#fall craft

domesticallyblissful

Adorable DIY yarn pumpkins...yes, please! If you’re looking for a fun and easy way to decorate for Fall this year, check out this awesome tutorial from Yarn Society. No special yarning skills or glue needed with these cute yarn pumpkins. :)

✨ fall is here ✨

This homemade natural vanilla and pumpkin spice salt scrub recipe is reminiscent of that most delectable dessert, pumpkin pie. Yum!

Vanilla & Pumpkin Spice Salt Scrub Recipe

Ingredients:

4 oz. fine dead sea salt .65 oz. apricot kernel oil .15 oz. agave syrup .15 oz. natural bourbon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder 15 drops cinnamon essential oil 10 drops clove essential oil 15 drops ginger essential oil

Instructions:

Using a digital scale weigh out the sea salt into a glass bowl. Weigh out and stir in the apricot kernel oil, agave syrup and vanilla extract.

Now measure out the nutmeg with a measuring spoon and add to the bowl.

Using a glass dropper or plastic transfer pipette add the essential oils.

Whisk with a fork then spoon into a four ounce container.

To use simply massage onto wet skin, Then rinse and pat dry.

Like this recipe? Then you may also like my Homemade Pumpkin Sugar Scrub Recipe. 

Materials Needed:

Paper plates (any type or color will work)

Kiddie scissors

Yarn

Duck Tape (or any available heavy duty tape)

Pencil

Optional:

360 protractor

Ribbon

Large sewing needle

Paint or paint markers

Suggested Age Range:

7-14 Years Old

Detailed Instructions:

Begin with the paper plate and flip it over so that the serving side is faced down. Using a pencil trace out triangular shapes along the edge of the plate, this is the section where you could use a 360 protractor if you have them available. These triangular shapes will be the pieces cut out, leaving the spaces in between as the "petals" of the sunflowers. The goal is to have an odd number of these petals, so double check the amount that you will have prior to moving on to the next step of the project. If you do have a protractor available you can more carefully measure the pieces and distance between each petal, but this is not necessary to complete the project.

After you ensure that you will have an odd number of petals, you can use the kiddie scissors to cut out the triangles that you just traced. The result should be something along these lines:

---------base-----------

After you have crated the base, chose your yarn and begin by taping the end of it to the back of the plate. Wrap the yarn around the plate making sure to go in between each "petal". Once you have completed this step you should have a web that looks like this:

--------------base 2-------------

Now you can choose the yarn that you would like to make up the middle section of the flower. Tie the end of this yarn around the center area where all the yarn crosses over itself from the previous step. This is the section where a large sewing needle could be used if available, if not you can just use your hands to begin weaving this yarn. It is a simple over-under pattern, some care should be taken to ensure that the yarn isn't overlapping as you weave as this can create an awkward bulkiness in the craft. You can make the center of the flower as large or as small as you would like it to be. Once you are satisfied with the size, you can either tie the remaining yarn to any part of the craft or simply tuck it into the weaved section. After you've done that, the craft is complete!

____________finished________________

This is how my sunflower turned out, this craft is fairly straight forward but you still have a lot of opportunity to personalize it and make it your own. The result obviously does not need to look the same.

Suggestions for this Craft:

The suggested age range for this craft can definitely be lowered with slight modifications. If you have the time to precut some plates as a template for younger kids to use, this craft would definitely work for kids as young as 5.

Using plain paper plates can add an element of creativity to the craft, as the participants can decorate the "petals" of their flowers before doing the weaving section of this craft.

Encourage the use of different kids of yarn or string to spice up the look of their sunflowers, I have used ribbon alongside other scraps of fabric to complete this craft in the past.

A sewing needle isn't necessary to complete this craft, but if you have them available this craft would be great for participants to practice their "sewing" technique and form.

The biggest trick with this craft is the amount of "petals" need to be an odd number if you want to be able to weave properly. I would walk around and monitor the participants during the cutting section of this craft so that they do not run into problems down the road.

Materials Needed:

Pipe cleaners (preferably green/brown/black, but any color will work)

Pony beads

Suggest Age Range:

3+ Years Old

Detailed Instructions:

Begin this craft with four pipe cleaners, line them up so that they are even with one another. Once they are lined up, twist them together at the middle, which should leave you with eight segments that you can separate into a spider like formation, like this:

This is the base of your "corn", from here you can begin to put beads on each segment, leaving and inch of space at the end of each one. I love this craft because you can get very creative with the coloring. Calico corn can be yellow, red, brown or even blue and pink!

Once you have finished lining each segment with beads, simply bring the ends together and twist them a few times. If needed you can use a pair of scissors to even out the remaining bit. This part represents the husk of the corn, which is why I recommend using green, brown or black for the pipe cleaners.

This is how my calico corn turned out. I went with more natural corn colors, but in reality calico corn can be very vibrant. I would definitely let participants know that corn can be more than just yellow if you choose to do this craft.

Suggestions for this Craft:

Pony beads work best for this craft since they most closely resemble corn kernels, but if you have other bead types that you would like to use those could also work in a pinch.