Club Day. The Nature Version. And Valentine's too.

This one will be short and sweet, so that I can squeeze one last little bit of Valentine's spirit out to those around me.  Since Nature Club fell on Valentine's Day, we made a Valentine's-inspired craft.  We needle-felted hearts and other shapes.

This craft seemed perfect for today, for me at least.  Warm and wooly, natural and beautiful, meditative and requiring attention, what's not to love? 

Here's what you need to needle-felt hearts, stars, or whatever other shape your heart desires:

  ~ wool in two colours - one for the main shape and the other in a contrasting colour, if you wish.  Or shake it up and make your shape a rainbow of colours.
  ~ felting needles
  ~ sponge scrub pads
  ~ cookie cutters

Here's what to do:

  1.  Place the cookie cutter on the sponge, then put the main wool inside the cookie cutter, making sure that all spaces are covered.  Expect that the wool will puff out the top of the cookie cutter.  You can see from the picture about how much wool I used for the size of the cookie cutter.
  2.  Push the needle through the wool and (likely) into the sponge repeatedly.  Start along the edge of the cookie cutter, then work your way inwards.  The wool should become considerably flat.
  3.  Remove the cookie cutter, then gently remove the wool from the sponge.  Replace the cookie cutter on the sponge, then turn the wool over and place it back in the cookie cutter.  The wool will likely be larger than the cookie cutter, as it expanded once the cookie cutter was removed and it was pulled off the sponge.  Do the best you can to line everything up. 
  4.  Again, starting along the edges and working towards the centre, push the needle through the wool repeatedly until it holds its shape well on its own.
  5.  Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you are satisfied with the density of the felt.
  6.  Remove the cookie cutter, but keep the shape on the sponge.  Carefully needle felt (as in step 2) around the edge of the shape.
  7.  If you wish to add a monogram or other design, take a very small piece of contrasting wool.  Roll it back and forth between your palms, like how you would roll a snake out of modelling clay, to tighten the fibres a bit.  Place it on the main shape in the desired shape and needle felt it into place.  You may wish to tuck the ends of the contrasting wool underneath itself so that the ends are neat.


Happy heart day to you!