It’s fun to make decorations for children – and you never know, the parents might just love the objects too! I made this raindropwall hanging for an outdoorsy friend of mine whohas a little one on the way. The felt, cotton twine and tree branch have an organic, tactile quality that brings a little bit of the natural world indoors.

Materials:

3mm felt – one letter-sized sheet will do10″ trimmed branch – this one came from a wisteria vineCotton twine or embroidery thread2″ x 4″ piece of cardstockScissors and rulerBig, sharp needle that can thread felt. Think a carpet needle or leather punch.

To keep all my raindrops the same size, Imadea template usingcardstock. Fold the 2″ wide piece of cardstock in half, draw half of the dropletcurve and then cut it out – boom, symmetrical raindrops. Use the template to create15 raindrops out offelt.

I took my branch directly from a dead wisteria in my backyard, cut it to size with secateurs, and thenused a piece of sandpaper to smooth outthe roughness of the branch(while keepingplenty ofthe color underneath).NB: If you’re worried about bugs in a piece of wood you’re using, squirt a bit of acetone or orange oil into anyholes to clear them up.

With my raindrop threads, they alternate between a 6″ and 10″ drop from the branch. I used a carpet needle(3mm felt is dense!) to sew cotton twine through each drop, top to bottom, and measured a 6″ gap between each raindrop.

This is a cute,fun project that takes less than an afternoon. You can play aroundwith different felt colors, or shapes. How about hearts, birds, diamonds or leaves?

I have yet to find out how much mama and baby like this hanging, but I almost want to keep it for myself!