Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...

Holiday Poppers/Crackers

 These poppers do not pop, but they are pretty and oh so much fun! We will be using them to reveal our baby's gender this Christmas for visiting family. Some of the charms inside are not pictured to keep the secret for now, but some good holiday ideas would be jingle bells, candy, tiny ornaments and/or charms.

You will need:

Tissue paper
Wrapping paper

tape

Ribbon

Cardboard tubes

Fun things to stuff inside

We used the cardboard from label makers but toilet paper tubes would also work. For stuffing we used silver bells with gender appropriate ribbons tied to them, charms that say "It's a ___!", tiny safety pins that are the appropriate color, and candy.

 First, stuff the cardboard tube with goodies and then roll the cardboard tube in tissue paper. Leave an inch and a half to two inches of extra tissue paper on each side. Give the extra tissue paper a little twist on each side to keep the goodies inside while you tie the ends off.

 Next use some ribbon to tie the ends.

 Wrap some wrapping paper around the cardboard tube and tape in place, curl the ends of the ribbon, and trim off the access tissue paper.

 

And there you have it. Another fun and easy craft for the holidays. Place them in a pretty bowl for your guests this Christmas and New Years and Have fun!

Easy Ornaments

 Just a quick post today. These ornaments belong to my sister. They are super easy and catch the light beautifully.

To make them you will need silk covered Styrofoam balls, sequins, beads, and pins...

 Sometimes some pretty trim is nice to.

Just use the pins to attach the beads and sequins. It's that easy and the end result is oh so pretty. Take care and have fun!

Quick No Sew Ornament

 

 In the past I've made similar ornaments by sewing little pillows. This is a quick and easy alternative. You will need a metal juice lid or a circle of cardboard, felt, ribbon, fabric paint or what ever you choose to embellish your ornament with, and hot glue.

First cut two circles that are slightly larger than your juice lid, Then glue the ribbon in a loop for hanging. Next sandwich the juice lid with hot glue between the two circles of felt. Finish embellishing the ornament with buttons, felt stickers, ribbon, fabric paint , or what ever your heart desires. For this one I used a felt snowflake sticker and white fabric paint.

Let it dry and it is ready to hang on the tree. Have fun!

Clothespin Reindeer Tutorial

 

 When we were little we received tiny reindeer ornaments made from clothespins. I don't remember where they came from but I always thought they were adorable. This is my sister's reindeer from way back then.

This is the remake that I will be using for this tutorial. I used miniature clothespins from the craft store so I had to use seed beads for the eyes, noes, and holly berries. If you use regular clothespins you can use googly eyes and pom poms instead. You will also need three clothespins, glue, some green felt, a tiny bit of white felt, and some embroidery floss for hanging your finished reindeer.

 First, cut out two holly leaf shapes from the green felt and glue to a clothespin as pictured. This will be the head of your reindeer.

 Next, glue on the beads or pom poms and googly eyes. Allow to dry before moving on to the next step.

 Once the face has dried glue the three clothespins together as pictured. For fun add a tiny teardrop of white felt to the back to make a tail.

The End!

I will be posting several ornament ideas and tutorials throughout the holiday season. Keep in touch and 

Have fun!

It's that time of year again...

 

Hello, It's the beginning of the holiday season. I've been away on almost enforced bed rest. I am at a higher risk for preterm delivery so I have not been online lately; but we are all well and safe right now. I've been told that if I don't take it easy I will have to go on strictly enforced bed rest and that sounds perfectly dreadful to me so I will be taking it easy. Hopefully though I will get some posts made for making ornaments this year.

In the mean time my hands have not been idle. I have been working hard to make holiday things for my etsy store. I hope you like some of the things I've come up with.

I'm very fond of this little gnome. He looks a lot like a tomten to me and I just might have to make one to live on my mantle.

But these hair clips are by far my favorite. I am making several of them to share with several young girls I know. I can't wait to surprise them with them on Saint Nicolas Day. Have a blessed holiday season and have fun.

Baby Announcement!!

 

Hello. We have a bit of an announcement to share. Some of you know about the frustrations Bear and I have been having and of our loss and tears, but now we have an announcement of joy!

 We are safely into our second trimester so we feel the time has come to share that our little Red Panda is on the way and will be hatching next spring. This one is a sticker! This ultrasound was taken at 10 weeks. You can see our wee one's little heart beating. Thank you everyone for your prayers and encouragements. Thank you God for this amazing blessing and privilege. 

Red Panda, we look forward to the day we can welcome you into this world, kiss your sweet face, and nibble your tiny toes.

 I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

1 Samuel 1:27

Fall Leaf Crafts

 Fall is here bringing bright warm colors, beautiful leaves, pumpkins, the smell of wood fires and of course all things apple :) But this post is about the fall leaves.

 This fall tree was made by my three year old neighbor. We got the idea to use her hand print for the trunk from the Crafty Crow. She loved tearing strips of paper for the leaves, but her favorite part was using glitter on all the extra glue poking through the leaves.

 These leaf rubbings were also made by my three year old neighbor. She was a little skeptical when I showed her how to tuck the leaves under the paper and rub a crayon across the top. Once she saw the leaf prints appearing however there was no stopping the gleeful giggles. In her own adorable words, " It's magic and soooooo beautiful". When she was done I helped her cut them out and tape them into the windows. The sun makes them glow.

Unfortunately this is the best picture of our wax dipped leaves that I could get. I think my camera is dying. These were made with the help of slightly older neighborhood children as we rang in the fall with hot cider and fresh cinnamon rolls. 

Whatever season you are in and however you choose to ring it in have a blessed day and have fun!

Felt Costumes

Hello, just some fun costumes I've been working on. It's getting to be that time of year again. One for a neighbor boy of Gimli the dwarf from Lord of the Rings.

 And a cheetah for my niece. Lots of fun and lots of felt. What costumes will you be making this year?

 Have fun!

Painted Rocks: and a new garden

 Hello, this is a fun and easy craft that works from ages 3 to 100. I know, recently I had 5 children over and here are the beautiful gems we created. I finished them with a clear coat glaze so they can be put outside in the garden. I also hot glued felt circles to the bottoms just in case they wanted to display them indoors and not scratch tables and shelves.

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 This weed patch (and future home of some of those painted rocks) has greeted guests since we moved in. This summer a young neighborhood friend has been helping me move landscaping rocks out of the bed so we could turn it into a garden. (Thank you J for all your hard work)..

Using leftover garden supplies from other garden projects this is what we came up with. Bear and I LOVE it!! The painted rocks will show up like gems in this garden. I can't wait to place them. Have a blessed day, and Have Fun!

Egg Carton Caterpillars

 I'm behind again, but I have several crafts to share in the next few days. I recently had the joy of entertaining two sweet sisters ages 3 and 5 with craft time. This is one of the crafts we did together.

First save an egg carton.

Next cut out three egg sections. This is the body of your Caterpillar.

 

 Paint the body and allow to dry.

 Poke two holes in the head and feed a pipe cleaner through and twist together to form the antennas. (we used half of a pipe cleaner folded in half).

Done! This was a simple and fast project. The girls really enjoyed watching the paint change the water different colors as they cleaned their brushes before adding another color. Have fun!

Needle/wet Felted Wool Balls

 I've been needle felting and wet felting little wool balls lately. This is my farm ball. It is painstakingly decorated and one of my favorites. On this ball there is a barn, silo, rooster, hen, two chicks, a butterfly, flowers, apple trees, a cow, a pig wallow with two pigs, and sheep all under a bright sun.

 

Here is another picture from the farm ball of tiny sheep playing in a flower dotted meadow.

 The four seasons.

 I have many others and will post them at a later date. These will be posted in my etsy store soon. If you have a ball you would like custom made for you please drop me a line at applecratetoys@gmail.com.

Thank you for looking and have a blessed day.

Waldorf Puppet: Innocence

  Recently a young neighbor of mine (age 10) was visiting and saw my Waldorf table puppets. He asked me if they were difficult to make. I told him that they were not. Then he surprised me by asking if I could help him make one.

He asked if we could make a Legolas from the Lord of the Rings.

This is what my neighbor came up with. It was such a delight to watch him work. I helped him a little with the hair and some suggestions on how to connect things, but for the most part he did this all himself. Tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth and all ;) 

Have a blessed day today and have fun!

Knitted Animals

 DONE! I keep working on my knitting skills but still have so much to learn. With this project done I will begin making a baby cardigan, bonnet, and booties.

These adorable farm animals were made from a pattern in the book 'Toymaking with Children' by Freya Jaffke. They are made with wool yarn and stuffed with sweet carded sheep's wool... I'm half tempted to wet felt them and see what happens. There are so many fun things in this book and I highly recommend it. The past few years this has been a favored book for coming up with gift ideas. Have a blessed day and have fun!

Ladybird Ladybird

(Beet and dandelion dyed ladybirds that have been wood burned and polished with homemade wood cream).

Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,

Your house is on fire and your children are gone,

All except for little Nan,

She crept under the baking pan.