The first Christmas decorations have gone up in our house in the form of our Christmas stockings. In past years I have hung the two stockings that I designed and knitted; (Star Stocking and Cool Stocking) for my husband and I. I love those stockings so […]
In my quest to come up with the world’s most difficult-to-photograph project, I decided to make some new decorations for our Christmas tree. As we have not had a Christmas tree for a few years, Darwin wishing to have a tree this year feels like […]
We have not had a Christmas tree up for the past two Christmasses at Castle Codd. As soon as The Toddler Years hit, the floor space became a valuable commodity, and it just seemed to be more bother than it was worth. Russell really misses the Christmas tree, though, and if I have to look at his sad droopy puppy dog eyes every day from December the 1st for one more Christmas it will be too much. Additionally, my little boy has started to show and interest in Christmas and all of the shiny sparkle that it might possess. At a supermarket recently, a huge tree bedecked with lights caught his eye. I asked if he would like a Christmas tree at our own house this year. ‘Yes please, Mummy’. The deal is sealed.
So, I am preparing a few decorations. I think a fair few of ours are toddler-friendly; the glass decorations to be put away until such a time as our son won’t break them (which I am guessing will be when he’s about 30) but I thought a few more toddler-friendly decorations cannot go amiss.
I found this kit for four brightly coloured embroidered felt decorations in Hobbycraft for just £3, perfect for a bit of budget crafting. I’ve had a look online to see if I can find a link to this particular kit, but either my site search power is amiss or they are not for sale online. You can buy a digital pattern for both these and a whole range of other patterns from the designer, Larissa Holland’s, Etsy store, however.
A big bonus to buying the kit for me, however, was that the pieces of felt were pre-cut. As I do not have a printer, printing and cutting the shapes accurately is pretty much impossible. Obviously, the kit worked out a far bit cheaper than buying the patterns and materials individually, too, though the felt is of a very hard, crisp quality, rather tough to sew through (though it holds shape fabulously when finished).
The instructions for the embroidery are rudimentary at best. ‘Stitch a leaf design onto the green pear piece’. Looking at the design on the front of the kit, a stitcher with just a little experience, or a beginner with a bit of pluck and a simple guide to embroidery stitches should be just fine. I’d recommend anyone stitching along to mark a general placement of the main lines of stitching, else your free-handing may result in a pear as fabulously wonk as my yellow pear, but nature’s wonkiest fruits are often the sweetest, so she can stay.
Two of the ornaments I stitched as close to the original designs as I could see/be bothered. The others I did in my own pattern, though they are very definitely variations on the original theme. I took me a day on and off to make these four decorations, which isn’t long at all for something so cheery that I am sure will grace our tree for a good number of years.
Any other handmade decoration ideas out there? Are others gathering grand ideas and plans or are festive makes already truly under way?
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After welcoming in the cooler days of autumn with our hand dyed paper leaf wreath, we have a bit of a bug for autumn colours and textures in our toddler art and crafting at the moment. As well as the falling leaves we have been talking about hibernation and woodland creatures, and watching the many squirrels from our window. when talking about the animals we decided on a quick hand print activity to help describe the characteristic the spiky spines of a hedgehog and the bushy tail of the squirrel.
In a moment of silliness, I have managed to delete all of the ‘in progress’ pictures of this activity taking place, in readiness for a family visit, but they were mostly my little boy grinning with paint all over his hands, and the finished pictures are pretty self-explanatory.
You will need:
Download the Hedgehog and Squirrel papercut files. The download includes both a PDF file of each creature that can be printed directly onto paper and cut using scissors or a craft knife, and SVGs for anyone who uses a cutting machine.
Note on SVG files:
If you are using the SVG files with a cutting machine, please note that the lines for the leg definition, nose and ear markings are intended to be draw lines, for machines with a draw capability. Please make sure that these show as draw lines before cutting, and convert them if they do not. If your machine does not have a drawing function the lines can be deleted and added after cutting, using a marker pen.
Take your range of child-friendly paints and arrange lines of colour in parallel lines on a painting-dedicated plate or palette.
If this activity is intended for a toddler, it may be best to roughly sketch out with pencil the approximate shape of the Squirrel’s tail and hedgehog’s body, lightly in pencil, on the white card.
You are ready!
Draw the paintbrush through the paint in the same direction as the lines of paint, to create streaks of colour. Brush a thin coat of pant over the hand from the base of the palm to the fingertips. Older children may wish to do this themselves, but younger children may benefit from an adult’s helping hand. Press the hand firmly but gently to the paper, and remove. Use the pictures of the completed hedgehog and squirrel below to get an idea of the direction that the hands should be placed to best mimic the direction of the spines or furry tail.
Replace in another position and print again. Try to press the hand to the paper two to three times per paint-coating, to prevent over-application of paint (which causes splodging), but also to give depth and crispness to the prints, and allow for variety in colour and shade.
Try to pick up a variety of paint colour combinations as you apply the paint, and you can observe with your child how the colours mix and change.
The colours of the paint used are those of autumn, so you can also bring into the activity conversation about the changing colours of autumn, and older children may enjoy joining in discussions about camouflage and hibernation.
Once the handprints have been completed, set aside to dry. Once dried, cut around the handprints and attach to the body cut-outs using either a glue stick or some sellotape on the back. If you are lucky enough to live near a woodland with oak trees, an acorn can be attached to the squirrels hands with a hot glue gun, safely out of the way of children.
