Photo Frame Decorated With Felt Flowers

When we were kids we were always encouraged to make handmade gifts for our near and dear ones. With the festival season around, I thought of this quick and easy photo frame craft project. Kids can make this project themselves or with some supervision and it can be a great gift for family or friends.

Following supplies are needed for the project :
- Unfinished wooden photo-frame (easily available in craft stores)
- Felt ( red , orange and green)
- Acrylic paint (yellow)
- Varnish
- Paintbrush
- Embroidery thread(yellow, green) and needle
- Glue and Scissors


I painted the unfinished wooden photo frame with yellow acrylic paint. After the paint dried, I applied a coat of varnish to give it a finished look.

You can use the color of your choice or if you want you may even use a plain finished photoframe and embellish it using the felt flowers.


For the flowers I used red and orange felt and arranged them as shown in the picture. I also cut leaves using green felt.The felt I have used in this project has adhesive backing but that's not essential. You can simply use glue for sticking the flowers and leaves.

I also added back stitch detail to the flowers and leaves using embroidery thread. Here is a picture of the finished photo frame after sticking the felt flowers and leaves.

Add a picture and you special gift is ready. (The picture I have used is a cut-out from Parenting magazine.)

This is a very simple project but making it yourself and adding a photograph capturing your special moment with the person who will be getting this gift makes it personal and all the more special.

Snowman Christmas Wreath

Last night when I was back from shopping and was unlocking my front door it looked plain. That inspired this Snowman Christmas wreath. Luckily I had the plain Christmas wreath from my last visit to Michaels. This Snowman wreath is result of the supplies I already at home. Thanks to my various projects earlier.

Supplies you need
-Christmas Wreath (not decorated)
-Wired Ribbon or Bow
-Wire
-Snowman toy
-Christmas Ornaments Gold color
-Berry bunches
-Garland -Silver

The bow is made by making loops of the wired ribbon holding it between your thumb and index finger and then winding a wire at center. Cut the ends as shown in the pictures. The ornaments and the berries are joined together using wire and then tied on the wreath. Snowman is also fixed using wire. Pierce two holes about 1 inch apart at the base and pass wire through it. Use the wire ends to tie them to the wreath. The beautiful Snowman Christmas is ready to be hung.

Tip: You can decorate your wreath with pine cones, different colors of ornaments anything that you feel adds to festivity. Gold, Silver and Red colored ornaments are the most popular ones.

Simple Christmas Wreath

This simple christmas wreath is easy to make too. You can use this for your christmas decoration in multiple ways. As a Christmas wreath on your front door or to make your existing decoration extra special. I have used this as a decorative base to my wedding ring holder. You can use this as decorating any ceramic piece of art, eg a ceramic fairy.

Supplies you need:

Chrismas wreath (readymade basic)
Double crepe paper - Red
Pollens
Floral Wire- 12 pieces of 2 inches
Scissors
Glue

Plain green christmas wreath is available in craft stores in various sizes.
For making this Bouganvillea wreath you will need 12 bouganvillea flowers. You can increase the number of flowers if your wreath is bigger.

For making one Bouganvillea crepe flower you need to cut 3 petals from red double crepe paper.
Use the template in 100% size. As explained in detail in some previous posts attach pollen to the floral wire. Now using your thumb curve the cut petals outside. As shown in picture attach 3 petals around the pollen using glue to make one Bouganvillea flower. Repeat to make the rest of the flowers. At equal distances fix the flower on the wreath by winding the floral wire around it. The simple yet beautiful Christmas Wreath is ready.
Have fun and Merry Christmas.

Kitty Cat Refrigerator Magnet

Today was like one of those days when I end up making a quick and cute craft with my daughter with no previous plan. In fact I must say she was the one who inspired me for this craft. She has a Hello Kitty purse and said draw Kitty cat. She was not impressed by my drawing of it on Doodle Pro. She then said make Kitty cat.
Just like a flash I got an idea of creating a Refrigerator Magnet of Kitty cat inspired from the cute face of famous Hello Kitty series. This is how I made this craft with my 23 month old daughter.

Supplies you will need:
-Air dry clay white
-Acrylic Paint: Red, White, Yellow and Black
-Painting bush
-Craft Glue
-Magnetic strip
-Craft knife or Scissors
I used one pack of Crayola Model Magic Single packs. Just follow the illustrations to make this project. It is that simple. Detailed step wise instructions to make Kitty cat craft :Just in case you need them.
Use the existing width of the clay pack (roughly 1 ½”) cut a length of about 1”. Use the existing thickness of the clay (roughly 1/3”). If there are cracks use little water to moisten it and then you might want to roll it to a rectangle of 1 ½” by 1” and thickness of 1/3”.
To make two ears take around 1/4 inch diameter ball of Crayola Model Magic clay and then shape it like a pointed triangle. Use the rest of the clay to make the bow. Add two drops of acrylic clay to make it pink. Mix it well. Bow is made by sticking 3 pieces together. To a small ball of clay attach two ends of flattened clay as shown in the picture. The completed bow measures around 1”. Glue the ears and bow to the face. When dried (about 1 hour or so), paint the bow in any color you like. Paint the eyes, nose and the whiskers. You can make this completed Kitty cat face as a Christmas tree ornament using a hook or a refrigerator magnet by sticking the magnetic strip piece on the back. Voila! the cute Kitty Cat craft is ready for your toddler to enjoy.


Tips- With a little adult supervision Toddlers can enjoy this craft. It is okay if they smudge the paint a little. Idea is they have fun.
- If you do not have magnetic strip you can use the back of any other magnetic sample credit card or business card you get in ad mail. I used the back of a Subway Sandwich address card. Just peel the ad part with craft knife and what you get is self sticking magnetic strip.

Festive Theme Handmade Clay Flower Arrangement

I love making clay flowers. This flower arrangement is one of my favorites. It has just one rose but its simplicity is what appeals to me. The colors red and white remind me of the festivity of Christmas and Snow in winter season.

Following supplies are needed for the project :

- Air dry clay - Red, White and Green( I used Deco brand colored clay for red rose. You can add color to white air dry clay to get the colored clay)
- Floral Wire and Wire cutter
- Red Pollens
- Floral tape
- Pointed clay tool or a bamboo skewer or a toothpick (for white flowers)
- Acrylic or any water based paint (to color the clay)
- Scissors
- Flower vase

Refer our previous posts on clay flowers for instructions to make clay roses, cherry blossoms and the fillers. The only difference between the white flowers and the cherry blossoms illustrated in previous post is that I have not cut notches in the petals. Make sufficient number of white flowers to surround the rose in the center. I ended up making 16 of them. Add the green fillers and leaves to complete the arrangement.

Hope you get inspired to make one this festive season. Mine is proudly displayed as a center piece on our dining table.

Quick and Easy Handmade Christmas Photo Ornament

Like many of you I have already set up the Christmas tree and the lights are already twinkling. Every year I decorate the tree in my own way. Yes, you guessed it right - most of my ornaments are handmade. This year I made one with my daughter. She was more excited about this quick and easy Christmas photo ornament. Excited because it was her photo that I was about to put. The photograph we chose is the one where she is mere 6 months old and giving that perfect smile. I suggest you let your child pick their favorites if they are old enough to do so. Let me walk you through this project quickly.

Supplies you will need:
- Card stock white
- Child's photo
- Scissors
- Glue
- Paper Quilling strips : white and red
- Glitter
- Ribbon : Golden color
- Paper quilling tool or barbecue stick

This is a very easy project.Cut the photo into a 2" diameter circle and the outer card stock into 2 pieces of 2.5" diameter circle.

The lace is glued using all purpose glue. As it is a circle, making little pleats make the work easier and neater. I have used the easiest of the paper quilling shapes - the coil. Alternate red and white quilled coils are used to make the border.You can use any shape you like.You can have a look at our older posts on Paper quilling for basic shapes. I added glitter to the coils to make them more festive.

Follow the step by step illustration to complete the project.


Give the ornament to your kid to hang it on his/her favorite spot. Every-time my daughter looks at this ornament she is so delighted and says " Mommy made it", "Nice".Believe me it is the best compliment you can get for your craft project.

This project is worth a shot this Christmas. Happy crafting and Merry Christmas to you all!

Tip: Photo ornaments are better with pictures of close up faces.

Festive Craft: Red Rose Paper Flower Arrangement in Silver Basket

This is one of the simplest and cutest craft I made. Simplest because I keep making roses. Once you get a hang of it they are not as difficult as they seem to be. And this is something I made very quickly,without much thought and my hubby loved it. This is one of his favorite ones.

This festive craft is perfect for Christmas as I have used the famous green Christmas bushes,silver basket brings the festivity and red roses add the love.

Supplies needed :

- Basket preferably silver
- Styrofoam -green
- Double crepe Paper -Red
- Green Christmas Bushes
- Glue
- Floral wire
- Floral tape
- Scissors

Prepare the basket by cutting the Styrofoam equal to the size of the basket base. Make sure that it is little lower than the top of the basket base. Fix the Styrofoam inside the basket. You might want to use glue to make it more secure.

Make five roses as shown in the earlier post of Paper Flower Arrangement. Keep the stem half inch longer than the depth of the basket so that the flower is little higher than the rim of the basket when you insert it in the Styrofoam.

Once the flowers are ready, trim the Christmas bushes such that they look like leaves when inserted in the Styrofoam. Insert the bushes till the Styrofoam is completely covered. Then
insert the roses as shown in the picture.
All the supplies are easily available at Michaels Arts and Crafts and the Castle in the air online store.Your lovely Festive craft is ready. You can decorate your house with it or gift it to someone special.

This Christmas do try this. Have fun.

Keepsake Baby Shower Favor Boxes

This one is a very personal project. I wanted to add a personal touch to the favors for friends at my baby shower. I decorated these favor boxes using paper quilling and border punches.

The baby rattle was made using paper quilling. Once I figured out the design for the rattle making multiple ones was not that hard. The first one took quite some time to complete. I also added jingle bells to the rattle for added interest. The blue lace on top and bottom was made using card stock and Martha Stewart's half daisy edger punch.

You can use pink/blue theme for rattles too. I only used blue lace pattern in the boxes for unifying the box decoration with the theme color. Following is another picture of the favor boxes with kids favors at the baby shower venue.


My friends loved them and so do I :). I have kept one for myself too as a souvenir of the special day.