Top o' the mornin' to ya! Honestly, I had zero intention of making peg doll Leprechauns, but when I saw this downloadable printable box from one of my favorite Etsy sellers, I sighed, knowing all too well that wee Leprechauns were in my future. I had so much fun creating them; they made me smile! When I'm in my craft room my husband likes to come in and see what I'm up to. He took one look, grinned and said, "But we're not Irish." I said, "And yet we're having corned beef and cabbage next week." 💚

We don't need to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!

To make the dolls you'll need: 

I woke up yesterday morning to see the sun shining so blindingly bright in my kitchen, I had to grab my phone to take a picture of the magnolia blossoms before a cloud rolled by and spoiled the look. It inspired me to set my Easter table and make a blog post. Over the weekend I made a quick little craft that was easy and fun and came out so cute.  My plan was to put the wood bead bunnies into plastic eggs for an Easter egg hunt but I love them so much I decided to use them to decorate my Easter table. My grandson is spending the night tonight and I imagine when he sees them he'll want to play with them right away! The tutorial is at the end of this post. 

The flowers are helleborus and come from one plant that grows in the shade under my sewing room window.

I made the Easter egg tree this week with blown eggs from my neighbor's chickens. They are very prolific at this time of year and every week or so I wake up to find a dozen gorgeous eggs on my front porch. The colors don't show up that well but there are some blues and greens among the browns. She cannot give them to a more appreciative neighbor! I'll make sure she is supplied with flowers and tomatoes this summer. 

I'm also planning a luscious works-in-progress knitting post with some gorgeous yarn and new patterns.

We've been working super hard in the garden and things are really coming together. The weather has been gorgeous too so I'm hoping to have a good gardening post sometime in April.

Wood Bead Bunnies how-to 

It's as easy as it looks. I had all the supplies on hand but they are readily available at craft stores or online.

The heads were hot-glued to the body. I added a dab of white glue to the bead hole and poked the ears into the hole with a skewer. I ended up not using the sharpie for the eyes as it bled into the wood. Instead I used a wood skewer dipped in black acrylic paint and dotted on the eyes and nose. For the pink cheeks I used a Q-Tip dipped in water and a tiny dash of pink watercolor. I opted out of a mouth and instead made whiskers out of embroidery thread tied in a knot and attached them with a tiny dot of white glue. I meant to make a felt collar but remembered I had this awesome leaf ribbon and loved the way it looked.

Don't forget to add the bunny tails!

They turned out pretty darn cute.

The inspiration for my sweet angel congregation was a YouTube video I happened upon by accident; a factory tour of Wendt & Kuhn, the German company that makes charming, tiny painted wooden figures. I collect Wendt and Kuhn and am also strangely attracted to factories so finding this gem made my day. The documentary was in German and I understood not a word, but I was spellbound. When I saw the assembly line spending their gentle work day painting armies of tiny wooden angels I knew with certainty that I too would soon be painting an army of angels. Dream job! Perhaps the oddest thing is that I already had all the supplies in my craft room. (When I told this to my husband his eyes almost rolled out of his head.) So just like Wendt & Kuhn I gathered my supplies and set up an assembly line, but that's where the similarity between Wendt & Kuhn and me ends. My angels use supplies and a skill set that is more approachable to the average crafter. Creating these little gals lifted my spirits no end. I kept calling in my husband at every stage to admire their cuteness. I made them over two days then gave them a third day to make sure they were good and dry. I slipped them into our Christmas cards and the next few days my husband will drive me around to drop them off at our friend's mailboxes. We're hoping to make some fun outings of it and bundle into the top-down Corvette if it's not too cold. I made 60 and I think I'll be giving away every last one of them. They make a touching Christmas greeting that can be hung on the tree or tied to a gift.

Fun DIY below with shopping links at the end. 

The 2" wooden peg dolls are very inexpensive and easy to find. They are great to have on hand for little ones to create their favorite storybook friends. My grandson and I have made many storybook people such as The Big Bad Wolf and The Three Little Pigs. Before we can read the book we have to scramble around and find our little peg people. For this project, I left the face unpainted and with two coats of acrylic paint I gave the girls a short bob with a side sweep of bangs.

Use a toothpick dipped in paint to make eyes and a red mouth. Now they begin to take on some life.

To insert screw eye pins: Make a hole at top of head with a push pin. Push the tiny screw eye pin into this hole. Give one or two twists with your fingers and then insert a toothpick into the screw eye to use for leverage. Twist until fully screwed in.

Now it's time to add the glam! Paint bodies with white glue and sprinkle on fine glitter and let dry overnight. I used gold, silver, white and dark gray.

To make wings: cut a piece of wool felt approximately 2" long by 5/8" wide. Fold in half and snip a little wedge out, see above. Next cut a scallop and unfold.

Dot a bit of white glue to the wing center and attach to top back. I planned to be done at this point but I knew something was missing. The halos! I tried a dozen ideas with felt, pipe cleaners, and paper but liked nothing and almost gave up before a lightbulb went on. Button halo. Perfect.

Buttons were hot glued to the backs of the heads, and voila,  the angels are finished and angelic-adorable.

I love a project that can make use of my vintage button stash.

I slipped the angels into a small paper bag and put them in my cards. Unfortunately I couldn't seal them!