Cookie Cutter Needle Felting – perfect beginner project

Cookie Cutter Needle Felting – perfect beginner project

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.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins {gluten-free, low-sugar}

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins {gluten-free, low-sugar}

gluten free pumpkin muffins

Enjoy these healthy gluten-free pumpkin muffins with a cup of tea or coffee for a treat on a cozy fall day!

pumpkin muffins gluten-free
gluten-free pumpkin muffins

For this recipe, we simply modified our healthy gluten-free cupcake recipe.  If you would like the kid-friendly, visual instructions, follow our cupcake recipe, with these modifications:

  • reduce Greek yogurt from 2 to 1.5 cups
  • use 4 Tbsp. maple syrup
  • add 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • add 1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
  • add 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • add 1 cup dark chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips

P.S. We love light buckwheat flour for gluten-free baking. Light buckwheat does not have the strong taste of regular buckwheat, and it has a nice light color. We order our light buckwheat directly through Bouchard Family Farms (with a quantity discount), but if you would like to try just one bag, it is also available on Amazon

Enjoy!

Love gluten-free baking? Subscribe to find out when we post new recipes.

Welcome to sparklesandsprinkles.blog!

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.

Thanksgiving Hymn Garland – to color and create

Thanksgiving Hymn Garland – to color and create

Decorate your home for Thanksgiving with this fun craft the whole family can enjoy making together!  You can download our FREE printable, or you can simply let the idea inspire your own creation.  And if you would like book recommendations for some cozy Thanksgiving reading time, keep reading for some of our favorites at the end of this post… Cranberry Thanksgiving, Balloons Over Broadway, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, and The Lion and the Bird.

thanksgiving Christian banner

The banner has pencil sketch style leaf images overlayed with words from the hymn, “For the Beauty of the Earth.”

As the children colored, we realized that this would be a good opportunity to really look closely at fall leaves… there are often many different colors in each leaf.  

 

Our FREE Thanksgiving place cards coordinate nicely with the garland.  These are so fun for children to write on and color to make your guests feel welcome!  Click on the image to get your FREE place card printable.

fall place card
fall place card

If you would like to listen to the song as you create your banner, you might like to try this version by Michelle Swift.

Let’s make a garland…

Print the images on cardstock

Click here to get our FREE printable, and print the images on cardstock.  Some of the leaves have words from the hymn.  Other images have no words.  You can string them together in a pattern you like, using all or only some of the images.  Alternatively, you could draw your own leaves and write the words of your choice.

Color the leaves and pumpkins

Color the leaves and pumpkins.  You may want to look closely at real leaves from your yard for inspiration.  Fall leaves often really have many different colors in each leaf.

Cut out the images.

Some of the leaf shapes are quite detailed.  Don’t worry if they are not cut perfectly.

Punch 2 holes in each leaf/pumpkin

Punch 2 holes at the top of each pumpkin/leaf.  Punching 2 holes, rather than one, helps the shapes to stay facing forward when they are strung on the garland.

String the images to create the garland

Cut a long piece of twine, ribbon, or yarn.  Thread the twine (or ribbon or yarn) through the holes.  Consider the order of the hymn.  Add in wordless images if you would like to.

toddler thanksgiving craft

Toddler tip...

We found it was helpful to print some extra pages that our toddler could have all to herself.  She was quite proud of her own little banner (we love it too)!  These Melissa and Doug toddler scissors help make cutting safer.

If you enjoy making this garland, and would like to make one for another holiday (including Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and the 4th of July), you can find other garland printables in our little Etsy shop.

Our favorite books for a cozy fall and Thanksgiving family reading time…

(The book images are Amazon links if you are interested in finding out more about the books.)

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves is a sweet story about a little fox who is so concerned about the leaves that fall from his tree, but then comes to learn of the beauty of the changing seasons.  The illustrations are adorable!

With Melissa Sweet’s illustrations, Ballons Over Broadway is a joy to read!  The book tells the story of the beginnings of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We had fun making balloon puppets and having our own little parade after reading this book.

Cranberry Thanksgiving is a classic with some sweet lessons about forgiveness, hospitality, and not judging others from the outside.  We first learned about this book years ago when doing a 5 in a Row reading program, and have read it every year since then at Thanksgiving time. 

The Lion and the Bird is a beautiful story of friendship and care for others.  This book has very few words, and the pictures tell a sweetly slow-paced story.  A beautiful book to look at over and over again.

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.