I really can’t believe how fast Christmas is rolling around this year, it seems as if the last one has only just been and gone. I think we’re all expecting this one to be a bit different from the normal with everything that’s going on in the world right now. Our normal Christmas day is a big family event but its looking like it may be a smaller one this year. Its a real shame but at the end of the day we all have to try and do what we can to keep ourselves and others safe. Personally we’re still determined to make the most of it and i can’t wait to decorate our house up like a grotto with all of our handmade crafts and décor, just like these yarn weaving Christmas tree decorations – perhaps we might even put it all up a little earlier this year!
Here’s what we used
4 green (or painted green) popsicle sticks
Green yarn
Silver card
Scissors
Glue gun (pva does work but requires a lot more time)
Optional pieces to decorate with.
How to make our yarn weaving Christmas tree decorations
Take three of your popsicle sticks and glue them together at one end to form an arrow shape then leave your sticks to dry. I would recommend using a glue gun for the best results.
Take the yarn and tie the loose end onto one of your sticks as close to the point as possible. Begin weaving your yarn through the sticks in an over, under pattern as above. You can just tuck the lose end of your knot into the weave to hide it.
Holding your yarn tight, push the woven yarn upwards to remove any gaps.
Repeat this process until you near the bottom of you tree. Once you are happy, chop your yarn to length and secure the lose end on the back of your tree by sticking or tying it.
Take your last popsicle stick and glue it stretching from the bottom of each side popsicle stick. Add a little star to the top and it really starts to look like a festive Christmas tree!
Finish off by decorating your tree and attaching a loop to the back by either tying or gluing it. Once dry the Christmas tree decorations are ready to display!
Following my last post with the popsicle stick bumble bees I wanted to share these cute little popsicle stick dragonflies with you all. They’re really similar to the bees and just as simple to make. Dragonflies are so beautiful, we see some really lovely brightly coloured ones around here during the warmer months and the beautiful colours are what make these little guys such a great craft! My little boy loved combining all the different colours to create his beautiful dragonflies – Don’t they look adorable? Each dragonfly turns out unique which makes it great as a group craft too.
Here’s what we used
Coloured (or painted) popsicle sticks
Pipe cleaner
Pom poms
Googly eyes
Scissors
Glue
How to make our popsicle stick dragonflies.
Take two popsicle sticks and glue them into a flattened X shape to make the wings. Take a third stick and glue it in the middle of your x shape as you can see above, this makes the dragonflies body.
Coat the body of the dragonfly in glue and stick the pom poms along it using a larger one for the head. Leave your pom poms to dry in place.
Take a length of pipe cleaner and twist it equally just behind the head piece on you Popsicle stick body. Finish your dragonfly by adding two googly eyes and optionally any decoration on the wings!
How adorable are these little Popsicle stick bumble bees? over the last couple of weeks my little guy has been learning about patterns at school and has since been making patterns with almost everything he finds. This afternoon he came home from school and emptied out the entire box of pom poms (we’re talking like 500 of the things) on to the kitchen table and began organizing them into patterns. He spent ages sat there coming up with different color combos so i suggested that we used the pom poms to make a patterned themed craft and the first patterned thing we thought of were bumble bees! We get a lot of them in our garden during the summer and he loves to watch them. I personally really like these and my little guy now has them stuck up in his bedroom window.
Here’s what we used
Yellow and black pom poms
Lollipop stick
White and black pipe cleaners
Googly eyes
Scissors
Glue
How to make our popsicle stick bumble bees
Cover the lollipop stick in glue and then stick on the pom poms in an alternating yellow/black pattern with a large pom pom for the head. Leave the pom poms to dry in place.
Now take a white pipe cleaner and twist it into a figure of eight to make two wings. Attach your wings onto your lollipop stick between the pom poms by either twisting it on or gluing it like we did.
Cut a length of black pipe cleaner and twist it evenly onto your Popsicle stick, just behind the head pom pom. Then curl each of the two ends to make two antennae. Finish off this cute little Popsicle stick bumblebee craft by adding two googly eyes!
As a mother there is no amount of money that can buy you a gift so cherished as one made by your child. This little DIY mothers day frame is really sweet and straightforward to make and it looks great at home or on an office desk. So why not share the love this mothers day with this easy DIY craft.
You will need
Paint and paintbrush
4 thick popsicle sticks
White and Coloured Paper
Glue gun/strong glue
Scissors
Marker
Start off by painting your popsicle sticks in your chosen colours. We used light pink and light purple. When you’ve finished, pop your sticks aside to dry.
Whilst your sticks are drying you can make the decorations for your frame. To make the hearts put two coloured pieces of paper together and cut a heart shape out of them. cutting both at the same time will give you two equal size and shape hearts. Fold both your hearts In half. Glue one half of one heart to one half of the other. This should give you the t shape that you can see above. You’ll need to make two of these.
To make the daisies, cut out a white flower and then glue a yellow circle in the centre. You’ll need two daisies.
Once your sticks are dry glue them into a square as you can see above.
Add your little handmade decorations to the corners and optionally write a message on your frame. finish off your frame by cutting out a picture and gluing it to the back of your frame. Now all thats left is to do is gift your creation to a special someone!
Christmas is a little while off yet but I really can’t wait. This will be the first year where my little boy is old enough to really understand what Is going on. It will also be my daughter’s first Christmas. So, naturally I plan on turning our house into our very own grotto! These popsicle snowflakes are probably my favourite Christmas decorations to make with little people. Back when I worked in a preschool, I would make hundreds of them for the children to decorate and just like real snowflakes, each one turned out beautiful and unique. Our Preschool tree always turned out great. They’re really simple and easy, so why not give them a go?
take your popsicle sticks and paint them in your desired colour. You will need 4 popsicle sticks per snowflake.
Once your four painted popsicle sticks are dry, use your glue gun to glue them together in your snowflake shape.
Now its time for the fun part; Decorating your snowflake! you could use anything you like to decorate yours. We used Gems, Pom Poms and paint!
To finish, cut a length of ribbon, fold it in half and tie the bottom in a knot to create a loop. Use your glue gun to attach the ribbon to the back of your decoration.
Your Popsicle stick snowflakes are finished! How sweet do they look? I’d love to see how yours turned out! Did you know I’m now on Facebook and Twitter?