Fun Activities for Kids, Families, and Teachers

This week we have another crafty idea from my felt friend, Awnya! THANKS Awnya!
Karen

Animal Note Holders 

First you will want to choose an animal for your inspiration.  I like cows, sheep and dogs the best.  I will give you the instructions for a sheep.

First, cut a 3″ round circle out of cardstock.  This will be the body.

Then you are going to cut a pear shaped piece out of black paper that will serve as the face, so you will want it to be maybe 1 to 3/4 at the fattest part.  It’s up to you.  Also, you will need to oval little ears out of the black.
Glue 2 goggle eyes to the face and you are done with it for a minute.

For the body, you are going to want to add fur, so what I recommend doing is clearing out your paper shredder and putting some blank white paper or construction paper through.  If it is a cross cut shredder, the pieces should be about perfect; if not, take the strips and cut them into 1″ pieces. Another way to do it if you don’t have a shredder is 1/8-inch strips and then when you have a bunch of those, cut them into 1″ long.

Now you want smear the body with a nice amount of Elmer’s glue.  Heap the fur parts onto the body and press down a little bit to make stick.  When this is dry, you want a grown up to hot glue 2 clothes pins to the back of the big circle.  You want the pinchy part at the top to hold notes or reminders.  The bottoms you want to hang out below the circle to serve as the legs of your critter. Hot glue the face on the front and you are done!!

For a fun twist, glue magnets on the back and you have a fun fridge pal.
Cows, use white and black mixed together.  For a puppy, we used a light brown background, face and ears, and then darker brown fur.  We also drew a nose and happy face on the puppy and cow.

My friend and fellow Story Time Felts Consultant, Awnya Boam, shared a few craft ideas with me and I thought I’d pass them along.
“What you do is you take pages of a magazine and tear them out.  I like to choose the really colorful ones.  (Flower mag’s work REALLY well). On the BACK of the page that you like, you will draw a triangle that will go the length of the page.  You want the fat part of the triangle to be how fat you want the bead.  You also want the 2 sides of the triangle to be equal or the bead will turn out crooked.  I like beads that measure somewhere between 3 and 5 cm.

So lets say I’m doing a 3cm bead.  I will mark the spot where the bead will start (remember this is on the back that you are marking, or it will ruin the colors of the bead) and then where it will end.  I draw these lines all the way across the page.  Then I will measure 1/2 way between the 2, so 1 1/2 cm and mark a spot there.  This is the top of the triangle and then I will draw the sides.

Cut the triangles out and then you will need to have something to roll them around.  I use a piece of wire coat hanger but a toothpick works well too.  Wrap the triangle around the wire starting with the fat part first.  try to keep it as tight as you can, although you can take it off and tighten it up later if you need to.  To keep the bead in place, I put a little bit of Elmer’s glue on the smaller end.  When the bead is all wrapped up, I will put elmers glue over the whole thing and wipe it with my fingers.  This seals the bead in a clear finish and will help to hold it together.

Try all different colors.  I like to make up like 20 beads and then choose which ones match the best to put them on a bracelet or necklace.  To accent the beads, use clear beads in between.

You will be amazed at how great these beads look and what colors you come up with!”

Thanks, Awnya!

Executive National Director
Story Time Felts

Hi everyone! A fellow MomPacker, Peggy from the Expo Connection, wrote the following idea in response to someone asking what to do with old cards. I just loved this idea so much, I had to ask if I could share it! Thanks, Peggy!

Story Time Felts
Executive National Director

Keep Those Cards

This is something that touched my heart last November more than I ever expected. My mom passed away Oct. 29th last year and then a few weeks later while going through her things, we found boxes with each of our names on it, all of her 4 kids had their own box.

Inside these boxes were every card we gave her and my dad, plus report cards, notes, letters and so on… We were all overwhelmed that she kept all of this.

There were my kindergarten and up report cards, birthday cards I made and, in later years, bought her. Mom’s day cards, and so many had little notes in them that I wrote at the time. Plus the ones my 3 kids and even my grandson have given her.

Just knowing how much those cards and everything meant to her even though she never mentioned it to any of us is something I am so blessed to have!!

There was a card I gave her in the early 70’s that said to my MOM on Fathers day! I had long forgot doing that until I saw it and then the flood of memories came back.

There were even post cards from when we went on vacation and sent them cards that we wrote little notes on.

The list goes on!

So don’t throw those cards away! Get an expanding folder and start organizing them by your kids’ names.

I know from my own mom, that now that I am doing this I am leaving my own kids and grandson a gift of love by doing this also.
She left us, her kids, grand kids and even great grand kids all some treasured memories by doing that!

I never even thought of doing anything like what my mom did until I was handed the boxes. It still overwhelms me to look at all of it… My oldest is 32 and I wish I had every card she made and bought me, to give back to her as a gift of love, when I am not here anymore, just like my own mom did.  She was an amazing woman, friend,  and mom to me.
Peggy
TheExpoConnection.com