Angels

Dea made these cute angels with her 6th grade class a couple years ago and thought she would re-create them this year for her grandmothers. Simple materials and process resulting in a surprisingly beautiful gift!

MATERIALS:
About 2(to be safe) yards of unbleached muslin
Raffia
Styrofoam ball (about 8 or 9 inches around)
Christmasy embellishments, i.e. holly, poinsettia, ribbons, etc.
Glue gun

HOW TO DO IT:

1. Rip strips of muslin roughly 45 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. These will be looped over the Styrofoam ball to make the head and body, so periodically check your strips against the head to gauge whether or not you have enough strips.

2. Start looping the strips tightly over the ball(it should rest in the "middle" of the strips) to cover the head and make a smooth "face".

3. Using a scrap of muslin, tie the strips together tightly under the head to form a "neck".

4. Next are the arms. Rip strips of muslin about 25 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Line them up together neatly and fold so that each end meets in the middle. The ends should overlap about an inch or so. With a thin scrap strip, tie the strips together in the middle.

5. Holding the body, separate the hanging strips equally into 2 bunches and place the arms between the 2, up close against the neck.

6. Now tie strips together below the arms with a scrap strip and voila! There's your waist and arms. The body is complete.

7. Decorate your angel by using your glue gun to make a holly wreath for her head, a poinsettia belt at her waist, or whatever else you like.

8. Make a large bow with long pieces of raffia and hot glue to the back of your angel.



9. Tie a strip of muslin to the back of your angel in a loop to be used for hanging.