Category: Miscellaneous

Here are the instructions for our January Adult Take-n-Make Craft for anyone who wants to follow along with their own supplies!

Supplies: (41) 13-inch pieces of yarn, 1 toilet paper tube, (14) 13-inch white cotton cords (or any color you want the beard to be), (1) 19-inch white cotton cord (same color as beard), tape, a 2-inch metal ring, a wooden nose bead (we used 20mm wooden craft half-balls, but a regular wood bead can work too), hot glue, scissors, a ruler

Instructions:

First, you will need to cut (41) 13-inch pieces of yarn. The easiest way to do this is to measure one piece with your ruler and then after you cut it, use it as a guide for the rest. Just line it up and cut. Then will cut (14) 13-inch cotton cords, and one 19 inch cotton cord. Set all the cotton cords aside. Right now we will be working only with the yarn. Once you have those you will begin to make the gnome’s hat. take your toilet paper tube and cut a piece off the end, roughly 1.5-2 inches thick. Then put a layer of tape around it so that it doesn’t break.

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You will be putting the yarn onto the tube with a lark’s head knot. To do that, set the tube on its side. Fold one of the pieces of yarn in half, then hold it under the tube. One side will have the loop and the other will have the two ends. Bring the loop up above the tube and feed the ends through. Pull tight, and squish them together as you go. Repeat this for 40 pieces of yarn. Refer to the pictures.

You will take the tails of yarn and gather them up, holding them straight. Take your last piece of yarn and tie them off, creating the hat. You may tie this piece of yarn around a few times then knot and cut excess ends. Then cut the ends off the gathered yarn, creating the pom-pom. You may have to do some trim work to make them even.

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Next, you will lark’s head knot the 14 cotton cords onto the metal ring. (You will fold each cord in half, pull the looped end up through the ring, bring the ends of the cord through the loop and pull tight. Repeat for all 14 cords.) This will be the gnome’s beard. After you have all 14 cords on the ring, be sure to spend a moment tightening the knots and pushing them down so the top ¼ of the ring is left bare. I added a dab of hot glue to either side to prevent the cords from creeping up the ring. Take your 19-inch cord and lark’s head knot it at the very top of your gnome. I also hot glued this knot so it was stable.

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Now we need to add the hat to the gnome! To do this, you are going to tape your two ends of the top lark’s head knotted (19-inch cord) together with scotch tape (to use as a needle). You will very gently push the ends up through the hat so they come out the top of the head.  Pull them through gently, hanging on to the tied part of the pom-pom so it stays secure. Then shift the hat down so it is on top of the metal ring. Be sure you pull that long cord all the way through so your hat is snug against the ring.

It will seem like the ring is too big for your hat. That is okay, just gently crease the edges of the toilet paper tube so it flattens, and hot glue it to the ring. You may have to squeeze the hat shut with your fingers for a few seconds to let the glue dry. Glue your wood bead against the knots on the lower center of the ring. This is the nose. Then just tie that top cord above the hat into a knot so you can hang it. Lastly, trim the beard however you would like. Your gnome is complete!

You will need:

White paper, crayons of any color you wish plus a black crayon. Or, you can use oil pastels and black tempera paint.

Instructions:

Color a rainbow of heavy dark colors on your page. You want to try to not have any white showing. Then, you will go over it all with black crayon. You really want to cover it well if using black crayon. If using tempera paint, do a thin even coat and let dry before moving on.

When ready, scratch your design!!

Regular scratch paper vs homemade

You will need scissors, blue construction paper, a round object to trace a circle, a pencil, Q-tips, and liquid glue. If you would like to add glitter you could do that as well.

Trace circles on your blue construction paper and cut them out. Then using the Q-tips, arrange them on your circles in a snowflake design. You can cut the Q-tips if you want smaller pieces. Glue them down. You may also make your snowflakes sparkle with some glitter. Let your snowflakes dry.

You will need three wood beads, twine, yarn, and markers or paint for the snowman’s face and details.  If using paint, you can also paint the beads white if you wish.

You will need to cut twine long enough to fold in half and have room for a loop, the three beads, and to tie a knot at the end. Fold the twine in half and tape the ends together. This is to make it easier to thread the beads. Thread each bead through, and push to the top. Be sure to leave a bit of loop to hang your ornament. When they are all snug on the loop, tie a knot on the end after the very last bead. Cut any excess twine. Then take your yarn and tie a scarf on between the top and middle bead. You can wrap the yarn around the twine a few times and then secure with a knot.

Lastly, draw the face on your snowman and draw any buttons you want on the body. Hang your ornament!

For this craft you will need a paper cup, construction paper, yarn, a wooden bead, liquid glue, and a scissors.

First, cut out the cone template along the black lines. Fold where it says to fold and glue along that tab to make your cone. Then also cut a small pair of mittens. Glue the mittens on either side of the cup for the hands. The hat will be glued to the top of the cup. The wooden bead is for your gnome’s nose. Glue that under the brim of the hat. You may have to hold it onto the up for a few minutes to dry.  Then you will take pieces of yarn and glue them on the front of the gnome to make a beard.

Cone Template:

Adult Winter Reading Challenge

Take a Road Trip Across the United States!!!

• Start Anywhere
• Read one book from each state on your chosen route
• Each state must connect on your “trip”
• Track your progress on your map (color in states or draw a line) or track online at Beanstack (https://bowmanlibrary.beanstack.com/reader365)
• 6 books read completes the winter challenge! 

If you want to keep reading, go for all 50 states!

The attached document has a list of library books from every state. There are two fiction and one nonfiction choice for each state.