Guest Post - Beginner Crafting Fairy Wands

My good friend over at Ava Maeve is a crafter extraordinaire, and since I couldn't glue a popsicle stick to a piece of construction paper, I asked her to post a craft that maybe even I could try. These fairy wands are NO SEW. That, to me, means doable. Be sure to check out her blog for more crafter (and harder) crafts and projects!

____________


Looking for a fun, easy craft to make with the kiddies? These little fairy wands are no sew, and very easy to make!

You'll need:

1 square of felt

A skinny wooden dowel rod

Assorted ribbon

Hot glue gun, but craft glue or even regular old Elmers might do the trick

Printer

Optional:

Paint

Glitter or glitter glue

Rhinestones or jewels

Embroidery thread

Bells

The first thing I did was google "star clip art" and found a suitable shape. Pretty sure it was this one, but you don't have to limit yourself. Maybe your fairy wants a heart, or a cat, or even the Batman symbol! The possibilities are endless. Print it out and make sure it's the size you want.

Have your little munchkin paint your dowel while you're doing the prep work. This step is optional, but fun!

Trace your shape onto your felt twice, and cut both out:

Now to cut out your ribbon. I happen to have a billion spools lying around so I just used 3 of those colors. If you don't have a craft stash and you're not familiar with Joann's, they have a section of ribbon that you can take up to the counter and get cut to size. That way you're not buying 3 spools of ribbon you might never use again. You'll need 3 colors at about 16 inches a piece, which you'll cut in half to end up with six 8" strands.

Pass a lighter over the ends briefly to seal them:

Now arrange your ribbons how you like on one of your felt pieces. Make sure the side you traced your shape on is facing up. Glue in place, then glue your dowel down.

Add more glue and sandwich the 2 stars together (make sure the side you traced on is facing down this time!). I used Aleene's craft glue this time, but I recommend a hot glue gun. They both seem to hold up to rough play just fine, but hot glue dries in minutes vs. about 24 hours with craft glue or Elmers. Little fairies don't have the patience for a 24 hour wait, trust me.

You could stop there...or you could bust out the glitter and have some fun! My girls were too busy painting ornaments and paper plates to do the glitter, so I did it myself. If you're wary of glitter, there's always glitter glue! You could also cut out your child's initial out of felt and glue it on for a personalized touch. Maybe sew on a couple bells? Or if you're a more advanced crafter you could do a blanket stitch with embroidery thread around the edges (just don't glue so close to the edges!).



And that's it! I hope you enjoyed my tutorial, happy crafting :)