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.