Handmade Holidays
Every year is a fantastic year for handmade holidays. This year, especially, is a perfect time for gathering simple supplies and creating little gifts or toys for family and friends. One of a kind gifts are so appreciated! And many of us will be spending even more time at home this holiday season due to the pandemic.
I recently looked for a photo in the archives and found all of these fun ideas that I made through the years with students and as gifts for my kids, friends, and family. The pattern for fairies or crafts is a perfect seed that can grow in many different directions. I collected a few of my favorites here. Our invitation, of course, is to take your inspiration and make it your own :)
I share a photo here with the idea, and which book has the most similar pattern. Some are loosely based on existing projects. Making gifts is one of my favorite seasonal activities.
Child Made Fairies
We made these many years as gifts for students to give their families. Children chose their colors of felt and sequins. I loved the variety and how each fairy spoke to each student. We wrapped them and gave them to a family member so they would stay on the student’s holiday tree (which students appreciated). Of course, they often made another for grandparents :). The fairies are the introductory fairy design found in both books which sparkly pipe cleaners and variegated red/green/white crochet thread.
Oh, and the tree was a cone sold at the craft store that my son painted. When the paint dried, he used a silver pen to draw the stars.
Favorite Characters
Whether your favorites are a certain ice queen, or Santa, you can create storybooks with fairies. For the ice queen, I used the Leprechaun pattern from Forest Fairy Crafts for her dress with curvy lines instead of triangles. Her hat uses star-shaped sequins. Santa was made with the wizard robe from Forest Fairy Crafts. His robe is edged with faux fur, which is visually perfect but super-fiddly, fair warning. If you haven’t tried it before, practice cutting before making your strips to sew on the robe. You need to “part” the fur to clip the underlying cloth. It can be tricky for pushing a needle through depending on how tightly wound the underlying fabric is. I sewed two strips along the front of the robe, not around the neck because the fur is too stiff. You can achieve the same look with white felt edging a red coat. You could even make it shorter to look just like Santa’s jacket. Mrs. Claus can be made with a red and white felt dress.
Children would have a difficult time sewing faux fur. If they’re sewing, I recommend white felt and white sequins. The little pompom on top of his hat was found in a packet of pompoms at the craft store.
I also gave Santa a white shirt and red pants using black thread with the basic fairy pattern. He’s a favorite ornament on our tree now :)
Winter Fairy Ornament
The winter fairies are wonderful ornaments or toys for kids that love a certain ice queen movie. They’re in Magical Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons which has their exact instructions (no modifications necessary).
The Fairy Family
This was a gift for my niece when she enjoyed dollhouses and little worlds. This family featured many of her favorite colors. I’ve given them as well when the fairies matched people in a child’s own family (two brothers or two moms or more children). I even add gnomes to show a baby. You can make the “adult” fairies and “baby” gnomes with either book. The “kids” aka little brother and sister are in Forest Fairy Crafts.
Mermaid Ornament
These are above-and-beyond mermaids I made when my daughter was obsessed with mermaids. A mermaid by herself isn’t that seasonal until you give her a Santa hat. The faux fur is fiddly, and not the most fun for hand sewing, so I wouldn’t expect a child to enjoy sewing with it. The hat looks great with white felt as well if the faux fur is too fiddly. You can make mermaids with the mermaid pattern in Forest Fairy Crafts. I wanted a challenge so I tweaked the mermaid pattern to the curve (currently not in a book). You don’t need a curving pattern to make a cute mermaid ornament for your tree. When I do tweak patterns, I first trace the top of the pattern that needs to math onto a blank piece of paper, then draw the curving tail. I cut that out and hold up to a wireframe fairy body to see if the scale will work, then cut a piece of scrap felt to again see if I like the shape and scale (too small or too big). If it looks good, I cut the final version from the felt I’ll use for the ornament. You can use this technique to adjust just about any pattern to match a new idea.
Hand Sewn Ornaments
These are in Magical Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons, including the shapes for appliqué. You can tuck a tea bag into them for cinnamon or minty scents. These (not as fancy stitching) were one of the first sewing projects we brought into classrooms. They were favorite family gifts. If you do add a tea-bag, they can be gifted as sachets (though don’t get the tea bags wet. Tea will stain the felt).
Angels
You can create guardian angels that can stay on a shelf or hang in a window all year round, or they can be ornaments. I’ve made them with soft highlight colors, like in the photo above, or leaning into silver or gold, like in the photo below.
For the fancy fairy, below, her iridescent wings were at the craft store and I knew they would look amazing on an angel. I added them the same way as I make any other fairy wings winding the thread around her shirt and wings. I added the red heart button on her hat for the love she holds in her heart.
The angel is in Forest Fairy Crafts.
Star Babies
Star babies were a favorite with second-grade students. They were so charming and lent themself to a “wish upon a star” thought to go with the ornament as a gift. With my son, I let him choose a favorite color for his star baby. The star babies that my kids made at school are treasured ornaments (scroll to see a few made by students a couple of years ago). Star babies are in Forest Fairy Crafts.
Christmas Fairies
They may be simple, but they’re still magical. The premise for these fairies is seasonal colors. Red, green, and white for Christmas. With gold bells. They’re a celebration of nostalgic Christmas celebrations. I found the little candy cane in the miniatures section of the craft store. And the fancy ribbon with edging was also in the craft store. The nice thing with fairies is a little of a supply goes a long way. I like the beads because they look like ornaments themselves. The sparkly pipe cleaners are also fun when Christmas lights shine on them. You can find many seasonal petals at places like the Dollar Store. The pattern for Christmas fairies is the basic fairy pattern in both books. The Christmas fairies in the left image are in Forest Fairy Crafts.
Modern or Mod Christmas Fairies
While I love classic Christmas colors as much as anyone, playing with modern colors delights me (or are they retro colors, or mod colors?). Regardless, they’re so fun to play with pink, turquoise, and lime green. The scalloped ribbon was a perfect decorative accent (you can see another shade on the Christmas fairy, above). And you may recognize the star sequin from the ice queen fairy with Santa. You’ll start seeing elements appearing on very different fairies. After all, a little decoration goes a long way :). You can use the flower from Forest Fairy Crafts or spring fairy from Magical Forest Fairy Crafts Through the Seasons with whatever colors inspire your holiday vibe.
Phew, if you made it this far, congratulations! I created galleries below that may inspire you. All of the projects are the same as those mentioned above. I do have more projects that didn’t appear in either book. I’d love to share more for different holidays. And I have more, like the peppermints fairies. More inspirations for other posts. For now, I hope one of these has sparked an idea that could entertain you, and/or your children, in the weeks before the holidays. Once you learn one, it’s easy to make more and more. I’ve heard of people gifting them to local children’s organizations. And one person made quite a few to decorate a tree in the local children’s hospital, that could be gifted to children on Christmas. The holidays are all about sharing magic.
Enjoy!
My favorite holidays are handmade :)
Handmade Holiday Gifts in the Forest Fairy Crafts Books for Decorations and Giving to Family and Friends
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Happy Christmas!
We send happy, sparkling wishes for peace and joy to everyone today. Whether you celebrate Christmas or other holidays, we hope today finds you with family, good health, and delightful laughter.
I love creating fairies all year. Christmas gives me a lovely chance to create glittering decorations.
I adore Fairyland during the holidays :)
Wishing peace, abundance, and love to all :)
Happy Celebrating :)
Child-Made Fairies for Christmas
One of my favorite things about the holidays is making fairies with children. Every student in my class (20 in all) makes a fairy. The boys (and a few girls) are not inspired by fairies, so they make elves. Or angels. Whatever the fairies are called, they bring joy to the season.
Our book was inspired by projects like these fairies. Because families sometimes wonder how their five, six, or seven year old made such treasures. Every little fairy/elf/angel is unique. Reflecting the unique voice of the child.
How does it work?
The directions, with many photographs, are all in our book
What the child does:
- chooses felt and pipe cleaner colors, yarn, sequins, wings
- sews the decorating felt band on the hat, adds sequins and decorations galore
- sews up the back of the hat
- adds beads and bells to the top of the hat
- winds thread (pants or tunic)
- chooses petal skirts
- tries hat on to see how it all looks together
What the adult does:
- makes the body
- draws the face
- cuts the felt
- threads the needle and ties knots
- demonstates (models) the first couple of stitches and how to add sequins
- lets go of expectations :)
- folds hat in half when decorating is done, sews an anchor stitch at the bottom
- models sewing up to the top of the hat (one stitch)
- knots thread for clothing
- models first steps for winding thread (pants or over-shoulder, under arm)
- holds wings until they are attached with winding thread
- clips tiny amount so petal skirts can scoot up the legs
- glues hair and hat on fairy/elf/angel
Of course, this all changes depending on the age and personality of the child. And it doesn't have to be done on the same day. Take breaks. See the little bits of felt and thread come together to create a magical keepsake.
One of our favorite things at the recent craft fair was hearing from families whose students left us five or even ten years ago. "We still have our fairies," they said. On the tree or the table or the mantle.
We still love our fairies :)
Nevada City Craft Fair 2013
We love a good fair! All the lights and festivity make for a delightful day.
We haven't visited a fair in awhile so this was our first time sharing our book with the public.
We share the book often with family and friends. Which is awesome, but seeing the reactions at the fair inspired us! Such lovely responses :)
"Come see the fairies!"
Oh, and us too :)
The best part of crafting is the people. I couldn't do this without Asia! She is magical :).
Creating a little enchanted forest :)
The best part of the day was seeing the forest inspire visitors. So many people will be making fairies and treasure keepers this year! Thank you to everyone who could stop by. We have closed our etsy shop because a lot of our goodies were sold at the fair. And we have new custom orders. Like a ninja-kit. I need to go work on that :)
Happy holidays!
Happy Holidays with Angels
We are so excited to share the season with all of you. And we are dancing-sparkly excited about wonderful news! We love the magical dolls that Margaret creates in her book, Making Peg Dolls
So my friends bought me the book and we were all enchanted. Margaret's projects have a sweetness and wonder that had my very-young son asking me to make that one for him, and that one, Mom, please? While my girl asks for more felt and supplies to make her own tiny flower people and baby chicks.
Peg People and Baby Birds by Margaret Bloom
I sent Margaret a little note thanking her for the pretty book. I wished that I could have met her in person.
We haven't managed to meet in person yet, but, sure enough, our shared love of all things glittery inspired friendship. As we talked about the holidays, we thought that a giveaway swap would be fun.
"Let's make angels," we said.
And what inspiration!
She is giving away my angel so head on over to We Bloom Here to enter. I get to give away one of her darling angels.
We didn't share our design ideas before creating the angels. I think it's fun that we chose the same iridescent pipe clearners. And stars. Great minds think alike :)
I am so fortunate to share this gift with one of you this holiday season.
Angels are appreciated around here all year-round. They bring us peace and hope. They are symbols of light and love. We keep them hanging in little nooks or sitting on shelves by a candle. You can enter to win these angels. You can also make a few of your own! Our books have directions for both of these treasures (and plenty more).
We are delighted to share our angels. All that you need to do is write a comment below and include your email so we can get the winner's address. To enter this give away, please leave a comment below this post, and be sure I have your email so I can get in touch if you are one of the winners. For added fun, you may tell me about your favorite holiday magical tradition. For us, the holidays are full of magic. We love St. Mikulas visiting on December 5. We put a sock behind the curtain. He leaves little sweets on our windowsill. My father was Czech and this is how he held the tradition with us. Each year, finding goodies on a windowsill is simple magic.
Comments for the give away will close at 12:00 noon, Pacific Standard Time, on December 9, 2013. A winner for one peg doll angel will be chosen via random drawing and announced at that time. To enter for the Fairy Angel, head on over to We Bloom Here. Happy Holidays!
Thank you, everyone, for your wonderful memories and comments! We have selected a random winner and are waiting to hear back. Wishing you a lovely day!
Holiday Fairs 2013
Doesn't it seem like the holidays arrive earlier every year? I usually make Thanksgiving my moment to kick into the holiday season, the start of a flurry of activity and fun... It seems like Halloween has become that moment now.
Perhaps because we are in the gifting world- and we love to make gifts and help children make gifts. So we have planned our December. We hope that you can join us at one of these events. We will have books, craft kits, and a few surprises!
We will be at the Yuba River Charter School Winter Faire on Saturday, December 7. We will be focusing on Waldorf crafting here- bringing a lot of natural toy-making supplies like wood buttons and wool felt. You can learn more about this fun event here.
Another new event for us will be the Nevada City Craft Fair on Sunday, December 15. We are excited to share the holiday fun with other artists at the Foundry. And we love the flyer! More information about that fair is here.
The next week will be busy at our school celebration, the Nevada City School of the Arts Winter Revels, on Wednesday, December 12. We love sharing our crafts with the students and parents that have made the crafts in class. They inspired us to write our book :)
We are very busy making all the goodies for these fairs. If you live outside our forest-area, you can always find our Etsy shop. I will be busy updating it (though things may disappear as they are bought locally :))
I also have a very exciting giveaway planned for December. I am not in any rush for the holidays, but I must admit that I do love them!
Thank you for supporting our forest :)
Paper Lanterns
Winter in our Dragonfly kindergarten/first grade class is filled with fun and fancy projects. We are happy to share ideas. These tutorials are quick because we're all busy in the winter season. Feel free to ask questions. Enjoy!
To make these lovely lanterns, watercolor a long piece of paper. When it's dry, draw a line on the back about 1/2 inch from a wide edge.
Fold in half to your drawn line. Fold in half again so you have four sections. Fold up a few inches along the bottom edge to make a base.
Cut along your fold lines on the bottom edge. Draw or trace shapes on each panel. Cut out those shapes to make holes.
On the back, glue tissue paper over the holes to make pretty glowing windows.
Fold the lantern again with the bottom edges overlapping to form the base. Glue along the 1/2 inch extra paper from that first line you drew in the beginning. Tuck that into the lantern to glue the four sides together. Let your lantern dry.
For the handle, we punched two holes and the children finger-knitted a chain to tie onto the lantern. We don't have our own finger knitting tutorial (yet) but I liked this one by Moonbeams and Applesauce. You could also braid or tie a few strings in a bow.
We use battery operated candles inside our lanterns. Fire can be dangerous.
These lanterns are a beautiful reminder of light during these dark nights. We hope you enjoy the crafting.
Many thanks to my co-teacher, Marin, for this gorgeous gift :)