Candles, Garland and Nut Babies, Oh My!

Do you find yourself with ink and glue under your fingernails? Are you forgetting to eat? Not sure when you last showered? Can't remember what day it is? 

FINDING GLITTER IN YOUR TOOTHBRUSH???

If you answered "yes" to these questions, YOU TOO may be suffering from Brainiotis Craftiosis.......otherwise known as

CRAFTS ON THE BRAIN!!!

I've pretty much lost my mind working on stuff for the last couple of days. Cutting, gluing, glittering, punching, stamping....etc. Hmm...I wonder what the kids are doing? (kidding)

Anyway, I've come up for air to share a couple of things with you and show you a tutorial for a little craft that's become somewhat of a Christmastime tradition around here- Nut Babies!   

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I've been embellishing these dollar store candles for the past few years, and they are always fun to work on.

I've seen lots of these on Pinterest and on crafty blogs, so I know I'm not the only one having fun! I used some of my vintage sheet music for one.

I have an interesting source for the others I made. A few years back a friend of mine gave me this and it's actually a towel! A lovely linen hand towel that I couldn't bring myself to use because it's just too pretty. So I put it in a frame and I just love the way it looks.
When she reads this she might roll her eyes and shake her head : )
 
 
I like the image so much, in fact, that I scanned it into my computer and printed it in B & W to use for projects just like this one. I had a copy of this french script paper, and tore out the image of the girl to decoupage over it.

  




For this one I just used the copy of the full image from the towel.

 I don't think you can really see it, but I embellished the leaves with vintage glass glitter.

This is actually a craft remake. Several Christmases ago my friend and I made a garland by gluing these beautiful Cavallini Christmas postcards to a wide ribbon. This year I "unglued" it :)

I punched holes at the top of each card and threaded a different ribbon through and hung it on an old sled on my bedroom wall. Don't you just LOVE simple and easy projects?

Now, on to my little tutorial!

I really can't remember how the first one came to be, but these little cuties have been appearing at our house at Christmastime for probably ten years now.

We've made ornaments out of them, but usually just tuck them in to the branches of the Christmas tree. They also make cute dollhouse babies!

 

Here's what you will need to create your Woodland Nut Baby:


Hollowed out Walnut shells for the nut baby's cradle.
Try to split the Walnut as evenly as possible. The ones I used for this were a little "choppy"-I think they were leftovers from last year!

Small wooden beads for the heads.

Acorn caps. These came from actual acorns, but I seem to remember you can get these at craft stores as well.

Cotton balls. I split one in half for two nut babies.

Fabric scraps for creating the little "blanket" top. I used craft felt for these.

Hot glue gun  

 One year we painted some of the Walnut shells silver. Natural or painted? You decide!

I have some fabric leaves just waiting for a little project, so I'm going to try something a little different. I'm tucking one into one of the shells for the nut baby to rest on. Kind of adds to the "woodland" feel, don't you think?

  

Now hot glue an acorn cap onto the wooden bead. Doesn't it make the cutest little baby head?? Sometimes we'll draw a little face on these, but I'm leaving these plain.

  Now hot glue the head to the inside edge of the nut shell.

Now take a piece of cotton ball and fill up the shell. Sorry about the fuzzy photos!

  

Fill the shell with enough cotton to create a puffy look under the little fabric scrap blanket that comes next. 

Cut a little piece of fabric the approximate shape of the nut shell.

Lay it over the cotton and begin tucking it in around the edges and under the head. When you like the way it looks, you can add a little touch of hot glue to keep it in place, but it really isn't necessary.

And that's all there is to it! After all these years, I still think they're just adorable.

Now you have your very own sweet little woodland nut baby : )

 Nighty-night babies....

Sharing over at:

The Charm of Home-Home Sweet Home 

Common Ground-Vintage Inspiration
Cedar Hill Ranch: Homespun Christmas-Handmade Holidays 
Power of Pinterest Party-Fox Hollow Cottage & Debbiedoo's 
At The Picket Fence-Inspiration Friday 
Funky Junk Interiors-SNS 
It's Overflowing-Overflowing With Creativity 
Homemaker on a Dime-Creative Bloggers Party Hop 
The Farmhouse Porch-Cowgirl Up! 
The Vintage Farmhouse-Creative Things Thursday 
Shanty 2 Chic Christmas Craft Party 
It's Overflowing-Tis the Season 2012 Christmas Crafts!