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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Wednesday, September 12, 2007 - 1:07 pm
My 8 year old's Cub Scout Den is going to make a den flag out of individual baseball type pennants. I am looking for any ideas out there in decorating blank pennants. I know each scout will put his name on the pennant, but do you guys have any other ideas on how to decorate these? Thanks in advance...
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, September 12, 2007 - 2:24 pm
felt strips in different colors, stars to glue on. do ya'll do homecoming up there? right now Michaels and Hobby Lobby are filled with all sorts of stuff to put on homecoming mums that would work
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - 1:31 pm
This pic was saved from an advertising email, because I'd like to try making some of these kites for the window this weekend. However, I am anything but crafty. I've knitted and crocheted up a storm, did needle work, even sewed a bit once or twice, but when it comes to tinkering, ayayai!!! Any hints, however small you may think, would be greatly appreciated. Don't know why, but there are actually felt squares and bobbly eyes in my arsenal. Thought I might use those up.
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Urgrace
Member
08-19-2000
| Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - 6:27 pm
The kites look like they are made of felt pieces, so you are ahead of the game there, Lumbele. The craft section of Kmart or Walmart have everything you need for this project (except for the little blue cups? What are they doing there? Are the kites place mats?) All you need is: felt pieces - come in all colors in 8 x 11 or in packages with shapes already cut out plastic string or yarn scissors Elmer's glue newspaper (folded sheets to cut out patterns) felt or bobbly eyes Try cutting out a few newspaper patterns until you get what you like. Make your own shapes if you prefer, or copy the ones in your picture. Starting with the larger pieces, glue the cut-out pieces and the string to the back. Mark the spots on the front where you want the eyes, nose, mouth and cheeks lightly with a dot of a pen, then add a little glue to the back of each piece to attach at the marked spot. Let dry.
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Thursday, October 18, 2007 - 12:37 pm
Thanks, Gracie, never thought of using newspaper to make a pattern. You don't think I'd need some kind of wire around the edges to prevent the kite from going floppy? Oh, btw, saw your new pup somewhere; he is so cute.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, October 18, 2007 - 12:56 pm
Lum, you could build a frame using wooden dowels, or even cut cardboard out, use it as backing and glue the felt to that. You could also use felt board (not really sure if it's called that or not, lol) instead of the regular felt. I used some last Christmas for some projects and it's pretty nifty. Easy to cut, no floppiness, and it only cost a couple bucks at the hardware store.
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Lumbele
Member
07-12-2002
| Thursday, October 18, 2007 - 1:12 pm
That's an idea, War, wooden dowels. You don't think gluing a thin wire around the edges would work? Too soft? Thought, I might use some wire for the tails, too. Never heard of felt board, but since I know there is a bunch of that regular stuff somewhere in my big problem room (talk about 5 mins rescues needed in there, more like a month of 5 *hours* ones), I'd like to use as much of that as I can.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, October 18, 2007 - 1:43 pm
Oh yeah, the wire would work if you have it. LOL, I was thinking about my craft supplies, that's something I don't have on hand and the wooden dowels are cheaper if I have to go buy something. I'm pretty sure it's not called felt board. Oh, just found it at Michaels, it's stiffened easy felt. It's pretty thin, and yep, stiff, lol. I would definitely use what you have at home though. You can make it work in one way or another (that's half the fun for me, figuring out how to make it work, lol!)
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Urgrace
Member
08-19-2000
| Thursday, October 18, 2007 - 4:13 pm
Lum, you didn't say what the kites are for, so I didn't think of wire or dowels for stability. I did ask if they are for placemats. I see now that you want to put them in a window. Are you going to hang them in front of the window or attach them to the window or...? You could hang them from a tack in the upper part of the frame of the window. You could also use foam board backing (find it near the poster board- it cuts easily, glues easily, is thicker than poster board, and is very lightweight) for the stability. LOL because you have a room just like mine! Thanks for the comment about our new pup.
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Thursday, October 18, 2007 - 8:25 pm
If you are not flying them couldn't you just use the foam sheets by themselves? They come in so many colours and aren't flimsy at all. You can even by containers of them in all different shapes for decoration. Our Michaels has a whole section devoted to foam sheeting stuff.
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Sewmommy
Member
07-06-2004
| Friday, October 19, 2007 - 6:29 am
Jasper, That is just what I was thinking too. I LOVE foamy stuff! There is even self-adhesive as well. With the big foamy sheets you could make quite a few kites for very little $$. You also wouldn't have to worry about it being flimsy. I can't remember the cost difference between the foamies and the stiff felt though.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 10:40 pm
I'm not sure if I should put this here or the parenting thread, but think I'll try here cuz it's a crafty question. Caleb's studying Ancient Egypt in Social Studies right now and they have a project due in 3 weeks or so. He has to do a model with 3 pyramids, the sphinx, and the Nile, they are mandatory. He can do the Queens pyramids, the mastada, and/or several other things that aren't mandatory. Also needs to have crops and little people. I can find sand for the desert, pretty sure I can also pick up crops adn little people (and help him modify their dress appropriate to Ancient Egypt,) and he can paint the Nile on the base, but I'm worried about the pyramids, sphinx, and whatever ancient buildings or temples he chooses to include. I have no idea what we can make them out of. He suggested using wood, which would work for the pyramids, but not the sphinx. I suggested salt dough, he said it was too heavy. I thought about styrofoam but again, not so sure how that'd work with the sphinx, plus isn't styrofoam hard to paint? I want to avoid anything that'd be too difficult for him, Darren and I love to help but we don't want to do the work for him. Any ideas?
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Chiliwilli
Member
09-04-2006
| Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 10:48 pm
Crayola makes a 'modeling' clay that is very light weight.
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Tess
Member
04-13-2001
| Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 10:52 pm
sugar cubes? Chilliwilli is right about the newer modeling clays.
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Chiliwilli
Member
09-04-2006
| Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 10:56 pm
Tess is reading my mind. I thought of sugar cubes too but we tried that once and they can be tricky to get them to stay stuck together. That crayola clay is paintable once it dries also.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 11:49 pm
Oh geez, I'm almost embarrassed to admit it but I hadn't thought about modeling clay, lol. that should be easy enough for him to work with and won't require a lot of tools or the oven that he'd need so much of our help with.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Friday, October 26, 2007 - 6:42 am
Or those styrofoam blocks.
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Justavice
Member
11-22-2005
| Friday, October 26, 2007 - 1:58 pm
papier-mache?
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Friday, October 26, 2007 - 2:19 pm
i would go with paper mache for the spinx. the trick will be figuring out how to make the underneathe support shape to hold the form as it dries. it all depends on how big it is supposed to be. Maybe a Log form for the body of the spinx and a small balloon to form the head. on day two you would paper mache' it to each other to form the final spinx shape. as for the pyramids, first thing I thought of was Ginger bread. You know, like a gingerbread house and that way you can use icing/glaze to do the Rock Work on the sides. The sides will have to be beveled so they meet smoothly. and later you can Eat it?? LOL
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Chiliwilli
Member
09-04-2006
| Friday, October 26, 2007 - 3:58 pm
You can get any kind of metal screening or chicken wire type stuff. Go to your hardware store and explain what you need and someone will show you what they have. You can somewhat mold the screen to the shape you want if you make sure you get metal screen. Then cover it with paper mache (newspaper strips and glue work great) and paint when dry. You can do this for the pyramids too. You can blend the glue, newspaper and some water to make a paper mache you can spread on but you will need to make sure you have fine mesh wire for that. My son had to make a mask of Anubis. It needed to be light weight because he had to wear it so we used chicken wire type stuff for the base and then newspaper strips and glue to cover it and craft store acrylic paint and finally blue and white striped fabric for a cape type thing. It worked out great. If I knew where it was packed, I'd take a pic and post it.
Gingerbread is a great idea for the pyramids. If you want the display to be light though you might try cardboard also with some masking tape or whatever to hold the seams together. Good luck!
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, October 26, 2007 - 9:07 pm
That is so cool Chili! When we studied Ancient Egypt in school, it was a quick chapter covering other ancient civilizations. Nothing like Caleb or apparently your son, who actually have time to do projects based on it. I love Ancient Egypt and feel jipped! This weekend we have to work on a book report with Kota, her reading comprehension still isn't up to grade level yet so we'll spend the weekend reading the Little House on the Praire and discussing it so she can write her report. Darrens going to take Caleb to shop for supplies even though we won't start on his til her book report is done. I'll have to tell them about paper maiche (something I've never done much of!) LOL, they'll like the idea of having to go to the hardware store for some supplies like the chicken wire! Thanks ya'll!
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Chiliwilli
Member
09-04-2006
| Friday, October 26, 2007 - 9:52 pm
Glad to help. If you decide to go with the newspaper strips like I did, then be sure to tear the paper instead of cutting it. It makes it blend better on the edges. After you make your wire base then just tear strips about 1" X 3" or whatever works best and start covering it. You can even use the flour and water paste for that if you want.
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Sunshyne4u
Member
06-17-2003
| Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 12:18 am
metal screen at our hardware place you can buy wire and mesh by the foot! great idea Chilli. I've always wanted to make a gargoyle for Halloween and but have be puzzled how I'd make such a big frame....AND still be lightweight. i like the idea of cardboard for the pyramids IF it is firm hard stuff. Some will just start flexing and folding.
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Dogrivergirl
Member
06-24-2005
| Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 12:32 pm
My daughter just did her Egypt project and she had to make a sarcauphagus (sp). We used and old cabbage patch doll, placed her in plastic wrap then paper mache. Turned out great after we painted it.
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Chiliwilli
Member
09-04-2006
| Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 3:58 pm
Paper mache comes in handy for a lot of stuff. When Jonathon was 4 he was in a play of Pinnochio and I made all of the headbands with the donkey ears and all the donkey tails and then they asked me if I could make a cat mask. I made James who was 16 then lay down on the couch and I covered his face with plastic wrap and then molded a mask form using his face. At that time in his life he was pretty lucky I left him an air hole. LOL Anyway, it worked well and they were all impressed by the cat mask. If we'd lived anywhere besides Valdez, AK we could have just gone to a craft store and bought a form but Valdez has nothing so we learned to improvise a lot.
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