Love Bug Doorhanger Craft

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I asked the kids what kind of Valentine's day craft they wanted to do. I offered a few suggestions and told them a few different themes they could go with, but after a few minutes of debate they unanimously decided they wanted to make a "love bug" craft. Bean asked if she could give it to Grammy when they were finished and I said "in that case, we should make something she can hang up on her wall or door". The kids picked out foam sheets instead of construction paper, some big and small googly eyes (they only used the big ones), four pom poms and two pipe cleaners. The colour theme they decided on was red and pink. I did give them a handful of heart shaped sequins to use if they wanted and a red glitter shaker, as well as a few glue sticks. 

You will need: 

Foam Sheets

Glue Sticks

Glitter (optional)

Googly Eyes

Pipe Cleaners

Sequins (optional) 

I set up all the materials in a tray to keep them organized. 

I traced a half-circle onto the foam sheet and then drew a straight line to the bottom edge. I folded it in half and cut along the traced line. Then I used the first heart as a template and traced it on the second sheet of foam. 

The kids dove right into designing and decorating their "love bugs". The both glued on the big eyes right away. They just wanted to make a face, not a whole bug.

They added sequins and glitter to their hearts content. Bean added a nose and mouth made out of sequins to her love bug face.

Bean really like glitter. I mean, REALLY likes glitter. There was glitter everywhere. :)

When they decided they were done decorating, we flipped over the hearts and glued down the pipe cleaners. I basically bent it into an open oval and showed the kids where to glue at the top of each of the hearts lumps. Then they stuck down the ends of the pipe cleaners.

I used the extra foam to cut out small rectangles and added glue to them as well.

Then they stuck them over the exposed glue. I hoped this would give the pipe cleaners added durability and it seems to be doing the trick!

And that's what it looks like all finished! After they are finished drying they are ready to be hung up!

Glitter! Glitter forever!

This was a fun and simple craft for Valentine's Day! We especially love child-led crafts, so we will certainly be doing more of them in the future!

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Sewn Hearts Headband

How cute is this headband?? It was completely spur of the moment! I made both hearts while Bean was working on her dry-erase tracing pages. And it took maybe 30 minutes to complete the whole project. Wow!

I used a headband that we saved from Christmas. It originally had snowman faces on it (below). I also used a heart shape cut out of cardstock, a disappearing ink fabric pen, fabric scissors and bright pink felt. 

I traced the heart onto the pink felt. The ink will be light (because it's purple) but you should still be able to see it. 

Repeat four times until you have a row of hearts. Then you can begin cutting them out.

They came out great!

I lined them up to the center of the heart to determine where I wanted to cut a line. I didn't want it to fit between the two layers at the base of the heart because I didn't want the strings to snag.

So I decided to cut a small slit about a quarter inch from the base. 

I stacked them up, cut side on top, to make sure they lined up perfectly.

I picked out a color variations shade of pink DMC embroidery floss (not sure of the number).

I cut out a length of floss (approximately twice the length of my arms) and separated out a single thread. I then threaded both ends into the eye of the needle.

Thread up from the back of the heart and slip the needle through the loop at the end. This will close it off without needing to knot it.

Continue to sew up through the back of the project and slip through the loop before pulling it tight. This is a blanket stitch and I use it for most sewn felt projects.

It will look like this!

To complete the last stitch, go through the back of the first hole and slip the needle through the loop. The threads will be doubled up, but there won't be a knot.

Then slip the needle through an adjacent hole (keeping between the two layers) and come out somewhere in the middle.

Then just snip the edge and the thread will disappear inside the heart.

Annnnd I totally forgot to add the fluff! Whoops! Well, luckily there was a small hole that I was able to stuff the fluff into. :) This is what it looks like when the hearts are on the headband before adding the fluff.

Then the kids wanted to try it on before I fluffed them up... Bean thought the hearts were "very silly".

Kaede (our Shiba Inu) thought they were too and kept trying to sniff them to see what they were. Munchkin loved them and kept them on for quite a while while he played on his geoboard app.

Then I was finally given five minutes to stuff them with fluff. And now they stay on and look so cute!

I think these will look very cute when they are worn on Valentine's Day! And I bet it would also be cute to make more of these, perhaps shamrocks for Saint Patrick's Day and eggs designed by the kids on Easter!

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Learn Through Play Hop #8