Category: crafts

When I first saw one of these elaborate snowflakes online, my immediate thought was, “Yeah, sure. Way too hard.”

Then, I looked at the directions more closely and thought, “Well, maybe if I put my glasses on and wait until it’s totally quiet in the house and I can concentrate.” Sadly, this house is never totally quiet, so that was out.

But after looking even closer I found that even if you have little kids running all over the place or you’re surrounded– as I am–by crazy people, the good news is: YOU CAN STILL DO THIS.

I’m serious.

I’ve already told you how I feel about hard stuff–I don’t participate.

So if I can do it–baby, you can do it.

You will need 6 squares of paper–any size…but the same size. You will also need a pair of scissors, some transparent tape and a stapler. THAT’S IT!!

I used a stick to hold this one up so I could take a picture of it. You don’t need a stick. Forget the stick.

Click here for actual EASY step by step instructions and you’ll be making so many snowflakes that you’ll scare yourself. You are going to love this.

Carry on…

I found this cute little guy on a torn out page of “Country Woman” magazine–from 10 years back.  He’s basically made from scraps of yarn, felt, cardboard and a couple of clothespins. Pretty darn easy too.

Materials Needed:

Heavy cardboard

Ball of white, tan, or black yarn

2 Wooden, spring type clothespins

Scrap of black felt

Scrap of batting

Small bow, or strip of ribbon

1/4 inch bell

Tacky glue

Directions:

Click here or on the pattern itself to print out pattern pieces.

Trace the sheep’s body pattern onto heavy cardboard and cut out. As you can see, I used cardboard from an empty legal pad. It made enough for six sheep…a nice little flock.

Use a permanent marker to color both sides of the cardboard head black–like the pattern shows. Also color the straight ends of the clothespins black up to the hinges. At first, I worried because the marker didn’t color into the lines on the bottom of the clothespins. But every time I saw them, they looked like little stripey socks and it made me smile…so I just left them.

Clip the clothespins onto body where the pattern shows. Push them all the way up until they are securely in place.  I put a dab of glue between the cardboard and the clothespins to keep them stable…for eternity.

Next, wind a small amount of batting around your little sheepy. It will help your yarn go much further.

Start wrapping yarn around the body–starting at the middle. Continue wrapping down the neck until about 1/4 inch of the tip of the nose sticks out.

Wrap figure-eight style around the clothespin legs so the hinges on each is covered. Continue wrapping until your sheep looks nice and fat or your yarn is all gone–whichever. Tuck in end of yarn.

Cut one tail and two ears from black felt. Tacky glue wasn’t doing it for me, so I used my evil glue gun to the stick ears to each side of the sheep’s face and to put the tail where it belongs. String a bell onto same colored yarn and tie around sheepy’s neck and tuck the knot into “fleece” at the top of the head. Glue a bow on–wherever you’d like. There you have it–incredibly low maintenance sheep. Unheard of.

Gather your family and make these pretty glass ornaments–filled with just about anything. The possibilities are endless…

Step 1: Buy a pack of clear, glass ornaments. You can find them nearly everywhere, but if you go to a craft store like Michael’s or Robert’s–they were a bit cheaper. Laurie says, to try the dollar store too. These ones were about $3.00 for 12.

Step 2: You must solemnly swear not to skip this step–even if you think you are very careful and brave. Just mind me anyway. Take a small strip of masking tape and put it around the top of the ornament. Fold the top of the tape down inside so that no sharp edges are exposed anywhere.

This could actually be a project that you do with a middle aged child–as long as the edges are covered and they remember to handle the glass carefully. I know, I know…I sound like somebody’s mom. Sorry.

Step 3: Curl and cut up tons of curly ribbon…no kidding…tons. Kids would love this part too.

Step 4: Wad up bunches of ribbon and stuff it in the glass ball. Snap in the gold ornament topper. It’s that simple–you’re done!

Try filling some of the ornaments with random things—we used old video tape, yarn, raffia, and yes…those are push pins. Just be OK with letting everyone’s personality come out. Lyndi thinks gummy bears would be good. I’m a Cheetos kinda gal myself, but they won’t fit…I know. I tried.

The good thing is that you can always empty it again if you don’t like how they look. Chances are—you’ll just love them!