handicrafts are the best!
they not only teach life skills but they're also so wholesome. they're crafts that really make you slow down and learn. i love that about them so much.
today i'm sharing a super simple handicraft that you can do together with your little.
you'll need these basic supplies for needle felting:
-needle
-wool roving
-felt pad
-wood beads
-embroidery floss
-a heart needle felting stencil or a heart cookie cutter
-finger protectors
you can find pretty inexpensive needle felting starter kits on amazon. same goes for the wool roving.
once you have all of your supplies gathered, you'll be taking your stencil or your cookie cutter and placing it on top of your mat.
then you'll take a small amount of wool roving, enough to fill the stencil or cookie cutter and place it within the stencil or cutter. you can always add more wool roving if you feel the shape you're creating isn't thick enough or needs more shape to it.
once you've placed your wool roving in the stencil or cutter, you'll be taking the needle tool and poking your wool over and over again until it begins to take shape. be sure to put those finger protectors on because it is very easy to prick yourself and it doesn't feel nice. can you tell i speak from experience? lol.
move your needle around and be sure to get corners and edges. once your heart shape is formed, you can remove the stencil or cutter and gently lift the shape off of the mat. the wool does sometimes stick a bit to the mat, so be gentle when lifting it. once lifted, flip the shape over and poke it a bit on that side. you basically want to work the wool as much as necessary to form the shape nicely. you can even hold the shape in your hand and use the needle to poke the sides of it. just be sure to do it slow and steady so that you don't poke yourself.
have fun making as many hearts as you like! you can choose the amount you make based on how long you want your wall hanging or banner to be.
after all of your hearts are complete, you'll be using your embroidery floss to string all of your hearts together. we added wood beads to our wall hanging. if you choose to do that, simply string the embroidery floss and needle. then take the needle and floss, push it through the bead and come back around again with the needle so that the floss is wrapped around the bead. by doing this, it holds the bead in place if you don't want it to move around.
as for how to get the floss through the heart. you'll just use that same needle and floss to push through the top, center of the heart and out through the bottom. you'll do this to connect everything together. if you choose to make banner instead of a wall hanging, you would just push the needle and floss through the sides of the hearts instead.
just have fun with it! you really can't mess it up. you'll know you're going about it the right way when you see your shape forming. once you get the hang of needle felting there are soooo many fun things you can make!
happy crafting!
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