Lumpy Bunnies

Last year I made bunnies out of clothes pins. This year, I painted up some rocks to make a rabbit family!

Baby Bunny has a pacifier made from a button and some felt. Mama's got a rose. I was going to make glasses out of wire for Papa, but couldn't figure out how to 'hook' them around his ears. But hey, with all the carrots he eats, he's probably got 20/20 vision anyway!

Paper Tray

I found a template for a cute paper tray. I printed it out on white cardstock. Then I flipped the paper over and printed on the back with a gingham pattern. I'm going to use this on my sewing table as a place to drop pins as I take them out while sewing. Much better than having them all over the floor!

I really love projects you can start and finish in a matter of minutes!

Here is the link to where you can find the template:

http://scjohnson.com/en/family/family-economics/12-01-03/Printable-Paper-Tray-Template.aspx

As far as the gingham, it came from a kit called Funky Spring that I believe came from this site:

http://saphirasworld.de/scrapdesign/category/freebies/

(Sorry, I downloaded it almost a year ago!)

A gift for a friend

 

Our friend Patty really loves candles. I've seen some clever votive candle holders made on various blogs with thrift items. I picked up the two glasses (for wine? I'm not sure) at the Salvation Army store for about a dollar. I had some sticky snowflakes that are meant for decorating candles, but never used them. The glitter is from Martha Stewart. I also glittered the bases. I already had the ribbon. So, for less than $5, including the candles, I have a one-of-a-kind gift to give my friend!

Don't you just love the clever ideas that are out there?

Simple Xmas Decorating Idea

 

These poinsettias are made from red felt. I downloaded a free printable from online and cut two patterns from it. You could even do it freehand. Just make one layer with 6 petals (they are kind of flame-shaped), then make a second layer a bit smaller with 6 petals. You could get ambitious and add a few green leaves, but that might be too thick to fit behind the knob.

Cut a small slit in the middle of each piece, remove the knobs on a cabinet, then attach the flower behind the knob.

Red looks great on a white background, but you could think about snowflakes for a dark cabinet! You could even make those out of cardstock, since there's a lot more cutting involved.

This is the first of my Christmas decorations to go out. I have too coordinate with my boys to get all the boxes down out of the attic, which I plan to do ASAP! Good thing Thanksgiving fell early this year (hope you all had a Happy One!) because it gives us more time for Christmas decorating!

Silhouette Pumpkin

Silhouettes seem to be all the rage now. You can find examples in just about every October issue of every crafty magazine out there. I love the idea of doing something that is so easy and relatively inexpensive!

This little guy came from "Country Living" magazine. I downloaded the template from their website and traced it onto a white fake pumpkin. Then I just painted it with acrylic paint. The "Nevermore" was my own touch, since I can't think of a Raven without the quote from Edgar Allen Poe. BTW, did you read that poem in school? I can remember about 3 lines from it, and that it was about a girl named Lenore. 

I don't have my Halloween decorations out yet, only my Fall ones. I'll probably do Halloween next week, since I'll be in Ohio the first week of October. The first of the month is when I decorate for any given holiday (although I probably start Christmas soon after Thanksgiving since it is such a BIG holiday.)

Turning A Giraffe Neck

 

Not a real giraffe, of course. It's way too hot to visit the zoo, LOL! (Nearly 100 here on Long Island.)  I'm making my nephew a stuffed giraffe for Christmas. I have found that when you are turning a long piece of fabric, sometimes a simple ruler is your best tool! You can really push it into the tube and the corners are perfect for pushing out the corners.

I made a muslin of the giraffe to work out how he'd go together, before cutting into the faux fur. I've got some notes I jotted down, like: "attach the neck to head and body so that the seam is in the back and the mane is in the right place!" He's my own design and I will show you each step as he goes together. I think John will like him! 

On the crochet front, I did all that early in the morning before it got too hot to handle yarn. I even stitched together two more hexagons for the snowflake afghan and wove in some loose ends. 

This afternoon, I actually did two quick rows on a square for a new baby blanket, about 50 stitches total, before I said, 'no way.' Too bad yarn makes your hands sweat. It really is more of a cool weather craft, but who has time to wait until fall?

Back to the mane: I simple basted a strip of brown felt onto one side of the neck, then sewed all 3 layers. Then I clipped along the mane to make it fringey. 

Have a nice weekend (I seem to only post here about once a week, terribly blogger that I am) and stay safely cool!

Channeling My Inner Nerd

Making things out of duct tape is such a Poindexter thing to do. But there are so many nice colors and patterns of the stuff how there, how long can you resist? 

I made this little thing by tracing an "Extra Gum" packet onto duct tape 'fabric'. The gum pack closes with that tab, but I don't have a utility knife handy so I punched a whole in the tab. Right now I'm just tying it shut with yarn, but I might figure out something better to do.

There are a lot of places to learn how to make duct tape wallets and more. I think you could use this particular idea (probably not original, but original to me!) for a cute little sewing kit. Or maybe you could find a pad to fit inside it and some mini gel pens? I think it would make a cute stocking stuffer!

Fairy Floral Crown

Here is an easy-to-make floral crown for a little girl. I saw it on a blog, but she got it from someplace else and couldn't remember where, so I suppose it's okay I forgot the blog. The way it is put together came from my own head. 

You need a pipecleaner, some felt and some ribbon. 

Twist a loop of about a half inch (meaning your using up about an inch and a half total) long in one end of the pipe cleaner. 

Cut out a bunch of flowers and leaves. I just did these free-hand. If you trace the bottom of a thread spool and then snip the edges, you get ones that are sort of like bachelor buttons. 

Cut two parallel slits in the middle of each flower or leaf. Slide the pipe cleaner through the slits until you have about an  inch and a half left. Then twist a loop at the other end.

Take your ribbon and cut a length of it--you can figure this out from your own kid's head because you'll be using it to tie on the crown. Make two  of these ribbons. Tie them through the loops.

Your floral crown is finished!

Finger Puppet Zoo

My little nephew, John, saw me crocheting one day and asked if I could make animals. So I'm going to be several varieties of animals for him for his upcoming birthday. He's going to be 6, or maybe it's 7. They grow so fast.

As you can see, my Zoo has a zebra, a tiger, a lion (I think he looks a little like Groucho Marx), a monkey and a giraffe.

For the zebra and giraffe, I cut extra layers then cut away the spots or stripes before sewing. Tiger's stripes are glued down since I wanted different colors on him.

I wish I'd made the giraffe a little taller, and the Zebra ended up being so small he only fits my pinkie finger. I think he'll be fine for a little boy, though!

These are all done free-hand. I traced around my finger for a basic body pattern, then just fudged it from there. It's mostly done with glue, but sewn around the edges of the body (and across the monkey's mouth).

My next menagerie, which I hope to have done for John's birthday (in July) is a farm: horse, cow, pig, chicken and duck. Or maybe a rooster and a chicken. We'll see. I already have the pig and horse cut out.

Bunnies!

A Bunny Couple ready for the Spring Dance.
The Group.
Isn't she pretty? See the flower on her head?
Girls in the works.

These were so much fun to make. I might paint some clothespins white just to have them to play with next year. At this point I have other Easter projects to work on, as well as my 'regular' ones.

I did notice my girls have longer ears than my boys, LOL!

Boy Bunnies

Bunnies on parade! (Or they're off looking for girl bunnies!)

I have them clipped on a lampshade here. They are so easy to make. The faces are done with permanent marker (luckily, I happened to have pink as well as black!) and the ears are cut from felt. I just used pink marker to color them although if you want to work with impossibly tiny pieces of felt you can certainly cut pink felt inner ears. The tails are very, very small puff balls.

Obviously, the arms are pipe cleaners.

I might add a little embellishment to these, like bow ties or belts.

There are instructions for clothespin bunnies all over the net, but I don't think you need any. Just paint some clothespins white (or keep them brown. Bunnies, after all, come in brown, too.) Then paint the lower half to make 'pants' and add your embellishments.

Came back to edit: Pom Poms! Not puff balls! I couldn't remember what they were called!

A little ornament

Here is a simple ornament I made a few days ago. I threaded some beads with wire through an empty thread spool. I tore fabric into a strip and cut it to fit around the spool, then used some of the strip for a bow and a hanger. If you can see a little bit of silver at the top of the spool, that is part of a jewelry finding that is some kind of closure for a necklace or bracelet. I've got all this jewelry-making stuff I never use so it puts it to good use.

I cut a picture out of my oldest son when he was about 18 months old. All this is stuck with glue dots, but you could probably use a glue stick or just plain tacky glue.

You could probably figure out a version of this for kids to make, too. It goes together very quickly!