GardenMama

.: Valentine Gnome & Felt Heart Pin ~ Two Part Tutorial :.

This tutorial will share with you a two-part Valentine's Day gift! 

These Valentine gnomes present your loved one with a hand-made heart pin! 

Here is the two-part tutorial for you to follow to make some for your family and friends!

.: Part one ~ Creating felt heart pins :.

With a small piece of cardboard folded in half, trace half of a heart along the folded side.  Next you will cut this folded half-heart shape out completely.  Open to reveal a complete and symmetrical cardboard heart template that will help us in the steps to follow!

Begin by tracing the cardboard heart template twice on each sheet of felt. 
 

Cut out two hearts in each color.

Next take out several complementary colors of embroidery thread.

You can embroider your hearts or leave them plain.  Now begin stitching up your heart and leave a small opening to stuff them with wool.

Fill your felt heart with wool until it is quite full.  We used a knitting needle to ensure the hearts were very evenly stuffed.

Finish stitching up your hearts. Make sure to hide the last stitch by sewing through just one of the felt sheets and tying off your thread inside the heart.

 

Next stitch a pin back onto the (upper) back of the heart. 

.:Set aside your heart pins and prepare for Part II of this tutorial:.

.: Part Two  ~ Creating Valentine Gnomes :.

Set out a pinecone with a thin point to the top of it.  Place a medium-sized wooden bead over the point of the pinecone, securing it with glue.  This will form the head of the Valentine Gnome.

 

Begin by cutting a triangle shape from felt.  This will create your Valentine Gnome's hat.

Wrap the triangle shape around the wooden bead. You can make alterations accordingly until your gnome hat fits.

Now begin stitching up your hat by folding the triangle in half and stitching up the back.

Your gnome hat is now complete.  Secure it to the wooden bead with a bit of glue.

 

.: Securing the heart pin to the Valentine gnome .:

Now take a length of embroidery floss and loop it through your (closed) felt heart pin back.  The long lengths of thread can then be wrapped around the pinecone and tied in the back.  (Leave loose enough so that the heart pin can be taken off to be worn.)

This little gnome is now ready to gift your Valentine with a sweet heart pin that can be taken off and worn while the Valentine gnome visits your nature table!

.: Photo Cairn ~ Tutorial:.

 

Some of the holiday gifts I created this past season were born of a fallen birch tree. The pieces I enjoyed creating the most this year were birch photo holders. 

Inspired by the sea, I decided to fashion a new design for an original card/art/photo holder from the ever-growing ocean stone collection I have gathered from the beaches near our home!

Now we can create a stone card holder just for you! Perhaps it will hold a seasonal card on your nature table, a special photo, or your children's artwork! How about sharing your Etsy business cards in a stone card holder too?

Let's get started!

 

You will need:

Stones, scissors, thin floral wire, wool felt, a small cap to trace, thin marker, and glue.

Begin by cutting an arm's length of thin floral wire. Next, fold the wire in half to double the wire.

With a pencil or knitting needle, create a loop to serve as the actual card holder.

Twist the wire twice around the pencil, making sure it is a big enough loop to hold your photo.

When complete, one side of the loop will hold the front of the photo. The other side of the loop will support the back, sandwiching your photo in the center. You now have the main loop formed that will hold your cards or photos.

Center the wire loop at the top of your stone, while wrapping both the left and right side around the stone to meet underneath.

When your two wire ends meet under the stone, pull tight and make your first twist in the wire.  Twist the wires together neatly and securely.

Next take out the felt. Now find a lid and begin to trace a small circular shape onto the felt.  This circle of felt will next be glued over the twisted wires to form a covering for the wire and a cushion for your table.

Glue the felt circle over the wire and flip the stone over.  Your photo holder is now complete!

 
My favorite part of creating today was when all three children made drawings to feature their own imaginative creations in the newly-created stone photo holders!

Their artwork made this project all the more beautiful and cherished! Won't you make a few of your own and see just what will appear displayed in yours!

Card Sources:  Math Cards ~ Alphabet Cards ~ Seasonal Postcards

.: Creating Milkweed Babies ~ Tutorial :.

.: Two Milkweed Babies laying in their cozy beds! :.

The sunlight streamed through the crochet curtains catching my eye as they cast a gorgeous pattern across the braided wool rug where the new kitten lay curled up warming herself. She has already found the best patch of sunlight in the house.  We also lay curled up in handmade blankets on the couch, feeling the chill of this November morning. We linger a bit longer before heading out into the woods on this crisp November day!

While sitting cozily indoors I dreamt up a new craft I would create to place upon the nature table (and soon to adorn our Christmas tree with!)

.: Running along the fields in search of our old friend Milkweed! :.

Into the woods on this crisp November day we were on a hunt for treasures--Milkweed treasures to be exact! We hoped to meet with our friend Milkweed in the forest today in hopes that we would harvest some of the empty pods that inspire us so richly in our crafting!

.: Finding inspiration from this magical plant! :.

Running through the fields, we spotted many milkweed pods. We were reminded of the fun they have shared with us in days past, as we let each tiny seed baby float along ahead of us--awakened from their cozy beds.

.: A basketful of Milkweed pods harvested today for nature-inspired crafting! :.

We harvested as many pods as we could gather into our baskets and harvested as much inspiration as we could gather from this time together in the woods and in the fields among these magical plants!

 

.: Milkweed shaped seeds cut from brown wool felt :.

From wool felt we cut out our own tiny milkweed seeds in mimicry of those that we met in the fields today.

.: The pipe-cleaner creates the Milkweed's body and the wooden bead creates the head :.

Next we cut a pipe-cleaner and folded it in half, making sure it was the same length as the Milkweed pod that it will soon rest inside.

We placed some glue into the opening of a medium-sized wooden bead and pushed the pipe-cleaner through, making a Milkweed Baby head and body.

.: Wrapping the alpaca fiber around the pipe cleaner to wildcraft 'Milkweed Babies' :.

We then took some luxurious alpaca fiber and wrapped it around the pipe cleaner, making sure to leave the ends hanging in wisps to mirror the fibers of the milkweed.

.: Lining the pod with glue to secure the Milkweed Baby into her cozy bed :.

We lined the Milkweed 'bed' with glue and placed our milkweed baby into her cozy bed to make sure she would not float away but rather settle in for a long winter nap!

.: Glue each small seed across the fibers to create a nature-inspired look! :.

Next we glued the wool felt Milkweed seeds onto the alpaca fiber, creating a realistic look for our Milkweed Baby! 

.: Some of you may remember these Milkweed Pod ornaments I made last autumn! :.

.: I envision our Christmas tree holding many "Milkweed Babies" strung from green velvet ribbons from the pod's stem! :.