Category Archives: tutorial

valentine owl tutorial

January 29, 2011 – 11:54 am

Owl lovers like myself know the need for a valentine owl! Araina (7yo) made the green owl below, I made the pink one (I like hers better).

you need:

gold felt
black felt
2 different colors of brown felt (or contrasting colors of choice)
pink felted sweater (or color of choice)
hot pink felted sweater (or color of choice)
gold, pink, black, and brown cotton emb. floss (to match choice colors)
scissors
sewing needle
wool or polyfill stuffing (or fabric scraps, paper, tissues)
sewing machine (optional)

*To felt sweaters, use 100% wool sweaters, place in a HOT washer, add 2 tablespoons soap, and wash. Then dry in a hot dryer.

to make:

1. Cut out pieces and parts from felt and/or thrifted sweaters. I used thrifted sweaters for the light pink body, heart, and oval shaped bottom (not pictured); and felt for the eyes, wings, and beak.

2. With right side pieces of owl body facing each other, stitch around the shape of the owl with a machine or hand sew; leave the bottom open. Turn right side out.
3. Stitch the eyes to the heart face mask. For all stitching details visit this post.

4. Stitch the face mask to the body.

5. Stitch on the beak.

6. Stitch the wings together making sure to stitch all 4 (or 3).

6. Stitch both sets of wings to the owl body.

7. Stitch optional heart onto the owl.

8. Sew bottom onto owl, leaving a space to stuff.
9. Stuff and stitch closed.

10. Place little valentine owl in a happy place.

Happy sewing!

“That’s all,”
Lisa

Tags handmade gifts, sewing | Permalink | Comments (17)

activities homemade gifts lavender nature play tutorial valentine

scented herbal play dough

January 16, 2011 – 6:22 pm

I really love this time of year. There is no holiday let down for me, we keep the twinkle lights up so we can enjoy their sparkle during these dark and gray Ohio days and decorate the mantle with hearts where the stockings used to be. I love the fires in the fireplace, snow on the ground, pink cheeks, hot chocolate, and the pink and red colors of Valentine’s day coming up. I really love Valentine’s Day and making it special for my little ladies.

We felt the need to bring a little spring into the holiday this year with scented herbal dough. I made a batch of pink rose petal scented dough and Fauna made a batch of purple lavender scented dough.

You need:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon canola oil (or any other oil you have on hand)
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
3-4 drops essential oil (we used rose and lavender)
food coloring (we used purple and red)
2 tablespoons dry herbal leaves or flowers (we used lavender buds and rose petals)

To make:

1. Add a couple drops of the food coloring into the 1 cup of water.
2. Put flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, and tinted water into a medium sauce pan.
3. Cook the mixture over medium heat until it bubbles, stirring constantly until it thickens.
4. Remove from heat then stir in a few drops of essential oil and the dried herbs or flowers.
5. Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
6. You can store any leftover dough in an airtight container or leave the creations out to airdry.
*They take about a week to dry and they will fade in color a little bit. The lavender dough has kept its scent the best.

Fauna made some snails, Araina made a cat with a bed and ball of string, and we all made hearts.

We strung the hearts to hang in our windows and on bookcase knobs (don’t forget to add holes if you want to string them).

“That’s all,”
Lisa

Tags arts and crafts, handmade gifts, nature activity, nature play | Permalink | Comments (25)

activities birds craft homemade gifts tutorial

pinecone owls

January 1, 2011 – 11:37 am

I love challenging the little ladies with Nature’s bounty. I brought our collection of pinecones, acorn caps, osage orange roots, leaves, and thistle down to the craft table and told them to make something using only those materials (glue was allowed). Pinecone owls are what came from the challenge.

Now they line the windowsill in the craft room.

“That’s all.”

Tags arts and crafts, handmade gifts, nature activity | Permalink | Comments (27)

activities kitchen chemistry science tutorial

cornstarch dough and watercolors

January 23, 2010 – 7:33 pm

We had some friends over on Thursday and played with cornstarch clay; since Thursday I have made 3 more batches of this fun clay for the little ladies to create with. Anytime you bring cornstarch and water into play you know you’re going to have a good time!

for the clay you need:
2 cups cornstarch
1 cup salt
2 cups baking powder
2 cups water
**this amount was made for 7 children (and three mamas too)

for sculpting and color:
watercolors
toothpicks

to make:
1. Add dry ingredients to the water and cook on medium to high heat, stirring constantly
2. The mixture will start getting clumpy, turn the down heat; when about 80% of the mixture is dough-like take off the heat and continue to stir until the leftover liquid joins the dough.
3. Let cool for a few minutes then start molding and sculpting.

The little ladies used toothpicks to make the legs and join pieces and parts. Then covered the toothpicks with the clay. You can dry the clay creations in the oven at 225 degrees for a few hours or let them air dry for a few days.

My favorite part of this clay is how watercolors absorb and spread on it. The best time to paint is after the creations are dry, but if your little ones (or yourself) are impatient you can paint after sculpting; however, it wets the dough quite a bit.

wc paint

Being the science lover I am, I cannot post this dough recipe without a link to learning about polymers. Cornstarch is one of the most enjoyable ingredients to understanding polymers. If you have ever made Oobleck, you know what I am speaking of! Kendra and Kathleen, I foresee a mad scientist day on Thursday involving lots of cornstarch and water…………

Tags PTOE, recipe | Permalink | Comments (37)

activities felt homemade gifts sewing tutorial

bean bag buddies (free pattern download)

January 16, 2010 – 7:01 pm

I made this cute little bean bag puppy (bunny?) out of an old knit cotton skirt of Fauna’s, filled it with lentils, and the little ladies have a fun bean bag to toss back and forth to each other.

You need:
old shirt or fabric- enough for two 51/2 inch squares
lentils or rice
felt for the eyes, nose, and ears
needle and thread or sewing machine
puppy pattern pieces (click on the following pattern picture if you want to use my patterns)

To do:
1. Cut two 51/2 inch squares

2. Cut nose, eyes and ears out of felt or other contrasting fabric.
3. Sew nose and eyes onto both pieces of felt. Make sure you sew them on opposite sides, so when they are together the face will be make sense.

4. Position the ears, facing down, they will flip up after you have sewn the bean bag.

5. Put right sides together, ears tucked down, and stitch all the way around the bean bag, leaving an opening to turn the bean bag and add lentils. I left the lower right corner open.