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This is the first in a seasonal series of projects and ideas for those little, quick-to-make gifts we so often need for the holidays. For planned or last minute occasions; for tooth fairies, pocket ladies, and winter fairs; for classmates, neighbour’s and host’s children; for advent calenders and stockings! Tiny treasures that can be made with a small amount of materials and a small amount of time- 20 minutes or less!
Our first tiny treasure are these magical needle felted toadstools, lovely for many occasions as gifts and as seasonal home decorations or a nature table.
Materials:
small amount (0.1 ounce- 3-4 grams) white wool roving and red wool roving -or color of your choice. A fairy dyed wool gives a lovely woodland effect.
felting needle
sponge
Use a piece of wool roving that is about the size of your hand. Roll it up so that it is about the thickness of your thumb, and about 4 inches (10 cm) long.
Needle felt all over one half of the length of the toadstool stem, turning it regularly to keep it round. Leave the wool at the other end of the stem unfelted.
Using a sponge as work surface is really helpful with these small crafts. Try to always be felting with the sponge under where you are working- it can be tempting to pick up the toadstool and work with it in your hands, but this often results in more needle pricks- and they hurt!
Needlefelt the bottom of the toadstool stem by felting well into the end. Alternate working around the the stem, and flattening the bottom of the stem, until it is very firmly felted.
Wrap the red or colored wool around the unfelted part of the white stem. Be sure and cover all the white at the top of the toadstool. Add more wool at the bottom of the toadstool cap to create a conical shape.
Needlefelt all over the toadstool cap, turning regularly to maintain the shape. Work the needle well into the wool, to create a solid felted top.
Try working with the needle at diffrent angles to help shape the toadstool top-just always be sure to bring the needle out at the same angle as it went in. Felting needles are brittle and can break if angle is changed or used to pry the fibers.
Felt into the underside of the toadstool cap. Keep felting wherever more is needed to make a firm felt, making sure the needle is going right into the wool.
Add some dots to the toadstool cap by using the tiniest anount of wool, and just needling it right in the middle of the fibers- in the same spot. Most the wool will be drawn into the toadstool. Then you can felt in any stray fibers around that central spot. This creates a nice dot, without making an indent or crater in the surface.
Run over the surface of the toadstool with your thumbnail to remove any needle felting marks. A tiny treasure, ready to be given and enjoyed!
Watch for more of our Tiny Treasures series- we’ll be featuring at least one new tutorial each week until Christmas, plus other small and simple natural gift making inspirations.
GIVEAWAY
Please leave a comment on this post by Tuesday, November 22nd, and receive 4 years of Living Crafts! Your package will include all of our 16 quarterly issues starting witht he Premier Issue, Winter 2008 and ending with Fall 2011. The lucky winner will be chosen through a randomizer, and announced following day.
We have a winner!
| Patty P. | Submitted on 2011/11/18 at 5:59 am
How adorable. These would be cute tree ornaments as well. Let me get my needles! |
These will be great little stocking stuffers. Thank you for the great post, and thanks for the giveaway as well.
Get project with kids as well. Thank you.
Cute! Thank you!
Thank you for this tutorial on making the sweet mushrooms. They will be a nice addition to my little nature table at school. I would love to win 4 years of my very favorite magazine!
These are so cute. Just discovered needle felting but I havent attempted it yet. I feel thIs might have to be my first project. Thanks for the tutorial.
Yay! Thanks for the tutorial and the chance to win an awesome giveaway!
Wow, what a generous giveaway. I love your publication and have used many ideas! Thank you!
Oh, these are beautiful! And I love the idea for the Tiny Treasures series, I can’t wait to see more.
Most adorable – and such easy to follow instruction! Thank you so much!!
Very good tutorial. These will make a nice addition to or seasonal display.
Those are so cute! What a clever idea, and so good to go with faeries on a nature table. I love your magazine!
needle felting is one of our favorite crafts! Thanks for the tutorial!
And thanks for the chance at the giveaway!!
Cute! I would be so excited to win!
The mushrooms are adorable…I can’t wait to make some. I love to needle felt. Thanks for the chance at the giveaway.
These are very sweet! I love the polkadot detail. What a great project for my little needle felting kiddo.
what a great giveaway! i love the mushrooms.
Oh no! I can already see my house filled with far too many of these little guys! Here’s to turning my house into a magic forest!
Thanks for the giveaway, too!
I so enjoy needle felting. These cute little mushrooms will be fun to make. I look forward to every issue of Living Crafts and pass them on to my daughter and her family.
I can’t wait to try these out with my children. Should be fun and will work well with our lessons on plants and nature.
What beautiful mushrooms with orange and brown in them. So warm and earthy. Thank you for the chance at the giveaway.
These are lovely! Our Fairies will have such delight Dancing around the toadstools:)
I love making little felted mushrooms and these ones are so cute! Thanks for the giveaway!
I’m envisioning a woodland themed Yule table this year!
so pretty!! will definitely try to make them…thanks!
Thank you for yet another great idea and a great giveaway opportunity ; )
This is such a wonderful l little project. I hope I get a few minutes to felt some. Thank you for the giveaway. I adore your magazine.
Thanks for the great tutorial – I actually saw some this year like the red ones.
Thanks for a lovely giveaway! You always have the most charming tutorials.
Thank you for the tutorial on these wonderful little toadstools. I have the perfect moss garden waiting for them.
And thank you for the give-away!!
…going to my stash of roving now…
We are new to needle felting and this looks doable. Thanks for the giveaway.
I was recently given a bunch of roving and scared to try anything. I think i will have the courage to attempt this mushroom
So beautiful! Ever since Fantasia I’ve had a thing for mushrooms…
What a sweet and simple idea. Thanks for a quick and successful craft.
How toadally cute! What a fun givewaway.
What a sweet little craft. We are going to make some this weekend for our nature table. Thanks!
So cute, will make some for display at the Treehouse Boutique. Love the latest issue!
they look so magical!
How adorable. These would be cute tree ornaments as well. Let me get my needles!
Thanks for the amazing creativity Living Crafts gives! The magazine is awesome.
Mushrooms and toadstools are my absolute favorite! I’ve made them out of soap, acorn caps, wax and a variety of drawing implements. Thanks for the tutorial!
These look easy to make and would look wonderful on the nature table.
ooh, just the thing to tuck into wreaths i’m working on!!
Your toadstools are adorable. I can’t wait to share them with my sister. She put a tiny fairy door on the side of her house that the toadstools would go perfect with. Thanks for sharing.
These are soo sweet! Can’t wait to make them for our nature table now! Thank you.
Oh!!! These are MAGICAL!! I cannot wait to make some for my wee grandson!! I am going to make a fairy garden for him with knitted fairies and now they can perch on and under these precious little toadstools! THANK YOU for sharing!
Hugs, Debbe
I love tutorials like this. I makes you say……”Okay, I am going to go for it today” Thank You!
What lovely toadstools! This is the final push to start needle felting. I’ve got all the materials but didn’t try it yet. With this lovely project there is no excuse to wait any longer
Magical! Thank you for these wonderfully creative ideas.
I have bought some needle felting supplies, this would be a fun project to try.
Debbie
Yay! i would love to make some for our nature table. the girls are currently into felting (we are currently making book marks for christmas) but this could be a good transition into needle felting! i hope the randomizer picks me!!