Rainbow Ribbon Wand

My baby girl is turning one in less than a week!  She is getting so big and I have been amazed at how fast she is growing and how quickly she is learning things.  She is in a major learning phase right now...it seems like everyday she is doing something new! 

It is so exciting to see her change right before my eyes and sometimes I still cant believe that I am a mommy...what a blessing!  All I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a mom and so I can say that dreams do come true!

This weekend we are having a Care Bear birthday party for her with rainbows and all.  I saw a rainbow ribbon wand as I was searching for birthday ideas and wanted to make a few for little Miss Priss and the other little girls at the party. 

They turned out to be so cute and easy and it didn't take hardly any time at all!  Keep reading to see how I did it...

Rainbow Ribbon Wand

You will need:

• hot glue gun and/or white thread and needle or sewing machine
• cloud template
• white felt or other 'cloud-like' material
• dowel rods
• several colors of ribbon
• Fray Check
• tape
• cotton balls
   

Cut your ribbon into lengths that are a half inch to an inch longer than your dowel rods.  I cut six of each color so that I could make six wands. 

You can skip this step, but I like to put Fray Check on the ends of my ribbon to keep them from fraying.  These are for a birthday party, but just in case the girls want to keep them for a while, I don't want the ribbon to start fraying on them.  I got this bottle at Wal-Mart for just a few bucks and it will last forever!

 

Download the rainbow wand cloud template from the link below and use it to cut out clouds from a piece of white felt.  This template is sized to print on a regular letter sized piece of paper (8.5 x 10").  You will need two clouds for each wand if you want to make them fluffy and more sturdy.

Rainbow Wand Template

Place the ribbon in the order that you want them near the bottom of the cloud making sure that you leave enough room to attach them securely so that they will not pull or fall off.  Use a piece of tape to temporarily hold them in place. 

The picture below shows what you will want the ribbons to look like like when you have them placed correctly. 

Sew across the ribbon in one direction and then turn around and sew across them in the other direction to make sure that they are secured in place. 

You can then remove the tape making sure that all of the ribbons are in place and that none of them are detached from the cloud.  You are almost done!  Sewing is the hardest part and that really wasn't that bad, now was it?

Put hot glue around the edge of the cloud EXCEPT for the bottom circle portion, where the ribbon is located, and glue onto the second cloud piece that you cut out earlier and press down to make sure it sticks good to the second piece.  Note:  Make sure to put the hot glue on the same side of the cloud that your ribbon is located! 

I didn't cut out my second cloud when I did this because I didn't have the template yet and so my picture is a little different than what I am describing, but believe me, you will not want to do it the way I did.  It is much harder!

Let the glue dry for a minute or so and then this is what the hole in the bottom will look like.  Just enough room to stuff the cloud with cotton balls.  I tore the cotton balls into smaller pieces so that I could push them way up into the cloud and get all the corners and then I stuff the middle with some regular, untorn cotton balls until it was as fluffy as I wanted it to be leaving room for just one more cotton ball, which I describe below.  Be careful not to overstuff the cloud or your pieces may start to come apart.

Now for the kind of confusing part...but not really.  Put some hot glue on the end of a dowel rod and push it deep inside a cotton ball so that the cotton ball covers most of the tip of the rod.  Stick the cotton ball end of the dowel rod up into the hole that is still left open in the cloud.  Make sure that you have it lined up straight so that when you hold the dowel rod your cloud is not crooked.  Finish her off by putting hot glue on the part of the cloud that is still open and close it up!  Check again to make sure that your dowel rod is straight and press hard to make sure you get a tight seal with the glue.

You are done!  Your rainbow ribbon wand is ready to go!  You could make your wands a little more personal by writing the kids names on them with fabric paint or even a Sharpie.  You could add some glitter to your cloud.  You could even add some special glitter ribbons when you pick out your ribbon colors at the beginning.  There are so many options to make this special for your child!