Snow and Winter Fairies

Today it snowed...well not outside, but in my kitchen. We have been reading many books about snow lately and Hazel has been asking to make a snowman, a snow fort and tracks in the snow like the characters in her books. So this morning we took the idea from Rachel over at I HEART CRAFTY THINGS and used the recipe (and mix technique) from The Magic Onions. So while Hazel mixed the dry ingredients it snowed. (And trust me, it snowed in our kitchen--I needed the broom to clean it up.)

Then I added the oil and hot water and mixed. Then as it cooled I put a small amount in a different bowl for Hazel to knead and I kneaded the rest. We added white glitter as we kneaded to make it sparkle like snow.

Then I rolled it out for her and we used her toys to make tracks. We used a Barbie doll for footsteps, her various animals for animal tracks, a car and tractor for different tracks and then we pulled out her various texture tools for play dough. Then she wanted to make footprints in it so we re-rolled it and she stepped on it. Then we flipped it over and she made handprints. Then we took some of the rest and made snowmen. It took some creativity to dress them. My idea of paper hats, didn't work well. I went to look for new ideas and came up with beads. Luckily we had orange ones that somewhat looked like carrots for the noses. I used a pink baby sock with the toe cut off for Hazel's hat and some ribbon for scarves. You can see some of the sparkle in the picture of Hazel's.

Hazel's Snowman

My Snowman

My plan for today's post was to show you the toddler form of bendy dolls we came up with. Hazel had trouble wrapping the pipe cleaners well so I wanted to find something easier for her. We decided to make poinsettia fairies.

These are pretty easy. You need a pipe cleaner, medium to large wooden beads (2), small wooden beads, a fake poinsettia, embroidery floss (yellow), and tulle for the wings.

Cut the pipe cleaner into two pieces--one should be 1/3 of the entire and will be the arms.

Take the longer piece and fold in half. Stick both ends into your head bead (medium or large).

Wrap the floss around your and many times and then cut. Stick the entire looped floss into the loop of the pipe cleaner on top of the bead and pull the pipe cleaner tightly through the bead to hold the floss in place.

Take smaller pipe cleaner and twist under the head to make the arms and hold everything in place.

Next add a poinsettia flower (take the flower apart and use just the petals). Then the second medium or large bead. Put small beads on the legs and arms for more stability.

I used a slightly larger bead at the feet for the feet or shoes. I folded the ends up, but also used a little glue on it since my ends were not really long enough.

Then cut loops out of the hair so it is stringy. Take a piece of tulle and gather in the center. (I folded the ends in to the center so there would not be rough edges.) I used yarn to gather and on one I left the ends and tied it on and found this works best. On the other I used glue after cutting the ends.

I used some leaves for wings in this one.

I also made a few other winter fairies which I stuck in her advent calendar since I'm behind in my needle felting of nativity figures.

Mistletoe and Holly Berry Fairies

Snow Princess and Pine cone Fairy

Hope you are having a wonderful evening! Tonight I'm planning on needle felting a St. Nicholas for Hazel's advent calendar since tomorrow is St. Nicholas Feast Day. I have many stories and crafts to do with her in celebration.

More Salt Dough Ornaments

We had a busy Saturday doing lots of fun things. We started with a small craft that I will share tomorrow. Then Hazel and I went to our church for a gingerbread man decorating fundraiser. Hazel had so much fun decorating them. I let her do two. We came home and had some lunch and of course no nap, and she and Mommy and Daddy really needed one, but when Daddy is home we often do not take one.

Then we made some salt dough ornaments. I used a different recipe this time. I wanted to make them like a play dough at first after seeing the post at The Magic Onions. I loved her idea of decorating them with glitter and just have it colored. I got to thinking if the cream of tartar makes the play dough last longer, does it need to be there. I did some research on line and then remembered I had a book, The Arts and Crafts Busy Book: 365 Art and Craft Activities to Keep Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy by Trish Kuffner, with an appendix full of such recipes. I was going to make a no-bake craft clay with cornstarch and baking soda, however to color it you added the food coloring in the beginning. Since I wanted to make two colors this wouldn't work. So I went with the Salt Clay recipe which is the same recipe you see everywhere. I used the method of mixing the dry ingredients that The Magic Onions suggested--the snow method. Hazel loved it!! Then we added the water and still mixed with our hands. At first Hazel didn't like it sticking to her hands but after I did it some she wanted to try some more. I thought I had added too much water at one point but kept kneading it and it became the perfect consistency. We divided it up into two parts and mixed in red in one and green in the other. 

The first rolling, after I got it pretty flat, we used one of Hazel's textured rollers to give stars on our ornaments. Then we cut them out. Used a straw to punch a hole in it and added some glitter.

The next ones we did not give texture by a rolling pin, but used some rubber stamps after we cut them out.  Overall, I love how they came out. We of course added some more glitter to the stamped ones as well and then we baked them for several hours.

Sharing Saturday #8

We had a less than average active Sharing Saturday. I'm guessing it was due to Thanksgiving and the fact that I was sick so I wasn't inviting people as much. I'm hoping the numbers pick up this week. Here are some of the most popular and my favorite:

You've Got Mail... from Santa

As I posted before, instead of buying a creepy Elf on a Shelf (and I do think they are a bit creepy), I spent a few dollars at Ocean State Job Lot and got a Santa mailbox (gift box, but we are using it as a mailbox). So I'm taking advantage of my alone time to write a letter to Hazel from Santa.

I put it in an envelope and used a calligraphy pen to write Hazel on it. Then sealed it up and stuck it in the mailbox. When Hazel gets home today I will tell her about the mailbox and to look inside. This is going to be her way of communicating with Santa and she will know that we can as well. I love this idea instead of having a little elf spy on your child and having to worry about where to move it to.

In case you want to try something similar here are a few different backgrounds for Santa letters. I did these in Print Shop and did her original letter in it as well.

Stocking                                               Christmas Tree

Gingerbread Man                                  Sleigh Bells

Craft Night

I just returned home from a lovely  craft night with a mothers from the parent/child classes at school and our teacher and the handwork teacher. It was so much fun to meet new mothers and share experiences while we made a simple craft. We made an angel. This angel has been added to our Advent calendar. I have through the 8th done. I better get crafting some more for the rest of the month.

Anyway, this angel came from the first issue of Living Crafts Magazine. However, we changed it a bit since we had wood balls and not wood beads for heads. Instead the handwork teacher quickly needle felted each of us a head for our angel. It came out beautifully.

She is relatively easy to make. Her body is one piece folded in half with a small hole cut for the pipe cleaner neck to go through (for the head needle felted or wooden to be attached). The pipe cleaner also makes the arms. You attach the head and the hair to the head and the halo (a felt circle) with glue. You glue wooden beads for hands and sew on the felt wings. Then you have a stick with a wooden star on it (glued on) and just fold her arm over it. You can add a string to make it an ornament, but I didn't since I want her to be part of our homemade nativity.

One of the things I love about the Waldorf School is how much they encourage community among the families as well as the students. It was so nice to have time with other mothers and share handwork and snacks. I am so glad we made this decision for Hazel's schooling.

Since I have an early doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, Hazel slept at my mother-in-law's so I wouldn't have to rush her over to her house in the morning. Therefore, Steve got the evening off. We went out for dinner before I went to the craft night. What a great evening! Now it is off to bed. Good night!!