Dollar Tree Kid V-Day Craft Tutorial: Finger Knitted Garland
Dollar Tree kid V-Day craft is beautiful, easy, and economical, all 3 being some of my favorite words! All you need is lace ribbon (3 of them), and a pack of fake flowers. Only $4 plus tax! Not bad, eh?
Today I am teaching you how to make an easy Valentine’s Day garland for kids to make and feel proud they contributed to the festive home decoration. This is perfect for Charlotte Mason homeschoolers because this is something “useful,” as Charlotte said handicrafts should be.
Dollar Tree Kid V-Day Craft
A Whole Set Of Valentines Day Fun!
We will get started on this tutorial in just a bit, but first I want to explain this whole set of Valentine’s Day fun we are having, in case you and your children want to join in. Scroll down to go right to the garland tutorial.
My Valentine’s Day “Literary and Handicrafty Valentine’s Day Family Tradition set” is the perfect thing to add to your Charlotte Mason inspired education! There are four parts to this set.
First: I have created a literary countdown to Valentine’s Day for your children using the timeless tale of The Sleeping Beauty ballet and I put them on 7 cards, one for each day that leads to Valentine’s Day.
Read the story right here.
Second: Make a simple felt heart pouch to store the story cards in, which crosses the handicrafts off your list, and gives you a plan for your homeschooling day.
This tutorial is free and found here. This is a story tutorial especially made for your children, so add another score to the literary part of this whole Valentine’s Day family tradition.
Third: Small felt decorative hearts that can be a Valentine’s Day decoration or a throwing toy for a sibling as a gift. That’s what we used ours for!
Fourth: The garland, in today’s tutorial, is the perfect place to hang your Sleeping Beaty ballet story cards on after you read them! Simply make a quick trip to the Dollar Tree, pick up some:
- clothing pins
- lace ribbon
- fake flowers
Of course, this garland does not need to have Sleeping Beauty story cards on it. It is beautiful by itself!
Now on to the garland story tutorial, made entirely from supplies purchased from the Dollar Tree.
Dollar Tree Kid V-Day Craft
Something Was Not Right
Charlotte stared at the hutch. She stared and she stared. Something was not right, not right at all.
If you were to look at the same hutch you would be perplexed as to why a 9-year-old girl would be staring at it.
On the hutch were a few decorations for Valentine’s Day, including a white heart0shaped pouch that had pink Sleeping Beauty ballet story cards inside it. She had made the pouch just yesterday and was rightly proud of it. It was her second time using the blanket stitch…
There was a garland hanging from the top of the hutch in the traditional loopdy-loop fashion that is common with garlands. Hanging by a small clothes pin was one of the pink cards as mentioned above. It didn’t look right on the garland. But the card was so pretty though…
Suddenly it occurred to her. The garland wasn’t right!
Charlotte went to the basket of Dollar Tree craft supplies that mom kept for creative urges. She found just the things she was looking for: some lace ribbons and fake flowers, which were the perfect Valentine’s Day flowers.
Charlotte plugged in her glue gun and sat and looked at the supplies she had gathered. She tried this and that, but neither this nor that seemed right!
Dollar Tree Kid V-Day Craft
Going Fishing
Another spout of inspiration came to her. She would finger-knit the lace, glue on the flowers and make bows from the ribbons and glue those on too.
She got to work finger knitting.
First, she tied a slip knot.
Then she dove her index finger and thumb into the hole and pulled up some lace, just as if the loop of the slip knot was a pond, her fingers the fishing rod, and the lace a fish.
She pulled it tight, didn’t like the look of it, and loosened it up. Much better!
She kept “fishing” until she the lace ribbon came to an end. Charlotte frowned, it needed to be longer. Thankfully there were 2 more spools of lace ribbon. She grabbed one of them, tied a square knot to attach the two ends, and continued “fishing.”
Soon, Charlotte reached the end of her lace. She got up and measured it against the hutch and decided to use up the last spool.
“Well, this looks nice,” thought Charlotte. “Now for the ribbon.”
Dollar Tree Kid V-Day Craft
Brother Can Be a Bit of a Dear
The ribbon was being stubborn though. No matter which way she put a bow, it didn’t look how she wanted. “Well, maybe the ribbon is telling me it doesn’t want to be used!” She laughed to herself. Charlotte missed her tiny wood nymph friend Willow, who had been teaching her and her older brother William to embroider. For many weeks now, Charlotte had crafted only with her friend. It felt a little lonely all of a sudden.
So Charlotte called William in to look at her ribbon problem.
“Yep. That ribbon doesn’t look good anywhere. I think it just doesn’t match the lace somehow.” replied William to the predicament at hand.
“I think you are right William.” Having William there confirming her suspicions was a nice feeling. Even though William was her older brother, he really was a bit of a dear!
She thanked him, and the garland making continued.
Charlotte pulled out the flower package. She chose the colors pink and purple for her garland and soon discover that the back of each flower had a sticky dot, so she didn’t even need the glue!
She soon discovered where she wanted to stick her flowers and the garland was done!
Dollar Tree Kid V-Day Craft
Mission Accomplished!
Off Charlotte went to display the garland to the whole household. “Oohs” and “ahs” were had, with a little teasing from William, and the baby thought it would make a good snack! Mom, dad, and even 3-year-old Charlie liked her work.
“Would you like to use this garland for our Sleeping Beauty ballet story cards? I think I like it better than our old one,” asked mom.
Charlotte’s face beamed! This was just what she was hoping for. She was going to ask, but her mom beat her to it!
“I love all this crafting you and William have been doing lately. What has made you do it?”
Mom didn’t know yet about Willow. It’s not like she and William were keeping it a secret, it was just…well, how exactly are you supposed to introduce your parents to a wood nymph? After all, wood nymphs aren’t real, right?!
Charlotte laughed, remembering her own shock when she first met Willow. What a wonderful day that was.
Dollar Tree Kid V-Day Craft
What To Do
She really should talk to William about introducing Willow to the rest of her family. Together, Charlotte was sure they could come up with a good plan together.
She went to hang her garland up on the hutch. She put the few cards they had already read together as a family up on her garland using small clothing pins.
It looked beautiful, and with that thought came warm, fuzzy pride.
The End
Pin For Later
Next Time
Be sure to come back again next week for free printable valentines and how I use them to grow the love in my home.
See you next time!
