We use a lot of pom poms in our crafting, they’re just so much fun! We also have a basket of them on the side which the kids use for pretend snowball fights. They’re so versatile and so easy to make too, so I thought I would show your our favorite 2 ways to make perfect pom poms!
Method 1 – using a pom pom maker
Pom pom makers are our go to when we want perfect pom poms. This brand in particular is great especially when crafting with kids. They’re nice and chunky so are easy to grip and the ridges are a helpful guide as to when the pom poms are ready to snip. if you want to spend a little i highly recommend these clover pom pom makers (availabe here for our American friends) – there is a very good reason why they’re so popular!. We find that these are the best way to get perfectly round and fluffy pom poms but if you’re looking for a fast and free way why not check out method 2 – finger pom poms!
Take your yarn and wrap it around one side of the pom pom maker. Continue wrapping it around until its even all the way across. This particular brand of pom pom maker is super handy because you’ll know its ready when the ridges are totally rounded. But otherwise you can just adjust your yarn to your desired thickness – we usually do 3-4 layers when using dk yarn.
Repeat the previous step on the the other side of the pom pom maker.
Place the scissors inside the gap on the edge of the pom pom maker. Slowly snip all the way around both edges making sure you hold the pom pom maker together securely.
Take a separate length of yarn, slot it through the edge of the pom pom maker then pull it into a taught knot. Bring the two ends of yarn around to the other side of the pom pom maker and tie it into a double knot to secure.
Pull open the two arms of the pom pom maker and separate the two halves. Remove the pom pom, fluff it up, then take the scissors and trim it down removing any stray ends. Your perfect pom pom is finished! These pom pom makers are fab, we love using ours.
Method 2 – making pom poms using fingers.
Wrap the yarn several times around the middle three fingers (you can adjust the amount of fingers you use to alter the sizes).
Once you’re happy with the thickness of your yarn, carefully slip if off of your fingers and onto the table. Take a length of string and tie it around the centre of your entire yarn, flip the pom pom around and tie it on the other side in a double knot to secure.
Pop your scissors into the edge of your pom pom and slowly snip the loops open at their central point. Fluff up your pom pom.
Take your scissors and snip all around your pom pom until you are happy with it. Though the pom poms don’t turn out quite as perfect looking this way they are still super cute, plus its fast and free!
When it comes to the holidays we love to have as many of our decorations handmade as we possibly can. so naturally with Halloween right around the corner we’ve been trying to come up with as many fun creepy crawly themed crafts as possible. I’d seen some really cute Popsicle stick spiderwebs online where the Popsicle sticks are glued into a star shape but when we actually came to make them my 4yo son found it too tricky to twist the yarn around the sticks. He was pretty disappointed as he really wanted to make a spiderweb after seeing them online so we decided to come up with our own easier version. After a good amount of time (and a little frustration) playing around with the Popsicle sticks we eventually came up with this cute diamond shaped Popsicle stick spider web craft. My little guy found them really easy to make and had tons of fun with them too!
Here’s what we used
Popsicle sticks
Yarn
Black Pom pom
Black paper
Googly eyes
Glue
Scissors
Here’s how we made our popsicle stick spider web craft
Take four popsickle sticks and glue them together into a diamond shape, ensure that the two points at the widest part overlap slightly as you can see above. Then take one end of your yarn and tie it on to one of the sticks.
Wrap the yarn all around the outside of the stick frame. Little ones may need some help to ensure that the yarn is pulled tout.
When your happy with your web, take your yarn and wrap it around the longest part of your diamond 2-3 times. It should sit nicely between the lollipop sticks that you overlapped. Once finished chop your yarn and then tie the loose end to your stick frame. Next it’s time to make your little spider! To make ours we cut out four long paper strips and glued them together in the centre to make 8 legs. We then added some googly eyes to a pom pom before sticking it down onto the legs.
Glue your spider on to the front of your string web. Tie a loop through under the string between the overlapped Popsicle sticks and your decoration is ready to hang!
Inspired by our earlier paper plate spider web craft, this laced paper plate pumpkin is a real cutie. We love these lacing crafts, they’re so relaxed and often we make ours whilst lounging out on the sofas. My little guy particularly likes them as they give him a lot to focus on and think about. It may seem a little early to start on the Halloween crafts but we have so many that we wanted to share that it’s never too early to start!
Heres what we used
Orange (or painted orange) Paper plate
Orange yarn
Black felt or card
Scissors
Glue
Hole punch
How to make our laced paper plate pumpkin craft.
Take your paper plate and cut out a large circle from the centre, leaving just a small edge of the inner plate.
Now take your hole punch and make several similary spaced holes around the inside of your paper plate.
Take a good length of orange yarn and sellotape one end to the back of your paper plate. Then take the other end of your yarn and begin threading it in and out of the holes. You could either follow a pattern of going from one side to the other or you could thread it at random as we did. Once you have threaded through each hole. Take the loose end and sellotape it to the back as you did before.
Now take your black felt (or card) and cut out the shapes for your pumpkin’s face. Use a dab of glue and attach it to the front of your laced yarn.
To hang your paper plate pumpkin simply punch a hole in the center top and tie a loop through it. Your laced paper plate pumpkin craft is finished and ready to display!
How sweet is this little dolly peg dancer craft? We’ve had a huge pack of dolly pegs stashed at the back of the cupboard for ages and today my niece
decided it was time we made something with them. We’d just finished making some yarn tassel doll key rings for her school bag and she suggested that perhaps we could make some peg dolls too because they look like little little stick people. So after a little while of trying to figure out how on earth to fold the cupcake cases into a dress, we finally got there! We just love how cute these turned out!
Heres what we used
Dolly peg
Large cupcake case
Yarn
Pipe cleaner
Glue
Pens
How to make a dolly peg dancer
First start by drawing eyes, a nose and a mouth on the head of your dolly peg. Then, give your dancer some hair by either drawing or sticking some on.
To start making the dress, take a cupcake case and fold it in half. Glue your dolly peg centrally on your cupcake case with the folded end of the case facing the dolls head.
Take a second cupcake case and again fold it in half. Making sure that the two cupcake cases match up, glue your second one both to the front of the peg and the first cake case.
Fold and glue the sides of the case liner backwards to give you your desired dress shape.
Take a pipe cleaner and wrap it around the top of your peg before twisting it so that it sits securely (if your having trouble a dot of glue will help!) Finish of your dolly peg dancer craft by giving her two little dancing shoes and optionally decorating her dress. Isnt she fab?
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How adorable are these little yarn tassel doll charms? They were actually inspired by our yarn ghost charms that we made. I noticed how much the tassels looked like dresses and out sprung the idea for this little craft. My son has really enjoyed making these to gift to his nan and aunties, he found them a bit tricky at the start but soon picked it up. He’s also made one to gift to his cousin to go on her school bag – such a cute idea!
(small objects can be choking hazards, this activity is best suited to older children and children should be supervised at all times)
How to make a tassel doll keyring
First you’ll need to cut out a rectangle from your cardboard, it doesn’t need to be anything fancy – you can see here that were using a battered up piece of cereal box! You’ll need to make sure the height of the rectangle matches the length you want your tassel to be.
Starting at the bottom side, take your yarn and begin wrapping it around your cardboard. Make sure it’s secure but not so tight that it buckles your cardboard. Continue wrapping it around and then once you have reached your desired thickness cut it off at the bottom side where you first started.
Cut off a length of yarn and fold it in half. Then, tie a loop at the centre fold.
Using the two loose ends, tie your loop tightly around the centre of your yarn.
Slip your yarn off of your cardboard. Turn it inside out so that the loop is outside and on top as you can see above.
Place your scissors through the loops and then gently snip them open. I find that the best way to ensure that the ends are snipped evenly is to pull downwards as I snip to ensure I’m snipping the bottom center of each loop.
Now cut two lengths of yarn. Tie one just below the top of your tassel to create the dress shape and the other onto the loop just above your tassel to create arms.
Take your wooden bead and draw your dolls face on to it before threading it onto your loop. Finish off by adding a keying onto the top of your loop. Don’t these yarn tassel doll charms look adorable?
