Easter Eostre Bunny Burrow

Fieldes have eies and woods have eares.  ~John Heywood, 1565

This little bit of wood does seem to have ears. But, those ears belong to the bunny who lives inside the wood. This is a our Eostre/Easter bunny!! He works hard in his little felt home, making eggs and preparing to hide them. 

He lives in the crook of the roots of this friendly tree. There are even some hiding spots for eggs on the trunk, and there is enough room in his burrow to gather them as well. 

The eggs he's made may look familiar. They are the wild bird eggs I made back in January. 

We are not a religious family but we are spiritual. We love nature and we love bunnies that bring candy.... and sure, we even love bunnies that don't.  Sooooooooooo........I settled on calling this our Easter/Eostre Bunny. Fun fact: The origins of the word Easter comes from Eostre, the name of the saxon goddess of spring. Her name is dervived from the ancient word for spring: eastre. It was believed that every year after the long winter Eostre would return and bring with her the warmth and growth of spring. Pagan festivals were held to celebrate the onset of spring and the rejeuvination of the natural world.

This whole project took me about a day!! I took a whole bunch of brown felt that I found, you guessed it, at Goodwill. I cut out the shape of a tree trunk and some roots with room for a burrow hole. I attached pieces of an angora wool scarf to be the moss/grass and I sewed on a stone colored piece of felt for the burrow opening. The burrow opening does actually go into the trunk....I made it a pocket because my munchkin loves to tuck her toys away. To make it 3d I cut out a piece of brown felt to fit the bottom of the tree and a piece for the top. I placed a piece of heavy duty cardboard on the floor of the inside of the trunk and then stuffed it all up and sewed it up. After the fact I added little hidey-pouches for eggs. I also embroidered the doors and around the top of the trunk. Mr. Eostre was needle felted the very same day. 

 Some Linky Parties I joined, check them out....I promise you'll find inpiration!!!!
Penny Pinching Party 
Trash To Treasure Tuesday 
Talented Tuesday 
Get Your Craft On 
Do It Yourself Day 
Show and Tell 

 A Little Craft Therapy
Make It Yours Day 
Strut Your Stuff 
Spring/Easter Party 
Get Your Craft On Thursday 
Spring Has Sprung 
Creative Cats 
Feature Yourself Friday 
Craft Concoction Friday 
 

Fabric Flowers For A Song

I found some really great fabric at my local Goodwill. That is essentially why I visit the store with such frequency....you never know what you might find when it comes to crafting and art supplies. I have been addicted to making pillow case dresses recently and the pink gingham cloth in the picture above is in the process of being the next dress I finish. For now, the scraps left over from my first trimmings were used to make this fun little fabric flower. The green striped linen came from Goodwill as well....and I am actually going to use it to make pillows for my munchkins closet (to match the mural I made). I found the hat at the Family Dollar for 3 bucks. I am a sucker for a floppy sun hat. 

Yeah, it's cute....but it could be cuter. So, I've been meaning to try out making some of these flowers. I seem to see the tutorials everywhere. All you really need to do is trim some flower shapes of various sizes out of fabric ( I like to alternate the colors a bit). You sew all the layers together through the center. You could use a felt ball like I did and attach it to the middle of the flower. Then all you need to do is attach the center of the flower to the object you want it on. Simple, right?? I like simple. 

Inexpensive and cute. My kind of fashion.

:)

Cheap Chicks

UPDATE (I added seeds) :-)

Looks better, right?? They were getting really hungry. 

 

I had the urge for a little improptu sculpture over the past couple of days.... And, I am such a farm girl. Sooooooooooo, yeah, a cheap CHICK!!  A little bailing twine, glue, some paint, some peppercorns, chicken wire and a pretty cute modernistic sculpture is the result. 

 

Okay, CHICKS!! I couldn't help myself.  I loosely based these chicks on the one of the funkiest books in our house by Cathy Maclennan,  Chicky Chicky Chook Chook. 

 It's such a blast to read and repeat, dance and chant to. Most importantly, the illustrations are hilarious!! Those little chicks zipping around crack me right up. The story is simply about a farm, a thunderstorm, and some very cooky animals and their reactions to it. Read it to your Munchkin, please. 

Looking at the pictures I took I see that I need to add a few things (am I the only artist out their who is *never* satisfied with their work?!?!)....so, I'm sure you'll see some updates. :-)

 

 

Here's the chicken coop I made with some hemp rope and paint and a picture of a chicken coop someone had made and named "Hennebunkport". The builders must be from Maine (I am guessing from the title) and are making a little comparison to the city of Kennebunkport. I laughed a bit about that too. 

I need to add some seeds for sure. Maybe couscous?? And, maybe some wings for those little chickies too. We'll see. Hmmmmm.

 

Some Blog Parties I linked up to:

Spring Has Sprung 

Feature Yourself Friday 

Craft Concoction 

Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special 

Favorite Things Friday 

Make It For Monday 

Making the World Cuter Monday 

Just Something I Whipped Up Monday  

Get Your Craft On 

Do It Yourself Day 

Trash To Treasure 

Talented Tuesday 

Make It Yours Day 

Penny Pinching Party 

Strut Your Stuff

Look At Me I'm So Crafty  

 

Marbelized Paper Easter Egg Tutorial

I had that Marbelizing urge last night. It was spurred on by the fact that I found (at my local Renys) a great deal on some fancy cotton paper. Before the holidays I did a tutorial on marbelized paper.... check it out here. 

I took a few more pictures this time of the paint on the liquid starch, the paper, and rinsing off the paper after it has set. 

 

I really like the color combination's this time. I went with a spring theme. Something else I should mention: I am not your traditional marbeliz-er (er?)....I don't like to make designs as much as I like to *PLOP*, *SPLAT*, and *SLOSH* paint in the pan. I really like the look of water drops and air bubbles (the kind a professional would be horrified to see) and I think the whole lack-of-technique thing I have going one is actually just the way I want it to be. It is intentional. :-) 

I didn't have any plans too make Easter eggs out of my paper , but this morning when I woke up and looked at the paper I could just see those little eggs waiting to be formed. So, I trimmed away and voila!!

 

 

 

 

 I love them!!!!

Here are some of the link parties I joined:
The Thrifty Home
Feature Yourself Friday

Life As Lori

Get Your Craft On 

Talented Tuesday

Made By You Mondays 

A Little Craft Therapy 

Make It Yours Day 

Strut Your Stuff Thursday 

Favorite Things Friday
Spring Has Sprung
Craft Concoction Friday
Spring/Easter Party
Weekend Wrap Up Party

Itty Bitty Kitty Stencil

This is the face of one of the cutest toys in our house. I thought I'd make a quick stencil tonight. It was simple!!

I made a sketch of the little kitty on plain paper. 

Then I covered it with clear contact paper, trimmed out the right pieces, and taped it to a shirt of my Munchkins. Some fabric paint, a stencil brush, and voila!!!!

 I love the simplicity of stencils. More specific, I love to make **simple** stencils. And, they look so great. This is one cool cat. :-)

Some Great Link Parties I Joined:

Paint Chip Pointillism

 Alright, I'm no Georges Seurat either. This is my lazy almost-spring-ish day response to his masterpiece of pointillism, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. This little paint chip craft was a lot of fun to do. It's also a painstaking project (well, my estimation of painstaking is anything that doesn't produce immediate results in a few minutes....yeah, I'm not known for my patience). It might not even look like it took me a long time, but it IS a very time consuming craft. And, I didn't even have to mix any paint!!

 Imagine Seurat with his Grand Jatte taking TWO YEARS to perfect. He began this work at the age of 25 in an attempt to prove a scientific **ahem** point ....that painting with dots (known as pointillism) would make a more powerful, striking color than painting with brush strokes. I'm not sure I agree with his premise....but, I love his art. 

So, the simple directions to this craft is to grab some paint chips from your local hardware store (I picked up a variety of spring colors with the help of my Munchkin ), your trusty paper punch, some glue, and some paper and a paintbrush. There are so many things you could do with this craft: cards, picture frames, wall art, you name it. Or, more appropriate, you imagine it. 
I've linked up this post at Everything Etsy, Skip to My Lou, and Today's Creative Blog. Check it out and I promise all the ideas you find there will inspire!!

Prehistoric Art

On a trip to the local (make that the only??!!) Maine aquarium, I noticed a craft they had for young kids. It was a plywood board with puffy paint drawings on the suface of many different kinds of sea life: just about everything from lawnmower blennies to lobster. Seriously, there is actually a fish called a lawnmower blenny. I had to mention it. Anyway,  the Aquarium also had a stack of different colored papers and a plethora of crayons with which to do some rubbings of the surface. I probably lingered at that table for twenty minutes and brought home a stockpile of miniature art. Needless to say, I was inspired.

Just the other day, I was gifted a large box of unused miscellaneous crafts (there really can't be a better present for the mom of a preschooler) and in the box I found a package of 3d fabric paint....and I finally remembered my inspiration. My daughter has been really interested in Dinosaurs recently, so I thought something along that topic might be just the ticket. I even added in a little scenery (that's a volcano btw). It took about a day to dry. By the next morning, we were making some dino drawings!!