10 Fun Crafts to Make With Twigs

When the kids were little we spent many summer days at the park. Sticks and twigs were gathered and used as inspiration for games of fantasy (and, at one point, a child ran with a stick -- straight into a tree, resulting in the inevitable summer trip to the ER). Occasionally, little twigs found their way into craft projects, typical stuff, like snowman arms, stars, and wreaths.

Spring windstorms have brought down lots of twigs in our neighborhood this year, and I thought it would be fun to see what other creatives have been doing with twigs. Here are a few of my favorite twig projects:

Felted Wool Mittens

I was looking for a nice way to package gift cards this Christmas.  Gift cards can feel a little impersonal, so I created these felted wool mitten ornaments to slip the cards into.  Long after the cards are spent, the recipients will have these sweet handmade ornaments.

You can string several together to create a homespun Christmas garland to hang across your mantel for Santa to fill.  Or hang it anywhere, for that matter!  Here in the Pacific Northwest, winters at the beach can get a little chilly, so a few warm fuzzy mittens hanging across a beach house porch seems totally appropriate.

These mittens are super easy to make.  Start with some old or thrifted wool sweaters.

The green sweater, above, has already been felted.  To felt your sweaters, just toss them into a hot/cold wash cycle, with a little detergent.  Dry on high.  Repeat until you are happy with the felted material.  Ideally, felted wool will not unravel when you cut into it, making it perfect for crafting and sewing projects.  If your sweater has some pilling, like the green sweater here, just hit it with a soft brush.

Next, you will want to create a mitten pattern.  Here, I just used a magazine insert to sketch out the mitten shape.  Junk mail works great, too!  Why waste good paper, right?  Once you are happy with your mitten shape, cut it out and use it as a template to trace onto your felted wool.  Cut two pieces for each mitten.  I hand stitched mine together using a simple blanket stitch (it takes about 10 minutes to blanket stitch one mitten).  A whip stitch would have looked very charming, and a bit more primitive, and would "whip up" much more quickly.  You can also stitch it on your machine -- or forget stitching altogether, and just use glue :)

Decorate your mittens by gluing or stitching embellishments.  I used a simple lazy daisy stitch for girls' mittens, and glued on some thrifted greenery, yarn, and mini-candy canes.  Slip in a gift card, or other small gift, and you're done! 

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Amanda