This paper heart mobile is just about the easiest mobile you could make and turns out so very pretty!

If you’re looking for a sweet little gift to make for a new baby’s nursery, or decoration ideas for a Valentine’s party, this is the post for you! You can make this mobile in no time at all and since it is mostly made with paper it’s also very inexpensive, and you might just have everything you need on hand already!

making hearts using paper punch or die cutting machine

I used a paper punch to cut out the hearts for the mobile – there are many options for paper punches out there. You can check out options at craft shops such as Michael’s, art supply stores or of course, Amazon.

For my birthday I was so fortunate to receive a Cricut Maker die cutting machine (so grateful, yet a bit terrified at the same time!) and so for my very first project I decided to stick to something really easy and manageable whilst learning how to use the machine – a page of hearts similar to the ones I cut out with my old paper punch. So happy to say, they were a success!

If you have access to a Cricut machine and would like to use my heart page SVG, please see the bottom of this post to get a copy. Personal use only, please! Not to be copied and redistributed anywhere else (for free or purchase), thank you.

paper options

I made the mobile above with hearts gradating in colour from light at the top to dark at the bottom and the supply list will reflect that. You can choose whatever pattern and colours you’d like, of course! Experiment with different kinds of paper, or make from recycled materials such as magazines or pretty packaging paper – anything goes, really!

what you will need to make a paper heart mobile

• Cardstock – 6 shades from light to dark – made mine with lightest pink to red
• Mobile ring – I used a gold one with a 9 inch diameter – found at craft or bead stores
• Twine – Two lengths of twine that are 50 inches long each
• Baker’s twine – I used pink and white – cut eight – 16 inch strands
• Paper heart punch
• Hole punch with capability of punch small holes – I use a leather punch
• Alternately, use Cricut die cutting machine instead of paper punch + hole punch
• White glue (optional)

paper heart mobile tutorial

Making the paper hearts

1. Choose six shades of cardstock – I chose varying shades of pink and red. Cut out paper hearts (either using a paper punch or Cricut machine) – you will need six hearts in each shade. Feel free to add more or less, depending on the look you’re after!

2. Punch two small holes vertically on each heart. I use a leather punch that works really well for this, but if you don’t have one, you can also just make holes using a large needle or an awl.

Alternately, if you don’t have a paper punch and would like to cut hearts on a Cricut die cutting machine, please see the bottom of this post for my free paper heart SVG. If cutting hearts on a Cricut, the centre holes will be made for you.

After all your paper hearts are ready to go, gather all other supplies – metal hoop, baker’s twine, natural twine, scissors and white glue (optional).

Making mobile base – attaching twine to hoop

We’ll start making the mobile by attaching the natural twine to the metal hoop.

1. Cut two lengths of natural twine that are each 50 inches long.

2. Wind the twine around the hoop 3-4 times, leaving a few inches for tying. Tie a knot and then another knot to secure. You can add a little dab of white glue to further secure the knot and keep it from sliding out.

3. Attach the other end of the twine across the hoop from the knot you just tied. Secure in the same way as the first knot.

4. Attach the second piece of natural twine on the hoop at a 90 degree angle to where you tied the first two knots, so you will have knots equally spaced around the hoop, ensuring the mobile will balance.

You will now have twine tied on four points around the hoop (image below)

5. Gather the twine together so that the pieces are even and then tie a knot so that you make a loop at the top that is about 2-3 inches long. This will be the hanging loop for the mobile.

Once tied, the top loop will look like the image below.

making strands of paper hearts & attaching to mobile

1. First decide if you want your hearts to go from light at top to dark at the bottom, or vice versa. Whichever you’d like at the bottom, you will thread that colour on first.

Thread your needle with a 16 inch strand of baker’s twine (for 12 inch length when finished + 4 inches for tying onto hoop) and make a knot in the end that is large enough it won’t go through the hole (will need to make knots on top of one another to make a larger knot).

2. Start by coming through the back of the heart in the bottom hole and then back in through the top hole.

The first heart should look like the above image, with the knot at the back of the paper heart.

3. Add on another paper heart in the same way as you did the first, by pulling the baker’s twine through the back and then into the top hole toward the back again.

4. Continue adding on hearts until you have as many of each shade as you’d like. I did 6 hearts for each strand, going from dark at the bottom to light at the top.

5. Continue making strands of hearts until you have eight strands total, or however many you’d like on your mobile!

6. Now you’ll tie each strand onto the mobile, between the places where you tied on the natural twine for hanging. I placed two strands per quadrant. Tie the stands on in the same way as you tied on the natural twine. You can add a little spot of white glue on each knot to secure it.

Your paper heart mobile is complete! Now find a lovely place to hang it or give it away to someone you love and warm their heart today

Please remember, if hanging mobile in baby’s nursery always make sure to hang well out of reach of baby or other young children.

hearts svg for cricut Maker

To save the SVG, please click on the image and once the image opens, right click on the image and save it to your computer. Please scroll down for more info regarding making the paper hearts on a Cricut.

When making the hearts on a Cricut, I made the canvas size 8 x 10 and used an 8.5 x 11 inch paper (US letter size). (See image below)

When selecting material size, select 8.5 x 11 in (Letter) in the ‘Material Size’ dropdown. I used the standard grip mat (green mat).

Clove orange pomanders are so fun to make and are a lovely way to make your home smell festive and fresh! I remember my mum making orange pomanders when I was little and loved having one sitting prettily in a glass dish on the piano at Christmastime, greeting us with it’s lovely scent coming in the house on wintry days.

There are a number of ways you can make clove orange pomanders and I’ll detail a few options in this post, so you can try your hand at making whichever strikes your fancy! Not only do clove oranges smell delicious, but you can also create pretty festive bowls to display them in and add a lovely natural touch to your holiday décor this season.

what is a clove orange pomander?

An orange clove pomander is a decorative ornament made by studding an orange with whole cloves. To make a pomander, you’ll need an orange, a package of whole cloves, and an awl, needle or other pointy instrument to poke holes in the orange so you can easily insert the whole cloves.

Start by poking the awl or needle into the orange to create a small hole, then insert a clove into the hole. Repeat this process until the orange is completely covered with cloves. The pomander will release a pleasant, spicy scent as the orange dries out.

To create a more decorative pomander, you can also add ribbon or other embellishments to the orange once it is covered in cloves. Pomanders are often used as holiday decorations, but they can also be hung in closets or drawers to add a pleasant scent to the air as well as to ward off pests such as moths (who dislike the smell of cloves).

using other citrus fruits

Not just reserved for oranges, you can also use other citrus fruits to make pomanders! I’ve used clementines to make smaller pomanders to hang on the Christmas tree and you can use lemons, limes, tangerines, etc. as you can easily stick cloves into these and they dry similarly to oranges.

4 decorative pomander ideas

Here are a few ideas for how you can make a variety of different clove orange pomander balls. Scroll down for details on how to make each type.

• COVERED – Completely cover with cloves, add twine through centre of fruit for hanging.
• RIBBON WRAPPED – Wrap a ribbon or cut a thin length of linen to wrap orange, leaving some parts of the orange showing. Add cloves to the uncovered parts.
• CARVED DESIGN + CLOVES – Use a tool to scrape off parts of the orange rind so that the white of the pith is showing beneath. I found using a lino-cut tool is really great for this, but you can also use the corner of a zester or other sharp instrument to a similar effect. You can then dot cloves along the design you’ve created.
• DECORATIVE DESIGN USING CLOVES – Make a decorative design over the surface of the orange – as simple or complex as you’d like! Using an elastic band around the orange is very useful for keeping your lines straight. A scrolling design is also quite lovely.

#1 – clove covered orange pomander

what you will need

• Firm, ripe orange, clementine or other citrus fruit
• Awl, needle or sharp instrument for making holes
• Whole cloves
• Twine for hanging (optional)
• Large needle (optional)

Step 1. If making a hanging ornament, start by cutting a long piece of twine and threading large needle with it. Going from the bottom of the fruit, push the needle all the way through from one side to the other and then back down and through, so your needle comes out close to where you went in. Make a knot at the top and tie a bow at the bottom.

Step 2. Using your awl or needle, poke a few holes in the fruit and begin placing cloves in the holes. Continue until the entire fruit is covered.

Hang on your tree for a lovely scented ornament or year round in the closet to repel moths.

#2 – Ribbon wrapped orange pomander

what you will need

• Firm, ripe orange, clementine or other citrus fruit
• Awl, needle or sharp instrument for making holes
• Whole cloves
• Ribbon or narrow length of linen or cotton – length will depend on the size of the fruit

Step 1. Start by wrapping your ribbon around the orange so that you go over the orange and down the sides, cross the ribbon at the bottom side and come up to the top again. Tie the ribbon in a bow at the top.

Step 2. Begin making holes in the orange at the parts not covered by ribbon. Place cloves in the holes, continuing until all exposed parts of the fruit are covered.

Note: If you find that the juice of the fruit is messing your ribbon as you work, alternately you can make light pencil outline at the edges of the ribbon, remove the ribbon and add all the cloves, then retie the ribbon once all the cloves are in place.

Add an extra ribbon at the top for hanging by looping under the top of the ribbon already in place then hanging on the tree or on a doorframe, etc.

Another display idea is to place your clove orange pomander in a dish to display along with other festive natural items such as pine, boxwood, cinnamon sticks, anise, etc.

PLEASE NOTE: Oranges that are not completely covered with cloves are slower to dry out and risk molding rather quickly. To lessen the chance of your pomanders getting mold, you can add make your clove design, then place the orange in a paper bag to dry out for several days. Once the orange has dried you can then add ribbon and hang up.

#3 – Carved design with cloves orange pomander

what you will need

• Firm, ripe orange, clementine or other citrus fruit
• Awl, needle or sharp instrument for making holes
• Whole cloves
• Lino-cut tool or citrus zester
• Elastic bands
• Pencil for marking

Step 1. If you wish to make straight lines of cloves on the orange, place an elastic around the fruit to use as a guide for placing the cloves. Use the awl or needle to make holes and then push the cloves into the holes. On the example below, I made one line of cloves around the centre and then made swirl lines using the lino-cut tool.

Step 2. Using a zester or lino-cut tool, make patterns and designs by cutting shallow lines into the peel.

Step 3. Place cloves along the lines you made with your cutter or zester.

Make a pretty and festive display by placing a bit of raw wool in a wintry bowl or mug and placing the pomander on top, then tuck bits of natural elements such as lavender, holly, boxwood or pine behind the orange. Add anise, bells, cinnamon sticks, etc. to the bowl for a beautifully scented, festive presentation.

PLEASE NOTE: Oranges that are not completely covered with cloves are slower to dry out and risk molding rather quickly. To lessen the chance of your pomanders getting mold, you can add make your clove design, then place the orange in a paper bag to dry out for several days. Once the orange has dried you can then add ribbon and hang up.

#4 – Decorative design orange pomander

For this orange pomander idea, you will make a pattern over the surface of the orange using cloves. You can make a freehand design or if you like a bit more of a plan, try using a pencil to lightly map out your design on the surface of the orange peel.

what you will need

• Firm, ripe orange, clementine or other citrus fruit
• Awl, needle or sharp instrument for making holes
• Whole cloves
• Pencil for marking

Step 1. Map out your design idea. Swirling patterns look particularly nice, though radiating straight lines can look just as lovely! You can use a pencil to lightly mark the design or gently scratch the surface of the peel using a needle.

Step 2. Begin punching holes along your pattern lines and placing cloves in the holes. You can space the cloves either close together or further apart, depending the look you’re after.

Display your pretty patterned orange in a wintry mug or bowl with other festive elements such as pine branch bits, boxwood, berries and anise.

PLEASE NOTE: Oranges that are not completely covered with cloves are slower to dry out and risk molding rather quickly. To lessen the chance of your pomanders getting mold, you can add make your clove design, then place the orange in a paper bag to dry out for several days. Once the orange has dried you can then add ribbon and hang up.

These DIY Halloween treat bags are so fun and easy to make and are great for filling with candies to give to friends and reuse again next year!

I made my bags by cutting pieces of muslin and cheesecloth that were about 5 inches x 6 inches, sewing the top edge and then sewing around three sides to create a little baggie.

Then just stamp with either store-bought Halloween stamps or make your own with my DIY Linocut Stamp tutorial! These are a great project for kids to get creative at Hallowe’en and they’ll love giving out their handmade creations to all their friends.

to jump to diy treat bag tutorial, please click here

how to make diy treat bags

what you will need

• Small muslin or cheesecloth bags (or make some of your own!)
• Hallowe’en stamps
• Black ink pad
• Baker’s twine
• Hallowe’en tags (if using)
• Treats!

1. Gather all supplies and make up little bags by cutting 2 pieces of muslin or cheesecloth (I made mine 5 inches by 6 inches), sew along the top edges, then with right sides together, sew along three edges to form baggie. Trim seams and corners, turn right side out, and you’re done! These are pretty quick to make up, but you can also buy some small blank bags if you’re short on time!

2. Gather your stamps and ink pad and start stamping your designs!

Don’t worry if your stamping isn’t perfect, I think it adds to the rustic nature of the project

3. Once you’re happy with your stamped design, cut a short piece of baker’s twine, and add a little gift tag if you’d like.

3. Wait a little bit to make sure your ink is dry, though I found it didn’t transfer even when I touched them right away. Then have fun filling with yummy Hallowe’en treats!

Have fun giving out to all your favourite little witches, ghosts, and goblins! Not sure if any child dresses as a witch, a ghost or a goblin anymore, but I couldn’t think of anything that had quite the same ring

My 2 year-old son is completely enamoured with the NumberBlocks – an animated British TV series that has cute characters and songs to help kids learn about numbers and math. This show does wonders if you’d like your little one to be comfortable with math as it really is a wonderful approach to helping them learn in a fun way!

My little one has been watching the show on YouTube for a few months and is now a little number machine, haha. He can recognise numbers up to 100 and often even recites some of the addition and multiplication facts he’s seen on there, much to our surprise! Beware though, those catchy little songs will get completely stuck in your head, so prepare yourself to have random number songs running through your head non-stop when you wake up in the middle of the night!

I wanted to come up with a craft that we could do involving NumberBlocks as I knew it would hold my son’s interest and we’d have some fun NumberBlocks characters to play with afterwards.

When I started making this I thought, okay simple NumberBlocks craft, this should take no time at all! Now, the craft itself is very simple – just a bit of cutting and pasting! But in creating the craft, I went and drew allllll the bits of each character in Affinity Designer and that took an absolute age.

My little guy, Arthur, spurred me on to keep going with them, as when I was done one, I’d show him and his little face would light up as he recognised the character – “One!” and then immediately after “I see 2?”. haha. I drew the line at 10 though. Phew.

Anyway, happily they’re all done (a week later!) and I have a printable for each NumberBlocks character from 1 to 10! Yay!

You will need some coloured construction paper for each character. The printable PDF download includes a template for each number, along with the faces and limbs to print, cut out, and glue on each one.

I hope your little ones enjoy them and have fun learning their numbers along the way!

numberblocks craft

This is a simple cut and paste craft for kids. They will practice counting by pasting the squares onto the template and afterwards will have some fun NumberBlocks characters to play and learn with!

Make them all, or just the favourites! I’ve also included a printable page with the numbers 1-100 as well as the symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and equals so kids can practice their math skills.

If your kids are very small, an adult will need to help a bit with the cutting and pasting!

The PDF printouts will tell you how many coloured squares you will need for each character.

what you will need

• NumberBlocks PDF printout
• Coloured construction paper or cardstock: light purple, dark purple, light blue, green, yellow, orange, red, white, grey.
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Corner rounder (optional)

Numberblocks printable Activity Book

If your little one enjoyed this cut & paste activity, they might also enjoy my NUMBERBLOCKS Activity Book featuring all their favourite NUMBERBLOCKS friends – a fun and educational activity for little ones!

Includes one PDF file with 11 delightful Numberblocks colouring pages + 4 pages of interactive questions you can complete with your little learner!
Pages for all the Numberblocks from One to Ten – each Numberblock page has imagery relating to their number to help your little one learn!
Cover page includes Numberblocks 1-10 and space for little ones to write their name.

NUmberblocks Colouring Fun

Numberblocks Colouring Book – 24 Colouring Pages!

Includes one PDF file with 24 delightful NUMBERBLOCKS colouring pages
Pages for all the NUMBERBLOCKS from One to Twenty – plus a page with each of: Big Tum, Blockzilla, Octonaughty and The Terrible Twos!

I thought it would be fun to make a little snowman to add to our decorations this year and ended up making a whole family! Here is a simple tutorial for making toilet roll snowmen – a really simple and fun holiday craft for kids, or for anyone really!

When making crafts I always like to try and use materials that would otherwise be thrown away, so for these I used toilet paper rolls, sweater scraps and little bits of saved wrapping paper and cardstock. I was thinking that for the crowns, it would also be nice to use old Christmas cards – I have a stockpile of cards from past years that are just too pretty to throw away!

Inspired by a crown-wearing little jar snowman my son made in Kindergarten and by our family’s Christmas tradition of wearing the paper crowns that come in our Christmas crackers (it’s a British thing!), I thought these wee ones would look so cute with crowns too!

I wanted little short and stubby snowmen, so I cut notches in the top of the roll and folded down the segments and then glued them – you could just leave the rolls as they are if you’d like taller snowmen.

Please continue down this post for a detailed tutorial on how to make these wee ones!

how to make toilet roll snowmen

what you will need

• Toilet rolls
• White, pink and black acrylic paint
• Paintbrushes – one larger, one small
• Orange pipe cleaners
• Colourful cardstock, or any small bits of gift wrap or even an old Christmas card!
• Scraps of old sweaters or fabric
• White glue
• Pencil + ruler
• Scissors

To make the scarf: using a scrap of old sweater, cut a rectangle that is 10.5 inches long by 1 inch wide. Cut the ends on a diagonal and then make tiny snips in the end to make a fringe. Set aside.

To make the crown: Cut out a rectangle of cardstock (or whatever paper you’re using) that is 6 inches long by 1.5 inches tall. Cut triangles out of the top to make the crown shape. For the blue crown above, I also used a small paper punch to decorate it with some tiny stars. Set aside.

To make the carrot nose: cut 2 pieces of orange pipe cleaner that are 2.5 inches long. Fold each piece of pipe cleaner in half.

In the top third of the toilet roll, at the end that you glued, punch four small holes using a large needle or an awl.

Insert the ends of one pipe cleaner into one set of holes, then do the same with the other, placing it on top of the first one. Push them in until they’re the length you want your ‘carrot’ to be. You can fold over the ends on the inside of the roll to secure them.

Painting the face: Now for the finishing touches! Using black acrylic paint and small brush, paint some eyes on your snowman. Then using pink paint, paint some rosy cheeks if you’d like… I don’t know why but I always seem to add rosy cheeks to things I make…even snowmen!

Adding the crown & scarf: Let the paint dry, then apply a bit of glue around the bottom edge of the crown and stick it around the top of the head.

Tie the scarf around just under the carrot nose and slide the knot to one side.

I also added a little punched heart on a couple of the snowmen… then the punch malfunctioned and it turned into more of a heart imprint for the others!

Et voilà! You have a sweet, wee little snow-being!

I had way too much fun creating little wintery-scenes with these guys

This is a very simple craft to do with kids to teach about Remembrance Day. Using just an egg carton, some pipe cleaners (chenille stems) and a little paint, you can make a lovely poppy to display for Remembrance Day or make a few to put in a vase if you just love poppies (as I do!).

Teachers – if you’re using this for your class to make a poppy wreath, 1 egg carton will make 4 poppies (each poppy takes 3 ‘egg cups’), so for 30 students you will need 8 egg cartons all together ( I’m sure you could have worked that out on your own!)

how to make a simple egg carton poppy craft

what you will need

• Egg carton – use 3 ‘cups’ to make one poppy
• Green chenille stems (2 per poppy) or thick floral wire
• Green cardstock or construction paper (if not using egg carton top for leaves)
• Acrylic paint + brush
• Something to poke a hole such as an awl or big needle
• Glue (optional)

Egg carton poppy tutorial

Cut out 3 egg cups by cutting along the dividing line between the cups. (At the bottom left you can see how the cups will fit together once cut).

Cut around the top of one of the cups so you’ve cut the jagged bits off.

Cut 4 ‘V’ cuts to create ‘petals’ and round off the edges of each petal.

Do the same to the second egg cup, but cut the petals slightly smaller than the first.

With the third egg cup, cut off most of the top of the cup leaving just a small edge around the bottom – this will be the centre of the poppy.

Slightly push in the edges of this cup – this will help it fit inside the rest of the flower.

This is how it will all fit together once painted.

Cut out a leaf shape from your green cardstock (if using). You can also make the leaves using the top of the egg carton. Just cut a portion from the top of the carton and cut into a simple leaf shape.

For your poppy, you should have two cut leaves, a chenille stem (or 2 – I found it best to twist them together for strength to hold up the head of the poppy), and the 3 cut egg cups.

Now it’s time to paint! I mixed a tiny bit of black with the red paint to make a deeper red.

Paint each of the cups with the red paint. Don’t forget the paint the backs of the petals too!

If using the egg carton for the leaves, paint those too. I also mixed the green paint with a tiny bit of black to get a more muted green.

Once everything is all dry, you’re ready to assemble the poppy.

Using your awl (or whatever pointy thing you can make a little hole with), make two holes in each of your leaves (as shown above).

Put a little glue inside the largest egg cup, then place the medium cup inside the large one.

It’s not entirely necessary to use glue but it might help keep the poppy together a bit better.

Fold the petals down a little (carefully so the petals don’t rip). Then make a hole in the centre of the two assembled cups.

Prepare the stem – if using chenille stems, twist two together. I found that one wasn’t quite strong enough to support the poppy standing up. If using floral wire and it is thin, you might need to double it up as well. The one I had was very thick and strong enough to support the poppy.

Thread the stem from behind through the centre of the poppy and twist the end of the stem to secure it.

Now place the smallest egg cup upside down in the centre of the poppy. I found you don’t need glue as it stayed just fine as is, but you can add some if you’d like!

Now you can thread the leaves onto the stem by going up from the back of the leaf and down through the next hole and then carefully sliding the leaf up the stem.

Now add a little black paint to the centre of the poppy. You can leave it as it is or add a little more detail if you’d like!

I added a few little white dots to this one but some others I liked the look of just the back in the centre with some surrounding black dots.

Here are the completed poppies! The one on the right was made just the same as the stemmed one but I just glued the leaves onto the back of the flower – these ones are perfect for adding to a Remembrance wreath if making as a class.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and will have a go at making your own egg carton poppies!

Here is another simple pattern from the Little Ones Learn-to-Sew pattern series – a Jack O’ Lantern! This is a simple Halloween craft designed to teach kids how to sew and embroider!

The instructions are much the same as for the Felt Pumpkin Pattern, but just with a couple other ‘face’ options for a more Hallowe’en-y look. At the bottom of this post you will find PDF pattern downloads for two different Jack O’ Lantern faces.

ALL ABOUT LITTLE ONES LEARN-TO-SEW PATTERNS

All Little Ones Learn-to-Sew patterns are simple patterns with few pieces and easy-to-follow instructions that are designed so that older children should be able to do them with little help and smaller children will also be able to do them with just a little guidance. Of course, although these patterns are designed with children in mind, they are really for everyone to enjoy!

The printable download includes the pattern plus the instructions all on one page, so they are ideal if you are printing them for a class or a Girl Guide group, etc. and don’t want to print multiple pages per person.

All the materials you need for these patterns is a little felt, embroidery floss, and stuffing. Tools are just scissors, an embroidery needle and pins.

I came up with the idea for these simple little patterns when my daughter needed a project for her Family Studies class. I hope they inspire little ones to try their hand at sewing!

LITTLE ONES LEARN-TO-SEW PATTERNS:

• Use wool felt – which is thick, doesn’t fray and is easy for children to work with
• Are small projects – easy to complete in a short time
• Use few pieces – not an overwhelming amount to put together for a beginner
• Use simple, easy to follow instructions

I hope you will enjoy these patterns! Please do let me know if you have any questions or if anything is unclear and I will amend the pattern instructions for greater clarity. Thank you

FELT Jack o’ lantern TUTORIAL

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• Printed Jack O’ Lantern pattern – see bottom of this post for free printable pattern
• Wool blend felt – orange, green, black
• Embroidery floss – orange, green, black
• Raw wool or poly-fil stuffing
• Embroidery needle
• Pins
• Sewing scissors (or scissors sharp enough to cut felt)

HOW TO MAKE YOUR FELT Pumpkin

Step 1: Gather all your materials and tools – wool felt, embroidery floss, stuffing, embroidery needle, pins, scissors and printed pattern.

Step 2: Cut out all the pieces of your pattern. Cut just outside the black outline of each pattern piece. Keep the instruction card so you can refer to it as you’re working. (Shown in the photo is the pattern for the pumpkin tutorial – I forgot to take a photo of this step for the Jack O’ Lantern, oops!)

Step 3: Pin your pattern pieces to the wool felt. You should have 2 main pieces in orange, 2 white pieces for the eyes, 2 black pieces for the eye pupils, 2 pink pieces for the cheeks, 1 green stem and 1 green leaf. Some of the smaller pieces are difficult to pin, so it might be easier to trace these in chalk or a washable fabric marker. (Once again, shown in the photo is the pattern for the pumpkin tutorial – I forgot to take a photo of this step for the Jack O’ Lantern!)

Step 4: Carefully cut out all your felt pieces.

Step 5: Pin the black eye pieces and the black mouth piece onto one of your orange pumpkin pieces.

Step 6: Using a straight stitch and with black embroidery floss, sew each black piece in place. Note: You could also use a contrasting colour to sew on the face pieces for a bit of a different look (see top photo in this post).

Step 7: Place the green ‘stem’ piece at the top of your pumpkin and pin it in place. Using green embroidery floss, sew a line of straight stitch along the bottom of the ‘stem’. Set your pumpkin pieces aside for a minute while we prepare the ‘leaf’.

Step 8: Take your green ‘leaf’ piece and thread your needle with green embroidery floss, knot one end.

Step 9: Using straight stitch, make a line of stitching down the centre of your leaf.

Step 10: Starting at the top and making stitches on either side of your middle stitching line, sew some more ‘veins’ on your leaf using straight stitch.

Step 11: Continue down the leaf adding more stitches on either side of the middle line of stitching.

Step 12: At the bottom of the leaf, you can pinch the ‘stem’ bit together and secure with a few stitches. This just makes your leaf curl up nicely atop your pumpkin.

Step 13: Place your leaf at the back lower edge of the stem and stitch in place using a few small straight stitches. Knot at back and trim end.

Step 14: Now place your two orange pumpkin pieces with wrong sides together and make sure edges are matching up evenly. Place a few pins to hold it together.

Step 15: Thread your needle with a long (about 20 inch) piece of green embroidery floss, knot one end.

Step 16:  Beginning at the bottom corner of one side of the stem, begin blanket stitching around the stem. Do your best to stitch around the leaf when you get to it – it’s a bit tricky at that part!

Step 17: When you reach the bottom edge of the green stem, knot your thread and snip off end.

Step 18: Now thread your needle with a very long (about 55 inches) orange embroidery floss. You will begin sewing where you ended blanket stitching the stem with the green embroidery floss.

Step 19: Begin blanket stitching with your orange floss around the edge of the pumpkin using blanket stitch. Stop when you get 3/4 of the way around the pumpkin (leaving about a 3 inch gap open).

Step 20: Now that you have sewn 3/4 of the way around the pumpkin, you are now ready to start stuffing!

Step 21: Time to start stuffing your pumpkin! Begin by pushing some stuffing up into the ‘stem’. It helps to use something like the end of a chopstick to push the stuffing into this small area.

Step 22: Continue stuffing until your pumpkin is nice and plump! Now you’ll be continuing blanket stitch around the rest of the pumpkin.

Step 23: If you’re finding it tricky to sew up the rest of the pumpkin without the stuffing coming out, you can keep the gap closed using sewing clips (as shown above) or a few pins (just mind your fingers!).

Continue stitching until you reach the point where you started sewing. Now just knot the thread at the back and trim ends.

Your little Hallowe’en Jack O’ Lantern is complete!

You can also sew a little felt loop and a carabiner clip and attach your Jack O’ Lantern to your backpack to make it a little Hallowe’en festive too.

To add loop: Just cut an orange piece of felt that is 3 inches long and 1 inch wide, fold it in half and stitch it to the side at the back of your pumpkin, then attach a clip or carabiner and your new little friend is ready to adorn your backpack!

I hope you found this pattern and tutorial easy to follow! Best wishes and happy crafting

FELT jack o’ lantern PRINTABLE PATTERN

Here are the Felt Jack O’ Lantern printable patterns. There are two versions with slightly different face styles.

NOTE: Please make sure that the document is set to ‘actual size’ in your print options so that the pattern prints out at the proper size!

Please click on the image below or this link to download the PDF.

I came across fence board Hallowe’en decorations when searching on Pinterest (of course!) for inexpensive Hallowe’en decorations to make with kids. I loved the idea of these as you can repurpose boards that are in rough shape and might otherwise be throw out. We had a bunch of varying sized boards lying around from when the kids had tried to built a fort in the backyard but eventually lost interest.

These are so fun and simple to make, especially to do together with the kids! My son (then 8) and I made these together last year. We placed them in the garden along the front of the porch after hanging some old tea-dyed and ripped up sheets behind to make everything look a little spookier. We went with cute faces but you could definitely make them scarier!

If you don’t have a lot to spend on outdoor Hallowe’en décor, these fence board decorations are the way to go as all you need are some old boards and a bit of acrylic paint. To make the mummy, you will also need an old sheet to rip up. I ripped it into about 3 inch wide strips and then soaked it in leftover coffee to discolour the white a bit. Then just use a staple gun to staple the end to the back of the board, wrap around, staple again – do the wrapping after painting the board black and adding some eyes!

These little letter tiles are so much fun to make! They have so many great uses in teaching your little ones their alphabet, about vowels and consonants, and eventually to practice their spelling. It’s great to involve them in the making of the tiles too. Since they are made from simple homemade dough, they are completely safe for kids. I did the ones in this post myself since my littlest guy was mostly into trying to eat the dough, but if they’re a little older your children will quite enjoy the process of stamping and decorating the little tiles and they’ll be happy to see their creations in use later when it comes time to play with them.

These also make sweet little ornaments for the holidays – my daughter and I once made her entire Kindergarten class ornaments with each child’s initial stamped on each. It was a bit of an undertaking but we had lots of fun in the process! Don’t forget to make a little hole in the top of each before baking to thread a string or ribbon through for hanging

Better than salt dough

So, even though I did say these were salt dough in the title, I actually used the recipe that is all over the internet (or at least Pinterest) for ‘Better Than Salt Dough’ which I actually now prefer when making ornaments or anything really that calls for salt dough. The ‘Better Than Salt Dough’ is actually a combination of cornstarch, baking soda and water and is cooked on the stove rather than just mixed in a bowl as regular salt dough is. I love the soft, silky dough that the ‘Better Than Salt Dough’ recipe makes and I would love to thank whoever invented this concoction!

better than salt dough recipe

This recipe makes enough dough to make 26 letters using cookie cutters 2 inches in size or less. If you’re aiming to make doubles of the most common letters, make sure to double the recipe!

ingredients

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 cup water

method

1. In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients. Place over medium heat, stirring constantly. The mixture will begin to thicken as it heats.
2. When it is thick and is about the consistency of mashed potatoes, remove from heat.
3. Pour into a bowl and cover it with a wet cloth until it has cooled.
4. Once cool, knead dough on a surface that is lightly dusted with cornstarch. I like to use a silicone mat, but I still dust it with cornstarch to prevent sticking. The dough will become very smooth – if it’s still a bit sticky, add a bit more cornstarch and knead some more.
5. Roll out dough on your cornstarch dusted mat and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.
6. Stamp with letter stamps and decorate how you’d like!
7. Place ornaments on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
8. Air dry or bake at 175 F for 1 hour – flip them halfway through baking time. If you are air drying, you can place a plastic bag loosely over the ornaments to help prevent them drying too fast and cracking.

One of the great things about these little tiles is if they break or your child no longer uses them, you can just throw them in the compost or city organics bin! I absolutely love crafts that I know won’t have to end up in the landfill one day. Of course, if you want these to have more longevity and last for several children, it might be a good idea to put a coating or varnish on them to make them more durable.

DIY Stamped letter tiles tutorial

Step 1: Once you’ve got your dough all made up, as per the recipe above, plop it onto a clean surface you’ve dusted with a little cornstarch and knead it till its soft and smooth. This shouldn’t take long!

Step 2: Once your dough is nice and smooth with no more lumps, it’s time to add some colour!

Step 3: If you’d like to make more than one colour, divide your dough into several portions.

Step 4: Add your food colouring!

Step 5: Mix, mix, mix! It takes a little while to mix in all the colouring… Don’t forget to wash your hands well between colours!

The photo above shows the ‘recipes’ for the colours that I made. I found that if you want to end up with somewhat vibrant colours after baking, then add more food colouring than you think you need. Also, I found that the gel dyes (the kind that come in the little pots) make for much less vibrant colours in the end. I used the liquid type of colouring for this batch and they turned out much brighter.

Step 6: Using some small cookie cutters, cut out a bunch of different shapes. The cookie cutters used in this tutorial are all fairly small – 2 inches or less.

Step 7: Using clay tools, or whatever you find around your house that will make a nice imprint, decorate your shapes!

Step 8: Stamp each shape with a letter using clay letter stamps. If you plan to use your tiles for spelling, don’t forget to make multiples of the most common letters.

Some of the most commonly used letters in English are:

E, T, A, I, O, N, S, H, R

Step 9: Once you’re happy with your tiles, place them on a parchment-covered baking pan. You can either air-dry them or place in an oven preheated to 175F and bake for 1 hour. Be sure to check on them to make sure they aren’t getting brown. You can flip them halfway through baking time to make sure they dry evenly.

I hope you’ve found this post helpful . I had fun making these for my toddler son, who just loves letters. He first saw these and shouted ‘cookie!’ so I did have to stop him eating them at first, hehe.