Giveaway: And the Playscape Winner Is...

Elizabeth...

Elizabeth of Heartfelt Homemaking has 3 lovely daughters and is a dedicated homeschooler, mother, and homemaker!

Congratulations, Elizabeth! My daughter, Laney, pulled your name from the bin and I'll be emailing you to get your address so we can send you the playscape! Hope your daughters enjoy it as much as my girls love theirs :)

Thank you to all who entered! I wish I could give one away to everyone!!!!

Giveaway: A Needle-Felted Playscape!

The votes are in! The playscapes win :)

I love playscapes and they have helped me immensely with my Waldorf inspired homeschool. I can't tell you how many times we have used one of the playscapes in the context of a story for teaching or how many times I have heard little voices playing and peek in to find great adventures happening on the playscape with their little wooden toys.

This playscape features a meadow with a raised mound (where a simple little turtle sits), a stream that deposits into a lake, a cave lined with gold and diamonds where a simple red gnome fulfills his life's work, and a magic tale-telling tree that will come with both deep green 'leaves', and 'autumn foilage so that the playscape can be changed for the seasons, as well (simply remove the 'leaves' for a winter scape). Additional treasures abound in the details (like the purple heather and some little 'apples' that can be placed on the tree during the harvest)!

To be entered to win this beautiful playscape, please leave me a comment with the ages of your child(ren) and their favorite book (or books) and I will post those in a subsequent post.

For an additional entry into the contest, become a follower of my blog (if you are already, LMK that and I'll add your name a second time).

For a third entry, please list your favorite blog (and the category it falls under - general, homeschooling, waldorf, crafting, etc) and I'll post those as a group in a subsequent post!

Good luck to everyone!

The winner will be announced next week on Monday, April 2nd!

Needle Felted Ghost Tutorial - Finally!

'Tis the night when up in the sky

You might see a ghost come gliding by,

Fear not, he is friendly you see

For once he was human, like you and like me!

So finally - here is a very easy tutorial on making some cute Halloween ghosts to hang in your home - or outside on a special Halloween tree! You will only need a few supplies:

~ white wool batting or wool roving
~ a tiny bit of black wool roving
~ a needle felting foam pad (or a thick sponge works, too!)
~ a needle felting needle

I wanted to show the difference between different batches of wool batting. This is from a newer batch and it is great for stuffing dolls. It is very thick and has tiny balls of wool in it...


Whereas this batch below is more like roving, but I also bought it as wool batting. Batting is cheaper than roving, so it's great to use it when you can. If it is too chunky, you can always try to felt it a bit and then pull it apart and I will have more of a long-like sheet which works well for these ghosts.

Step 1: Make a ball.

Place a section of the wool on your mat and start to roll it up, rolling the sides into the center of the ball and then needle felt into place.

Hint: if you'd like to involve your children, this would be a great part for them to do, but instead of needle felting this ball, you would have them wet felt it. There are many tutorials available online that can show you how! This one is quick and to the point and explains how to do it around an existing ball or with just wool (what I recommend for waldorf).

Step 2: Cover the ball with a tuft of wool.

Place it inside of the tuft of wool and hold your fingers around it and give it a few good pokes with the needle so that the outside layer felts to the ball inside. You don't have to overdo it - this ghost looks best airy so less is better - plus the eyes will keep it in place : )

Don't be afraid to really play with the wool and arrange it so that it looks right. Needlefelting and wool is very forgiving so if you make a mistake, you can usually fix it without having to start over!

Once I have the basic shape, I like to give a few punches with my clover needle - you can just use a single needle - this one is just faster as there are five needles in the punch.

Step 3: Put on the eyes (optional).

Waldorf is known for its simplicity, so by all means - if you don't want any facial features on your ghost, skip this part. Just make sure that the ball is securetly needle felted inside the outer layer. If you end up attaching string (covered below) that will hold your ghost together, too!

You only need a tiny bit of black wool. Separate two equal parts and simply roll the wool in your fingers to form a tiny ball.

Then place the ball in the position you'd like the first eye to be.

And needle felt it into place. Be sure you don't push the needle down too hard or it will go through the ghost and you might pull some of the black to the other side so it actually shows on the back of the ghost. The barbs are at the top of the needle, so you never have to go all the way down for it to grab the fibers and felt.

And voila! You're done! Wasn't that easy!

Now, if you'd like to hang them, it's pretty self explanatory, but just in case, here's what I do. Mine will go outside on a tree, so I've decided to use black thread which will be hidden when it's dark outside, giving the ghosts a floaty feel. Double thread it.

Go in from the inside/bottom of the ghost (where you made your initial ball).

Come up through the top and go back down again.

When you come out the bottom, thread the needle through the initial stitch, so that it's actually knotted onto your original stitch. This will help it from sliding off if it gets pulled in the wind or if a child grabs at it.

Then head back up through the bottom to the top once more.

It should look like this.

And then cut the loop and knot it at the appropriate height, cutting off the excess thread.

Now he's ready to fly!

There's no limit to where you can hang them! Whether it's somewhere inside the house, on a tree, or even (one of my fav's) wind it/tie it onto a long stick that your child treasures and they can fly their own ghostie around!

They will twist and turn and spin at even the slightest change of air pressure!

These would make great party favors for anyone having a Halloween birthday party or a class party!

Can't wait to see them when it gets dark out! Until then - happy early Halloween!

Hope you enjoyed!

Back to School Giveaway!!!!!

Well, it's back to school time and fall is just about here in the Northern Hemisphere...so I thought I'd celebrate by hosting another giveaway. This time, the prize is this lovely golden sunflower maiden!


She has been lovingly needle felted in the waldorf tradition using 100% wool roving and batting, coupled with soy silk hair. She's out gathering autumn flowers and turning her face to the sun, like a good sunflower maiden would do!


She would LOVE to come to your house to grace your seasonal table and help bring in this new school season!

If you'd like a chance to win this *original* special girl, who is not currently offered in my shop, please leave me a comment in the comment's section and if you recommend your favorite read-aloud, along with your comment, (either a favorite of your child's or perhaps your favorite one as a child), I will enter you a second time!

Thank you for entering, for taking the time to read and comment on my blog, and for the wonderful loving vibes you all send! Hugs and good luck!

The winner will be announced on Friday, September 10th...

Summer Bees Needle Felting Tutorial

Bees

Buzzing bees, buzzing bees,

Buzzing and bumbling from flower to flower,

Suckling sweet nectar out of the bloom,

To fill with gold your honeycomb bower.

~Paul King

This tutorial goes out to Honey from Mondorfment for her wonderful Sunshine Award nomination :D I haven't done a simple craft tutorial in far too long, so here's a fun and easy one for summer!

Supplies:

- needle felting needle

- needle felting pad or a sponge

- three colors of wool roving (black, yellow, white/cream)

- optional: string or yarn, sewing needle, scissors, twig

Step 1: Take the black roving and roll it tightly with your fingers, securing it with the needle felting needle by jabbing it in several times. The barbs on the needle with help the wool grab onto the other fibers, thereby binding it into your desired shape.

Step 2: Once you have the size/shape of your bee, take a little thin bit of the yellow wool roving and wind it onto the bee in stripes. Needle felt into place. The needle does not need to go *all the way through*, as the barbs are on the very tip. That will also push some of the wool through to the other side and can discolor your project a bit.


Another fun and easy needle felting tool which I highly recommend is the Clover needle felting tool. It has five needles and a safety guard, which makes it a nice tool for younger needle felters. It comes with fine pointed needles, but you can also purchase thicker needles, as well. Shop around for better prices - often found in your local crafting shop!

Step 3: Take your white or cream colored wool and round the edges with your needles, making it into the shape of little wings.


Step 4: Needle felt the wings on.

Voila!

If you have younger children, you can make the bees bigger to make them safer and easier to handle.

***Remember that the wool can be a choking hazard, so please don't give these to little ones under 3 or even those who still put things into their mouths***

Here is a larger bee I made for a 3+ little one from my shop.

Now for a fun *optional* project using your lovely needle felted bees...

Have your child find some nice sticks or twigs on a nature walk. You can sand and polish for fun, if you'd like. These ones are in their natural state...

Thread a sewing needle with some thread or yarn and attach to the bees.

Tip: I like to come in through the top of the bee, hidden by the wings, and then pull it through to the bottom, and come back up again through the wings to make it extra secure. If you just come up through the bottom, your knot might not be tight enough to hold and your bee will literally go flying off the string (probably to the delight of your child - lol)!

These are wonderful as puppets, for plays, free play, nature/seasonal tables, and gifts. The simple shape is a wonderful place to start for beginning needle felters :D

This would also be amazing to add to Grade 3 curriculum when studying the bees!

Hope you enjoy!