paint cut paste

if you follow me on pinterest, you know that i’m a sucker for garland. and prayer flags. and anything resembling these celebratory, sacred, strung-up beauties. so recently when dreaming up handmade and meaningful decor for two friends’ baby blessing ceremony i co-hosted, garland came to mind, of course! specifically, i was inspired by a pin i saw by a beautiful mess. i knew this would be a sweet touch to this particular ceremony.

my fellow art therapist friends and i love to create unique rituals for participants at blessing ceremonies we have thrown for one another and for other family members and friends. many of these art rituals have been featured on my blog already, such as the  woven watercolor blessing, the blessing nest, the blessing sunburst, and momma birthing necklaces or sibling blessing necklaces. this blessing garland fits right in, as it is a simple, collaborative project that can be easily done at a gathering (of any sort!) and it is not an intimidating art project in the slightest.

first, i combed fabric stores to find five colors (in this case, along the nursery color scheme) of lovely fabric. i scored with this silk and a pretty golden cord to tie them to.

once i got the supplies home, i began to tear the fabric into strips that were about a half inch wide.

i love the look of the torn edges

then i cut each one to about 8.5 inches long to make several strips of fabric in each of the colors.

i performed some experiments with markers and pens to discover which worked best on the silk. this is the way party-goers would be able to write their blessings onto the fabric. in the silk’s case, gelly roll pens worked best, as the sharpies and even the fabric markers ran and bleed on the fabric.

i tied blank silk tabs onto the golden cord in a random color order. this way the garland could serve as party decor before guests were able to add to it.

at the blessing, i placed many silk strips and glitter pens into a bowl near the garland with a note, asking guests to write blessings for the baby on the way on the silk, and tie it onto the cord wherever they would like.

after each guest added a blessing or two to the cord, the couple put the garland around a doorway in the baby’s room. they plan to hang it in the birthing center when they are ready to meet their daughter.

i love how such a simple, little touch added another artful element of love and support to this blessing ceremony and to this growing family!

in the past month, i’ve been practicing with needle felting, as you might recall from my first needle felted fox project. i haven’t been able to share these creations with you yet, as they were all gifts. now that each lives with its rightful recipient, they’re blog-safe. along with these little felty friends, i’ll share some tips i’ve gleaned (often the hard way) along the way when feeling my way through needle-felting. and gosh, i’m sooo very green at this art form, so i’d love to hear from more experienced felters, too!

tip #1: purchase the thick, dense sponge to use as your work area. make sure it’s at least 12″ x 10″ as i tried my first felting project (the fox) on that tiiiny sponge that came with my needles. ack! many an injury. (those needles are wicked sharp!) here’s how i began a dove for two friends’ baby blessing ceremony altar gift…

sure, it looks like a seal at first (and i could totally begin a seal this way sometime,) but she later gets her wings and beak. (and a pretty handmade necklace, too.)

tip #2: when felting the body (the main base) for an animal, try not to make it too dense. wool roving is made harder and harder with every poke of the needle. in fact, you can make wool as hard as a rock, but then it would not be moldable once it is in that state. if the wool isn’t too dense, you can shape it easily with the needle, and sometimes even tweak it with your hands, just as you would sculpt clay. i am seriously amazed at the responsiveness of this molding medium!

owl for a 5-year-old's harry potter themed birthday

tip #3: you can create the body parts separately, and affix them to each other (or to the main torso base) easily. after they are formed, attach them to the base by poking the needle completely through the body part (head, leg, etc) and into the base repeatedly. by doing this from different angles over and over, the pieces will join. to smooth over the joint (and simultaneously strengthen it) wrap a thin layer of wool around it and felt it into place.

bunny for N's easter basket

tip #4: you don’t necessarily need a pattern to needle felt an animal. if you find an image of one you’d like to make (google image search works great for this) you can break the body down into its parts in your mind, like i did with the seal-turned-dove up there. there’s really no need to invest in a book or patterns. if you’re gonna spend money, spend it buying pretty wool roving!

improv turtle design for a sweet turtle-loving 3-year-old's bday gift

tip #5: have fun with it! the possibilities are endless!

now, please tell me your needle felting tips — like i said, i’ve only been at it for about a month (and three needle injuries) so far…

we’ve done some bead crafts before, but N wasn’t ever as into diligently stringing beads as she was today… when my self-proclaimed beader went to WURK.

we got out our trusty alphabet beads to make a baby bracelet for a newborn friend (and a big sis bracelet for the newly-minted big sis.) we like to mix these with our mish-mashed bead collection on stretch cord to make funky trinkets as gifts.

we’ve also used these same combos to make allergy-alert bracelets – remember? N picked out some beads she loved, and we also made her a name bracelet for herself today.

(knitted sweater a la my mom)

as i was working on the baby bracelet, i noticed that N was rooting through the letters, and had picked out a stash of beads and was stringing them happily on the other side of the table. honestly, this wasn’t going to be a blog entry craft until i saw what was going on.

it wasn’t until i was finished with the baby bracelet that i realized what she was doing – too sweet!

customized jewelry is quite a perk of having a 3-year-old who can spell the names of her family members.

batgirl, the beader

i proudly sported my mommy bracelet all day long!

way better than silly bandz, yo!