For this week’s tutorial, I picked something I did for a friends daughter’s birthday party activity. The theme was bunnies and we needed something that was gender neutral. After sending a couple options, mom picked this one. I was happy that she picked this one cos it is a fairly easy activity to do even kids as young as three could do it too. I also liked that it taught guests a simple pom pom making technique, that does not require fancy equipment: just your hands, yarn and a pair of scissors.
Now to keep it from being too easter-ish, I decided to use bright bold colors. Primarily because of how fast it dries, I decided to use spray paint to add color to the frames. However I do admit for the birthday party, I may have over sprayed a coupla frames cos we got a number of paint bubbles. So that is something to watch out for especially when attempting to cover both the sides and inner edges with paint and prevent bubbles on the front side of the frame. Check out the photos from the birthday in the Workshop Portfolio section.
Now onto the actual tutorial …
Supplies: 4″ x 6″ plain wooden frame (Michaels for 99c), 5″ x 7″ colored cardstock, cutout bunny (roughly 3.5″ wide and 5.75″ tall in a contrasting color to the cardstock), yarn (again in a contrasting color to the other colors chosen), glue (because it is less messy than regular glue, I have been using tape glue in a lot of my crafts), not shown: red spray paint and hot glue
First step is to spray paint the frame with desired color. Set aside to dry.
Apply glue to the back 4 edges of the colored cardstock.
Next, using the photo cardstock that comes with the frame, adhere your colored yardstick to the front of the photo cardstock. Press down on the edges to make sure everything has adhered.
It should look like this.
Next apply glue to the back of the bunny on the following areas: ears, across the bottom by the paws and straight down the middle, vertically.
Turn bunny right side up and while hovering about 1/4″ above carefully align it so it is centered on the colored cardstock.
Once you are happy with the position place the bunny down on the cardstock making sure to press extra hard on all the area you had added the glue to.
Your painted frame should be dry by now. Place the colored cardstock and bunny into the frame from behind.
Press down on the metal tabs to hold the bunny in place.
Almost done. Set aside.
Now to make fluffy bunny tail, we will be making a pom pom. As an adult use the same three fingers as in the photo but kids should use the palm of their hand to wrap the yarn around. To begin, place the yarn around the hand as shown in the photo above.
Begin to wrap the yarn around the hand. You may need to use your thumb to hold the yarn in place during the first few wraps. Guide your child so that they don’t forget to remove their thumb and accidentally wrap the yarn over it. OF NOTE: I find that I have to keep reminding our students to not pull the yarn tight as they wrap. Despite the warnings, 90 percent of our students still pull tightly so much so that they are not able to do more than 20/25 wraps before we have to remove the yarn as its hurting their hand. So keep reminding and watching them do those first few wraps.
So in the photo above, I wrapped the yarn about 100 times. If your child wants their pom pom to be fluffy and full, then they need to wrap at least 100 times around.
Once you have the desired number of wraps, cut the yarn off the skein, gently slide the yarn off the hand onto your work space. Cut off a piece of yarn about 6″ long. Tie it around the wrapped yarn as shown in the photo above. Make a single knot and then flip the everything upside down and make another single knot. Then pull as tightly as you can and make a double knot. The reason why I do it this way is that I find it hard to make a double tight knot when all the knots are on one side. And if you don’t pull tightly, you pom pom will fall apart pretty easily.
Next its cutting time. Cut off the loops on either side.
Once all the loops are cut, it is time to give your pom pom a “haircut”.
You want to even out all the yarn ends. And the closer you get to the center, the more fluffy it gets. Once you are happy with the fluffy tail, it is time to attach it.
Add a bead of hot glue to the pom pom and attach it to the bunny.
All done!