Dear Spring: Was it something I said?

I saw a great quote recently: “Dear Beautiful Spring Weather, I miss you.  Was it something I said?”  That’s exactly how I feel right now!  It was only in the 20’s here this morning and they’re calling for snow tomorrow.  Snow!  Thankfully they’ve revised the original 2-3″ forecast and are just predicting a dusting in our area now, but I think I might literally cry if I see snow on the ground this late in March.  So it seems that despite all our wishing and hoping, March plans on leaving like a lion.  Which stinks.  But at least it’s a good reason to make a cute lion craft.  I got this month’s issue of Family Fun magazine in the mail yesterday and Little Crafter immediately picked out this cute note holder.
LITTLE LION NOTE HOLDER
Materials:
– yellow cardstock                                       – glue
– orange cardstock or colored paper       – scissors, paper cutter
– 2 googly eyes                                            – toothpick
– 2 clothespins

STEP 1: Cut 3″ head shape from yellow cardstock.  Also cut 2 ears and a rounded triangle face.  Set aside.

STEP 2: Cut 36 strips of orange cardstock 1/8″ wide by 4 1/4″ long.  I recommend the paper cutter!

STEP 3: Cut small orange nose from remaining orange cardstock.

STEP 4: Curl each strip around toothpick (this is a great introduction to quilling) to create a flat spiral.  This step was time consuming and was beyond LC’s ability, so I did this as part of the prep work before I got him involved. 

STEP 5: Use craft glue to attach quilled spirals all over yellow head shape.

STEP 6: Use craft glue to attach ears.  Assemble face, adding googly eyes and nose, then glue face on top of curls.

STEP 7: Glue two clothespins to the back of lion with the part that opens facing up so they can hold a note.  I used a low temp glue gun for this part.

STEP 8: Add a cute note and enjoy!

My post-crafting reflections: It was a little more time-consuming than I’d anticipated and we got pretty messy glue-wise, but the lion turned out to be really cute.  In retrospect, I would have used orange paper rather than orange cardstock because I think it would have curled easier.  I also think it was a little beyond a 2 year old’s abilities, although LC did seem to enjoy participating and he loved the finished product. 

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5 Comments

  1. Really cute lion…Noah seemed to enjoy it…I’m with you about the possibility of tears if it snows…I want sunshine and Spring weather…Hopefully April will be warmer. 🙂

  2. I was just looking at this too in the Family Fun Magazine (which I love getting btw)…too cute! Right now, since Collin is too young, I’ll have to pick stuff out and tell Noah to make it 😉 And btw-how ADORABLE are those egg snorkle divers!?

  3. Shelley, I totally thought of you as I was doing this! I knew the quilling would be right up your alley. If Nathan does it, take a pic for me. 🙂 Miss you!

    Erin, I started getting the magazine when Noah was four months old and I got so bummed that we couldn’t do any of the cool stuff, but sure enough now he can do so much! Collin will be ready to craft before you know it! Loved the divers too. 🙂

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