When Easter rolls around there is lots to do. Food purchase and preparation, decorating the house - and those ever-popular baskets you have to fill. Some things for the basket youll purchase at the store but other fillers can be made. You can make a really cute pin to place in a childs Easter basket, or the kids can make the pins and give them to friends. Its really easy to make your own pins since the hardware is sold at most any craft store. They come in a bag of several for a buck or two so why not invite some kids over and have a pin-making party? Or, use the collection of hardware pieces to make a sheep pin for every kid you know! Theres more than one way to make a sheep or lamb pin. It can be really helpful to find a picture of a sheep and use it as the backing for your pin. Coloring books or childrens magazines are good places to find sheep pictures. If you dont have a sheep picture you can download a template online or you can draw a simple sheep shape on brown or black foam. The shape should be the side view of the animal. The foam is sold by the sheet, and in assorted colors, at any craft store. Its very inexpensive and is the perfect start to making the sheep pins. If you dont have any foam you can use thick brown paper or even thin cardboard.
The sheep will need only one eye. It can be a wiggly eye from a craft store or it can be a very small, black bead. Even a tiny rhinestone can become the sheeps eye. If you have none of those things simply draw the eye on with a black marker. If you want, you can also use the marker to color in black hooves on the feet of the sheep. Now youll decide what you want the sheep to look like.
There are several different materials you can use to create the wool of the sheep. One way is to take a very long piece of white yarn and begin wrapping it around the sheep. Wrap everything except the hoof, tail and face area. When youve got the sheep looking very wooly open the pin and position it so that the flat side is against the sheep. Wrap the yarn a couple of more times until the pin is secure. Use a dot of glue to secure the end of the yarn to the back of the pin. Instead of using one long piece of yarn you can also cut it into small pieces and glue each one in place. A totally different-looking sheep can be made by gluing on tiny white pom-poms. You can choose from several different sizes at a craft store. Glue them all over the sheep, except for the head, tail and hooves, to make a furry sheep. Instead of pom-poms you can also use cotton balls or even the cotton pulled off the ends of cotton swabs. Pieces of white tissue wrap or even white paper towels are other options. Make a similar sheep that stands on a shelf by starting with a flat, wooden sheep shape. Youll find one at a local craft store. Some stores feature them already painted and others sell them only as unfinished. If you buy an unfinished one simply paint the whole thing, front and back, with brown or black paint. You might need to give each side more than one coat to achieve the proper color and coverage. For this project, the sheep can be as large or small as you want. Glue the eye onto the sheep then begin attaching the yarn, cotton balls or other material. Cover the front and the back side of the sheep. When youre finished glue the sheep to a base. The base can be a block of wood or even a colorful hair spray cap. A piece of Styrofoam is another choice. This sheep can be set on a mantle, a night stand or in another area of the home. You can embellish this piece by gluing tiny barnyard animals (from a craft store or department store) to the base so that the sheep stands amongst them. The sheep you make dont absolutely have to be black or brown with white fur. The foam or paper piece from which you cut the sheep shape can be any wild color you want - from pink to purple to blue. The finished pin is perfect for a little girls Easter basket or just to wear for church. The sheep, whether the pin or the one that stands, makes a great project for a child or for an adult to give
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