Washcloth bunny revisited

Hello, Good morning, and Happy spring. Winter just does not want to let go here. Snow will be returning tomorrow. Instead of frowning at the gloomy weather I thought it would be fun to revisit my washcloth bunnies from last year. They are super easy to make and whimsical enough to brighten anyone's day. Have a blessed and happy day. They would be adorable tucked inside of an Easter basket. Click on the picture for instructions on how to make these soft little bunnies and have fun.

Easter Basket Makeover

A friend of mine purchased two Easter baskets to decorate for her nieces. One was supposed to be Spongebob Squarepants themed and the other was supposed to be Hanna Montana. Sadly when she received the baskets they were quite garish, stained and broken. I told her I would help her give them new life. This post is the Spongebob basket (not a fan myself, but it's what she asked for). I started by adding a little ric rac to the handle. It helped tone down the florescent pink and helped set the right playful tone for the rest of the make over. Next I covered the outside and inside of the basket with yellow felt. I left a little bit of the pink rim so the pink handle would tie in. Where the handle was dented in I attatched a ribbon. It helped disguise the broken piece beautifully. The last step was to make Spongebob's face using felt and fabric paint. I think it turned out pretty good. The best part is that it does not have Spongebob's obnoxious voice! Oh, I mean, I think she will like it. What do you think? When something is broken or turns out not how you expected it to be, there is always room to make it better and have fun!

Saint Patrick's Day Centerpiece

Eeeekkkk I almost missed one of my favorite holidays. Corned beef is on the stove, potatoes are roasting and taste-buds are watering. I love that people are always so happy on Saint Patrick's Day. Everyone is family, and everyone is gathering around a table somewhere. That is why I chose to make a centerpiece today.You will need some cardboard tubes and some flat cardboard to start with. Draw a circle slightly larger that your tube on a piece of flat cardboard and draw another circle the size of your tube on a second piece of flat cardboard. Then cut the two circles out. The tubes I'm using come from a label maker and the flat pieces are from an old box.
Glue the circles on the tube to make the top of your hat and the brim. Next paint your hat. Wait for it to dry and glue on some ribbon to make the band and buckle. There you have it; yet another fast fun craft. To jazz it up a bit more for the first picture I glued moss around the hat in patches and then nestled it onto a bed of moss with some seed pods, pine-cones and a feather bird. Have Fun!

Ric Rac Flowers: By SARN

For my birthday my dear friend SARN gave me a gift with this adorable ric rac flower tied on as a bow. A few weeks ago she taught me how to make them and gave me permission to share the directions on this blog. They are fairly fast to make and simple. They make wonderful embellishments for crowns, mittens, hair clips, bows and just about anything you can come up with. Oh, and they are fairly sturdy as well.
1. You will need stiff felt, ric rac, a button, and embroidery floss. I used red so that you can see the stitches, but you will probably want it to match your ric rac so it blends in.

2. Use a template to draw a circle on the stiff felt. Then cut it out. The circle I used for these flowers has a 1 1/2 inch diameter.

3. Sew an end of your ric rac with the edge pointing towards the middle of the circle. You will stitch over this later to hide it.

4. The side of the ric rac that goes up I call a mountain, the side that goes down is a valley. Stitch the valleys together as you make your way around the circle. (Use the photos for this).

5. This picture shows what it looks like once you have gone completely around the circle.

6. Begin your second layer. You will spiral towards the middle. Make sure to cover the stitches from the first row as you go.

7. Keep spiraling in until you reach the middle. Once there snip the end of your ric rac off. Fold it under and put a good stitch or two in to hold it in place.

8. This picture shows you what the back should look like at this point.

9. Sew a button into the middle of the flower and you are done.

Thank you SARN for letting me share this tutorial. What will you embellish with these adorable flowers? Have Fun!

New Things; Timeless Things

Good morning everyone. No, I have not dropped off the face of the earth again. Bear and I have been hard at work getting AppleCrateToys ready for this year's shows. There are so many things we are proud of and I thought that you might like a sneak peek of some of our projects in progress. We have lovely bunting banners of felt made from100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. There are a lot of these that we are working on but the one in the picture is my favorite so far. It features the Alphabet and is made with warm earth tones. Next to that is our version of a bendy doll. The wire we used for her core is lead free steel wrapped in soft rubber. This is another alphabet we've been working on. No lead or cadmium here either. Each square has been carefully cut and sanded from bass wood till it is baby smooth. Using a wood burning tool I then carefully burn in each letter. These make lovely tools for learning the alphabet and beginners spelling. They also are wonderful sensory tools. I may have to keep a set for myself. I love the way they feel; the ridges of the letters against their smoothness and the way the light hits them in my wooden bowl. They even retain a slightly smokey wood smell that is just delightful.
Since we are making alphabets out of wood it only made sense to make number sets as well. These squares number 0-9 and each set comes in a wooden box with counting chips.
And finally because they were just so much fun to make here are some tiny embroidered pins that I've made. Everything will posted very soon. Bear and I are very pleased with the direction AppleCrateToys is taking and we hope you all liked this sneak peek. Take care and Have fun!

Winter Cork People

Wow, I almost lost this whole week! Things have been hectic but I finally found time to post this craft. Do you remember my "Beach Cork People"? This is the winter version of them.
To start with you will need some red and white felt, q-tips (or pom poms or tiny bells), wooden beads (with or without painted faces) a cork and a screw. Cut a long strip of red felt start with for the scarf and a red triangle for the hat. Cut fringe on the ends of the scarf. Next cut two matching free form pieces of white felt for snow. Finally cut the tips of several Q-tips off past the stick part (but save the stick, they are useful for stir sticks or a number of other future crafts).
Attach the head (wooden bead) to the cork using the screw (a dollop of hot glue under the bead is helpful here to). Next glue on the hat and scarf. You could stop here but we wanted to make a land scape for this cork person.

Glue the two pieces of white felt together and glue your cork person to the 'snow'. Using the Q-tip tips you cut, glue the flat cut sides to the "snow" in a pile like rolled snow balls. I looked everywhere for my little bells or pom poms but could not find them, so I glued a q-tip ball to the end of the hat like a pom pom. This is the last step and you're done! Have Fun!!

Paper Snowflakes

Do you remember making paper snowflakes as a child?First you fold a piece of paper in half;

and then fold again and again till you are satisfied or just can't wait to start cutting. Did you ever ask your Mum if you could use her pinking sheers because they left such a pretty pattern and because they were thick and heavy enough to cut through anything?

Snip Snip Snip, Mum's gentle eye watching over you as you worked.Carefully unfolding and seeing what beautiful snowflakes you have created and then hanging them around the house or taping them to the windows for all to see.
This is a January Tradition that I will never be to old to make. Bear and I made these for New Years and had so much fun. It brought back such fun childhood memories for Bear and his brother. Grab a wee one and make some memories today. Have Fun!