Tutorial Tuesday: Monster Finger Puppets

Being a mama who loves craftiness, it is one of my greatest pleasures to make toys for my kids. I love hearing my two-year-old daughter Kaela remark, "Mama made dat!"

Yesterday my daughters and I embarked on a felt, thread, button, and yarn extravaganza. It was finger puppet day! Monster finger puppet projects are perfect, small, manageable crafts that can be completed within the small attention span of a toddler.

Suggested Materials:
Felt scraps
Yarn scraps
Buttons
Fabric scraps
Thread
Scissors
Imagination (lots of it!)

My older daughter - who is 2- years-old - is not adept with a needle yet, so she assists me by choosing the colors of thread, felt, and yarn that I'm going to use for the project.
I asked her what she wanted on her puppet, and she said "Hair!" She chose purple yarn with red felt for the body of the puppet, and as I cut the felt she straightened out the cut yarn.
I cut two felt pieces that were 2.5 inches wide by 3 inches tall for the body of the monster. My daughter told me what shapes she wanted on her puppet (circles, triangles, rectangles, squares) and I cut them out from various scrap pieces of felt sewed it on one body piece of felt with a simple running stitch. You can also glue the shapes. We gave this monster a button for eyes, and I sewed that on securely.

After finishing the front of the monster, I sewed the two pieces of felt together along the right edge, then inserted the purple yarn hair in between the top edge of the felt pieces and sewed that securely, then sewed along the left edge. Leave the bottom edge open - that is where it will fit on your little one's finger.

And here is the first finished product!
At that point we were on a roll and made two more monsters. I'm sure we'll add more to the mix over the next few weeks!
May your monster finger puppets be colorful, prosperous, and happy! (Storage tip - egg cartons are perfect for storing finger puppets.)



Karina

Tutorial Tuesday: String Art Embellishment

When it was time to decorate a raffle box for the Spring Handmade Cavalcade, I really wanted to take advantage of the existing structure of the lunchbox. After much trial and error, I hit upon the idea of using the stitching holes as the basis of the design. During elementary school, one of my teachers had been in an art project rut that consisted of making string art for every single month. Apparently, time has made it fresh to me again, since I was pleased enough with the outcome to want to share it with you.


String art has its origins in activities invented at the end of the 19th Century to teach mathematical ideas to children, and became popular as a decorative craft in the late 1960s. Though straight lines are formed by the string, the angles and metric positions at which strings intersect give the appearance of curves.

For this project you need:
An item to embellish that has holes in it (holes can be configured as an angle or an arc)
Embroidery Thread
Needle
Glue (optional)

Thread the longest amount of thread that you think you can handle onto the needle (I use my full armspan, so about 5 feet). Tie a large knot and go from the back of the piece to the front at point #1 on the diagram. At this point I also like to add a dab of glue on the knot to keep it in place as well.


Follow the number patterns from 1-20 going from the back to the front on the odd numbers (1, 3, 5, etc.), and from front to back on the even numbers. Keep the thread taut as you go to keep the lines straight and neat. If you run out of thread, knot off on the back, and start again going up at the next odd number with a new piece.
Here is a step-by-step diagram to see how the picture emerges. Red lines are on the front of the piece, and the yellow lines are the shorter stitches hidden on the back. Click on the image to enlarge the diagram.

Now that you've completed the pattern, just knot off on the back, and if add a little dab of glue to anchor it in place.
You may have noticed that the arc that we've made could have continued the rest of the way around the circle. Alternately you could make an asymetrical design by making a different distance between a second set of points 1 and 2. I find that string art is so quick and easy to do (and undo) that experimentation is highly rewarding!
I would love if you could share any ideas or completed projects that this tutorial has inspired you to create in the comments section.

~Kari
http://ikyoto.etsy.com/

Sneak Peek: Spring Handmade Cavalcade

With Earth Day (April 20th) turning 40 in just a couple days and the {NewNew}'s very own Spring Handmade Cavalcade (SHC) just around the bend (April 24th), today's tutorial takes you behind-the-scenes of a SHC craft night where a few {NewNew}ers get together and try out some green craft ideas.

Q: What do plastic bags, a stack of old magazines, and a bunch of clear glass bottles have in common?
A: Fun & Free Craft Projects!


Quick Papier Mache project:
Boil 1 Cup Water with 1 Cup Flour.  Pour into large bowl.  Mix until you have a smooth consistency of glue (you can work with it hot).  Take your favorite fashion magazine or newspaper, rip or cut out strips of images that catch your eye, and proceed to dip each strip into the glue, and squeeze excess out with fingers.  Now your damp paper strip can be applied to most surfaces or folded into neat shapes.  We made triangles and mini roses:

Try this idea.  Clear glass bottles rescued from the recycling bin are washed and painted.  Rolled up plastic bags are shaped into flowers and inserted for such an effect:
Magazine tear sheets are adhered together to make a fancy tablecloth.  Magazine strips are woven with wire to create a ruffle effect to adorn the table:
Fused bags (plastic bags that have been ironed between two layers of wax paper) and rolled up plastic bags can create large flower decorations like the one shown here:

Want to see more?  
Well, there will be much, much more this weekend.  Make sure to check out the Spring Handmade Cavalcade this Saturday, April 24th from 10AM - 5PM at Berry Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Over 25 {NewNew} artisans will be selling their eco-friendly handmade wares and wearables at this super cool locale!  
See you there!

Virginia Kraljevic

Tutorial Tuesday: Make an Iron On Embroidery Transfer

This year, I've been busy transforming photographs into embroidered images. My latest project is this building:

which will soon adorn this bag:

And here is the process:

Materials



  • Reverse image of the picture you want to use
  • Tracing paper (You can use ordinary paper, but tracing paper makes it easier to see the image you're tracing.)
  • Sulky Iron-On Transfer Pen
  • Fabric
  • Iron

Process

  1. Trace your image on tracing paper. It will iron on IN REVERSE. You can use the mirror image setting of your printer to print a reverse image to trace. Once transferred, the image will be correct again.
  2. Lay the tracing paper on the fabric with the ink side touching the fabric. Use a dry iron (no steam) on a cotton setting and iron the back of the tracing paper.
  3. Lift up a corner of the paper to check whether the ink transferred.

  4. Start embroidering.
Note: The pen is supposed to be permanent. So if you don't want it to show on your fabric, you may want to iron it onto some tear-away fabric instead.

You can use this process to create your own embroidery transfers from photographs, drawings, or kid art, and to refresh vintage iron-on transfers where the ink has dried up. Or create your own designs from antique magazines like this embroidery pattern dated 1863 from Godey's Lady's Book, which you can find at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

Embroidery ; Night-dress. Digital ID: 828089. New York Public Library


Simone
groundsel.etsy.com

How-To: Beer Bread

Beer bread is one of those comfort breads that needs to be eaten while still warm out of the oven and works well with soups, stews, or any other hearty warming winter meal. It doesn’t take long at all as it doesn’t require any time to rise. The origins are not exactly known, but my grandmother made it, as does my mother and myself. A loaf of beer bread never lasts more than a day at most. Enjoy!

3 cups of flour

4 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3 T sugar

1 - 12 oz can of beer (room temp is best) Cheap beer works just as well, if not better than some of the more expensive brands. When I say cheap, I mean of the “Schlitz” variety. This recipe comes from a woman that lived in Milwaukee after all. Feel free to experiment with the various ales and microbrews that are available now though.
Mix well.


Bake in greased loaf pan for 45 min to 1 hour at 350 degrees.













Anne

Felt It

www.muppetloon.etsy.com



Holiday Necklace Revival: How-To Rethread a Broken Necklace

I found my favorite chunky necklace in Barcelona. It was the perfect souvenir to carry on the memory of a great visit to one of the most beautiful cities in the world. While pleased with my purchase, I knew that it was only a matter of time before fashion tragedy would strike, and the necklace would buckle under its own weight. That day came sooner than expected, only three months into the purchase.

This holiday season, I decided to give myself the gift of handmade and bring my beloved Spanish necklace back to life. I was surprised to learn that rethreading a broken-down chunky necklace is simple, inexpensive and actually a lot of fun.

To do so, you'll need the following supplies:
1. thick silk thread
2. a pair of scissors
3. tweezers
4. a small piece of thin wire, of similar thickness to the thread
5. necklace closures
6. the original necklace pieces, or in this case rocks, that comprised the necklace.

Step 1: You start by measuring a piece of thread that is five times the length of the necklace. Once you have measured out this piece and cut it, take it and fold it in half and then, fold it in half once again.

Step 2: Pass the piece of silver wire through the folded end of the thread, fold it in half over the thread and then twist it so that it doesn't slide around, but rather clasps this end of the thread. Make sure that once folded the wire is longer than the length of your longest necklace piece. This will ensure that if anything gets stuck, you can use the tweezers to pull on the wire and ultimately pull the thread through.

Step 3: Take the other end of the thread and double knot it to the first half of the necklace closure. You are now ready to start rethreading the original necklace pieces.

Step 4: Insert the wire through the necklace piece and pull the thread through. Pull the thread through until the necklace piece reaches the knot on the other end of the thread. Pushing the necklace piece down against this knot, create a knot on the other side of the piece as close to it as possible. If the knot is too small such that it slides through the necklace piece, make it a double knot. The closer this knot is to the necklace piece, the better the necklace will look in the end.

Step 5: Repeat step four until you run out of necklace pieces. Once you have created the last knot or double knot to keep the last necklace piece in place, tie a double knot around the second part of the necklace closure.

Step 6: Wear your refurbished necklace and enjoy the fruits of your own handmade labor. Happy Holidays!


This how-to was brought to you by Fernando Jewelry, a NYC-based independent jewelry company specializing in handcrafted sustainable jewelry and jewelry repair.

Photos by Florian Hoenig


- Karla Quintero
Fernando Jewelry
LuisFernando.etsy.com