This into That: School Spirit Wreath

 I had this wreath form that I intended to make a second straw wreath with. I also need something a little fun for my classroom. So I pulled out the form.

Pink is not a school color- but I really didn't want to cause more damage by taking off the ribbon- so I left it. I found some navy felt- which IS a school color. :)

 

 I haphazardly cut the felt sheets into one inch to one and a half inch felt strips.

Weilding my hot glue gun I started wrapping the felt around the ribbon-covered form.

Here is the wreath covered in felt.

I ALSO found some left-over striped straws- PERFECT! I cut them into thirds and halves. I used about 25 straws.

 

 Then I started gluing...and tying- sorry I had to see how it might look! I glued the straws close to the inner edge of the wreath.

I then made a hanger for the wreath...you know, so it can hang.

I finished tying the ribbons around the bottom corner of the wreath. I tied the scraps around the wreath and then slid them to stagger a bit around the wreath.

Here's my cute SCHOOL SPIRIT wreath! All set to find it's way into my classroom!

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Water You Wearing????

The boys in my house had a baseball night. They all left. And what do the girls do when there are no males around? We craft. We get out all the glitter and glitz and fabric and glue and we make stuff.
We decided to make bracelets. I've seen more than a couple tutorials online for different ways to do them. Here's our take. Keep in mind my girls are 4 and 10...so you can gage them for own little ones.

 

 We started with drinking waters earlier in the day- in preparation for the evenings' activities. The girls took the labels off so that the bottles started like this:

 

Then I cut the top and the bottom off

(I kept these- for some future products, just in case you hate wasting 'opportunity', too.)

Then we cut the bottle open. This allows you to {sorta} lay it out flat so that you can cut it into the thickness you want your bracelets.

This picture looks weird...I was holding the camera AND trying to show you my cutting, too. Just know, you can determine the size you want to cut here. Put it around your wrist and measure it out.

 

 Also, you can determine if you want to cut it to size length-wise, too. I cut mine down to size...but you could wait til later, too.

We used duct tape to cover the bottle- it gives more texture: something for everything else to hang-on to. After I laid the smaller (the girls') bracelets down I was able to fold the tape over length-wise, so it was fully covered (the hot-dog way, my daughter would say). The larger bracelet I folded the tape over the top (the hamburger way...I have no idea).

After the bracelets were covered in duct tape, we decided what we would cover them in and what we would "make them pretty" with. Here were our basic tools:

We glued the ric-rac to the bracelet- be careful not to touch the bracelet, it will melt.

 

 Then we added a rolled-fabric flower and a cute button!

My bracelet was twice as thick as the girls'.

I used orange satin ribbon and the glue gun to attach it to the bracelet. I wanted to do something a little 'Anthropology-esque'.

I wrapped mine in a rubber band while I helped the girls finish theirs.

I won't lie. We got these really great enamel necklaces in this last week.  I took it apart. I wanted to use it as a bracelet. I still need to clip the loops off of the flowers, but overall I love the look.

 We had a really fun time. I think if I was to change anything- I would probably double-up on the plastic bottles for my bracelet. It was terrific recycling and re-using items to make something my girls wore all day today.

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Kiddo Craft...Sort of. ;)

I invited a few friends over with the FULL intention of letting the kids do this craft. I was going to visit and oversee the glue-gun usage...that was all. UNTIL my friend starting pulling out all these MMM goodies I have stashed in my office. Add to that the really INCREDIBLE buttons we just got into the shop...we couldn't resist.

We started with the SUPER cute felt MMM just started selling. We each picked a piece and measured on the "wrong" side of the felt- or the side you don't want showing at the very end. We measured 5 1/2 inches by 7 inches - marked the felt with a ball point pin .

I marked mine in a couple places so that I could "connect-the-dots" I used a piece of paper to trace straight measurement lines onto my felt. I cut it out with REGULAR scissors first.

Then I used pinking shears to cut around the outside. You could omit this part, or only do the inside (the opening) part or just the outside edges...whatever!

We folded the felt so that the two shorter sides met up in the center. I put a {little} dab of glue on each of the inside corners of the felt so that it would hold while I sewed. I hate when multiple parts move around when you are trying to complete something.

We all just did a basic stitch. We used some BAKER'S TWINE I had lying around- it was my friend's idea. She's pretty clever.

She mentioned to make sure you start on the inside of the edge when you start so that you don't have the knot on the outside....and to end the same way.

After we sew the ends, we began embellishing! We let the kids tell us what ideas they had for their holders.

Did you spy buttons, ric rac (both BIG and SMALL), baker's twine, buttons...colored, shapes and hearts, lace tape, AND ribbon?  WHEW! It was a FUN, FAST craft and I think we may make some more- after we buy a new glue gun.  Did you know that a glue gun struggles to work properly after a four year-old pulls a half-melted stick out the wrong end? Yeah. I didn't either.

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Nikki's Niche- Wrapping Paper Wreath...Cabochon Style!

I LOVE doing crafts will items I haven't really used...or tried to use and failed....which brings me here.

I started with some wrapping paper I purchased up at Swiss Days a couple of years ago and a wreath I started for St. Patrick's Day and never finished- and my toddler has been playing with it.

I cut strips about 3 inches wide down the length of the wrapping paper.

I folded in the side of paper to get a more "finished" look.

The I folded down the other side.

I began by gluing the first paper strip to the back of the wreath and then wrapped it around and around the form.

I started the new strips right over the top of the last strip and kept on wrapping. Until I got this:

I added cabochons. I started with some of the largest ones.

I wanted a random, colorful mix....then I used some left-over ric-rac from MMM.

Here's my bright, fun accent wreath!