Fun but messy Valentine's Day project for your Tot

So today my 2.5 year old and I have been having fun in the kitchen with a messy, sticky art 

project for Valentine's Day and I decided to share it with you! This is a great project for kids that like to get messy (ie. mud pies, play dough, etc....things that "squish") and is a great project for using up small scraps of yarn or ribbon. You could use this same project for Easter or for Christmas by changing the colors of yarn and the shape of the cookie cutters! For this project, you'll need:

• 1 jar (only part of it actually) of Mod Podge or a bottle of plain white school glue
• A bowl or plate you don't mind getting "gluey" (we used a paper plate with a rim)
• A cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil or waxed paper (parchment would also work)
• Cookie cutters in choice of shapes (we used hearts for Valentine's Day
• Various scraps of yarn or ribbon in 1-2' lengths or shorter
• If making into a card, you'll need card making supplies like cardstock, stickers, etc
• If making into an "ornament", you'll need a length of ribbon or yarn for hanging your "ornament"

To start with, place your cookie cutters on your foil/paper covered sheet pan. Now, pour a puddle of your adhesive onto your plate/bowl. If using school glue you may want to water it down a bit since it will be thicker. Now comes the fun but messy part... Let your tot put the pieces of yarn/ribbon into the puddle and squish it all around! Make sure the yarn gets thoroughly coated in the adhesive mixture. Now, take the strands and run them through your fingers to remove any excess adhesive and then swirl into the inside of the cookie cutters on the cookie sheet. This is "artistic placement" so feel free to swirl and swizzle to your heart's (no pun intended!) content! Once you're satisfied with the number of strands in the cookie cutter, press down lightly to make sure the strands stick together and then lift the cookie cutter and move to another spot to continue making your shapes.  Allow to dry for several hours or overnight until thoroughly dried and stiffened. You can now make them into any number of things. Use them to decorate packages, as decorations on cards, as ornaments...the uses are endless! We're going to use them on the front of the Valentine's Day cards we send to her grand/great-grandparents! I'll post a picture of the finished cards when I complete them...

Pinecone Bird Feeders with a Toddler

Pine Cone Bird Feeders with a Toddler

So this fall my in-laws gave me a bag full of extra-large pine cones they had collected, knowing I would come up with something crafty to do with them. And so what better project to use them for than as a handmade Christmas gift, made by my 2 year old daughter, her daddy and I, that we can give back to them (and to her other grandparents). I had her daddy take pictures as we made them so we can also share the photos of her making them with her grandparents. 

Now, this is a MESSY project, so to start with I recommend you either do this project outside where you don't care if there's a mess, or do like we did and put a tarp or large blanket down that you can get messy on and then take outside to shake out. I have a "picnic blanket" kind of thing that we put down because it was too cold outside to do this outdoors. You'll also need some sort of large open pan (a roaster, disposable or otherwise, works well) or box to put the birdseed in. We used the box from a flat of bottled water for ours. And you'll need a large bowl, large spoon, disposable gloves (if you don't want messy hands), a large jar of peanut butter, a bag of regular yellow cornmeal, some kitchen twine (or other strong string) and a bag of birdseed. You want birdseed that's mostly small pieces, not all sunflower seeds, etc. because it won't stick as well.

First step is to put down the tarp. Then, cut some lengths of twine and tie them to the fat end of the pinecone. Hubby did this for me. Leave them untied at the end so they can then be tied to a tree limb.  Meanwhile, mix peanut butter and cornmeal in a large bowl until the consistency of cookie dough. You'll want it a little sticky so the bird seed will stick but not so creamy that it just smears onto the cone. 

Mixing the "dough"

Once you have this mixed up, pour your bird seed into whatever container you're going to use for rolling and you're ready to go. Because my toddler is only 2, and doesn't particularly like having messy hands (doesn't like mud, etc. on them), I handled the "dough" part, but if your toddler likes squishing things, let him/her do the "squishing". Just take a handful of the peanut butter "dough" and squish it in between the tines of the pinecone. Make sure to pack it in pretty tightly and then round it with your hands.

"smooshing" it into the pinecone

Once the pinecone is covered with the "dough", place it into your pan/box of bird seed. Now, roll it all around, coating it in bird seed.

Covering with bird seed

Make sure to pat the bird seed in well so that it doesn't just fall off. You want it to adhere very well to the "dough".

Patting it in

Fun with bird seed

After they're all covered, lay aside to dry on a sheet pan or drying rack. This will help them "set". Then just bag them up and they're ready to go.  We put ours in "non-zip-top" plastic storage bags and then twist-tied them closed. Give them as gifts or use them yourself in your own yard (we don't have any trees, thus no birds, so are giving them as gifts). Tell the recipient to just tied the cone outside to a tree branch where they'll be able to see the birds come and feast. The peanut butter and cornmeal are good foods for the winter as of course is the bird seed and even the pine cone is a tree as some birds enjoy the seeds found deep inside the cone. The best part is, this project is 100% biodegradable so no need to clean up or throw away any part of it. Enjoy this fun project and have fun getting a little messy!

Final product

Q.D. Patooties: Super Pig to the Rescue - A New Sock Character!!!

Q.D. Patooties: Super Pig to the Rescue - A New Sock Character!!!

Oh my gosh, isn't this just the cutest! Gotta make this one!

Most recent projects

Ok, so I thought I'd post about what my most recent crafty projects have been.

The first one that I completed a couple of days ago is for my mother-in-law...

So Mom, if you're reading this...STOP! You'll ruin the surprise! :)

It's a Christmas gift that I made for her. They live in DC, and I know it's not as cold there as some parts of the country, but it still gets a little bit chilly and is a lot colder than here in South Texas, so I thought about making her a hat and scarf for Christmas. Problem is, she's allergic to a lot of things, including wool, and most of the yarn that I use for scarfs, etc. is wool based. So, I went searching and found this great yarn made of organic cotton. It's from Lion Brand and is called Nature's Choice Organic Cotton. I picked it up in the Bark color, which is kind of a khaki/tan shade.



Lion Brand Organic Cotton-Bark

Then I found some great yarn from Bernat in their new Natural Blends line. It's a bamboo/acrylic blend called Bernat Bamboo which I picked up in the Linen color.



Bernat Bamboo Chunky Yarn-Linen

So I combined one strand of each yarn and used my small Knifty Knitter long loom (the pink one) to make a double-sided (wrapped figure 8 style) scarf. The bamboo yarn is so soft and the cotton is pretty fluffy. Together they make a wonderfully thick scarf. I added some fringe to the ends and it was done.

Next I took those same two yarns and started on the hat. The first hat I did was based on a pattern which used a much thicker yarn (one of the thick n' quick kinds) and even with double-stranding, it didn't work out well for a warm winter hat. The pattern is great though and I'll be doing it again. In fact I plan to keep the first hat I made for myself since here we don't need the extra warmth necessarily :) The pattern itself is from one of the "Learn to Knit on Circle Loom" books and has the basket weave top. It's very pretty, just too "loose" for warmth.

So I started again, this time with my round yellow KK loom. This one was a simple e-wrap stocking cap which I created a brim on. It's nice and snuggly warm as well as soft. Hope that Mom will like them both :) I'd post a picture, but don't want to totally ruin the surprise, so those will have to wait for after Christmas :)

Next, I attempted to create a pattern for a felted cd carrier. We picked up a cute Dora the Explorer cd player for my niece Kayla (who'll be two in a couple weeks!) and since she's little, she tends to drop it occasionally. It's not an expensive thing (purchased on clearance at WalMart for $13), but I figured if I could make a felted cover for it, so much the better. I've got that project ready for my next "hot" load of laundry. Basically I created a three layer woven circle by following the basket weave technique from the hat I mentioned above but beginning with four rows of e-wrap stitch followed by three rounds of basket weaving (in three different directions) and completed with one row of knit stitch and the bind off. The funny thing is, it looks a little like a "tam" hat right now! I'm anxious to see how the felted result will come out though. If the felted result is good, I'll make another one and stitch the two together for the case. Will post a pic when I'm done felting it.

Right now on my loom are two projects. On the smaller pink KK Long loom is a guitar strap for my guitar. It's being made out of Paton's SWS yarn in some shades of purple and will be felted when completed. I took a dark purple SWS and e-wrap knitted several rows, then switched to a variaged SWS and am doing stockinette stitch on this portion. Will finish with the dark purple before felting. Should be nice and strong as well as pretty :)

The second project is a sweater for my niece. I'm doing it in a purple version of the Homespun from Lion Brand. It's a "hooded sweater" pattern I got online and should be really cute. The front and back panels, the pocket and one sleeve are done. Just have to finish the second sleeve and make the hood. She's already seen part of it and just kept saying "soft!" over and over :) Cute!!! I'll put up a pic when I finish it as well as hopefully one of her wearing it once I give it to her.

I also made cards for our Fall/Halloween card swap and am currently working on the Thanksgiving swap cards. These I'm doing using a cornucopia rubber stamp which I stamped in Staz-on onto watercolor paper. Then I spritzed it with walnut ink and "dabbed" the torn edges of the watercolor paper with the walnut ink dilution as well. Now I'm using watercolor pencils to shade the stamped image. They will then be mounted on a diamond-folded mat which will be matted on another piece of colored paper (perhaps the "crepe" paper by Martha Stewart that I got at Michaels...) and then mounted on the front of some kraft notecards. Will post a pic when complete :)

So, that's it for me right now... Quite enough at one time I'd say!