Pipe Cleaner Fairies

There are 2 things that I always have on hand – one is pretty scrapbook paper and the other is silk flowers. Silk flowers are great for craft projects (in fact, I think all of my upcoming projects will use them!) and they tend to go on sale fairly regularly at craft stores. Another great source for cheap silk flowers is the dollar store.

So I’ve had this thought for a while that silk flower petals would make great fairy skirts, and I had a vague memory of seeing small fairies made with pipe cleaners and large wooden beads. So after a quick search of the internet I found this great tutorial on Treasures for Tots for making quick and adorable fairies: http://treasuresfortots.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-make-tiny-fairy-doll.html

I was thrilled to discover that I had all the supplies needed on hand and was even more excited by how easy they were to make – one fairy took less than 30 minutes!

Supplies:

• Pipe cleaners (light colors are best but anything will work
• Wooden beads
• Embroidery floss (I have a large multicolor pack that I bought on sale – I used off white for the “skin” and yellow for the hair)
• Felt for dress and wings – I used regular soft felt for the dress and stiff glitter felt for the wings. Treasures for Tots has a template but, as per usual, I eyeballed it!
• Ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Silk flowers with medium to large petals (optional: small silk flowers for flower hats)
• Scissors

Step 1: Fold the pipe cleaner in half and thread through the bead

Step 2: Thread “hair” through the loop above the bead and then pull loop down halfway through the bead. Twist to secure

Step 3: Shape pipe cleaner into body

Step 4: Tie embroidery floss under the bead (around the neck) and begin wrapping the top part of the pipe cleaner arm –don’t worry if the pipe cleaner “fuzz” sticks out a bit!

Step 5: Once you get to the end of the arm, fold the wrapped and unwrapped parts of the arms together and begin wrapping them together, heading back towards the body

Step 6: Repeat process with the other arm and then make your way down the body, using the same technique to wrap the legs

Step 7: Cut out dress and wings – like I said, I eyeballed this because I knew the majority of my dress was going to be covered by flowers

Step 8: Silk flower skirt – be as creative as you want to be with this part! I pulled apart 2 silk flowers and cut out the petals and hot glued them onto the felt dress. I then tied a ribbon around her waist to cover the tops of the petals.

Step 9: Glue on the wings

Step 10: Finishing touches – I used a black permanent marker to draw a basic “two eyes and a smile” face and used the hot glue gun to glue the top of her hair to the bead and then braided it. Then I stuck a small flower into the top of the bead as a flower hat.

They have been a huge hit with H and she’s asked me to make more. She even took one in to school for show and tell.

When H asked me why they have flower hats, I explained that it’s so they can hide in the flowers:

Next week’s project: the fairy house….