A Year of Printable Garlands to grow in God’s love

A Year of Printable Garlands to grow in God’s love

by | Jan 30, 2025 | Craft Tutorials

Bring joy to your decor all throughout the year!

Would you and your family like to have a bundle of sweet and simple crafts ready to make to celebrate all year long?

In celebration of Sparkles and Sprinkles turning 3 this year, we put together a bundle of our holiday garlands we hope you will enjoy.

When our family started our little homeschool learning blog 3 years ago, our signature printable became garlands (we are not sure what inspired this, but we just kept thinking of ideas for more…). Our first one was a Valentine “Love is…” garland with scripture from 1st Corinthians. Each of our garlands has a message of God’s love. What a gift it is to have visual reminders in our home of how much God loves us!

For the first time ever, we have created a bundle (at a big discount) of all of our holiday garlands. Now you don’t have to pick and chose which garland you might like, you can download the whole bundle at once, and have it ready to print as each holiday arrives. The bundle includes Valentine’s Day (in French and English), St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

The garlands are easy to put together with simple supplies (cardstock, hole punch, scissors, and ribbon or yarn). All of the garlands are digital downloads, so you can download them all at once, and print them as needed, year after year. Most of the garlands have room for personalization, giving you and your family a joyful opportunity to gather around the table and color and talk together.

We hope you and your family will enjoy these garlands just like Kristine, who said in her review:

“I absolutely loved this. This is perfect for families, individuals, Sunday schools , children, and adults.” 

The 3rd Anniversary garland bundle includes the following garlands:

Individual garlands are normally $3.99, but the bundle has a special discounted price. The entire holiday garland collection is only $12.99 (likely less than buying just one store-bought garland). Plus, until February 14, 2025 the garland bundle is an extra 10% off (no code needed).

Click here to get the garland bundle on Etsy

Wishing you and your family so much joy all throughout the year, with sweet reminders of God’s abundant love!

Felt Christmas Bear Ornament – Free Pattern!

Felt Christmas Bear Ornament – Free Pattern!

by | Nov 22, 2024 | Craft Tutorials

Looking for a sweet handmade Christmas gift idea? How about a darling handsewn Christmas bear ornament?

This ornament was inspired by a handsewn bear ornament I received as a gift as a small child… it still hangs on our Christmas tree today (over 40 years later!). My name was embroidered on the back. These little bears can be personalized as well, with a child’s name or the year, perhaps. Who knows? You might be creating an heirloom!

Simply download our free pattern, gather your supplies, and watch the video to see how to make this easy project. New to sewing? No worries, our tutorial shows you all of the stitches from start to finish.

Making these bears can also be a nice mother-child activity. Little one can make some big stitches, and mama can do the more detailed stitches. They make a cuddly toy too (just leave off the ornament hanging loop).

 

Print the FREE pattern…

Download our free pattern, then print it on cardstock. Be sure to select “actual size” when printing the PDF.

Gather your supplies…

Wool or wool blend felt. (We do not recommend acrylic felt from a craft store for this project, as the quality of such felt is not great.) We used white and gray felt for our bears, but you could choose other colors if you like. Etsy is a great place to find wool felt. We used wool blend felt from OneOfTheFlock on Etsy.

Stuffing. For an all natural bear, using wool stuffing is a nice idea. We used polyester fiberfill. Only a small amount of stuffing is needed.

Embroidery floss. We chose white and gray-blue colors for our bears, but be creative – any colors of your choice could work. We love the DMC brand.

Embroidery needle. We think size 5 is nice. It’s up to you how many strands of embroidery floss you use, so pick a needle with a larger eye if you are planning to use more than 2-3 strands.

Sewing scissors and craft scissors. We like to use craft scissors for cutting out the cardstock pattern and sewing scissors for cutting the felt. (Sewing scissors may get dull if they are used to cut fabric.)

Cardstock (Using cardstock works better than paper for printing out the pattern).

Pencil (for transferring the pattern onto the felt).

 

 

Watch our video tutorial for step-by-step instructions…

If the video image does not appear, simply click this link.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

You might also like…

French Advent Calendar

Learn French this Advent season! Printable calendar and stickers to learn a French word a day from December 1 to 24. Includes audio files to hear the words.

Embroidery Sampler Tea Towel

Learn to embroider – and create a beautiful tea towel or cloth napkin. Step-by-step video tutorial.

DIY Christmas Essential Oil Candle Making

Find our step-by-step eBook and printable candle labels on Etsy. Perfect for gift giving! (Includes recipes for every season of the year, including Christmas!)

Note:  Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

DIY Essential Oil Candles… made easy!

DIY Essential Oil Candles… made easy!

by | Nov 17, 2024 | Craft Tutorials

Ready to learn how to make essential oil candles?

We are so excited to share this fun activity with you!

We did not actually set out to write a blog post on candle making. We were really just thinking that making candles would make a sweet Christmas gift for neighbors. Fortunately, we were inspired to start early because we had no idea how much we had to learn!

We decided to write this post to save you time if making candles is something that sounds fun to you. While normally at Sparkles and Sprinkles we are all about your own creativity, this post will give you very specific information on making very specific candles… in the hopes that you won’t have to go through many wasted candles like we did.

This post tells a bit about our candle making journey and provides clickable links for supplies. You can find our printable guide to essential oil candle making on Etsy.

Luckily our “wasted” candles did not go to waste. We made some of them into a sweet little Advent wreath (and we will probably have enough to keep doing this for a few more years to use all of the candles… yes, we messed up that many!). 

We are frequent users of essential oil diffusers*, and we know our favorite essential oil combinations, so we thought it would be as easy as melting wax and mixing in our favorite combinations of essential oils. But this was not the case.

The first candles we made looked beautiful, and smelled beautiful before they were lit, but once lit, they had almost no scent throw and some of them actually smelled bad while burning. Did you know some essential oils can’t be used in candles, according to candlescience.com?

This disappointment with our first candles launched us into A LOT of research.  It turns out that many people have these problems when making essential oil candles, but there are all sorts of conflicting ideas on how to make the candles better. (Not to mention AI generated information, which is really conflicting… don’t worry, this post was written by real people.)
We share with you in this post what worked for us (after many trials!). Keep in mind; however, that essential oil candles are going to have a light fragrance (don’t expect a Yankee Candle or Bath and Body Works smell – these are generally made with synthetic fragrance oils, not essential oils). If you want a really strong smelling candle, fragrance oils are probably the way to go, but we wanted our candles to be all natural, so we stuck with the essential oils. Alternatively, if it is just a lovely scent in your home you are looking for, a diffuser* works much better than a candles.

(*If you are mostly looking for a beautiful and natural scent in your home, we recommend using an essential oil diffuser – it is so easy to add a few drops of oil and change the scent on a whim. But if you are looking for the ambiance of candles or a thoughtful gift to give, read on… We are sharing a plan that should make essential oil candle making fun and easy for the whole family!)

Recipes we love…

Here are our favorite recipes to make delightful candles for all seasons. Please read the entire post for specific directions on how to make the candles (it’s not quite as simple as melting wax and mixing in oils, but don’t worry, our printable eBook on Etsy gives step by step directions to make it a joy!). 

Sunshine and Happiness

A delightful candle for spring and summer, with notes of lemon and lavender and a touch of sweet vanilla.

3 oz. soy/coconut wax beads (measured by weight)

3/4 tsp. lavender essential oil

1/4 tsp. vanilla essential oil

1/2 tsp. lemon essential oil

 

Autumn Joy

A warm and spicy candles that works well for autumn and even into the winter months.

3 oz. soy/coconut wax beads (measured by weight)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon cassia essential oil

1/2 tsp. clove essential oil

1/2 tsp. petitgrain essential oil (a citrus scent)

 

Merry Christmas!

An evergreen forest, sparkling snowfall, and candy cane delights in one sweet candle. Perfect for gift giving!

3 oz. soy/coconut wax beads (measured by weight)

1 tsp. balsam fir essential oil

1/2 tsp. peppermint essential oil

 

Do you want to make all natural essential oil candles too?

We have a plan to make candle making a delight for the whole family!

Get our candle making eBook on Etsy…

Click Here

***Please note that that candle making might be best for older children and adults. The hot wax and the essential oils that may sting the skin and eyes make it a little tricky (risky) for young children. However, younger children can be great helpers with some parts… attaching the wick to the base of the candle containers and/or helping to stick labels on to candle covers when the candles have cooled.***  

What you will need…

Below you will see a detailed explanation of the specific supplies you’ll need. But we have created a simplified shopping list so you can see everything in one place. It is a long list, but once you have your supplies, making candles is really relaxing and fun for the whole family.

Candle making shopping list:

Supply details…

freedom coconut wax

Freedom Organic Coconut Soy Wax Blend

This soy/coconut wax makes beautifully smooth candles, and can be melted in the microwave to make candle making even easier. Coconut/soy wax allows the essential oil scents to shine through. (On our first attempts, we tried beeswax, which itself has a powerful smell, so it does not work well with essential oils.) One 5 lb. bag of wax should make about 25 candles using our recipes (3 oz. of wax per candle).

food scale

Small food scale

To measure the right amount of wax beads, you’ll need a food scale. (We could not find our particular scale for sale at the moment, so we  have provided an alternative link.)

candle thermometer

Thermometer

Essential oils need to be mixed in at 185 degrees F, so you’ll need a thermometer. It does not work to just see that the wax is melted. We did not have a pot clip for our thermometer, but it would be helpful to have one to hold the thermometer in place.

Glass measuring cup

To melt the wax in the microwave, you’ll need a glass measuring cup (probably one that becomes exclusively for candle making, as cleaning it might be difficult). We got a few glass measuring cups so that we had one for each different candle scent combination we made.

Protected surface and potholders

You’ll want to have a protected surface on which to set your candle making supplies – hot wax can splatter even if you are being very careful. A large piece of cardboard works well (then you can throw it away when you are done). You’ll also need potholders to take the hot measuring cup out of the microwave each time.

Long-handled stirring spoons

It’s not so easy to get wax off of spoons, so we found it was best to get spoons with long handles just for our candle making.

4 oz. candle jars or tins

We used both 4 oz. Ball Mason glass jars and 4 oz. candle tins. Both work well, depending on the look you love. If you might be transporting or mailing the candles, a tin would obviously be less breakable, but the glass jars look especially lovely when lit and seem to be quite sturdy as well.

right size wick

Eco wick size 8

Wow! Who knew there were so many different types and sizes of wicks. Some wicks make the essential oil candles smell bad, and some wicks are too small or too big to make the wax melt correctly. We finally found that this wick (Eco wick size 8) is the perfect one to make the wax in a 4 oz. container melt perfectly, without leaving a ring of unburned wax (see photo above), and without getting too hot. The scent throw with this wick is great too!

Wick stickers

To attach the base of the wick to the base of your candle containers, you’ll need wick stickers. With guidance, placing the wick stickers and sticking on the wicks is a fun activity for young children (perhaps ages 4 to 5) who want to join in the candle making fun, but stay away from the hot wax.

Wick holders

To keep the wicks staying centered and tall, you’ll need wick holders. Getting a multipack is a good idea if you want to make more than one candle at a time (you’ll need to keep the wick holder in place for about a day until the wax has completely hardened).

Essential oils

In the recipes above (and in our printable guide) you’ll find a few essential oil combinations we have found to work well. The quantities of oil and the types of oils are quite particular with candles, so we are sharing some recipes that we have found to work, after lots of trial and error. Be sure to use good quality essential oils. We like the Now brand – it tends to be good quality at a moderate price: lemon, lavender, vanilla, cinnamon bark, clove, petitgrain, fir, peppermint

(When calculating how much oil to buy, consider that a 1 oz. bottle of essential oil provides about 6 U.S. teaspoons of essential oil.)

Teaspoon set

We measure our essential oils using 1/4, 1/2 and 1 teaspoon spoons.

Labels and Cardstock

We used Canva to make some sweet labels for our candles. You can find our printable labels on Etsy… or enjoy making your own by hand or with Canva (Canva is so much fun!). While you could get stickers to print your candle labels, we chose to use cardstock, cut with a circle punch and glued on to the cover of the candle container. Gluing on the labels allows them to be repositioned more easily than with stickers. (Our eBook on Etsy does have a printable sticker option set up for Avery circle stickers, but we think cardstock and circle punch works better.)

circle punch

Circle Punch

To cut the perfect circle label, we recommend this 2 1/4″ circle punch. Once we bought this, we have found so many other fun projects to use it for as well.  See our video on how easy (and fun!) it is to use.

Gluestick

Gluing on the labels is another fun way for younger children to participate in the candle making project.

Candle warning labels

Funny fact – I sent one of these candles to my sister, without letting her know that I had made it. It had a “handmade with love” label on the top, but when she saw the warning label on the bottom, she was confused and decided not to light the candle, thinking “Who knows what the real story of this candle is.” Luckily it eventually came up in conversation that I had made the candle, and she happily lit it. Whether or not to use these warning labels is up to you (I did not realize that they might make people think that the candles are not homemade), but one important thing they list is that the wick needs to be kept trimmed short – this actually helps the candle smell better when burned. Our eBook on Etsy also has printable safety labels that look more homemade – so as not to confuse the candle recipient. To punch out our safety labels in the eBook, you’ll need 1″ circle punch too. (The eBook also has gifting info cards that can but tucked in with a gifted candle, rather than placing a safety label on the bottom of the candle. These can be cut out with scissors or a paper cutter.)

How to make the candles – step-by-step…

Once you have your supplies, you’re ready to make some lovely candles! We scoured the Internet to find the best candle making directions, but we did not find any one source that gave us the whole picture of how to successfully make essential oil candles. Our printable eBook brings together essential information that we found from The Candle Journey (and yes, it has been a journey!), Oily Chic (all about essential oils), and Candle Science (we think candle making can count as a homeschool science lesson), along with lots of experimenting here at Sparkles and Sprinkles.
We hope you can skip the long hours of research and jump right into the fun part of candle making by following our recipes and guide. You can get our printable step-by-step guide, along with our printable candle labels on Etsy. Once the guide is printed, candle making becomes a screen-free activity – hooray!

Ready to get our printable step-by-step guide with visuals for each step and printable labels? Click here to find it on Etsy.

Happy candle making!

P.S. We like to pair activities with reading here at Sparkles and Sprinkles. May we suggest some lovely books about Saint Hildegard to accompany your candle making journey? A picture book for children by Demi and some spiritual reflections called Let There Be Light. ENJOY!

Note:  Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Cookie Cutter Needle Felting – perfect beginner project

Cookie Cutter Needle Felting – perfect beginner project

by | Oct 3, 2024 | Craft Tutorials

Thinking about giving needle felting a try? Follow our simple video tutorial for a delightful project that is perfect for beginners!

At Sparkles and Sprinkles, we love just about everything that might fit in the category of handcrafts. However, we had put needle felting in a category of its own – “too dangerous!” Fortunately a family in our homeschool group asked if we might be able to learn needle felting in our handcraft club. With this motivation, we decided to be daring and give it a try.

It turns out that needle felting is not so scary after all (whew!). We decided to start with the easiest type of project, as recommended in a lovely book about needle felting, Needle Felting for Beginners: How to Sculpt with Wool. This book describes how the wool just naturally weaves itself together by getting poked with a felting needle – so simple!

Needle Felting for Beginners recommends using a cookie cutter to help make the shape. With this method, one is much less likely to get a poke from the felting needle. These sweet little wool creations made with the help of a cookie cutter can be strung into a garland to decorate your home, if you like. We made a fall garland with pumpkin shapes, but you could use any shape (hearts, flowers, stars, Christmas trees….)

We also learned that finger protectors can be worn to make getting poked even less likely. Of course young children should we watched and guided carefully, even with these precautions. In our opinion age 5 would probably be the youngest age for projects like this. 

Are you ready to try needle felting? We’ve put together a shopping list with clickable links so that you can easily gather supplies. Then watch our video to find out just how easy and fun… and even, to our surprise, relaxing… needle felting can be.

 

Needle Felting Shopping List

Needle Felting Pad: We wanted to make a bunch of pads for our homeschool group club, so we bought 2″ thick foam pad and cut it into several 5×5 inch pieces. If you just need one pad, then this felting pad from Desert Breeze would be great.

Leather Finger Protectors: We needed more than one pair, so we chose this pack of 10 pairs of leather finger protectors. If you need fewer pairs, these leather finger protectors could be a good option.

Size 40 Triangle Needle: Needles come in many different shapes and sizes. The size 40 triangle needle works well for this beginner project. The authors of the book we read recommend a size 40 spiral needle for the finishing touches, but we have found the size 40 triangle needle works for the whole project from start to finish. Many people recommend using needles made in Europe for their superior quality. We have used needles from Felted Sky and from Desert Breeze. Both seem to work well and are European-made. (However, even good quality needles can still break, so be sure to use them only in an up and down motion – never pulling them from side-to-side in the wool). Felted sky has a variety pack of needles on Etsy, as well as a multi-pack of size 40 triangle needles (even if you think you only need one needle, it’s a good idea to have extras on hand in case of breakage).

(Or to keep things simple, you might like a kit that includes needles, felting pad, and finger protectors from Desert Breeze. This kit does not include the 40 triangle needle, but we have found that a 40 spiral needle can work for this project.)

Wool: We tried two different wools for our project. Desert Breeze has wool in a variety of colors that works well. We also were very happy with an Etsy seller from West Virginia (Bridget’s Farm Cart) who dyes her wools in beautiful colors, including an orange color that actually comes with a variety of orange shades specifically for making pumpkins. It’s lovely!

Cookie Cutters: If you plan to make a garland, small cookie cutters (about 1.5 inches in diameter) would be best. Any size cookie cutter can work, however. We use these sweet mini pumpkin cookie cutters from The Cookie Cutter Shop. If you are looking for another shape, consider this mini heart or mini star.)

Wool Felt Balls: If you are planning to make a garland, you could make several of your cookie cutter shaped creations, or you could add in some small wool felt balls to add variety and save time.

Embroidery Needle and Embroidery Floss: To string your garland together, you’ll need some embroidery floss and an embroidery needle.

 

Let’s make some felted pumpkins…

Thanks for stopping by sparklesandsprinkles.blog!

We hope you come to enjoy needle felting as much as we have!

Note:  Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Make your own Santons de Provence

Make your own Santons de Provence

by | Dec 1, 2023 | Craft Tutorials

Come learn about Santons de Provence, a beautiful French Christmas tradition. Then make your own French-inspired nativity scene with a little clay, paint, and creativity!

The idea of a nativity scene began with Saint Francis in Italy in the 1200s.  He brought together real people and animals to create a living nativity. (If you would like to read a lovely children’s book that includes the story of the Saint Francis’ nativity, we recommend the first book in the Loupio series. It was originally written in French, but is also available in English.) 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Life_Saint_Francis_of_Assisi_Franciscan_monastery_in_Katowice_Panewniki_furta_04.jpg

Painting of Saint Francis found on wikimedia.

Churches over the years have displayed large nativity scenes. However, when there was a revolution in France in the 1700s, it was sometimes not possible for people to go to church. The French people started making small nativity scenes for their homes.

In the 1800s, Santons de Provence began to become famous in the south of France.  Santons (meaning “little saints”) are commonly made of clay and painted by hand.

Provence

Lavender field in Provence found on wikimedia.

Provence map

France with Provence in red found on wikimedia.

Provence

Provence landscape image found on wikimedia.

Santons de provence villagers

Santons de Provence nativity scenes include not only the Holy Family, but also many other people (such as a baker, a teacher, a doctor, a mom and her child, and countless other people).

Santons de Provence remind us that we are all called to come adore the Christ Child in the manger.

Santons de Provence

Santons de Provence remind us that we are all called to come adore the Christ Child in the manger.

Our family’s Santons de Provence collection began with baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and a donkey, and over the years it has grown. Each year we add a new figure or two. Sometimes the added figure relates to our life that year, for example a mother and a child when a new baby was born in our family, and an apothecary during the COVID pandemic. Our scene also includes Saint Francis, as he is a dear saint to our family and to remember that he began the idea of nativity scenes.

Having a Santons de Provence collection is a beautiful Christmas tradition. Our family looks forward to setting out the scene each Advent, and the first thing we do on Christmas morning is to come to see that baby Jesus has been placed in the stable. 

If you are interested in starting your own collection, and planning a trip to France is not a possibility, there are a number of online stores that sell Santons de Provence. We have ordered Santons from Santons de France USA for many years.

If you would like to create your own Santons de Provence-inspired nativity scene, keep reading to learn about a few ways to create your own nativity scene.

Ready to create your own Santons?

Santons de Provence are typically made from clay, so for authentic but simple material for making your own santons, we recommend terra cotta color air dry clay. Once it dries, the clay can be painted with acrylic paint. You may want to use clay tools for more detailed work.

diy santons de provence

Despite air dry clay being a more authentic material, we have found that using Model Magic makes for a project that avoids mess and also creates sturdy figures (ready for little hands to play with!). Here is a link for a class pack of Model Magic (in our family, we love having this on hand for many fun projects), but small packages are also available.

Toothpicks may be helpful to support the clay as it dries and to add details or texture.

Model Magic can be painted after it dries with watercolor paint. Any watercolor paint will work, but higher quality water color may work best. If the figures are small, fine-tipped paint brushes will be helpful for details.

diy santons de provence

Part of the fun of making your own Santons de Provence inspired nativity is that figures can be created that are special to you and your life. For example, our 11-year old loves bunnies, baking, and playing the guitar, so she created some new santons to add to her collection this year inspired by these loves. Making a patron saint figure would also be lovely. Of course making your own santons does not mean they need to look exactly like Santons de Provence, you can create your own style, as our daughter did.

diy santons de provence
diy santons de provence
diy santons de provence

Before making your own Santons de Provence inspired nativity, you might enjoy watching some authentic Santons de Provence creators at work in France. We’ve gathered up a collection of videos below that show the creators at work. The videos are in French, so if you are new to French, just watch (and perhaps you’ll recognize a French words too!). You’ll be able to see the great variety of santons that are made. You’ll also see that santons are made using a molds in order to mass produce many of the same type of santon. However, the molds are produced from originally sculpting a santon out of clay, so for making your own santons, you will not need a mold… just create your own originals by sculpting your clay. 

We hope you enjoy making your own Santons de Provence-inspired nativity scenes, or perhaps start an authentic Santons de Provence nativity collection to add even more joy to the Christmas season! 

Joyeux Noël !

Que Dieu vous

bénisse!

santons de provence

Note:  Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.