Pinecone Christmas Tree

Make a pine cone Christmas tree for your nature table. It's fast, easy, and fun.

First: cut two circles of felt and then glue or sew them together. This will be the base of your tree. It will keep the pine cone from falling over and act as a tree skirt.Embroider, bead, or glue the embellishments you plan to use for the skirt on now. I used some gold cording.
Glue the pine cone onto the felt using a generous amount of glue. I used a high temp glue gun for this part.Start glueing on the ornaments. Use seeds, beads, flowers, charms, sequins.. Basically what ever you can find, and don't forget the star.

Complete your Pine cone tree by adding the garland. This can be anything you can dream up. A broken chain of a necklace, tinsel, beads, ribbon, etc. I used embroidery floss. Then there you have it. A little Christmas tree for your nature table; just in time for the holiday season. Have fun!

Hats and Mittens

Here is a fun project that makes a perfect gift. It adds an extra imprint of thoughtfulness because it is made by you and is still easy on the wallet. Go through your closets in search of sweaters that you no longer wear or stop at a thrift store and pick some out to fit the personalities of the people that you will be making them for. I will be making hats and mittens for a family of four this Christmas for only $15.
Turn the sweater inside out and use an old hat for a pattern. Line it up in the bottom edge of the sweater. Make sure that the back and front of the sweater are even before you cut or one side might end up being shorter than the other.
Leave at least half an inch extra when you cut around the pattern, this will be your seam allowance. Then pin the two halves together.
Use a tight zig-zag stitch to sew the two halves together. I used black thread so it would be visible in the photo. You might want to color coordinate the thread with your fabric. The knitted sweater was so loose that it kept sucking down into the machine no matter what setting it was on. To cheat I backed the fabric with tissue paper while sewing. It came right off and left no evidence once I was done. Tissue paper is a great cheat to have on hand when you have misbehaving fabric. Once sewn trim the excess fabric, turn inside right and you are done with the hat. You are half way there! Now we can move on the the mittens. Trace around your hand on a piece of paper leaving about a half of an inch extra for seam allowance. Cut the pattern out and then lay it on the inside out sleeves of the sweater. Note how I placed the pattern up a little away from the wrist of the sleeve. This will make a great cuff for your mitten and keep your wrists warm; just make sure that it is the same height on the second mitten. Cut, Sew (with zig-zag stitch like the hat), trim, turn inside right, and you are done. Fast, easy, and inexpensive gifts that are sure to be cherished because YOU made them. Have fun!

Nature Table/Sented Pinecones

Ta Dah!! This is the new gnome house for my nature table. It's made with a wood base about the size of a square tissue box. I painted the roof green and then covered it with moss. Then I painted the walls of the house black and covered them with river stones. I used hot glue to attach the stones and moss. It might be a bit big for my nature table dolls, but for now it's supper cute. The pinecones are Cinnamon scented. You can buy them at $5. a bag OR you can make them yourself by brushing pinecones with cinnamon oil and tying them in a plastic bag with cinnamon sticks (you can also add dried orange peel and cloves). Shake the bag once in a while and in about a month or two they will be ready. Sure it takes a little while to cure, but it's worth it! You can sent your whole house this way.

First Snow Fall

I woke up this morning and the world was covered in a thin blanket of snow. The first snow fall of the season. It's a bit early for snow but we are long over due for a Halloween Blizzard (like the one back in the 80's). It was the perfect time for this little fellow to be born. From his delightful nose to his wee little rump he is slightly less than 2 inches long and from the the tippy top of his head to his tiny toes he's only 1 inch tall. There is a brass wire armature in his core and he's wool felted just like the raccoon; however, I soaped his body to felt the extra fibers in a bit tighter. His eyes are made out of onyx seed beads. Today Bear and I will hibernate indoors much like our little felted bear emerging only to get refills of hot coco and cider. Happy first snow fall everyone!

Raccoon

This is my second attempt at needle felting.... I think I should have made him a bit bigger. Then it would have been easier for me to felt and easier for him to tip trashcans. This is one little raccoon that I wont mind living around my house. His arms legs and body are formed off of a wire armature. The head was attached last. He is the perfect size for my nature table. I made him this small because I want to make two to three inch sheep. AND I thought it would be cute to have a tiny raccoon.

Needle Felted Pumpkin

Something that I have been wanting to try for a few years is needle felting. After being challenged to work on a different craft everyday this week I finally got the courage to try this art form. This is my first attempt at needle felting. I started by making an orange wool ball, felting and rolling till it was more or less the shape that I wanted. Then I mixed a little brown and green wool and rolled it between my hands (like how you would make a play-dough snake). I folded it in half and rolled it again. I felted the end with a loop to the top of the pumpkin, and finished it off by making creases down the sides. I had to go over them repeatedly to make them deep enough. Still unsatisfied I felted the creases in with tightly rolled pieces of brown wool. The curlicue on the stem was made by tightly twisting the stem and letting go. I made several pumpkins and tucked them into my grapevine wreath (the pumpkin in the picture was the first one I made). My next attempt will be to try making animals.

Planting Crocus Bulbs in Clay

No "Crafts" so to speak of today. Yesterday I planted 120+ crocus bulbs in my front lawn. Yes, I said lawn. The plan is for them to come up before the grass starts growing next spring and to be spent before the first mowing of the season. Around Easter, after a long winter, when every one's lawns are mud my front lawn will be covered in flowers for every one to enjoy. Now here is the catch, my yard is clay. To plant these bulbs I used a paddle bit on an electric screwdriver to make the holes. Then I carefully put the bulbs in (right side up). Next year I might try long tweezers to put them into the holes. I did have a slight problem of the bulbs wanting to flip. The holes were to small for me to flip them right side up. I solved that problem by drilling a second hole close by and digging the bulb out to replant properly. Tweezers would allow me to put them in right all the way down. Then I filled in the holes with potting soil so the frost can not get to the bulbs. I can't wait for spring. I will have either a beautiful lawn or fat squirrels. Wish me luck!