RaNdOm PaGe
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This week: CRAFTINESS!!
Now, this week do some AWESOME CRAFTS!!! Here are a few:
Leafy Door Hanger
By: Amanda Formaro
Difficulty: Easy
Age: 5 & up
Average User Rating:
Parental supervision is recommended
;)
Thanksgiving :
Free Crafts Email:
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–>Celebrate the return of fall right from your front door. Kids will love putting this craft together by getting their hands dirty with finger painting.
You can also get some extra millage out of the materials of this craft by using scraps to create the Patchwork Acorn craft.
Discover other great activities for autumn in our main Fall Crafts section.
What you’ll need:
- 1 large piece of art paper or 2 sheets of white construction paper
- Acrylic craft paint in fall colors such as red, orange, brown, yellow, gold and green
- Scissors
- 15″ twig or branch
- 4- 15″ lengths of jewelry cord
- White craft glue
- Football-shaped cookie cutter (optional)
How to make it:
- Using a paper plate or paint palette, squeeze out about a quarter-size dollop of each color of paint.
- Finger paint the entire piece of art paper with the different colors. Let children be creative, just guide them if they start to blend colors too much as you can end up with a brownish gray color. Let the paint dry completely (see image).
- When the paint has dried, turn the paper over and do the same thing on the other side. Let dry.
- When paint has dried, use a football-shaped cookie cutter to draw out as many shapes as you can on the painted paper. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, draw out simple leaf shapes (see image).
- Cut out the leaf shapes and set the scraps aside to use for another project.
- Set a bug-free branch on the work surface. (See the tips section for methods of ridding branches from bugs.) Line up three pieces of the jewelry cord, evenly spaced from each other, along the stick.
- Glue the leaves onto the cord, placing one under the cord, and then overlapping a second leaf over the first leaf and the cord. Repeat until all three cords have leaves (see image).
- Tie the top end of the cords to the stick. Secure with some white craft glue (see image).
- Tie the remaining piece of jewelry cord to both ends of the stick to create the hanger. Secure knots with some glue. Let glue dry.
- Trim the excess cord ends.
Tips:
- Save the reserved scraps of painted paper for another project. These would be perfect for a mosaic craft.
- Rid twigs of bugs by soaking them in a combination of water and bleach. Fill a bathtub up half way and pour in 2 cups of bleach. Make sure to turn the twigs so all sides are soaked. After 24 hours, transfer the twigs into a large clean plastic bucket and soak in cold water for an additional 24 hours. Let dry completely before using.
- White craft glue is best and safest, but hot glue can be used to attach the cord to the sticks and will adhere faster.
Here is another one:
Autumn Themed Cross Stitch PatternTwo beginner cross stitch patterns for children to make for Fall! The first pattern works well as a bookmark on 8 or 11 count aida cloth (though those counts are a bit harder for the kids to use as the stitches are smaller). The second pattern would make a small pillow on 6 or 8 count aida — just cut a piece of matching fabric to the same size as the finished project, sew together and stuff — add a little bit of cinnamon and/or clove to the stuffing to give it a nice fall scent. Both patterns also makes a nice picture on plastic canvas or 6 count aida (terrific for beginners!).
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| The words on this project require backstitching. If you’re just starting to learn cross stitch, you can skip the words. (For example, on the autumn pattern, you can just cut the words off the pattern template before giving it to the child). |  |
| To learn more about cross stitching (including ideas on how to turn projects into bookmarks, pillows or pictures), check out our “How to Cross Stitch” directions.
When I do these projects with the girls, I encourage them fill in the white backgrounds with white cross stitch instead of leaving it unstitched. The long rows of single colored stitches are terrific practice. But it’s completely up to you! It does make the project take a lot longer. |
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Materials:
- printer
- paper
- embroidery floss:Template 1: Orange and white
Template 2: see the template for recommendations for the colors needed
- feel free to substitute colors!
- If your child wants a red leaf don’t get stuck… just substitute red floss for the orange.
- If you have left over floss lying around you can use that too (ex: black for the words instead of orange)
- feel free to substitute colors!
- Aida cloth with a low number (6 count Aida is 6 stitches per inch while 10 count is 10 stitches per inch… the lower the number, the bigger the project ends up being and the easier it is for a beginner to complete)
OR - plastic canvas
- embroidery hoop (a must! unless you’re using plastic canvas)
- needle (20 or 22 work well, but any that fit 3 strands of floss will do)
Dimensions:
- Maple Leaf pattern (first template)
- 6 count aida: 5.0 x 7.8 inches
- 8 count aida: 3.8 x 5.9 inches
- 11 count aida: 2.7 x 4.3 inches
- Oak Leaf pattern (second template)
- 6 count aida: 6.3 x 6.5 inches
- 8 count aida: 4.8 x 4.9 inches
- 11 count aida: 3.5 x 3.5 inches
Instructions:
- Print out the template of choice (we have two different templates to choose from)
- fold cloth in half and then in half again to find the center.
- place hoop around cloth. Start as close to center as you can
- cut about 18 inch pieces of floss and divide in half (so you have 3 strands of floss to work with)
- Start cross stitching! To learn more about cross stitching, check out our “How to Cross Stitch” directions.
- Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
- Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).
Maple Leaf Template (color) or (B&W)
Oak Leaf Template (color) or (B&W)
