Bath Pouf Chick
Create a sweet bath pouf chick for a quick an easy Easter decoration.
This fat yellow bath pouf is perfect for making a soft, fluffy looking chick. And it is so easy to cut out a few parts to make his features.
I had to look a couple of places to find a yellow pouf, but finally located this one in Walmart for $1.00.
What You Need
Yellow Bath Pouf
Orange Craft Foam
Scissors
Hot Glue
What You Do
1. Remove the tag from the pouf and locate the flattest side for the front. If you are going to hang it, make sure the loop is at the top.
2. Make a paper pattern for the beak and feet, and check to be sure they are large enough.
Part of what makes the bath pouf chick cute is the oversized beak and feet.
3. Cut the beak and feet out of orange craft foam. Cut two largish circles from black craft foam for eyes.
You can use the wiggly eyes, but I like the look of the plain black.
4. Use a dab of hot glue to attach the beak first, slightly above the center of the pouf.
5. Attach the eyes above the beak, and try not to let them get too far apart. Eyes that are closer together give a character much more appeal.
I meant for the eyes to be slightly closer, but the right one seemed to wander off to the right a bit.
6. Set the bath pouf chick on its feet to see how you want to position them.
I did one with the feet well tucked under, which makes the chick look like a fluffy ball sitting on his feet.
On the other one, you see more of the feet, which makes the chick look like he's standing.
7. To finish your bath pouf chick, hot glue the feet in place using a dab of glue.
Tips
Don't use too much hot glue, as you don't want to melt the nylon bath pouf or have the glue squish out.
The loop on my chick is at the top, but I tucked it down into the folds so it wouldn't show in the photo.
This chick isn't sturdy enough to be handled a lot by a child. To make it more durable, you may wish to cut the parts out of felt and tack them onto the chick.
Lucky Shamrock Pillow - Just in Time for St. Patrick's Day
Now, even though I'm a wee bit Irish, I still thought I needed to bring a little bit of extra luck into my home with a lucky shamrock pillow. The fact that I got to use some felt was an added bonus.
One thing I liked about this pillow is that I didn't need to do much sewing, just the pillow cover. The shamrock leaves are glued on. So this makes the project an easy, and quick, one. The only sewing I needed to do was the pillow cover. If you used fusible tape, you wouldn't need to sew a thing.
Step 1: Gather your materials
- Green felt, in 2 shades
- Fabric glue
- Scissors
- Card stock to make the leaf templates
- Fabric for pillow cover
- Pencil
- Cut 2 squares out of the card stock, the first 5" square and the second 6" square
- Fold the squares in half drew half a heart using as much of the square as possible
- After cutting long the line, you have your leaves/hearts
- Cut the darker green felt into 6" squares and use the larger template to cut out 4 large leaves
- Cut the lighter green felt into 5 squares and I use the smaller template to cut out 4 smaller leaves
- Cut out a circle about 1.5" in diameter out of the darker felt
- Set aside one piece of the dark green felt about 1" x 6" in size, this will be for the stem
- Cut out the front of your pillow cover out of whatever fabric you want
- Fold the pillow cover in half, finger pressing to create a visible fold
- Fold the pillow in half the other way, finger pressing to create a visible fold
- Unfold and using a pencil, mark the center point. This will enable you to make sure your leaves are centered on the pillow.
- Using the center point, lay out the largest leaves
- Once you have them where you want them, use the fabric glue to glue them down. I glued about 1" in from the edge.
- Lay the smaller leaves directly on top of the larger leaves
- Again, one you have them placed where you want them, glue them down.
- Take the dark green circle and glue it down over the center points of the leaves to hide where they all meet
- Let dry for about hour
- Now that the leaves have been glued down, take the last piece of dark green felt and cut out the stem
- Tuck it under two of the leaves and glue it down
Step 7: Finish your pillow
- I finished my pillow using an envelope back.
by Amanda Formaro
What you need
basket coffee filters
chenille stems (red, white, blue, gold and/or silver)
red and blue watercolor paint
paintbrush
scissors
2 pieces of paper towel or a kitchen towel
Cover table with newspaper, a plastic tablecloth or even an old shower curtain.
Gather your supplies and have them all within arm's reach. Cover kids clothes with a smock or old t-shirt.
Now you are ready to begin making your coffee filter fireworks flowers...
Place one of the coffee filters onto the paper plate and flatten out.
Paint the coffee filter with water color paint. Paint some solid red, some solid blue and others a combination of blue and red, leaving some areas unpainted.
Move the coffee filter to the towel and lay flat to dry. Repeat with the second coffee filter.
Leaving the center of the filter in tact, cut the coffee filter in strips, working you way around the circle.
Cut a 1.5" piece off of one end of a chenille stem and set aside.
Take the longer piece of chenille and poke it through the center of the coffee filter. There should be about 2" of chenille poked through.
Turn the entire thing upside down and grasp the filter with your fingers. Gather it around the chenille and secure it by wrapping the extra piece of chenille stem that you cut off in an earlier step. Twist it around the part you are holding and turn the flower back upright.
Manipulate with your finger until strips are spread out and it looks the way you want it to.
Check out the photo in our forum window. It is only one example. Web site at end of directions.
You have all summer to fine the materials!
Why make a Christmas suitcase? Several reasons:
S T O R A G E - R E C Y C L E - GIFT GIVING
These are the handiest of all my creations. Making a Christmas suitcase from an old useless suitcase into a storage unit for your most valuable ornaments, hand made stockings, linens is a must. The plastic containers sold in department stores do not last or hold up, they crack with time. These hard shell suitcases, such as the Samsonite, are nearly indestructible. I store my best ornaments , in them. I take them out and set them around the tree or fireplace while they are empty. I have sold them to mothers who have wrapped all their individual packages and placed them all in the suitcase and used it, as part of their gift and it replaces the bag.
This is a process that takes only 4-5 hours , any one can do it! For those of you who might be intimidated by complex design elements that I have used on my suitcases why not try this first? Instead of using papers , you can use fabric and just do a simple cover on front and back, apply glitter to the sides,a couple of die cut accents and trim out. Use a medium size hard shell suitcase any color. Step 1: pick out your fabrics. I used a precut Christmas quilting bundle , they were the prefect size. These fabrics had glitters incorporated in them. image The color of your suitcase does not really matter, this is a good time to use one of the duller cases because you will be covering it entirely.
STEP 2:First lay down the fabric, there is no need to iron it as you can smooth it out, I choose different but complimentary fabric for the front and back but you can use the same on both sides if you wish. Use Modpodge
STEP 3:I mixed up a THICK paste of glitters to apply to the sides.This is a quick fix and adds lots of Christmas sparkle!
STEP 4: Make any repairs in the inside with the ever faithful glue gun. In this case the inside side lining had come undone. I simply reapplied it with a extra hot glue stick and gun.
STEP 5: Apply a matching fabric to the inside front bottom. I painted glitter on the sides, and added this cute clear die cut rain deer accent. (glue is drying)
STEP 6:Pick out your trim and apply to edges to finish off your look, I used a charming vintage green loop trim on the edges and added a new red green trim to the outside center.
STEP 7 : Now comes the funnest part, adding your embellishments. You can really add anything, rhinestones, plastics gems, sequin patches. For ease, I put die cut candy canes on the top and three cute Christmas trees on.
Step 8: Once a thin coat of varnish is applied we are finished! I suggest even adding a varnish to fabric as it can be easily cleaned and will hold up much better. However you do not have to add varnish to fabric if you don't want to. This is a fairly simple process. Now you can store your Christmas stockings in this years to come Going to grandmas house for Christmas?, Take this case and be the hit of the party!
STEP 9: yes sign your work and date it, you are an artist , this is YOUR CREATION, BE PROUD OF IT
Clever and fun St. Patty's gift! Pint size mason jar filled with green things ... pins, pen, junior mints, gold coins, plastic shamrocks, card with the Irish blessing on it. Cute.
Saint Patrick would have approved of these little green accessories. According to popular legend, the fifth-century Christian missionary to "heathen" Ireland used a three-leaf clover to explain the Trinity. The shamrock later became the Irish national emblem, proudly worn on Saint Patrick's Day (March 17) to honor the Emerald Isle and its patron saint. This year, add a personal touch: Wear shamrocks of your own design.
Tools and Materials
Cotton fabric
Waxed paper
Paintbrush
Liquid starch
Iron
Scissors
Pencil
Floral wire
Craft glue
Green ribbon
Corsage pins
Shamrock How-To
Choose a mix of cotton fabrics in green solids and patterns.
1. On waxed paper, use a paintbrush to coat both sides of a cotton swatch with liquid starch. Let it dry. Iron the fabric to flatten it.
2. Photocopy shamrock templates to desired sizes. Cut them out, and trace them on fabric; then cut out fabric shamrocks. Crease each leaf in half lengthwise http://www.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/pdf3/shamrockbouttonierres.pdf
3. To make a stem, cut a 4-inch piece of floral wire; fold it in half, and twist it until the ends form a tiny V. Bend the V forward slightly and attach it to the back of each shamrock with a small dab of craft glue. Tie a bow around one stem or a bunch of shamrocks. Use a corsage pin to fasten to your clothing.
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