Fable of the Day Refrigerator Magnets

Do you like to regale the people in your life with useful advice? I do, whether they want to hear it or not! I love this project because it allows me to combine my love of Aesop's Fables with my interest in discussing morals and ethical dilemnas with my children. What you do is use the spinner to find the Fable of the Day. (or week, or whenever.) Then you can use the magnets to set up the fable on the refrigerator or on a magnet board. Then if you want, you can talk about the moral. I picked 7 fables that happened to appeal to me. Some have straightforward proverbs, like "don't count your chickens before they hatch." Others are more equivocal like "a tree that is unbending is easily broken." I am looking forward to springing this project on my family as soon as Corinne finishes taking pictures for me. (The poorly composed, badly lit photos are mine and the good ones are hers.)
You might find the 7 fables I picked to be not to your taste but fortunately there are over a hundred fables to choose from. Here is a convenient list of morals at the angelfire site. After you find a moral you like you can search for the fable and find it pretty easily online by typing the moral into Google with the word "fable" attached. Then there are numerous sites that feature fables. Of course, you may have a book of fables to read and mull over, which would be even better.
Here are the 7 that I chose.

The Farmer and the Stork

Moral: Birds of a feather flock together                                                The Olive Tree and the Reed

Moral: A tree that is unbending is easily broken.

The Hare and the Frog
There is always someone worse off than yourself 

The Serpent and the Eagle

One good turn deserves another

The Tortoise and the Hare   Slow and steady wins the race                                                      
 

The Milkmaid and her Pail

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

The Lion and the Mouse

   No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.

To make your own magnetic fables you have to decide which fables you want to use and how you want to make the characters. I cut mine out of felt. You could draw them onto paper and laminate it, use clip art from the internet, or come up with your own original way to illustrate the fables. You also need to write or type the name of each fable and the proverb that goes with it.

Materials

• Artwork to accompany each fable ie animals, props, title of fable, moral
• Magnetic printer paper
• Craft glue
• scissors (It would be good to have both big and sharp and tiny and sharp.) 

Steps

1. Take each fable and decide what you will need to execute it. I tried to keep things simple. For The Lion and the Mouse I only have the animals and a net. This is the same net that is used for The Farmer and the Stork. Many items like trees and roads can be used for multiples stories.
2. After you have your list make the items and glue them onto magnet paper.
3. You can hand write or type the title of each fable and the accompanying moral.
4. I made my spinner out of blank shrinky dink paper. I punched a hole in it before baking so that I could insert a brass fastener. If you have any old board games laying around with spinners it would be really convenient to just repurpose an existing spinner, or at least dismantle one and use the arrows.
5. The bag that holds everything is just a piece of felt folded in half and sewn up the sides. I bought two magnetic clips so it can hang on the refrigerator too.  
6. Now, spin the dial and discover some words of wisdom to guide your day!

 

 

Jolly Roger Pencil Holder

  

I am making a little felt pirate play set. This first part of the post is where I show how easy it is to make a cute box to hold the pieces. The second part of the post shows how to make the pirates, trees and other accessories. The box is really nice on its own, though, and would just make a nice pencil box makeover without even putting the toys inside.

Materials

• felt-  black, white, blue and colors of your choice
• craft glue
• plain pencil box
• scissors

Steps

1. Cut out the Jolly Roger pieces from white felt.
2. Cover the top of the box with black felt
3. Cover the sides with the colors of your choice. I added stripes to the front
4. Line the inside of the box with ocean blue felt and add some waves if you want to
5. Glue on the skull pieces and let it dry.

Tiny Felt Flip Photo Books

Here is a useful little book you can make as a gift for a Grandma or someone else who likes to carry photos around in their purse to share with absolutely everyone they run into.
I used some nice photos of my kids at the beach last summer and had them printed out as "wallet size." I used typing paper for the inside paper because it is thin and flexible and felt for the exterior. You could use origami paper for the inside pages too because it is really thin but do not use construction paper as it will crack. You can sew up the book in several different ways using either regular sewing thread or embroidery floss.

Materials:

• 3 felt pieces measuring 3 x 4 inches
• Embroidery floss
• Needles of various sizes
• Buttons and other felt scraps, trim, etc 
• 3 pieces of thin paper cut 3 x 8 inches and folded very neatly the long way
• Pins
• Scissors
• Optional- clamp for holding book while you bind it

Steps

1. Decorate the cover of your book. I used felt hearts, buttons, and rickrack. I added my sister-in-law's name to one of the covers. You can sew the pieces onto the cover or glue them.
2. Make a little book by stacking the folded book pages inside each other.
3. Lay the bottom piece of felt on a table, put the paper booklet on top of it. Lay your cover on top of everything. Do not worry about the third piece of felt yet. You will use it later on.
4. After everything is really nicely lined up and square use a bulldog clip or clothepin to hold the pages together.
5. It is time to bind your book. I employed two diferent methods for my two different books. For one book I used regular sewing thread and a sharp needle and just sewed over the edge and through the paper as neatly as possible. This looks nice, but the paper may rip eventually.
6. For my second book I used a simple book binding stitch known as the four hole pamphlet stitch. Here are good directions for how to do it from the My Handbound Books site. It is actually not as hard as it sounds, as you only have to poke 4 holes in the edge of your book so is quicker than the first method. If you enjoy embroidery you could use different stitches to hold your pages together, The blanket stitch would look really nice.
7. After your book is bound you can trim the paper edges so they don't show and trim the threads. 
8. To hide the sewing on the back of the cover I glued on a backing to it. This is where your third felt rectangle comes into play. You will need to trim it as it will be smaller than the cover since it is not stitched in. We are not stitching it in with the pages because that would add a lot of thickness for the needles to have to through. You ay want to try including in the binding and see what happens.
9. Glue in your wallet sized photos. I used a glue stick. A scrapbooker would probably use something more elaborate and effective but the glue worked fine for me.
10. Now, wrap up your little book and mail it someone who will be very happy to have more photos of your adorable kids, or leave the book empty and give it to someone who takes a lot of pictures and likes to share them.

Felt Heart Blocks

Felt Train Scene

Holly Wreath Center Piece

It seems the events of the holidays often require a good centerpiece.

 I was inspired to make this one in, of 

all places, the dollar store!

I purchased all the supplies, with the exception of the wool felt (which I have a stockpile of, but you could 

purchase the amount you need to make this for very little cost) in the store, making 

this one inexpensive little craft ($3!!). 

Quick Curly Tailed Felt Mouse

 
This a quick way to make a little felt mouse, or many little felt mice. I used black felt, 2 red beads for eyes and thin wire inserted into the tail so you make it stand up.

Spooky Little Graveyard Tin

Felt Castle Play Mat

Last week I posted a really fun portable Noah's Ark in a wine tote. I made everything out of felt and it turned out to be pretty cute, I really love open ended toys. This week I made a second felt toy, a castle.  

Portable Noah's Ark Felt Board

  

Tiny Cryptozoology Worlds

Cryptozoology, broken down literally, means the study of hidden animals. Some of the legends of  Cryptozoology include the Sasquatch (Big Foot), the Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster! There are so many more creatures that can be included in this category,(and oh, we may get to those too!)  but these guys always hold my attention.

So, how appropriate to take these "hidden creatures", and create your own little hidden worlds for them, small enough to carry in your pocket.

Three Little Birds Mobile

I have a third grade daughter who is a big worrier. I love to play her the Bob Marley song Three Little Birds and try to get her to think positive. I was making some cute little birds this week, with Easter in mind, when I thought about putting three of them together to make a mobile inspired by the song. 

You probably have heard Three Little Birds a million times. It's the one that goes,

"Don't worry about a thing!
Every little thing gonna be all right. Don't worry about a thing"
"'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."

Rose up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', "This is my message to you-ou-ou:"

So, these instructions may be followed so that you might make a mobile of your own to bring some good vibes to your home, or you may just want to make some of the birds to stand alone. They are really adorable and pretty easy to make. Also remember that white doves are an Easter symbol so you could make these using cotton balls and have them for an Easter centerpiece or Easter basket gift.

Materials:

• plastic Easter eggs (any size) or real eggs, emptied out
• wool roving or cotton balls
• craft glue
• beads for eyes
• yellow paper for feet and beaks
• fishing line and stick for mobiles

First, find some old plastic Easter eggs or empty out some real eggs. Wrap some fishing line around your egg and tape it down with masking tape if you plan on hanging it. The top egg needs to have string coming out of the top and off the bottom. the other two need to have string hanging off of the top.

Next, glue some wool onto your egg. Spread it out as thin as possible and you can always fill in the gaps later. You do not want to just swaddle it it in a huge mass of wool or it will not be little and cute any longer. I was too lazy to do this but you could paint the egg the color of the roving ahaead of time so that the bright color definitely won't show through. If you ever wanted to know what it is is like to be tarred and feathered you will enjoy this part of the project. You will wind up with little bits of wool stuck all over your hands. I was covering three eggs so I just did small areas of all three and let them dry and then covered more of the eggs later. This made it a little less sticky and messy.

Make a head for your bird by rolling wool in your hands with some glue. glue on eyes and a paper beak. Attach the head to your bird.

Make wings for your birds by folding decorative paper in half and cutting out something that looks roughly like this.

 The tail is made from accordion-folded paper stapled at one end and glued onto the bird.

After everything is dry you can assemble the mobile. I used a nice straight piece of birch twig. You could also use a dowel. Or, you could hang all three from a coat hanger or an embroidery hoop.