Felt Christmas tree ornament

Today I decided to show you how to make a Christmas tree ornament with felt and buttons . This is something that you can do with your children during the holiday break ....or in the classroom , if your school allows you to do Christmas crafts .

Grade level : This craft is for older kids . I would say children from 3rd grade and older . You have to make sure that the child is old enough to handle a needle and the child does not put thing into his/her mouth ...since we will use buttons (and that could cause a choking hazard !)

Objective : To learn how to sew and create something 3D for the Holiday Season .

Resources : You can find plenty of Youtube video on how to make Christmas ornaments or to learn how to sew . Just remember to ALWAYS respect the work of others and mention their link and credit . For this project I will refer you to a couple of video tutorials .I will mention them as we go along .

Materials : For this particular project , you will need :
                   * Green and brown felt
                   * Buttons of different sizes and colors
                   * A thin ribbon
                   * Scissors
                   * Floss
                   * A needle
                   * Fiberfill

Activity :  (1) The first thing your kid should do is to cut the felt . You can do that two different ways . Either have 1 piece of green felt (cut in a wide triangle shape that you will later fold in half) and 1 small rectangle of brown felt like this :

               
Or , you can have TWO green triangles and one brown rectangle if it is easier for you . Just like this :

Whatever is easier for you .

(2) The second step will be to sew the buttons (= Christmas ornaments ) on the green piece of felt . If you are using only ONE green triangle , you will have to remember that you will need to fold it ...so make sure that you are not sewing buttons on the fold .Now you will have something like this :

(3) With a blanket stitch , you will now start sewing the trunk . If you do not know how to make a blanket stitch you should look at this Blanket Stitch Tutorial video by GulfCoastCottage on Youtube .
You need to sew 3 side of the trunk . When you finished the third side , you will need to add a little bit of fiberfill inside. Then you are ready to finish your last side . And ...tada ...

(4) Now you will have to do the same with the green piece of felt . However it is going to be a little more tricky . If you have TWO felt triangles , sew the two sides with a blanket stitch , but leave the base open . If you have ONE triangle , sew one side ...and leave the base open . Just like in this example :

Add some fiberfill .Then visualize where the trunk will be ....

Now start sewing the base with your blanket stitch . When you arrive at the trunk , you may make a back stitch If you do not know how to make a back stitch you may watch this Youtube video : How To Sew A Back Stitch-Beginners Hand Sewing & Embroidery DIY by StyleIconsCloset .If your needle is not sharp enough to go through or if it is too hard for your child to do it , you can go around using your imagination and come up with your own stitch or use glue .

(4) Add the ribbon at the top of your ornament ...like that :

Tie it at the top ... and now your ornament is ready to be hung on your Christmas tree . Hope you had fun making it . Have a happy and safe Holiday Season :)

Little Garden Gnomes ...

Here . I am back . After a very busy month in April and a crazy beginning in May , I finally have time to write a new post on this blog. Since Spring is in full spring , and gardening may have been in your mind , I thought it would be fun to find a project related to it . That is how I came out with the idea of making some little garden gnomes with toilet paper rolls and felt . If you are concerned by the cost of the project , you can easily replace the felt by color paper .

Grade Level : From kindergarten to 5th grade .It can easily be adapted for any grade level . With the smaller children , you may  want to precut the pieces of felt for them . For the older kids , measuring and cutting the felt themselves can be fun and a math exercice ! See what your students are capable of .

Material needed : for this project you will need the following :

                                       * toilet paper rolls (or paper towel rolls cut in smaller sizes )
                                       * felt of different colors
                                       * a ruler
                                       * pencils
                                       * scissors
                                       * fabric glue
                                       * paper plates
                                       * toothpicks
                                       * cotton balls

Activity : (1) The students will start by  measuring , tracing and cutting a piece of felt that will be seen as the face of their little garden gnome . So they should choose a felt color accordingly . This piece of felt , even though it will be the face of the little guy , will cover the entire toilet paper roll . (It is just easier that way .) Which means the length should be 4 inches and the width should be about 6.75 inches .

             (2) Each student should now pour a little bit of fabric glue into a paper plate . Using a toothpick they should apply the glue onto the felt rectangle and glue it neatly to the toilet paper roll .

             (3) Now they should use a different color of felt . This piece will be the jacket of the little garden gnome . This new rectangle should be slightly shorter than the previous one . It will be 2.25 inches long and still 6.75 inches wide .

             (4) The students should glue this new piece of felt on the top of the previous one , so it will look like this ,

             (5) At this time our little gnomes are slowly taking shape . We are going to need to add some  details . The students are going to choose a new piece of felt of another color. They will measure it , trace it and cut it . This one will be 0.5 inches by 6.75 inches . It will serve as a belt . It will be glued about the middle of the jacket . They will also need a small square (or rectangle or oval ) that will serve as a belt buckle .Mine measure about 0.5 inches by 0.5 inches . They should glue it on the top of their belt .

             

This is what we have so far ....

                   (6) Now your students will need to trace two circles (for the eyes ) and one oval (for the nose) .They can choose any color of felt they want to .

           
            (7)  Before gluing the eyes and nose however , you want your students to start working on the hat of the little gnome . They can choose the same color of felt than the belt , as it will be a neat match . It should be a rectangle of  3 inches (height) by 6.75 inches (width) . They should once again trace it , cut it and glue the base of the hat on the top of our toilet paper roll . And this is what it should look like now :    

                              

         
            (8) Now the students can glue the eyes and the nose of their garden gnome .

            (9) They should now try to pinch the top of the hat . This part is a little bit more tricky for the littler students and they may need some help . Once they like what they see , they should add a little bit of glue on the inside top of the hat and pinch it together , just like this :
                                          

       
           (10) Perfect ! Now we are almost done . It is time for your students to add the hair and the beard on the little guy . For that they will simply need to take some cotton balls , tear them apart gently and glue it onto the gnome .And here will be the result ...

               

           
             
                (11) Here is the finished project . Doesn't it look nice next to paper flowers ? This is a sweet indoor garden gnome !

Hope you will all having some fun making them ! See you soon for another project ! Thanks for stopping by :)

Salt dough magnets and plaque (Part 2)

In this second part of the lesson , we will make some magnets and a plaque . This is one of the most exciting process in this project .

Materials needed:
                               * Some salt dough we made last week  (give each student a generous amount so he/she will be able to make two magnets and one plaque)

                               * A rolling pin

                               * Some plastic knives (to cut the dough neatly)

                               * Some toothpicks (to make designs on the dough)
   
                               * Some plastic straws

                               * Small plastic cups for water

                               * Some plastic picture frames 5" X 8" (to measure the plaque )

                               * Wax paper

                               * You may want to have some flour handy , in case things get too sticky .

Project :
              Start by covering each desk with wax paper .

              (1) Each students will start by kneading the dough a little bit to get rid of the air bubbles .

              (2) Each student will then roll the dough flat with the rolling pin . He/she will use the plastic picture frame to measure the size of the plate . With a plastic knife he/she will cut around the frame . We now have the base of our plaque .

              (3) Use a plastic straw to make two holes at the top of the plaque (so we will be able to put a ribbon through later on , to hang the plaque) .

             (4) Now each student can decorate their plaque the way they want to . They can add flowers , ice cream , make a cat or a dog , or simply make a landscape . It is really up to their imagination ! When they add additional pieces of dough on the plaque , they should "glue" it by adding a little bit of water .

             (5) The student can add details to their design , by using toothpicks , a plastic knife ,a straw , etc.

             (6) Once the student is done with the plaque , he/she should set it aside on his/her desk .

             (7) With the extra dough that a student has , he/she can now make a couple of magnets , once again , simply ,using their imagination . They should just use the dough as they would using play dough . They can once again add details by using toothpicks , a plastic knife or a straw .

             (8) After the student is done , they should set the magnets aside on the wax paper .

Teacher's job :
Once every students are done with their salt dough art , it will be the teacher or art docent's job to bake every single piece . BE AWARE ! It will take some time . Use the oven at 350 F . The magnets could take about 2 hours (depending on their sizes ) and the plaques about 4 hours . Make sure each piece is completely dry on BOTH sides !!!!!!!!

Examples: Here are some examples of magnets and one plaque after they were baked .

 

A glass of refreshing lemonade . Look how the lines on the lemon and on the straw were added by using a plastic knife .

 

An apple on a book .

 

A cactus . This time the details were added with a toothpick .

 

A little mermaid . The mermaid , the flowers and the algae were all modeled separately and then glued onto the plaque by using water . As you can noticed , there is already a little bit of paint on this item , which bring us to our lesson next week  ,where I will explain how to paint and varnish the items . We will also add all the other finishing touches . 

Salt Dough Part 1

With the cold weather , I thought it would be a good idea to make some crafts with salt dough . I will divide this tutorial in 3 parts :

                                 (1) Salt dough recipe

                                 (2) How to make a plaque and magnets

                                 (3) Painting and varnishing your items .

Part 1 : Salt Dough Recipe 

I did this project with second graders . But once again , it can be adapted for any grade .

My mom knows how much I love to create things , so a few years back she sent me a book on how to make salted dough projects . The book was a French translation of "Salt Dough" written by Cheryl Owen . The book contains a lot of amazing creations and is very inspiring . I love her salt dough recipe and that is the recipe I use whenever I want to create something out of salt dough .

Here is the recipe :

                               2 cups of flour

                               1 cup of salt 

                               1 cup of water 

You need to mix the flour and salt in a big mixing bowl . Then you add the water , little by little until your dough becomes smooth and firm . 

Be careful , if you add too much water , your dough will be extremely sticky and it will be hard to do anything with it . If you add too much flour , some cracks will then appear in your creations after you baked them .

Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it for at least ten minutes . By doing so you will eliminate the air bubbles . You may used the dough immediately , but it is better to let it rest about 30 minutes in a closed container in your refrigerator . 

And it is done . As a teacher or an art docent , you may choose to make the dough yourself , in advance . If you are a mom and doing this with your kids at home , you may want to have them  help  you out .

Halloween Shadows ...

With Halloween approaching fast , this lesson or craft idea has a Halloween theme . Once it is done , you may tape it to a window . When the sun will shine through , it will make a really pretty Halloween decoration !

Grade level: This art lesson or craft can be used by teachers in a classroom or by a parent at home . Kids of any age can do it . For the youngest ones , you may want to keep the designs simple .

Objective : This project is using the same concept than negatives for photographs .

Material : You will need :
                 * orange tissue paper 8" x 11" (or any size you wish)
                 * black tissue paper (or black construction paper)
                 * a white color pencil
                 * glue
                 * tape

Activity : This project is very simple .

1. Every child will need to draw , on the black tissue paper  with a white pencil , a shadow of a Halloween design such as pumpkins (plain or with carved eyes , nose , and mouth ) , bats , crows , haunted houses , owls , etc . Small children may be frustrated when trying to draw on a tissue paper . If it is the case you may want to use a black construction paper instead of a black tissue paper .

2. Now they will need to cut the outline of their Halloween design .

3. The next step will be to take the orange tissue paper . The student will arrange all of his "Halloween shadows" on it . Once he/she likes the way it looks , he/she will glue the "shadows" in place .

4. You can now tape the beautiful Halloween decoration on your classroom/your house windows .

Examples :

Here is an example for younger students where you may want to do something simple , such as pumpkins carved with eyes , nose and mouth .

For older children , you may want to stimulate their imagination a little bit more by asking them to create the shadow of a haunted house and its surroundings ...Well , just something a little bit more complex and challenging .

Here is an example :

Have fun and Happy Halloween !