A "Bee-utiful" Day

It's another rainy day.  48 degrees, drizzle, and gray skies are a dangerous combination for an energetic two-year-old who doesn't understand why the playground isn't an option.  So, I decided it was the perfect opportunity for One Artsy Mama to pull out the craft supplies and make the most of a wet Wednesday.  We usually do well with a theme, so I decided we'd focus on making it a "BEE-utiful Day" despite the weather.  I recently saw an adorable idea on the blog Of Pinks and Fairytales where Janelle made a bumblebee out of a plastic Easter egg.  I'd been wanting to try it with Little Crafter, so after taking stock of our supplies and making a quick run to WalMart for some white felt {LC insisted on wearing his striped pajamas and rain boots there or he wasn't going}, we gave it a go.  Here's what we did:

EASTER EGG BUMBLEBEE

Materials:
- yellow plastic easter egg
- 2 googly eyes
- black felt
- white or gray felt
- 4 small beads
- glue

STEP 1: Cut two thin strips of black felt that are long enough to circle your egg.  Wrap around your egg and glue in place.

STEP 2: Cut 4 petal shaped wings...I didn't use a pattern, just eyed it up. Glue them on the top of the egg in a wing formation.

STEP 3: Cut a small, thin strip of black felt to cover the seam where the wings come togther and glue in place.

STEP 4: Add eyes and beads for antennae.  You can also add a mouth with a permanent marker if you like.

Here's a picture of my inspiration - Janelle's finished product. You can see that she used gray felt and different colored beads, and that she gave her bee a mouth.

Little Crafter was thrilled with the project, and declared it to be a "tuute bee", which in LC-speak means "cute."  I completely agree.  Moving on with our theme, our second bee project was one my mom and I came up with years ago when we were teaching VBS.

POM-POM BEE MAGNET

Materials:

- 2 medium size yellow pom poms, 1 black pom pom

- 2 googly eyes

- black felt

- black pipe cleaner

- clothespin

- small piece of magnetic strip

- glue

- 1 tiny pink pom pom (optional) for nose

STEP 1: Cut black felt into a wing shape {kind of like a peanut}

STEP 2: Glue one yellow pom pom on one end of the clothespin, followed by wings, black pom pom, and other yellow pom pom.

STEP 3: Trim pipe cleaner and bend into antennae shape, glue between "head" pom pom and wings.

STEP 4: Glue eyes and nose in place.

STEP 5: Attach magnet to bottom of clothespin.

The finished bee is a handy helper for keeping LC's artwork on the refrigerator.  We also colored a bee picture, which was the perfect thing for this little guy to hold.

The last piece of our bee-themed morning was reading one of LC's favorite stories, Buzz, Buzz, Busy Bees
by Dawn Bentley. 

As we ate lunch, I found myself contemplating the remaining plastic eggs in our pack and thinking about something I'd seen on Martha Stewart's website {thanks to Janelle's link} where she made all kinds of animals out of eggs.  Cute little birds, cows, pigs, bunnies, ducks...you name it, Martha can make it.  The eggs she used were actually real ones that had been hollowed out, but with a toddler involved, plastic was definitely a better call.  Using scrap felt, pom-poms, eyes, and feathers I had laying around, we were able to make an adorable bunny and duck to "bee" friends with Little Crafter's earlier creation.

BUNNY:
- white cardstock
- white felt
- pink pom pom and white pom pom
- googly eyes
- glue

Cut a heart out of cardstock and glue egg to it so it will stand up.  Cut 2 ear shapes out of felt, attach, and curl slightly.  Glue on eyes, nose, and tail.  Cut very thin pieces of felt and attach as whiskers. 

DUCK:
- white cardstock
- yellow and orange felt
- googly eyes
- feather
- glue

Cut a heart out of cardstock.  Cut same size heart out of orange felt and glue together.  Glue egg on top.  Cut wing shapes out of yellow felt and beak out of orange felt; glue in place.  Glue on eyes.  Attach feather...my egg actually had a few tiny holes in it {all the ones at WalMart did this year, for some reason} so I stuck the feather tip down in the hole.

Here they are hanging out with their friend, Buzzy Bee.  For more info the centerpiece itself, which I change seasonally, see my Cheap & Easy Centerpiece idea.

And, here they are with my happy boy, who finally consented to change out of his pajamas. :)  Funny, it kind of looks like the bunny has antlers because of how his shirt is positioned behind it...

All four of these crafts couldn't have been any cheaper or easier!  If you have little ones who want to help make some Easter decorations, or if you just want to make some for yourself, these are a quick way to bring a touch of Spring to any room.  If you make any, I'd love to see how they turn out!

Have a "BEE-utiful" day, friends!