I live in a world of fairies, tutus, and costume changes.  I have two daughters, ages 3 and 2, and they are committed to everything “girly girl.”  I know this can change at any moment and I’m looking forward to the day that one of my daughters wants to kick around a ball, but for now it’s pink and purple dresses that must pass the inevitable question “Does it spin mama?” If the answer is no, it is immediately rejected.

We recently received a copy of the AMAZING book The Artful Year by my friend Jean, over at The Artful Parent.  It’s such a great resource that we’ve decided to share another project we did from the book.  The first project we did was make a nature table, which we’ve done twice since.  The second project we chose was fairy wands and fairy crowns. I’m guessing there will be a third and forth as well.   Jean’s books have so many great ideas!

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What I love about The Artful Year is that Jean talks about family and tradition so much in the book.  She talks about crafts as a way to create and enjoy being together making memories.  It’s not so much about the final product.  It’s about sharing moments together, making decisions together and connecting.  When my daughter’s looked through the book they were so excited when they saw the beaded garden ornaments.  They yelled fairy wands, fairy wands!  I just went with it because I knew Jean wouldn’t mind if we did a slightly different spin on her gorgeous garden ornaments.  Besides, fairies love gardens.  So this project isn’t exactly in the book, it’s inspired directly from the book and I think that’s pretty cool too.

My girls have really generous and amazing grandparents that are always dropping off little and sometimes big presents for them to play with.  They recently received these two boxes of beads from Melissa and Doug and we decided they’d work perfectly for our fairy wands and crowns.  You can use any beads though.  You can even dye your own wood beads, like we did here.  The fun thing about Melissa and Dough beads though, is that after you use them, you can use the box for a Tinker Tray.  Regardless of what beads you use, you’ll also need some wire.  Here is the list of materials and where you can find them.

Materials

beads and wire

*note* we used flower wire for the crowns, but for the wands you’ll probably want something a little sturdier, like this wire here, if you want your wands to be able to be a little stronger.

Cut the wire to about a foot and half for both the crowns and the wands with a scissor or wire cutter and bend a little knot at one end to stop the beads from falling off as you string them.  Invite your child to bead away until the whole wire is covered for both.  You may have to take a few beads off depending on the size of your child’s head.

For the crown, twist the wire together at both ends and stick any extra wire through the first bead so it’s tucked away.  Make sure no sharp edges are sticking out.

For the fairy wand, you’re going to bend it to the shape of a heart with the last half foot of beads and then wrap a little extra wire to the long part.  Hopefully you can see what I mean in the above pic.

And that’s how we made our fairy wands and fairy crowns.  My girls love the crowns especially and I love when they randomly put them on as the perfect accessory.

Thanks for inspiring us Artful Parent! We love both of your books, The Artful Year and The Artful Parent.  I’ve said it before, but The Artful Parent Book has a permanent spot on my bedside table.  I just love it!

Thanks for reading along everyone and have fun.  xo Meri