June 2010

Mason Jar Cover


You've just made of quart of lemonade, and you are headed outside to garden. It's hot, and those first few drinks of lemonade are so refreshing. But because of the heat, before long, the ice is melted, and your ice cold lemonade is now a tepid liquid. What you need is an insulated jar to keep your cold drink, well... colder... longer! Making a thermal cover for your jar is easy peasy with some wool roving or batting and a bit of embroidery thread. Not only will this cover keep your drink cold longer, but the lid will keep bugs and flying garden debris out of your glass.

But why stop there? Not only does this make a great insulator for a beverage, it also makes a beautiful jar for storing buttons and beads. It can also be used as a vase. Or... have a friend with a summer birthday? Craft one of these Mason Jar Covers, drop a lemon inside, print off the directions for lemonade, and Wah Lah... a perfect and unique gift! 

I covered a quart sized Mason jar because I get mighty thirsty working in the garden, but obviously you can cover any size jar. If the wool gets dirty, simply rinse it off, roll it tightly in a towel to absorb extra moisture, and allow to air dry. Kids will definitely want to get in on the fun. Enjoy!

Materials:
Mason jar (I used a quart size)
Wool roving or batting
Embroidery floss
cheese cloth

Gather your supplies together.

Cover you Mason jar in a crisscross fashion. Bring the batting up and tuck the edges into the jar's neck. Add more roving around the jar. Make sure that the roving has the same depth all over the jar.

Add pieces of colored roving or wool yarns in a pleasing pattern. Because the roving will shrink, and the felting process may shift the design, it works the best with free form abstract designs. (If you want a more detailed design, wait until after the jar has been felted, then apply design by needle felting.)

Cut a piece of cheese cloth the height of your jar, and wrap around the jar, being careful not to overlap the roving beneath the cheese cloth. As the roving begins to shrink and felt, remove the cheese cloth and rewrap tighter. You may need to rewrap the jar several times. NOTE: I use cheese cloth because it holds the roving together while it is being agitated. You can rub the jar without free of loosening the roving... especially the small embellishments.

Dip your jar into warm water. Add some liquid soap. Begin rolling the jar on a rack or bamboo placemat. You are looking for a surface that will agitate the fibers. You can roll the jar between your hands, slide your hands up and down the jar, turn the jar over and rub the bottom. As the roving begins to shrink and the fibers felt, take the cheese cloth off and reroll, tightening the cloth. When the felting is near complete, remove the cheese cloth, and do the final felting until the fibers are dense and tight. 

Rinse in cool water, removing all the soap, and roll tightly in a towel to remove excess moisture. Allow to dry completely.

If you want to be able to screw on a lid or use the jar for drinking, you will need to cut away the extra roving at the neck. You want to cut it just below the threads on the jar at the thinnest part of the neck. If you cut it too far down, the jar can slide out of the insulator when you go to drink.

Using 6 strands of embroidery floss, blanket stitch around the cut edge. Make the blanket stitch tight. The idea is to make the top edge snug around the jar. NOTE: To start and the thread, I begin by inserting my needle an inch or 2 away from the area where I will begin stitching. I slide the needle under the roving, and bring it up to the desired area. I make a very small tack stitch to hold it in place, then I begin stitching. I do the same thing to finish stitching. I then cut the loose tails off.

If you would like, you can use 6 strands of embroidery floss to add other embellishments. I found areas on the jar where the roving had not felted well, and I embroidered over them using a stem stitch and lazy daisies. I free handed the design as I went along. 

Now, fill your jar up with lemonade, take it in the garden, and enjoy your refreshing drink as you go along. HINT: If you keep your jar in the shade, your beverage will stay cold even longer. Yum!

http://www.weefolkart.com
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 - 2010. All rights reserved.
All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.

    

Submitted by Kimara on Thu, 06/03/2010 - 10:10
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Butterfly Applique Block

Yesterday I went to Wee Folk Art's Applique Blocks to get a pattern for a butterfly. What? I never designed a butterfly? That's crazy! I thought for sure I had. I know I designed a butterfly for another project, but with butterfly season upon us, I decided I needed to rectify this situation and add the butterfly to our collection of other insects... a Firefly and a Grasshopper. So... here is a sweet little butterfly that can be appliqued to just about anything, right? As always, I designed the butterfly to fit on a 6" x 6" block but it can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs. The pattern for the Butterfly Applique Block can be found HERE or with our FREE Applique Blocks. Enjoy!

http://www.weefolkart.com
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 - 2010. All rights reserved.

All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.

 

Submitted by Kimara on Sat, 06/05/2010 - 15:58
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Assault with Intent to Play


Well, it seems we have experienced our first substantial mishap at the hands of, I mean the paws of our puppies.

At approximately 9:30 p.m. last evening, this poor, unsuspecting gnome fell victim to an overzealous romp, instigated, I am sure, by pack leader Sheldon, although Leonard was also discovered at the scene of the crime. Both canines were severally scolded and incarcerated. The gnome remains in serious condition, but authorities are hopeful that he will make a complete recovery. 

Submitted by Kimara on Mon, 06/07/2010 - 06:54
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Ballet Slipper Book Mark


Monday evening Michelle called me up and said, "Hey, Mom. Can you do me a favor?" Experience has taught me 2 things... first, I seldom say "No" to my children, and second, no matter how busy I am, I am going to get busier. "What do you need?" I ask. "Well", she starts, "Wednesday is the girls' last day of dance class for the year, and I want to make something for Miss Jodi. When I was looking at our projects, I was thinking, I bet lots of people would like a ballet slipper book mark. Do you think you could design one for me? I'll make it, but I don't have any of the supplies at home. So if you design it, and put together a kit of the materials, I will make it. Of course, you could blog about it, and you'll probably want to make one yourself so you can take pics for the tute..." Well, you get the picture!

So, Monday night I designed a Ballet Slipper Book Mark, and Tuesday I made two. I think they turned out adorable, and Miss Jodi loved it. Although the girls gave 1 to Miss Jodi to use as a book mark, you certainly could make 2 to use as decoration. Enjoy!


  

Materials for 1 slipper:
Pink felt
Tan felt
White felt
Pink grosgrain ribbon - 1/4" x 48" for lace and 1/4" x 6" for ribbon
Embroidery thread
Pattern

Make a copy of pattern.

Cut out ribbon and felt as follows (Hints for cutting out felt can be found HERE):
     2 pieces pink for ballet slipper
     1 piece tan for sole
     1 piece white for inside shoe
     48" of 1/4" pink grosgrain ribbon
     6" of 1/4" pink grosgrain ribbon

Note: Since the slipper is not perfectly symmetrical, you will want to stitch them together in the way they were cut out. When you are done appliqueing pieces to the front and back of the slipper, the 2 pieces will be blanket stitched together with the appliques on the outside. When appliqueing pieces to the slipper make sure you are sewing the appliqued pieces on the right side of the pieces. 

Using pattern for placement, sew sole to slipper back using a running stitch and 2 strands floss. Set aside. (Note: I forgot to take a pic when I was sewing on the sole, so this pic shows the sole when the slipper is all done.) 

Using pattern for placement, pin the inside of the shoe to the slipper front.

Lay the pattern next to the slipper. Fold the ribbon in half to find the center. Slip the center under the white inside of the shoe following the pattern placement. Pin the ribbon in place.

Beginning directly above one of ribbons, and using 2 strands of floss, sew the inside shoe and ribbon to the slipper using a running stitch. Sew until you catch both ribbons at the front of the shoe.


Fold each ribbon diagonally on the front of the slipper, overlapping in the center, following pattern placement. Pin in place.

Fold each ribbon diagonally behind the inside of the slipper, overlapping under the inside slipper piece, following pattern placement. Pin in place. 


Finish sewing the inside to the slipper. When you come to the 2 side crossed ribbons, slide your needle to the back, and tack in place from behind so you cannot see the stitching on the top of the side ribbons. Continue stitching around the top, catching the top ribbons in place between the the side slipper and the slipper.

Using the 6" of ribbon, tie a small bow. Cut the ends on angles and flatten the bow between your fingers.

Pin bow to the slipper using the pattern for placement. Pin in place. Tack the bow to the slipper from behind. Keep your stitches hidden so they cannot be seen on the front.

Place the wrong side of the slipper front on the wrong side of the slipper back. Pin in place. Blanket stitch the 2 pieces together using 3 strands of floss.

Cut the ends of the ribbons on angles to prevent fraying, and tie the ends together in a bow. It is now ready to be used as a book mark. If you wish to make a pair of ballet slippers, tie the two slippers together.

http://www.weefolkart.com
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 - 2010. All rights reserved.

All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.

Submitted by Kimara on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 13:07
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Memory Bouquet 2010

Yesterday Pixie and Fairy had their dance recital. There was talent-a-plenty I can tell ya! This was Pixie's first time on the big stage and Fairy's third... a real professional! Both of the girls did great, and Pixie stole the show, with a prop mix-up, and her grace under pressure. Thought there was going to be a standing ovation for her! Truly exciting.

As in past years, I made the girls felt flowers, presented in a spray of baby's breath. The idea being that instead of giving them flowers that will be thrown away in a few days, they have a permanent keepsake to mark their special days. By the time they finish high school they should have quite a lovely bouquet of memories! Fairy's past flowers and tutorial can be found HERE.

This year I made a Fluffy Felt Flower... perhaps a bit Seussian in appearance... with dense yellow petals and this fluffy thingy in the middle. They wound up looking lovely. Here are the directions for making our Fluffy Felt Flower.

Materials:
gold wool felt for centers
yellow wool felt for petals
dark green felt for leaves
strip of green cotton fabric 1/2" x 36"
3 12" pipe cleaners
embroidery floss
pattern

Make a copy of the pattern.

Cut out the felt pieces as follows:
     1 flower center - gold felt
     3 small petals - yellow felt
     5 medium petals - yellow felt
     7 large petals - yellow felt
     5 leaves - green felt

Twist the 3 pipe cleaners together.

Fold flower in half along fold line on pattern. Using the pattern as a guide, clip beginning at the fold, being careful NOT to clip all the way through.

Place one end of the folded flower inside over the end of the pipe cleaners. Tack in place using 2 strands of gold floss.

Continue twisting and tack the inside around the pipe cleaners. NOTE: I often slip my needle between the pipe cleaners when tacking the flower inside to the pipe cleaners. Tie off the end of the thread and clip thread.


To add petals, begin with the 3 small petals. Attach 2 strands of yellow floss where the flower center touches the pipe cleaner. Sew a running stitch along the bottom of a petal. 

Push the petal up against the pipe cleaners, gathering the running stitch, and tack.

Continue adding the other 2 small petals, spacing them so they surround the flower inside.

Do the same thing for the other 2 layers of petals, adding them slightly below the other layer of petals.

Switch to green thread and sew on in the same manner, gathering, placing and tacking.


At this point I embroider the girls' first initial and the year with 2 strands of floss. You could embroider something more elaborate if you wish, just make sure you hide the stitches on the inside of the felt because the backside is visible.

To wrap the stem, rip a piece of green cotton fabric 1/2" x 36". Remove any loose threads.

Beginning directly under the leaves, tack the strip of fabric to the flower, slightly overlapping the bottom of the leaves. None of the pipe cleaner should be showing. Begin twisting and tacking the strip in place, overlapping the strips as you go.

When you get to the bottom, clip off any length you don't need, turn the end under, and tack in place. 

To present the flowers you will need:

baby's breath
a cellophane flower sleeve
wide ribbon.

Nestle the flower amongst the baby's breath.

Place the flowers in the cellophane sleeve and tie a bow with a wide ribbon.

They flowers are now done and ready to be presented to your tiny dancers or place them in a vase for their play kitchen.

http://www.weefolkart.com
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 - 2010. All rights reserved.

All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.

Submitted by Kimara on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 10:30
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A Simple Test for Safety


SPREAD THE WORD... PLEASE SHARE THIS POST WITH YOUR FRIENDS.

At Wee Folk Art we strive to create designs that are natural, beautiful and safe for children to play with. But if we had to pick one of those attributes, hands down, it would be safety first! Have you ever wondered if something was safe for your baby to play with? Of course you have. And if you are like most parents, you always error on the side of caution. As I'm busy putting together a list of things I want to make or buy for Meghan and Drew's "Little Lady", due September 25, one of the first things I thought of was a No-Choke Testing Tube. There was nothing like this available when my children were young, at least not that I was aware of, but later, when I ran a preschool, they were in every room. 

It occurred to me, that many mothers may not know of their existence, so I wanted to take a minute to share them with all of you.

This little device is known as a No-Choke Testing Tube. It simulates a baby's (children 3 and under) throat. When an object is inserted in the tube, if it extends beyond the top of the tube, it is safe for a baby.

If it fits inside the tube, it is not. (Although in the picture below the Flower Bud gnome extends slightly above the top of the tube, it is close enough that I would not give this to a baby.)

Of course, you still need to use common sense. Even if the object extends beyond the top of the tube, if anything on the object has something that can be chewed off, it can still be a choking hazard.

So, how much would you expect to pay for this potentially life saving little test? How does $1.99 sound? That's right. Order one for yourself today and one for everyone you know with little children. Of course, we can pretty much judge for ourselves, but I was surprised to find that a few of the toys that I thought were safe slipped easily into the tube.

There are several different sites where you can find these. I bought mine from Toys To Grow On. 

FYI... there are many things we craft for our gnome house that are NOT safe for children under 3. And remember... this is a guideline for choke potential. You may have older children that still put things in their mouths. The age that you share small toys with even older children depends on their maturity.

  

Submitted by Kimara on Tue, 06/15/2010 - 16:24
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Book Nook - Noisy Nora


"Jack had dinner early,
Father played with Kate,
Jack needed burping,
So Nora had to wait.

First she banged the window,
Then she slammed the door,
Then she dropped her sister's marbles on the kitchen floor.

"Quiet!" said her father.
"Hush!" said her mum.
"Nora!" said her sister,
"Why are you so dumb?"

So the tale unfolds. And when a small, middle child doesn't get enough warm fuzzies, she settles for cold pricklies! The story is about a young mouse, Nora, tucked between a baby brother that requires a lot of attention and an older sister that gets it. Your heart reaches out to Nora as her frustration level increases. Finally, she is driven to a rash act, and the family learns a valuable lesson.

Noisy Nora was first published by Rosemary Wells in 1973. The book is still available for purchase, although Rosemary Wells re-illustrated the story in bolder colors and in a larger book format. I LOVE THIS BOOK. Not only is the text fun to read, and the pictures are delightful to parents and children alike, the message is clear; children WILL get attention, whether it is positive or negative. 

Since this is one of my favorite books, I want to turn it into a Book Nook book with a means of extending the story for children's play. The first 2 books I featured, Caps for Sale and Have You Seen My Duckling, both utilized wood cut characters or props. Since not everyone does wood working, I wanted to do something different with this book. Anyone have any brilliant ideas... hey, I'd even take well meaning half baked ideas! So... what would you like to see me do with this story? I have a couple of ideas myself, but it's always fun to be driven by our readers!   

Submitted by Kimara on Wed, 06/16/2010 - 14:07
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What Are They?


So, what do you think this is a picture of? Perhaps cat tail tops? Morels? Owl pellets? A cat's fur ball? No to all of the above. Actually, they are the bodies for Nora, Kate, Jack, Father and Mum from Noisy Nora.

Heeding several suggestions, I decided to make finger puppets, but I couldn't decide if I wanted to wet felt, needle felt or sew them using felt. My final decision... do all three! Figures, right? Anyway... I am sharing this project a little differently than I've shared any in the past. Generally, you do not hear about a project until I'm all done. What you don't know is there are some projects I make that aren't exactly blog worthy. Sure, some of them are close, and later I go back and tweak them to the point that I'm willing to share them, but others fall into the realm of dismal failures and I make a few mental notes and move on, never to revisit the debacle!

This project is different. As I told you at the beginning of the season, I was not going to be sharing as many crafts this summer. The gardens, family and a few non Wee Folk Art projects are claiming most of my time. Add to that a few more exciting outside projects, plus the baby shower AND moving my parents into a condo and I have about 17 minutes to myself all day :) (No complaints, BTW... this is all good stuff!) However... I don't want to go another week without sharing anything while I find time to make my Noisy Nora finger puppets, so I decided to share the project as I make it. But here's the rub... I'm not sure if they are going to turn out adorable (hey, they are in my mind's eye!) or if they'll be one of those dismal failures I mentioned, that you aren't suppose to know about.

So, there you have it. I'm inviting you into the whole creative process. Hopefully, at the end, we'll have something wonderful. But, in the event we don't... you can give me sympathetic words :) Oh, yes. I also have an old Internet friend to introduce you to, and she has a special offer for all our readers. More about that in the first part of the project... felting the bodies. Keep your fingers crossed this all turns out well! 

Submitted by Kimara on Sun, 06/20/2010 - 18:17
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Book Nook - Noisy Nora - Part One


To begin making our little finger puppet mice for our Book Nook Book - Noisy Nora, I made 5 little bodies. Below are the directions. Before I get to that, however, I want to introduce everyone to a super cool lady and her outrageously cute alpacas! I "met" Maple of North Star Alpacas, when I first started Wee Folk Art. I am SOOOOO glad I did. I love working with alpaca roving, and Maple has the best I've ever worked with. I love how long alpaca fur is, making the roving and yarns supple and smooth and super easy to felt. She has beautiful colors and sells many of her rovings variegated. I love it! (BTW... I use the dyed alpaca roving to wrap around the branches in my gnome home to simulate foliage!)

I contacted Maple the other day after I had made the bodies. I just had to sing the praises of her roving yet again. Since I was going to feature her alpaca roving in this project, I asked her if she'd like to give our readers even more incentive to pay a visit to her Etsy shop. She generously offered for all first time customers 25% all yarns (they are gorgeous) and 15% off everything else in her shop. Trust me, you want to stock up. If you are interested in getting some great roving, don't delay. Her stock changes frequently, and if you see something you like, she might not have the same blend again. If you place an order, mention Wee Folk Art at check out and she'll Paypal you the savings as a refund. We've added her button under our Featured Sponsor so it will be easy to get to her shop.

Having said all that, time to move on to making the little mousey bodies. I used one of Maple's variegated rovings, with brown, gray and off white. So fun. Make the bodies so they reach at least below your middle knuckle, but they can be cut down later. I placed the finished bodies on pencils to dry. Make sure they dry thoroughly before you begin step 2... needle felting.
 
Materials:
roving (see comments above)

Break off about a 6" length of roving.

Pull apart the roving so it is thin.

Pull off pieces and wrap around your index finger, making sure to cover your finger tip well. It works best to always wrap in the same direction. It is better to use many very thin pieces of fiber instead of dense pieces.

Wet your finger with warm water and squirt with liquid dish soap.

Begin squeezing and rubbing your finger, agitating the fibers, to create felting. Add more soap and water as needed. 

Before long the fibers will felt. You will know it is done when the fibers feel dense, hug your finger and have an almost sticky feel to them. Rinse your finger.


Place on a pencil and dry upright. This will probably take 24 hours.

BTW... I just started needle felting faces. Here's a little peek. That will be covered in Part 2!



http://www.weefolkart.com
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 - 2010. All rights reserved.

All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.

Submitted by Kimara on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 11:46
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Naked Nora

You know how it is when you get your child's portrait taken and you must go through the agonizing decision of picking 2 or 3 cute poses out of 50?

So you ask a friend... "Which one of these 2 do you like better?"

She responds, "Oh, I thought they were the same."

"Oh, no", you protest, "See, in this one he's just breaking a smile and in this one he's just finishing a smile"!

Well, I wanted to give you a Noisy Nora progress report. I've got all 5 bodies done, with ears and noses, I just need to add arms, tails and face detail. I did finish Nora. Since I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, I included a few. They are different... really :) I've also been working on the clothing patterns for them. Hopefully, I will have Step 2 up in the next couple of days. In the meantime, let me introduce you to Naked Nora!



Submitted by Kimara on Thu, 06/24/2010 - 19:21
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Noisy Nora

I have some bad news to share... Last evening I was working on Part Two of Noisy Nora. I was sitting at the computer, banging away at the keyboard, my two Yorkies were curled up on my crafting table, and the two pups... soon to be 5 months old, were running in and out of the house to our enclosed deck and dog run. Pretty standard fair. Tim turned around and started chuckling.

"Oh, look. Now their playing keep-away with a dried leaf."

"Sweet", I said, absorbed in my writing.

I didn't process Tim's, "Oh no" until it was followed by, "I'm so sorry, Kim."

I stopped what I was doing, and reluctantly looked.

There, in his hand, was the leaf they were playing keep-away with. Only it wasn't a leaf... it was Noisy Nora. As a matter of fact, Father, Mum, Kate and Jack were also missing in action. We found pieces; some in the dog run, some on the deck, a random tail or ear on the family room floor, and we have to assume, the rest of the body parts were ingested!

I remained relatively calm considering I'm a woman on the edge right now. I called Michelle. She said, "Oh... you should post of picture of the decimation."

"No", I said. I would rather Noisy Nora was remembered as she was... full of life and mischief, not this broken and almost unrecognizable mass of matted alpaca fur!"

So, it seems for the time being, Noisy Nora has been silenced. Fortunately, I took pictures of the process, and I have her photos from the previous post to remind me of her and to write up the tutorial. I will get Part Two up shortly. Unfortunately, with my unbelievably busy schedule, I may not get back to remaking the mouse family until the Fall, and I can't make clothing for them until I have little mouses to model for me. If you have been waiting to do this project, at least I'll be able to have a tutorial on making the mice, sans clothing, soon.

Submitted by Kimara on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 16:00
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