Pinecone and Sparkle Tutorial for Kids

This pinecone tutorial is super easy and fun for kids.  You can use your sparkly pinecones as bowl fillers or attach a ribbon on each pinecone and use them as Christmas tree ornaments.  Your kids will love to hang ornaments on the tree made by them!

You'll need:
Mod Podge or glue
small paintbrushes
pinecones
Sparkle Flakes or glitter
plastic grocery bags

Place the plastic grocery bags down on your work surface.  These bags will make clean up afterward a breeze!  Help your child to dip the paintbrush into the Mod Podge or glue and paint the Mod Podge on the pinecone where she wants it to sparkle.

Once your child is satisfied with the amount of glue that is on her pinecone, use your fingers or a spoon and sprinkle Sparkle Flakes or glitter onto the pinecone making sure to do this over the plastic bags.

Let the pinecones dry for a few hours and you're done.

Personalized Ribbon Bookmarks

These little bookmark people are easy to make and can be a lovely gift.  Set the bookmark ribbon over the page you’d like to keep marked and the bead people on the end will hold your place.  These bookmarks can be fun because you can personalize the bead people to look like anyone you’d like. 

To make these bookmarks I painted hair, eyes, and pink cheeks onto wooden beads using acrylic paint and strung them on the ends of a piece of ribbon. I measured the ribbon by doubling the length of a standard size book and adding a few inches for the bead people.   Immediately after each wooden bead, I strung a glass bead for a tiny body.  I secured these beads in place by tying a knot at the end of both sides of the ribbon.  

You can keep the ribbon from fraying by melting the ends carefully using a match or candle or by painting clear nail polish on both ends of the ribbon.

Can you guess who I patterned my little bookmark people after?  My kids, Micah and Ev, of course!

Wool Felt Acorn Tutorial

I started making felt acorns seven years ago.  I was living in an area with a plethora of oak trees and there seemed to always be hundreds of acorns on the ground.

I made these little felt acorns to pass the time. I was far away from family with no car and no television. I also made these felt acorns to share with family members.  My mom and her side of the family have a connection with acorns. Along with other reasons for the connection, their high school mascot was the 'mighty acorn'.  You can't beat that for a school mascot!

Felt Acorn Tutorial

Materials: 
Two small pieces of wool felt
Embroidery floss
Wool roving or other stuffing
Real acorn caps

Tools:
Scissors
Embroidery needle
Hot glue gun
Hot glue sticks

Step 1: Cut the felt

Cut two pieces of felt to 1 square inch each in size.  In this tutorial I use two different colors of blue wool felt so it's easier to see how I make the acorn.

Place the felt squares together. Using your scissors, round off two corners of both of the felt squares.  This makes your basic acorn shape.  The rounded corners are the bottom of the acorn nut.

Step 2: Blanket stitch

Thread your embroidery floss through your needle.  Choose how many strands of thread you will use based on how much you want your thread to show.  I chose to use a contrasting color of thread and use two of the six embroidery-floss strands.

Place your two pieces of wool felt together so they are totally lined up.  Starting at the top corner of the acorn, blanket stitch around the edge of the two pieces of cut wool felt, sewing them together. When you finish, you should have something that looks like a tiny pocket. Trim the extra thread.

Step 3: Stuff and Glue

Stuff your felt acorn with tiny pieces of wool roving until it is firm.  It will be helpful to have several different sizes of acorn caps at this point.  Try different caps on your felt acorn until you find the perfect fit.  Once you find the acorn cap you are going to use, flip it over and put hot glue around the inside edges and in the middle of the underside of the acorn cap.  Gently push the felt acorn into the underside of the cap, open side up, and hold until the hot glue has cooled.

And you're done!

It was this little acorn that I crafted seven years ago that got me thinking about sharing my crafts with others.