Handmade Paper Curls

My son loves to swipe any scraps of paper I have leftover (especially long strips trimmed on the paper cutter).  His favorite thing to do with them is wrap them around a pencil to make what he calls a “paper curl”.  He even wanted to open his own Etsy shop like mine called “Handmade Paper Curls”.  I decided that he would love to learn how to put these curls together in an art-form called “paper quilling” or “paper filigree”. 

I didn’t have an actual paper quilling tool so I cut a piece of 4“ length of 1/8“wooden dowel.  Using a fine saw for cutting balsa wood I carefully cut a ¼ inch deep slit in one end of the dowel.  The end of the strip of paper easily slid into the dowel slot and then he spun the dowel to coil the paper around itself.  Once it is tightly curled let it loosen up and slide it off the dowel.  We used red and green copy paper cut into quarter inch strips and then pinched the opposite sides to make a leaf shape that we glued together to make a poinsettia ornament.  I added some gold beads and it made a great decoration on the top of a Christmas gift!

Flower Pounding: celebrate springtime with a bang!

My preschooler was thrilled that today is the first day of spring!  The weather was actually more summer-like, but we’re not complaining!  My guy has been picking me “wild flowers” out of the lawn a lot during the past week.  When I suggested that we make a card to cheer up a friend he thought we should pick flowers and attach them to the card.  I explained that the flowers probably wouldn’t hold up well in the mail, but it reminded me of the perfect spring art project!

Flower pounding is the process of layering colorful petals and leaves on paper and then pounding them to release their pigments onto the paper.  We started by exploring our yard for blooms.  We picked some flowers, clover, and blades of grass (being careful to pick plants that are not poisonous).  Then we found a sturdy surface to work on.  Next, we placed some single blooms or petals onto a sheet of heavy paper like cardstock or watercolor paper and covered them with a sheet of paper towel or waxed paper.  (The paper towel or waxed paper  keeps the petals from sticking to your hammer or mallet.)  Carefully, we pounded the flowers to release their color onto the paper.  Watch those fingers!  If the waxed paper slides around a lot you can secure it with scotch tape (or painters tape which would be easier to peel off).  After filling the paper with pigment I gave him a pen and some butterfly stamps that he used to embellish his picture.  When he wants to stamp with multiple colors we use this trick: quickly color the rubber stamp with washable marker and then stamp immediately before it has a chance to dry.  You can get colorful images without turning all your stamp pads into mud!

Flower Pounding was a huge success at our house.  My son loved the process!  I hope you give it a try with your little creative hearts as a way to celebrate the beginning of this new season! 

Truffula Tree Pencils

This week my son’s preschool is celebrating Dr. Suess’ Birthday.  My husband and I are big fans of Dr. Suess so I pulled a bunch of our books off the shelf and read them to our boys.  Many of these tales are familiar to them.  The Lorax, while a favorite of my husband, was not one that we had read to the boys much… yet.  Our oldest really liked it.  In fact, we’ve read it at least twice every day since it came down off the shelf last week!   A friend of mine made truffula tree pencils for her students and I immediately asked how she made them.  Some of hers were made with wool roving which I happened to have on hand from when my son and I made felted bead earrings for teachers at his school around Christmas time.  I was a little leery of gluing loose pieces of roving onto a pencil that I was handing to my preschooler so I took a few minutes to do a little wet felting of the wool first.  It’s relatively quick and easy, two requirements for doing crafts with preschoolers!  I was pleased with the outcome and my son loves tickling his cheek with the soft truffula tuft.  Hopefully when my son practices writing with his Truffula Tree Pencil he will be reminded of the tale of the Lorax and conserve paper!

Supplies:

Wool roving dyed in bright colors
Old Towel
Bubble wrap
Spray bottle with warm soapy water (a little soap goes a long way)
Waxed paper
Rolling pin
Glue or a hot glue gun
Yellow #2 Pencils
Black Fine Point Permanent Marker

Directions:1. Spread an old towel on your work surface. Place the bubble wrap with the bubbles facing up on top of the towel.  Separate the fibers of wool roving and fluff them.  If you are not familiar with working with wool roving, grab the piece of wool with your hands a few inches apart.  If you pull and the fibers don’t easily pull apart, your hands are too close together.  Lay the wool fibers directly on the bubble wrap. Layer the fibers until you have a nice thick layer that is about 6 inches long on the side where the ends of the fibers are lined up.  You can put a few fibers along the edge running them perpendicular to the other fibers to make your felted portion stronger.

2. Place a piece of waxed paper over the fibers leaving only the ends exposed (an inch or less).

3. Spray the exposed fibers until they are just damp.  Gently fold the bubble wrap over the wool fibers and wax paper.  Roll over the ends of the fibers with the rolling pin for about 30 seconds, rolling in different directions.  The bubbles in the bubble wrap act as little fingers massaging the wool fibers.  The warm water and friction from the bubble wrap make microscopic barbs on the wool fibers link together and tangle to create felt.

4. Peel back the bubble wrap the fibers should not look fluffy anymore.  

5. Fold the hairy ends over onto the rest of the wool and pat them, spraying if necessary so they stick.  Put the bubble wrap back over the fibers and roll the same as before for 30 seconds.  Peel back the bubble wrap.  Remove the wax paper flip the wool fibers over.  Cover the dry section with the waxed paper.  Spray the felted edge if needed, place the bubble wrap over the fibers and roll with rolling pin for 30 seconds. 

6. Allow the wool to dry (overnight) or use a hair dryer to speed this step along.  Separate the fibers into sections and twist them (similar to twirling your hair).

7. Glue the pencil to the wet felted edge of the wool.  I chose to glue these for my son using a hot glue gun (after he was tucked into bed for the night).  Roll the pencil along that edge adding more glue as necessary.  If using white craft glue I probably would clip a clothes pin while it dried to keep it tightly in place.

8.  Allow to cool or dry.

9.  Sculpt your truffula tuft by spinning the pencil between your fingers and swirling the ends to achieve a shape and texture like the illustrations in Dr. Suess’ book. 

10. Using the permanent marker, sketch zig zag stripes around the pencil to simulate the bark in the drawings and allow the marker to dry.

Make your own Valentine's Day card for loads of fun!

For Valentine’s Day my son and I usually break out the scissors, doilies, glue, and glitter.  This year we designed a card to give his friends at Preschool that’s a little more boyish with a cheesy joke that most preschoolers will appreciate.  My mother had bought him a hole punch in the shape of a dump truck so we dug it out of the scrapbooking supplies and put it to good use.  You could use the same design and change up the hole punch for a different shape that suits your child’s personality and interests.  Help your child come up with a joke or rhyme to go with the shape. 

Tips: If you don’t want to handwrite the words on every card, type it up in an easy to read font and print it in a fun color.  Remember to give yourself plenty of time to get the job done.  This is supposed to be a fun activity, so break it up over a few days so the task doesn’t become frustrating to you or your preschooler.  For example, punch the holes and cut out the hearts one day, glue on the words and hearts the next, and finish with signing and sealing the cards during the last crafting session.  

Your child will look forward to giving out valentines that they helped make.  We hope our card inspires you to get creative with your kid!

Supplies:

Cardstock – cut in half to make two 5 ½” x 8 ½” rectangles and folded
Shaped hole punch
Colored construction paper
Child safety scissors
Glue stick
Markers
Valentine’s Day themed stickers

1. Prepare the cards by cutting an 8 ½” x 11” piece of heavy cardstock into two 5 ½” x 8 ½” rectangles and fold in half.  You will get two cards out of each piece of cardstock.

2. Punch out three dump trucks across the top (folded side) of the card.

3. Fold construction paper the long way and trace the heart template onto the colored paper with the center of the heart lined up with the fold.  Let your child cut out the heart.  This is good hand eye coordination and practice for cutting with scissors.

4. Using the gluestick, glue the hearts in place on the inside of each card covering the punched shaped holes on the back side of the card so that the color shows through the front of the card when closed. 

5. At the bottom of the heart write:    Happy Valentine’s Day!  from,  
(leaving room for your child to write his name.)

6. On the front write:                     Friends like you
are loads of fun!

7. With the card closed flip it over and have your child write their classmate’s name or write it with pencil and have them trace the pencil lines with marker.

8. Seal the card with a Valentine’s Day themed sticker and your child is ready for his or her valentine exchange!

Heart Template