School Holiday Craft Workshops

Now taking reservations for participation in this year’s holiday craft workshops. Classes will be held Dec. 21-23 with morning and afternoon session. Space is limited, so make sure you reserve your spot early. Have a great time creating unique gift items with your kids, or use the time to do some of that last minute shopping while your kids are in creative bliss. Please note, kids must be 5 years of age or older, and kids 6 years and younger must be accompanied by a parent. View Schedule and Participation Details

Felt Tree Forest

The folks at Wee Folk Art give us this too cute for words felt tree forest complete with gnomes.

Materials:
1/4″ dowel rod: (6″ tall, 4″ medium, and 2″ bush.)
base: approximately 1 1/2″ sliced branch, 3/4″ tall NOTE: If you do not have branches available, you can cut bases out of wood. You could also make them out of clay OR I was even thinking you could use Tinker Toys. They have different sized sticks and the round wooden connectors could work as a base.
wool felt – I used 3 different colors of green for each tree
floss – white (snow) cranberry (berries)
brown yarn – for wrapping trunk
yarn needle
crafting glue
tools for cutting branches and dowel rods. Drill for drilling a hole in the base.
optional – fusible web – I cut my boughs out of 1 piece of felt. If you would like the boughs to stick out farther, plan on cutting 2 pieces of felt. You might want to iron them together with a layer of fusible web between them to make them a little stiffer.

Read Full Instructions

Monogrammed Slippers

Saw these on Martha Stewarts web site and thought they were adorable… and so easy to take a plain pair of slippers and turn them into a fantastic gift!

Slipper How-To
Draw a circle on a piece of felt or melton wool, then draw a letter in the circle using transfer paper or working freehand. Clip the fabric into an embroidery hoop. With embroidery floss, embroider the letter in satin stitch, French knots, or another favorite stitch. Remove fabric from hoop, cut out the circle, stretch it over the button (following the instructions from a covered-button kit, available at sewing stores), and catch the edges on the teeth in back. Snap the front of the button to the back half, and sew onto a slipper.

Satin Stitch How-To
At an angle or straight across, these side-by-side stitches fill in the outlines for a shape. Pull the needle through to front at 1. Insert at 2; pull needle back through at 3, right next to 1. Keep stitches tight and flat for a smooth finish.

French Knot How-To
These are useful for creating a raised point of interest. Pull needle from back of fabric to front at 1. Holding thread taut with one hand, wrap it twice around needle; insert needle again close to 1, keeping thread taut as needle is pulled through to back.

How to Make a Marionette

In 2-3 hours, you can make this great bird marionette! With a little practice, you can make this goofy bird waddle, bob, and dance at your command.

Materials

• Hot glue gun (for step 1 only)
• 2 chopsticks
• Pieces of yellow and green craft foam
• 2 yellow wooden beads
• Sharp pencil
• 3-inch styrofoam ball
• 2 1/2-inch styrofoam ball
• 1 yard of 7/32-inch-wide cotton cord or clothesline

• Tape
• Tacky Glue
• 1 yard marabou feather boa
• Embroidery floss
• Skewer
• Feathers
• 15 mm googly eyes

Click here for full instructions

Maurizio Anzeri: Photo Embroidery

Italian-born, London-based artist Maurizio Anzeri has created a series of haunting portraits by embroidering over found photography, isolating relatable orifices (eyes and mouth) and using them as focal points for his pattern overlays. The effect is one of dreams, appearing as masks — grotesque avian ids — uniting the subjects under an outré anthropological guise. “The intimate human action of embroidery is a ritual of making and reshaping stories and the history of these people,” he says. See more images here

How to make a purse out of a Dance Dance Revolution Dance Pad

So, now all I need to do is hunt down someone with one of these that’s no longer in use cuz this is awesome! Found this on the Instructables website. They give full details on how to construct this great bag.  Check it out

Paper Christmas Wreath

Found this wreath on The Red Thread’s blog and thought it was a great use of all that leftover paper we end up with after years of wrapping packages. So, all those little leftovers you’ve been saving for that super small gift can now be put to good use. This also makes a lovely holiday gift for friends and neighbors!

If you’d like to give it a go you’ll need the following materials:
• 1 to 2 sheets of wrapping paper – I used the same paper in 2 different colour ways.
Think outside the square with your paper choice – you needn’t use wrapping paper, it could be magazine pages, all white paper, old comic books, anything! Patterned scrapbooking paper would also look fab. You needn’t limit it to 2 patterns, if you kept to a consistent colour palette you could use any number of patterns.
• 1 large and one smaller plate, salad bowls or similar to trace around (unless you have a really big compass??)
• lightweight cardboard
I used ivory card, but it could just be the side of a box because it will be hidden. The size you’ll need will depend on the size of your bowls.
• scissors
• stapler
• sticky tape
• ribbon – roughly 65cm

Read Full Instructions: