Category Archives: What We’re Making

What We’re Making: Swedish Heart Valentine Card Holders

Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Making, , , , ,

Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone; did you make anything fun to celebrate? Maybe baked something tasty for a loved one, or gave a friend a Valentine’s card?

We made Swedish Heart Valentine Holders with our groups last week.  Really simple, but a pretty and useful craft as well!

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(And sure, these are normally a Christmas-time decoration in their native Sweden, but with their fun heart shape our participants loved doing them for Valentine’s.)

The basic steps are, once you’ve cut out two shapes like this:

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You weave the strips together to make something like this:
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Using liquid glue, glue two Swedish Hearts together along the bottom two straight edges.  Make sure to leave the curved part unglued so you can put your valentines inside!
Add you name to the front and you’re done!
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Some tips:
  • We cut the initial shapes for the Swedish hearts ahead of time, since not all of our participants have the kind of fine-motor skills this step calls for.
  • We did, however, have them cut out the name plate hearts for the front of their card holders.  It’s always fun to see that half-heart shape open up to a symmetrical heart!
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  • Finally, it really is easiest to use two different types of glue for this project: glue stick for gluing the ends of the strips to the final edge of the heart (do this as you go along or when all of the weaving is done), and liquid glue to get the two large hearts connected to make the card-holding pocket.  I know two glues sounds like overkill, but they really do their jobs well here!
Everyone had so much fun making all of the pieces for  their hearts and decorating them!
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Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

What We’re Making: Mardi Gras Masks and Beads

Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Making, , , , , ,

Mardi Gras is upon us once again!  We made festive masks and beaded necklaces with our groups last week.

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Some tips if you’d like to do this activity with your own group:

  • We chose to do four different mask shapes; our participants love the variety!
  • You’re going to want good scissors to cut out the outsides of the masks, and a sharp craft knife to cut out the eye holes. Trust me on that part.
  • To help the cords stay put in the masks, we put a piece of tape over that area of the back of the mask before punching the holes.  The tape doesn’t hold down the cord, but it does help reinforce the posterboard of the mask itself.
  • We actually tied the cord to one end of the mask ahead of time, even before the participants had decorated them, as it eliminated a step (we didn’t have to hand out cords that the participants would need to keep track of, nor tie them twice for every participant).  Streamlining the process can be very helpful!
  • For the beaded necklaces, we pre-cut the cord to a certain length, and made a mark on the cord about two inches from the end (using white cord, we just added a dot with a marker).  We then explained to the participants to please keep their beads between the two dots, so there is enough room to tie a knot.  The visual reference seems to help.
  • Of course green, yellow, and purple are traditional Mardi Gras colors, and we mentioned that to our participants, but we provided markers, feathers, and sequins of all colors.  Everyone could use whatever they gravitated toward that day.

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Are you making anything fun to celebrate Mardi Gras?  Masks or beads?  King cake or pancakes?  🙂  Tell us what you’re making in the comments below!

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Happy creating!

What We’re Making

Creativity/Spirituality, What We're Making

Hello, you big, wide, creating world!  My name is Caitlin, and I’m on the board here at A Spacious Place.  I’m excited to start sharing some of our activities with you!

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If you’ve made it all the way here to the blog, I’m guessing you know a bit about us.  But in case you’ve just stumbled upon us, we’re a creativity and spirituality organization located in Austin, Texas.  We love giving those in our community the opportunity to really tune-in to themselves as they create fun art!

All over Austin we lead projects with as many as 40 participants, so all you art teachers, camp leaders, babysitters, and anyone else needing some creative activities can follow along for ideas.  Kaye, our director, has been in the creating game for over 35 years now, and she’s come up with some great stuff.

My hope for sharing here on the blog is that you’ll join us and create something yourself!  Even if it’s just you at your dining room table on a Saturday afternoon, we’re all about encouraging the process of creating here.

Got ideas for projects you’ve done with a group?  We’d love to hear them!  Feel free to comment below, or reach out to us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Next up I’ll be sharing a Mardi Gras activity!  Get excited.  🙂

Happy creating!

 

P.S. Today is our 10th birthday here at A Spacious Place!  Rock on, Spacious Dude!