Spring Craft | "Bunny Bait"

Reprinted from 2023

Here’s a clever little spring craft using wood shims, some glue, paint, and a little faux greenery.

Make yourself a cute bundle of carrots that won’t go bad even if you forget to put them in the root cellar come fall!

Display them on your table - or wherever you think they may work to attract an Easter Bunny delivering baskets full of decorated eggs, chocolate candies, and marshmallow peeps!

Supplies:

• 1 package of wood shims (12 count)

• White (school) glue, wood glue, or hot glue

• Rubber bands

• Craft paint

• Faux greenery

• 3 small nails or tacks

• Twine or Ribbon
  
  
  

The beauty of this craft is that after you get your shims and greenery, you can use whatever you have on hand to pull the project together. The crafter that shared this with me says she had everything (including the shims) in her craft or home supplies but encourages everyone to put their own spin on things. Pastel, polka dot, or striped carrots? Yes! Make them your own!

Steps:

1. Begin by gluing four (4) shims together to make a “carrot” shape - wide portion of the shim at one end, narrow portion at the other. If you’re using a liquid glue, bind your carrot together with rubber bands or other binding until it dries. Repeat using all 12 shims to make 3 carrots.

2. Paint your carrots. Follow your own style sense here. Make ‘em traditional, modern, or whimsical. You’re in charge.

3. Add some carrot “tops”. One Dollar Tree sprig of greenery was sufficient for the 3 carrots pictured. Maybe you’d like to use dried grasses or other foliage? Again, you’re the boss.

4. Attached the tops either with hot glue, a short nail, or a long tack - however you can get them to stay in place.

5. Tie some twine or ribbon at the top if you’d like. (If you don’t want to, you don’t have to!)

6. Display and wait for Easter morning to see if Peter Cottontail took the bait!

I hope you enjoy this craft. Send me photos of your finished product to D@Delilah.com, I’d love to see what you’ve come up with!

Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Happy, Happy Everything!

Fall Book Craft | Paperback Pumpkins!

Some time back, I posted a picture of some adorable paper pumpkins made out of book pages on my Facebook page. Everyone seemed to LOVE the idea!

So I enlisted my niece, Charisa, who caught the crafting bug at an early age - and terrifically out-does her aunties by wide margins these days, (book craft - “wide margins” - see what I did there?!) and I ask her to see how easy this little project really was.

She took an old paperback, tore the cover off, and just started cutting the pages, rounding the corner at the top, with a bit of a dip towards the spine, kind of like when you fold a piece of paper in half and cut out a heart - but not so narrow and pointy at the bottom.

She cut all the pages of the book, then coaxed the pages around and connected front to back with some double-sided craft tape. She actually wrinkled the pages up a bit to make the pumpkin appear fuller, and to give it some stability.

More double-sided tape was used where needed to get the pages to behave like she wanted them to.

She added a stick from her yard for a stem, and a pretty piece of ribbon at the top.

In the photo I’d found on the internet, the crafter had used spray paint to make the pumpkins orange, but Charisa decided she loved the look of the type on printed pages and left her sample in its pure state and color.

She’s not sure if she wants to add more embellishments or leave it as-is. I think it’s perfect!

Will you try it?

Here’s a link to some instructions I found on line Paperback Pumpkins - or you can be like Charisa and just make it up as you go along!