How To Make Your Grandchildren Smile

I found this unique Valentine idea at the Crafty Journal blog and had to pass it along! Crafty Journal is my go-to blog when I want to make a quick and easy treat for a grandchild.

DH and I always put $2.00 in the cards we send to our young grandchildren on holidays. This year, they'll get a surprise when they find that "Nanny" has folded their dollar bills into Valentine hearts.

Wine Cork Nativity Tutorial

I had so much fun making these little nativity sets that I thought I'd share a tutorial.

They would be fun to make with grandchildren or in a Sunday school class.

I plan to give mine as little gifts. (Full disclosure: they're so cute, I'm keeping one set for my mantle.)



Why a wine cork nativity? When our friends Anita and Fred downsized to an RV (lucky them!), I was the recipient of a huge bag of wine corks they had collected over the years . . . lots of years judging by the size of the bag!

So I headed to Pinterest for some "wine cork crafts" ideas and found this photo on an Italian blog called Creamamma. It was love at first sight! I knew I had to make these. The blog is written in Italian but Google Translate took care of that. There was no tutorial so I just used the photo and figured out my own way of making the figures.  

 

I started by purchasing a couple of inexpensive packages of small wooden doll heads at JoAnn's Crafts These are optional; the blogger in Italy did not use them. She used champagne-type corks with wide tops but I didn't have enough of those.

I made a platform with thumbtacks sticking up between two layers of corrugated cardboard, set my corks out on it, and sprayed them with white primer. You can skip this step for the nativity but I am planning on painting some of my corks for future projects so I just primed them all.

Then I hot-glued the heads on.

(Children could do this with craft glue.)

I played around with a piece of fabric until I came up with a simple pattern for the felt robes. Here is the shape that worked for me. My pattern is approximately 3 inches tall and 4 inches wide.

I hot glued the felt "robe" to the head first, then just folded the two sides over each other in the front and glued the robe shut. (Oh dear, just realized it looks as if Mr. Winecork is flashing us - pretty funny but totally unintended!)

 

To make the baby, I cut a Q-tip into a piece a little over an inch long and wrapped it in a small square of felt - like you would swaddle a real baby. A little glue holds the "blanket" shut in front.

I glued on a little face out of tiny circle of flesh-colored felt and drew on eyes and mouth with a thin Sharpie. The cradle is another cork cut in half lengthwise; a serrated kitchen knife did the job. Another dab of glue holds the baby in the crèche.

Finally, I tied gold cord around each figure - as a belt on Joseph and around the neck or head for Mary.

These are quick to do.

Once I had the materials together, I was able to make four 3-piece sets in an hour.
 

The set I decided to keep is already on the mantle on a piece of fleece "snow" next to the little LED tree I found at Goodwill yesterday.

 

So very simple and sweet.

 

Enjoy!

This post is linked to:

Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors
So Darn Crafty Party at Sew Many Ways
Show & Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal

Make It Monday at Distressed Donna Down Home

 Link Party Palooza at Tattertots & Jello

Found & Foraged Linky Party at House of Hipsters
Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming by SL
Show & Share at Coastal Charm
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On the Porch

Sewing DIY Play Eggs for Easter

With Easter around the corner, I thought I'd share a quick and easy sewing project I completed for our 3 year old granddaughter, Anna.

 

Anna has a "play kitchen " that she loves so I decided to use up cotton fabric I had on hand to make "play eggs" for it.

 

I simply free-handed a fried egg shape (and a yolk shape too!) on a piece of cardboard to make a pattern, cut out the fabric eggs, and sewed them together. I hoped that Anna would be surprised to find that one of her eggs had a double yolk!

 

A quick trip to Target for plastic "egg shells" and the project was complete. I just folded up the fabric eggs, pushed them into the plastic eggs shells, and lined them up in a plastic egg carton I happened to find at TJ Maxx. A regular cardboard egg crate from the grocery store would have worked just as well.

I really liked this project. Not only was it fun to plan and do, but it resulted in an Easter gift that won't be packed away with the chicks and bunnies...these eggs can be "fried" in Anna's play kitchen all year round.

 

I'm excited that the chair that my sister, Joanne, and I reupholstered was chosen by Rea and Kayla at The DIY'ers Link Party as one of the "favorite 3" DIY projects at their last blog party. Having our "DIY $1200.00 chair" featured on two other blogs (Home for 4 Sweet Home and Home Coming) and Pinterest almost makes up for all the glue gun burns still healing from that project!

 

If you missed the now-a-little-famous "chair post", you can find it here. 

 

Have fun frying up your own fabric eggs!

 

 

This post is linked to:

DIY'ers  Party at Home for 4 Sweet Home

Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life
Wow Me Wednesday at Ginger Snap Crafts

Wildly Original Wednesday at I Gotta Create