Mini "Magic" Wand

     Okay, so I know Halloween is still months away, but I came up with the idea for these adorable mini "magic" wands and I could not wait that long to try it.  The procedure is similar to the one I used to make my full sized prop "magic" wands.  They are the perfect size for Barbie's Halloween shindig, but could work for many other dolls as well.

Materials:
*Toothpicks
*All purpose adhesive
*Plastic crystal bead in the color of your choice
*Paint in the colors of your choice
*Paintbrush

Directions:

*Glue a plastic crystal bead to the end of a toothpick.

*Layer on all purpose adhesive to create a handle for your wand.  You could probably also use hot glue or perhaps other glues to achieve a similar effect.  I wound the glue around the part of the toothpick where I wanted the handle to be in a spiraling motion and then set it aside to dry.

*Paint the handle of the toothpick.  Let dry.

*Paint the remainder of the wand.  Let dry.

Mini Fairy House

     Wait, don't throw that container out!  Empty plastic bottles such as toothpick containers, rounded makeup containers, and aspirin bottles are perfect for making tiny fairy houses.

Materials:
*Empty plastic container (e.g. toothpick holder)
*Toothpicks
*Gold seed bead
*Lots of teeny pebbles
*All purpose adhesive
*Brown paint
*Gray paint
*Red paint
*White paint
*Paintbrush
*Clay

Directions:

*Paint the container gray.  This way, if you end up with small gaps between rocks that are hard to fill in, it will look like there is grout or cement or something similar between the rocks.

*Snip the ends off of three toothpicks and then cut each toothpick in half.  Paint five or six of these toothpick halves brown and set aside to dry.

*Once dry, glue on the painted toothpicks to form a door.

*Glue a gold seed bead onto the toothpicks for a doorknob.

*Glue rocks onto the container, filling in as much of the space as you can.

*Craft a mushroom shaped roof from clay.  Bake or dry following the directions given on the packaging.

*Paint the roof red and then let dry.  Once dry. paint on white spots.  Set aside to dry.

This is what the two pieces looked like before I glued them together.  The mushroom roof really does add to the fairy house's aesthetic.

*Once the roof is completely dry, glue it to the top of the container.

*To make an owl fairy inhabitant, punch two butterfly shapes from cardstock and glue to the back of the bead such that one wing sticks out on either side of the owl bead.

Perler Fuse Bead Floral Wreath Coasters

Materials:
*Fuse beads (e.g. Perler beads)
*Small hexagonal peg board
*Iron

Directions:
*Design your creation by arranging beads on a hexagonal peg board as shown below:

*Cover the designs with a sheet of waxed paper and iron the first side.  Make sure to iron the edges especially well, as the beads may not stick together and may fall off if you don't.

*Remove the fuse bead project from its peg board, cover with waxed paper, and iron the other side.

Spring Shapes Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Bites

     While spring may still be weeks away, and perhaps even further here in Maine, that doesn't mean that you can't make things feel springy inside.  Bring some spring cheer to your snacking with these cinnamon sugar tortilla bites, which are as tasty as they are adorable.

Materials:
*Spring shaped cookie cutters
*Flour tortilla
*Butter
*Cinnamon
*Sugar

Directions:
*Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
*Cut spring shapes from your flour tortilla and place these shapes on a baking sheet.
*Melt butter and brush it across your shapes so that each one has a light coating.
*Sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar.
*Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

Zombie Paper Snowflake

     Here in Maine, we're still in the throes of winter, with no end in sight, so I figured I might as well make something wintery.  I was scrolling through Pinterest when I saw this zombie snowflake.  It looked really neat, but also like it would require amazing fine motor coordination to make without the aid of a paper cutting machine.  While I do have my trusty Silhouette CAMEO, I know many who read my blog don't, and I wanted to see if it would be feasible to make a zombie snowflake by hand.  Here are my results.

Materials:
*Printer paper
*Scissors
*X-acto knife
*Pencil

Directions:

*Cut out a circle the size you would like your snowflake to be and fold it into sixths, following the directions in six-pointed paper snowflake tutorial.

*Draw on your zombie design.

*Cut out what portions you can using scissors.

*Use an X-acto knife to cut out fine details, which in this case was the x-eyes.  I also decided to add some more details after the fact, so that's why there's a new pencil line on this picture.

Atom Model Pins

     In anticipation of UMaine Marches for Science, our local sister march to the national March for Science, I decided to make some pins for our organizing crew.  These are relatively quick to make if you have access to a die cutting machine such as the Silhouette CAMEO, but if not you may want to try drawing or printing an atom model and gluing rhinestones to it to save time.

Materials:
*Black cardstock
*Silver glitter cardstock
*Rhinestones
*All purpose adhesive
*Pins

Directions:
*Cut out four equally sized oval shaped rings for electron orbits from the silver glitter cardstock.
*Cut out a circle slightly larger than the length of the rings from the black cardstock.
*Arrange the rings in the shape of the atom model and glue down.
*Glue a big rhinestone in the center to represent the nucleus and little rhinestones along the rings to represent electrons.  Let dry.
*Once dry, glue a pin to the back.  Set aside to dry.

Glow-in-the-Dark Valentine's Day Arrows

     Cupid's not the only one in town with arrows now.  Keep him (and zombies) at bay with these fun, glow-in-the-dark arrows.

Materials:
*Cardstock in two colors of your choice
*Glow bracelets
*All purpose adhesive
*Scissors

Directions:
*Cut out a section of cardstock at least twice the height you want your arrowhead to be.

*Fold the paper in half and cut out two isosceles triangles.

*Pinch the triangles together over the end of the glow stick, keeping the edges aligned as you do so.  This will create an indent in each triangle that will make it easier to glue them together.

*Glue one triangle to the end of the glow stick and then glue the second triangle to the first, with the glow stick sandwiched in between.  Make sure to keep the edges of the triangles aligned as you pinch them together.

*Cut out a section of cardstock twice as long as you want the end of the arrow to be.

*Fold the paper in half and cut out two shapes like the end of an arrow.

*Glue one piece of the arrow end to the end of the glow stick and then the other, following the procedure outlined above.

*Cut out a triangle area at the end of the arrow.

*Cut fringes in the end of the arrow.

*Optional: decorate with washi tape or strips of colored paper.  This will block some of the light from the glow stick, but you could always create fun patterns or shapes in the light.