need

walnut

pipe cleaner

wool roving

acorn cap

felt

cotton ball

paint & paint brush

peg doll

To begin 

Pry your walnut open and scrape out the insides.

Slide your bead onto a small piece of pipe cleaner.

Wrap the pipe cleaner in roving to create the baby body.

Add on an acorn cap and glue the babe into the walnut shell.

Cut out some little felt ears and glue on.

Add a face if you wish.

For the mama

Measure and cut a pice of felt to cover the body and glue it on.

Add on an acorn cap and a face.

Cut out felt ears and glue on.

Add a little felt tummy and glue on a cotton ball tail.

There you have it! Mama and baby bunny.

Seeing as bunnies tend to be a bit prolific and that the bitty babies were so much fun, we couldn't resist but give him a sister. Doesn't she look so happy to be a part of things?! 

In spring love

Little Chick

With Spring just a day away, and Easter looming on the horizon, we decided to make a little creature

who we think adequately represents this time of year!

the Little Chick

Here is our bead head and base…these items can be picked up easily from Michaels or online at "stockade".

To make your own you will need:

wooden bead

base, (we used a wooden "pot")

paint and paint brush

wool felt

glue and glue gun

To start paint your "Little Chick"…

if you wanted to change this into a bird instead paint whatever colours you wish.

Try using a toothpick for the little dot eyes…it works very well.

Cut out your "wings" and "beak" from felt.

Using your glue gun, glue them on and glue your wooden head onto the base.

Cut out some little felt feathers...

And here you go. 

 A sweet little chick to welcome in Spring or to stick in an Easter basket!

(I don't think bunnies are too far behind)

Tomorrow is the first official day of Spring…

hope looms on the horizon!!

Spring Fairies

We are getting sick of the stark white world that surrounds us here.  

We NEED some rainbows and colour and hope!!

Enter the Spring fairy…fit for a St Patty's Day party or a Spring Fling.

To make your own you will need:

paint in rainbow colours

paintbrushes

peg figures

peg heads

bases for your pegs

wool felt

toothpick

scissors

beads, baubles

pipecleaners

glue gun and glue sticks

artificial leaves

To start gather your supplies…if you can't find pegs in your area you can order them online.

We get ours from stockade

Paint orange hair on your "heads"…paint rainbow stripes on the legs of your pegs.

Now paint 2 eyes and a mouth on your heads…

paint your bases whatever colour you wish.

Take a pipe cleaner and cut it in half…cut it in half again.  These will be your arms.

Wrap them around the "neck" of your peg.

Cut your felt into a rectangle…you will have to play with this part, but the basic shape is shown

in the photo above.  I did a scallop edge for the bottom.  Cut to fit.

Using your glue gun, glue the dress onto your peg.  Glue your "heads" on top.

Now…take 2 wooden toothpicks…cut off the sharp ends.  Paint these in rainbow colours.

(I stuck them into a small candle to dry…it was all I had on hand ;)

Take a beeswax crayon or red pencil crayon and colour some "cheeks" onto your face.  

We also did little pipe cleaner headbands.

Now cut your wands to size, and glue a little bauble on top…I had some little stars that I used, 

a bead would work too.

Glue on some "wings"…I used the leaf part of artificial flowers for this.

And we also decided to glue on a yarn necklace to cover the arms a bit.

All of these things are optional…imagination is strongly encouraged!

The Spring fairies are currently guarding over the Playmobil universe…

feels brighter in here already!