Felted Wool Flower Hair Barrettes

 I decided to make felted wool hair barrettes for my Girl Scout Troop's Bridging Ceremony this year.  I made two different versions for the two levels of scouts.  Blue,  white and yellow  for Daisies and brown, blue and white for Brownies.  

I used alligator clips from Michael's, Aleene's Tacky Glue, and grosgrain ribbon. 

 I started by cutting the ribbon in 8 inch lengths and using a lighter to singe the edges.  The ribbon edges won't fray after being singed.  Next, I used the tacky glue to attach the ribbon to the alligator clip.  I started on the inside bottom and made my way around the clip.  As I went I used extra clips to help hold  the ribbon in place.  Let the clip dry a few hours. 

I then cut out felted wool flowers free hand and sewed them together using DMC floss and a button.  You could also use freezer paper to make the flowers by drawing a design, ironing on the freezer paper and cutting it out.   You can purchase felted wool at your local fabric store.  There is generally only a few very plain colors available, but there are places on-line that sell every color imaginable. 

Finally, I used my hot glue gun to adhere the flowers to the barrettes.  The girls loved them!

Little House Peg Dolls

Mary, Pa, Ma, Laura and Carrie

 A couple of years ago a friend of mine introduced me to peg dolls.  I made a few and a house which my daughters still play with.  I decided to make a new Ingalls family set along with a house for the upcoming Little House birthday party. 

I bought the peg dolls at Micheal's for less than $2.00 for a set of three.  The dolls come in three different sizes.  I started by painting all the doll's faces skin tones and the bodies white.  I used a pencil to lightly draw the clothing shapes and painted them on.  I used my smallest acrylic to make the fine details and then used fine point sharpies for some of the outlining and eyes. 

 

For the log cabin I used our copy of "Little House in the Big Woods" as inspiration.  My husband cut the pieces of the house out of MDF and screwed the pieces together.  I painted the whole house brown first and then whited out the sections I added large details.  All of the details were free-hand painted by looking at the illustrations from the book.  I finished the house and dolls by spray painting them with clear acrylic spray paint. 

For the Love of Little House

My soon to be seven-year old is a SERIOUS Little House on the Prairie fan. She is an expert and has no problem recalling horses names, the neighbors, and quotes from many of the books. She and I have been planning a "Little House" birthday party for a while now. I have been working on several crafts for her party and thought to share some.

The first is freezer paper covered wagon shirts. You can really create any design with freezer paper. Think of it as a primitive form of screen printing.

Materials Needed: Freezer paper (not wax paper,- it must be coated on one side), fabric paint, paint brush, tape, self healing cutting mat or cardboard, x-acto knife and an iron. I bought my freezer paper at Walmart for about $6.00 near the aluminum foil.

Directions: First, decide on a design. I found a stencil for a covered wagon by doing an internet search and printed it to the exact size. Second, cut out a square of your freezer paper and tape it down on all four sides on your self-healing cutting mat. I taped the design to the inside of the freezer paper to trace my stencil and then removed it before cutting.

Next, draw your design onto the freezer paper, on the non shiny side. Cut out your design using the x-acto knife and be sure to keep any islands. Turn on your iron now so it will be nice and hot when you are ready.

Once you have finished cutting, remove the newly created stencil and remove the tape (it will melt!).

Before painting, place something inside your shirt to catch any paint that will bleed through. I actually iron a piece of freezer paper on the inside of the shirt before ironing on the outside design. It took me 10 girl scout shirts to figure that it helps to reduce wrinkles in your final design. This creates a nice seal and no paint bleeds through to the back of the shirt. Plain paper or cardboard will also do the trick.

Gently dab on paint in the color of your choice! Don't be afraid to experiment with multi-colors and blending colors too. Acrylic paint works fine on fabric, but paint specifically for fabric will hold up really well.

Once you are finished painting, find a spot to left your design dry overnight. I know it is tempting to rip the freezer paper, but don't! It will ruin some of the edges. The next day peel off the freezer paper and check out your awesome work. You can use tweezers to remove small bits of hard to remove paper. I added, "I love Little House" to the front of the shirt using cut out from my Cricut machine.

Enjoy making your shirts! The possibilities are endless and I am constantly making new shirts and canvas bags. I made Girl Scout shirts, Autism Walk for our school, and birthday shirts for family and friends.