Recently, we’ve been working with air dry clay and the girls love it (we have a Valentine DIY to share with you on Wednesday). My girls are play-dough obsessed, so I knew air dry clay projects would be a hit with them. Glow made a little puppy face pot, Soul’s made a tiny cat face dish, Brave made a pink leaf dish, and True’s is a bandit container. For the pinch pots, Glow and True used this tutorial.
We used this clay, but I think I’m going to order a package of this air drying clay and see how the girls like it. Maybe, I could make earrings like this using air dry clay and some embroidery floss.
Thankful we had a good homeschooling week and the girls were efficient with their time. When that happens, there’s a lot more room for other projects. Woot!
How fun would it be to embroider a denim jacket. I think this is one project the girls would love!
I’m looking for vintage army high waist pants. Hoping to find out at the thrift store one day (or maybe a flea market!).
Ben and our garden made an appearance in a local paper. You can read the article here, though it got the amount of yard we have kind of wrong. One portion is 20×20, but while we still don’t have much yard (this is suburbia in SoCal), we definitely have more than that.
I’m a few days from completing my one year Bible reading plan, which has turned into a 3+ years reading plan, but I’m almost done and so excited!
Wah! A couple girls started feeling sick this weekend, so we are hoping the cold doesn’t play hot potato.
Directions:
1. Fold the short side of the felt sheet 1/2″ towards the back, and sew in place using a running stitch. Next, insert dowel. Then, cut slits (about 1/4″ wide) all along the sheet from the bottom to the top (stopping about 1/2″ away from the dowel). Be sure to cut strips so they can be grouped in four.
2. Starting with the first four strips on the left, bend the first strip over the next two strips (leaving a space for the loop), and under the fourth strip. Next, pass the fourth strip behind the filler strips and bring out to the front through the left loop of the first cord. Pull the strips gently and you have half of the first the square knot.
For the second half of the square knot, you are reversing the way you cross the strips. Bend the fourth strip over the previous two filler strips (leaving a space for the loop), and under the first strip. Next, pass the first strip behind the filler strips and bring out to the front through the right loop of the fourth strip. Gently pull the strips and you have a finished square knot. This is a good video on how to make a square knot.
Continue creating square knots with the rest of the felt strips. For the second row, skip the first two strips, and gather the next four strips to start your first square knot in the second row. In total, I did 3 rows of square knots.
3. I used 10″ strands of yarn gathered together to create tassels for the wall hanging. I share how to make tassels here. Knot each tassel onto the end of felt strip. Cut a 12″ strand of yarn and tie each end onto each of the dowel, and knot to secure.
The wall hanging adds a nice pop of color in preparation for Valentine’s Day. I think a longer version using wool felt would come out great too. The girls want to learn how to macrame, so I might show them how to make tiny ones to make some for their friends for Valentine’s Day. It would be sweet with a cute saying like, “I’m knots about you!”
We picked up H.W. Janson’s History of Art up at our local library for $10 (this seems to be the latest version), and I decided it was going to be the base for our art curriculum for the year. True and Brave are studying modern times for history, so we are in the modern art section of the book. This week’s study called for a bit of architecture and the Legos True received for Christmas came in handy (she got this architecture set from my parents).
You can imagine their excitement as the girls studied the buildings and brought it to life with Legos… oh the joys of homeschooling! There are many hard things about homeschooling, but a lesson like this is one of the perks. I think my girls would definitely agree. Plus, art is everyone’s favorite subject here; we are all happy when we are doing art.
For the past few months, I have been addicted to seed bead stitching. It reminds me a lot of hand-sewing, weaving, and macrame all rolled into one (sort of), but on a much tinier scale. When I got the itch to try it out, I remembered I kept this large pack of vintage seed beads that was once Ben’s when he was a kid. It took me awhile to figure out what to do because I couldn’t find any really good seed bead tutorials, so there was a lot of trial and error. So far, I’ve just made earrings. I’ve made plenty for myself, but also many more for gifts too. I have always admired traditional Native American beadwork (this book is good) and recently discovered Salihah Moore’s creations. I love how you can give this traditional craft a modern feel, so I’m definitely addicted.
My home can only have so many weavings and macrame pieces hanging on the walls, so it’s been really fun to make lots of earrings. My ears could use a different pair for each day of the week. My sister wanted a choker made from seed beads, so that’s next on my agenda.
I love learning new crafting skills and seed bead stitching has become a quick favorite. Have you learned any new crafts lately?
If you aren’t a maker and would rather buy a pair, check out these and these.
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
Recently, we’ve been working with air dry clay and the girls love it (we have a Valentine DIY to share with you on Wednesday). My girls are play-dough obsessed, so I knew air dry clay projects would be a hit with them. Glow made a little puppy face pot, Soul’s made a tiny cat face dish, Brave made a pink leaf dish, and True’s is a bandit container. For the pinch pots, Glow and True used this tutorial.
