stashbusting

our girl turned 5 a few days ago. we had a little party beside a little lake and we made some little gifts for her friends. these were totally inspired by said birthday girl. i watched her wading through our stash of fabric pieces, felt pieces, wool pieces. i watched her as she chose and cut pieces of fabric in big triangles, adorned them with smaller pieces of other carefully selected fabric, cut edges off the felt pieces, then  pinned them all together and asked me to sew them into party hats. alas they were not quite big enough for party hats, but flipped to one side and attached to a stick, they became beautiful party flags.

stashbusting party flags. 

eco friendly, stashbusting party flags.

one of a kind, eco-friendly, stashbusting party flags.

the perfect gift for a little party by a little lake.

her guests loved them. and you will too. when you make one or two or many...

here's a tutorial for you.

1. peruse your stash

2. choose some fabrics. we used jersey for the flag and wool felt pieces to pretty them up

3. adorn with aforementioned prettiness. only sew them onto one piece of your flag

4. then sew the flag pieces, wrong sides together with a zig zag stitch

5. go outside and choose a stick. a strong but thin but straight stick. you'll know when you've found the right one. wrap your stick in wool. use one color or many. stick the end of the wool down with a hot glue gun

6. cut 4 holes in the side of the flag for your stick. three holes through both flags then the top hole only through the back flag. weave through your stick, starting at the bottom, go in the front first, through the back of the second, the front of the third hole then poke the end in the hole in the top of the back flag

7. go forth and wave (and make many)

let me know if you make one!

treasured gifting, or what to do with all those tumbled crystals

some treasured friends celebrated their birthdays recently. my girl and i made a pot of chai, a playlist (it's still all about Lanie Lane at the moment) laid some treasures in front of us and we got our craft on.

some wool felt, a bottle of glue and hundreds upon hundreds of tiny tumbled crystals that my girl has been collecting throughout the year (hidden in various sandpits, along ocean shores and other places of interest throughout her habitat). cut to size, name squeezed out in glue then she carefully chose each treasured crystal to fill up the letters. so simple. she loved it. i loved it.

we made a little treasure pouch as well, filled it full of more hand selected crystals from her collection, wrapped them in her drawings with cards made from his paintings and sent them on their way, to the treasured recipients.

by all accounts, they were received with love and are, indeed, treasured.

it's summer after all....