Post by Rebecca of Not So SAHM

Making felted stones was pretty high up on our summer bucket list, but despite having all the supplies in hand, we just didn’t get around to making it happen. But I’m so glad we finally pulled it together because everyone absolutely loved both the project and the result. There is something about the interplay between the hardness of the stones and the fragile softness of the wool roving that makes for an incredibly interesting process. And don’t be intimated — we aren’t super experienced in textile crafts, but this was really quite easy for the kids to do with a little adult supervision.

Here’s what you’ll need to make our DIY felted stones:

• Wool roving for wet felting (we purchased ours online here) — an ounce of a few colors each is plenty to make more than a dozen stones
• Smooth river stones — you want to pick stones that are about the size of your child’s palm and without rough edges
• A piece of tulle (we had a roll of tulle netting, so that’s what we used; but, a square shape would be the easiest. The tulle isn’t necessary, but it helps protect the fragile roving until you get a good felt going)
• Bowl of hot soapy water (use dish soap liberally — we found the more suds, the easier it was to felt)
• Cool water, to rinse

First, have your kiddos help pull tufts of roving a few inches longer than your rock. Lay them in a row just slightly wider than the width of your rock. Repeat layering in an alternating criss-cross pattern layer by layer. Three to four layers worked well for us. You can work with one color or mix a few together — we tried both!

Submerge the wrapped stone into the bowl of hot soapy water and hold it there until it stops bubbling. Remove it from the water and carefully start packing the wool around the stone, pressing and turning as if you were packing a snow ball. If the wool starts to get dry, dip it back into water and continue. Check periodically to make sure that your tulle isn’t getting incorporated into the wool.

You’ll see that the wool starts to felt together, but still looks a little lumpy and uneven. That means you need to roll it back up in the tulle and keep packing.

When the wool fibers appears to have a good hold on each other and the covering has evened out, you are ready to start the rubbing process. Keeping the stone wrapped in tulle, dip it back into the soapy water. Remove it and squeeze out some of the excess water. Start rubbing the stone back and forth in your hands — just like you’d rub a bar of soap. Continue to rub, flipping it around to get an even felt. Once it feels less fragile (you’ll get a good sense of this by the second or third stone you make), you can remove the tulle and simply rub the felted stone in your hand.

You want to continue for about 5 – 10 minutes, re-submerging it when it starts to dry out. Once you feel like it’s sufficiently felted, rinse it in a bowl of cold water or under running cold water for a bit. Squeeze gently and then place it on a paper towel to dry overnight.

Thanks to The Land of Nod for the Plush-a-Saurs and Quartz Floor Bin!

Rebecca is a mom to two young kiddos and, in her spare time (ha!), likes to pretend she’s a back-up dancer, craft cocktails, and run long distances. A relatively recent SAHM, she blogs family-friendly activities, DIYs and celebration fun at Not-So-SAHM.

God’s Eyes

With just a few skeins of yarn and a couple dowel rods (or even sticks from your yard), you can make dozens of these beauties. The technique is simple, here’s one of our favorite DIY’s from the ladies at Pretty Prudent. We love this craft because it’s fairly easy to master, but the design options are limitless. It’s a great way to get your kids playing with color combinations. And, when you’re done, you can hang a cluster of them together to add a pop of color to your space.

Yarn Bombing

If you’re feeling adventurous, let your kids “yarn bomb” something in your house. A support pole in your basement would be ideal. Or, consider the railing on your stairs or even a chair or table leg. There’s two ways to do this, you can stitch together patches and strips of knit or crocheted fabric. (You can make the patches, or buy old blankets at goodwill to repurpose). Or, you can simply wrap the yarn around the item. What a fun way to add some color into a rainy day.

Pompom Pine Cones

All these require are pine cones, a bag of mini colorful pompoms you can buy at any craft store and glue. (You can use a hot glue gun or craft glue.) Simply glue pompoms at random to the pine cones. They nestle perfectly on the little scales. These make a great addition to a Thanksgiving centerpiece or use them as place cards. They’d also look great on a mantle all decked out for the holiday, or tied onto Christmas packages. For that matter, they’d even make lovely homemade ornaments for all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors, just tie on a length of yarn to hang them.

Hula Hoop Weavings

We love the playful large scale of these hula-hoop weavings. There’s a great step-by-step tutorial at Flax & Twine. If you’re not up for a hula-hoop sized weaving, you can also use embroidery hoops of all sizes. It’s a great camp craft that will get kids working with their hands, and exploring color and pattern. You can even create these using strips of old t-shirts and make a rug or potholder out of the weavings. They’d make awesome teacher gifts!

Hand-Painted Sticks & Rocks

Last, but definitely not least, is hand painting rocks and sticks. We love this camp craft because it’s truly perfect for all ages. All you need are paints, brushes and plenty of rocks and sticks. We’d suggest making this a two-part project, starting with a little backyard exploration to gather rocks and sticks to paint. But, if the weather isn’t accommodating, or you live in the city, there are also tons of sources on Etsy to order drift wood and river rocks, so you always have some at hand.

Encourage kids to explore all sorts of ideas from patterns and letters to paint swirls and motifs, the options are endless. Consider turning this into a collection, your kids can bring home a rock from family vacations or adventures, paint them and display them all in their room. A fun an inexpensive memento.

So, as thoughts turn away from summer, don’t forget about all the fabulous camp inspired crafts of the season. You might just need them in your back pocket for that first snow day!

Photos provided by: THUSS + FARRELL 

Post by Todder RoyaltyA little over a month ago, The Land of Nod and Toddler Royalty teamed up for a creative day of Paper Doll making fun! A fashion-inspired activity that you might end up enjoying more than your little ones do.  You can create so many different fun characters; from mermaids to superheroes to mini runway fashionistas. All you need is a small list of craft supplies, imagination and you’re ready to create.

Paper Doll Craft Supplies:

• 8.5×11 card stock (try different colors for each character- blue mermaids, pink princesses, green super heroes)
• ⅛” hole punch
• Small brads, to put dolls together
• Fabric glue
• Markers, pencils, or crayons
• Googly eyes
• Yarn
• Fabric (you can buy great fabric quarters individually or by the bundle at JoAnn Fabrics)
• Paper doll template (download it HERE)
• Anything else you want to use to accessorize your character (buttons, flowers, bows, soccer balls, skateboards, etc.)

DIY Paper Dolls Instructions

1. Start by printing out your paper doll template on card stock.
2. Cut out all pieces and punch holes at the shoulders, hips, arms and legs.
3. Place brads in holes to attach all paper doll parts. Using brads allows your paper dolls to have movement, which equals more fun for the kids.
4. Now it’s time to get creative and let their imaginations run wild. Take your fabric and cut out different clothing pieces. I know my girls like to look through my fashion magazines for inspiration and try to recreate the clothing shapes they see.
5. Hole punch the fabric in the areas that the brads will go.
6. Take the brads out of the doll before you glue.
7. Glue your dolls where clothing will be placed and put clothing on. Once the glue is dry and clothing is in place, you can then place the brads back in their holes.

8. Cut your yarn and make any kind of fun and crazy hairstyle you want. Use different colors, adorn the hair with bows, pom poms, braids, etc.

9. Take your googly eyes and glue them in place. Draw on your nose and mouth or use beads, pom poms or yarn for these as well!

10. Wait for your dolls to dry and be prepared for hours of endless fun!

You can so create many different characters, put together a Paper Doll Runway Show (this is my girl’s favorite), a Paper Doll Theatre, Paper Doll Rock Concert. Not only does it challenge their imagination, it helps assist them in creating their own unique wardrobe style!

Photography: Olive And Honey Photography

Toddler Royalty is a high fashion children’s clothing line that breathes creativity, uniqueness and individuality of today’s children.  Custom-made, by hand, in Chicago, IL. Edgy yet sweet, soft yet punk-rock. Toddler Royalty strives to create children’s clothing that gives them the choices and opportunity to be whoever they want to be.  They want kids to know that it’s ok to mix stripes and polka dots, or flowers and stars. Toddler Royalty encourages kids to show their own unique style, be confident, and take on the day with a smile.

Post by Kim of Beehive Art

We love a parade and these happy canvas flags are perfectly perfect for a summer parade, party, of picnic!

Supplies Needed:

• Canvas
• Dowels
• Tissue paper
• Fabric paint or acrylic paint
• Paint Brushes
• Glue + glue brush
• Glue gun
• Fun extras – pompoms + ribbons + tassels

How to Create Your DIY Parade Flags:

1. With fabric scissors, cut out as many flags as you want in varying sizes. We like to mix them up, wide + narrow, short + long.
2. Paint your flags with bright colors, bold stripes and dots, or fun shapes. I encourage kids to cover the entire surface of the canvas.
3. While the flags are drying, cut up the tissue paper into small strips or pieces. If you have one or two flags, cut your dowel in half. We recently used the entire length of the dowel for 7-8 flags and it looked really great.
4. Brush white glue onto the dowel and cover it with the tissue pieces. If you’d rather paint your dowel, we’ve had great success with watercolor paint or acrylic paint (recommended for older kids).
5. When your dowel and flags are completely dry, add hot glue to the dowel and gently wrap flags around it.
6. Now add your pompoms, tassels, and ribbons for fun and extra festive flags!

Kim Poler is queen bee of beehive ART. She lives for inspiring visual expression, explosions of colors, forms and exciting combinations of mixed-media art. She creates, designs art projects, teaches children art and blogs at Beehive Art.