Penguin Treats

Hi Friends!  Here's a perfect little recipe/craft for a frigid arctic-like day!  My amazing friend Beth made these little guys for her daughter's first birthday party, and they were so sweet (and tasty)!  Check out the recipe she used from allrecipes.com  Not too difficult, and ingredients you may just have on hand in your pantry.  Have fun!

Original recipe makes 18 penguins.

INGREDIENTS:

 - 18 jumbo black olives, pitted

 - 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

 - 18 small black olives

 - 1 carrot

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut a slit from top to bottom, lengthwise, into the side of each jumbo olive. Carefully insert about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese into each olive. Slice the carrot into eighteen 1/4 inch thick rounds; cut a small notch out of each carrot slice to form feet. Save the cut out piece and press into center of small olive to form the beak. If necessary cut a small slit into each olive before inserting the beak.
2. Set a big olive, large hole side down, onto a carrot slice. Then, set a small olive onto the large olive, adjusting so that the beak, cream cheese chest and notch in the carrot slice line up. Secure with a toothpick.

Have a crafty day!
Your friends at Fiddle & Frog

Paper Snowflakes

Hi Friends!
This week, my four-year old and I made snowflakes from white paper.  We just did really simple cut-outs, like squares, rectangles and triangles.  But I think they turned out kind of cute! 

 

 

Have any of you made paper snowflakes this year? 

What designs do you cut out?  Please share your ideas :)

 

Have a crafty day,

 

Kristin at Fiddle & Frog

Must-Have Tools: Woodworking & Sewing

Hi all!
Ever wonder what tools we use here at Fiddle & Frog to make all the handmade goods we produce?  Here's a look at some of the tools we'd be lost without.

PART 1:  Woodworking

SCROLL SAW:  for detailed cuts, or working with small pieces

 

TABLE SAW:  for rough cutting pieces to size

MITER/MITRE SAW:  for cutting angles

DRILL PRESS & PLANER:  for drilling all sizes of holes and removing rough edges

DRILL:  for drilling, using as a screwdriver, etc.

PART 2:  Sewing

SEWING MACHINE:  kind of obvious, but an indispensable tool for someone who sews as much as I do!

MISCELLANEOUS TOOLS:  scissors, pinking shears, pins, measuring tape, scissors sharpener
Not Pictured:  notebook, pencils, seam ripper

There you go...the main tools we couldn't live without!  Please note:  Although you do see certain brands here, we are not affiliated with them and could also recommend many other brands of the same tools.  What tools are most useful to you in your crafting?

Have a crafty day,
Your friends at Fiddle & Frog

Storyboards

Hi friends!
For Christmas this year, I made L a STORYBOARD SET, complete with scenery and doll costumes.  It's basically a larger, more durable version of a felt board and made for 18" dolls.  I thought I'd share some pictures of it with you!

Here's the board closed up.  It's made of three pieces of MDF, with the side pieces hinged onto the larger center piece.  I added Velcro to the inside of the board so L can stick her felt pieces onto it.  To brighten it up a little, I glued paper flower cutouts to the front, and then sprayed poly over the top to seal it a little.

 



We're totally into Little House on the Prairie, so here's our Pioneer Scenes!  Two trees, a covered wagon with Jack (the Ingalls' dog) and a log cabin help L play out some of the stories from Laura's day.  All parts on the board are felt-backed, so can be easily moved and rearranged.  (I may add some Velcro to them in the future...they don't stay on perfectly now.)  I think my favorite part of these scenes is the doll outfit...love the little bonnet!

 

L is a little obsessed with princesses right now, and Cinderella is her favorite.  Here are a kitchen scene (with 'rags' outfit) and the garden scene (when Cinderella's fairy godmother grants her wish with a beautiful ball gown) from that fairytale.  There's also a costume for the fairy godmother, but it has mysteriously vanished (under a couch?  dog ate it?)!

L is also really enjoying horses and cowgirls lately.  Here's my version of a stable.

I always loved playing school as a kid, and I'm sure L will do the same.  Here's a school scene complete with teacher and student desks, chalkboard and room décor.  The doll's outfit is a little cardigan made from an old adult sweater...love it!

 

While this project was a bit time-consuming, I think it turned out alright.  It's really rewarding to see L use her imagination and creativity to act out the scenes.  Plus, with all the costume changes her doll has to go through, she gets great fine motor practice with Velcro, buttons, snaps.....!

 

What scenes would you have to include for your little ones, if you were to make a storyboard?

 

Have a crafty day!

Kristin at Fiddle & Frog