Make Stuff Archives - Enjoying the Small Things

Dryer Ball Snowman Ornaments

November 23, 2020 By Kelle

If you’re looking for a cute and simple ornament craft for this holiday week, we made these little snowmen ornaments last week, and they turned out so cute! I used to make a styrofoam ball version of these with my fifth grade students, but the dryer ball ones are way cuter. It’s a great craft to make with a group of kids/siblings because you can buy dryer balls and socks in multi-packs.

Here’s what you need:

We used these socks and these ones, and both the toddler and little kid sizes worked great because they stretch. We used these dryer balls which run a little over $1 each. You can find little carrots or something comparable in the miniature aisles of a craft store, or there are lots online—like these ones (200 in a pack—ha!), these ones or this cute button version. The thread/string is to tie the hat shut. You don’t really need the needle if you want to secure a hanging ribbon with glue (for those who are scared off by any sewing :o), but I used it to sew a string loop to the inside of the hat to hang it on the tree when the ornament was finished.

1. Stretch the open end of the sock around the dryer ball to where a hat would sit. Hot glue under the edge of the hat and secure to dryer ball.

2. Snip the top of the sock off to your desired hat height. ‘

3. Tie a string around the top of the hat (I left a little bit of the sock to show) and tightly secure with a knot.

4. Hot glue the carrot nose and paint on eyes, pink cheeks and a mouth. If you use a carrot nose that has a little “insert extension,” just poke the dryer ball with some sharp scissors to create a little hole for the extension to go into.

5. Secure a hanging loop string or ribbon with a needle & thread or hot glue (you could even safety pin it to the back of the sock). And that’s it! Your ornament is done.

*A friend just reminded me dryer balls are great for holding essential oil scents, so if you want to level up, try rubbing some peppermint, balsam or clove scented oil to make your ornament holiday extra.

These make cute gifts for grandparents, friends or an adorable way to decorate a gift. Our tree is happier.

Happy Monday!

Summer Fairy Houses

June 26, 2020 By Kelle

This post is sponsored by Stonyfield.

Hello from Northern Michigan! We made it to my dad’s cabin after a 5-day road trip here and are now safely tucked into the woods with our family, stashing away summer memories in our favorite place. We brought books and crafts and twinkle lights–the Holy Trinity for summers up north.

A few years ago, we started a tradition making fairy houses, an idea born from a little box I found by the lake several years ago. “Fairies” was written in fat black marker, and the box had been left next to the dock steps by an unknown kindred spirit who believes in the kind of summer magic I love. In previous years, I’ve ordered milk cartons to make our fairy houses, but this year we were resourceful and reused the packaging from our favorite Stonyfield yogurt pouches, a treat we’ve been enjoying for years. I always have them in the refrigerator for lunches (especially when I was packing lunches), but they’ve been such a great on-the-go treat for summer as well (the pontoon cooler is full of them :).

My favorite is the Pear Spinach Mango pouches. They’re perfect for making fairy houses because A: Recycle, Reuse!, and B: they’re waterproof, so you can leave the outside. We went ahead and used the Stonyfield box the pouches came in for an added building in our fairy village, but the box won’t last as long as the pouches.

My kids LOVE this tradition, especially because our fairy house creation day always ends with a special surprise. Once we set up the houses in the garden, the kids sprinkle glitter around the fairy houses to lure the fairies in (they fly so fast, you need something sparkly to catch their eyes!). When we aren’t looking, they swoop in to the houses and leave candy treats.

Here’s how we made our fairy village:

After we enjoyed our yogurt, I rinsed out all the pouches (you’ll want to get all the yogurt residue out if you’re going to leave them outside so they don’t bring in critters), dried them and then spread them out (along with the box they came in) on a tarp. We spray painted them with a base color. I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep the caps on or not, so I left them at first but ended up cutting them off when they dried. To keep the pouches sturdy and weight them down so they stand up well on the ground, you can funnel a little sand or dirt in them after the paint dries.

Then the fun part begins. We used craft paint, some silk flowers, Sharpie markers, a package of moss I picked up at a craft store, a few little butterflies and dragonflies, and this amazing kit of fairy decorations that has plenty of enough supplies for a large group of kids to make their fairy houses (we had lots left over).

And then the kids went to town with the glue gun.

They turned out so cute!

The best part…glitter magic.

The fairies came later in the evening, leaving lollipops and chocolates.

The fairies now have their own little village in the garden, and we have lots more Stonyfield yogurt to carry us through our summer adventures. The pouches are great for road trips too because no mess! We’re also big fans of their smoothie pouches. And, as always, all Stonyfield products are made without the use of toxic persistent pesticides, artificial hormones, antibiotics or GMOs. You can find Stonyfield products at most supermarkets and natural food stories.

Want to Join Nella’s Wand Club? A Simple Ribbon Wand D.I.Y. that Promises Delight

January 27, 2020 By Kelle

It’s been three years now since Nella fell in love with a ribbon wand that became her signature accessory. Rarely is she seen without it at home. We are immune to its presence now, an extension of her we hardly notice anymore. In fact, I laughed looking through photos the other day as it shows up in every picture–even our family Christmas card photo, and I didn’t even realize it was there. I still get asked lots of questions about her wand from new people on social media. Here is the story of the wand if you didn’t know. She has an innate sense of when holding it is appropriate and, on her own, throws it in the car as she steps out at carline to go to school every morning. She hands it to me if I drop her off at play dates and can go without it when needed. She usually makes that call on her own.

But it’s clear that the wand brings her joy, and we love that.

We’ve bought so many wands over the past few years, have received them as gifts from friends, and yes–she has favorites and rotates them for different feelings and occasions. It makes us as happy to give her a new wand as it does for her to receive it, so we are always looking for ways to create new designs that will delight her.

Want to join the Wand Club? Nella’s the president, of course, but I’m a certified recruiter; and I have a whole spiel I can breathlessly deliver about the beauty of ribbon wands to sell you on them and lure you into our club. These wands promote delight and imagination and movement and creative expression and rhythm and color and childhood happiness, and it’s all contained in a sweet little stick you can make with a few things you probably have at home. These are also really fun to give away for sweet personalized birthday gifts (or Valentine’s Day!).

What you need:

Dowel Rods (we like the 3/8 inch ones and find 10-packs of them at Walmart)
Screw Eyes
Ribbon (we’ve also used lace, yarn, pom pom ribbon, etc.)

Optional: Acrylic paint, spray paint or wood stain for painting the sticks; felt and needle & thread for covering the screw eye and adding a little decoration on the end.

Instructions:

If you want to fancy up the stick part of your wand, you can paint or stain the dowel rod first. Last year, we made a batch of rich dark-stained wands which were beautiful. You can also spray paint them and then tape off stripes and add another color. You could even yarn-bomb the stick to get really fancy.

Push and twist the screw eye into the center of one end of the dowel rod until tight and secure. We used to drill a little hole first until I realized if you push hard enough, you can screw it in yourself without help. Loop as many ribbon strands as you wish into the eye and tie a knot to secure. If the knot is too bulky with multiple strands of ribbon, you can also fold over the edge of the ribbon and secure with hot glue instead.

That’s all you need for a basic ribbon wand, but we’ve gotten fancy with all these wands we’ve created and are always looking for ways to impress Nella with something new and interesting. Lately, we’ve sewn felt embellishments on the wand end which also disguises the screw eye. Cut two matching hearts (or any shape) out of felt. Add a little glue to secure one felt shape under the top of the wand and one over it so the end of the wand is sandwiched between them.