“Before Morning” by Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes
Have you ever wanted something so passionately, even if it seems impossible? The kind of wish that turns into an invocation for intervention in your behalf? This little girl has such a desire. She yearns for the snow to come and lay a thick blanket of snow on the airport runways so that her mother, who is a pilot, has her flight canceled and can be home for the holidays. To her delight, she wakes up to a white wonderland and her mother can stay.
The story and illustrations in this book are phenomenal. Each illustration is so detailed that they alone almost tell the entire story. The text, however, makes a beautiful and simple accompaniment that renders the story almost poetic. I was and am so enamored with this book that I knew I had to do a Beyond the Book craft with it. I was mostly inspired by the beautiful geometric, chunky snowflakes that I figured some DIY ones were in order.
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“Before Morning” Inspired Bead Snowflakes
These snowflakes are inspired by the ones in the illustrations with their prism and geometric qualities. They allow for a lot of creativity and can make lovely christmas tree ornaments or would look fantastic strung along a garland over a mantle or window. With just three supplies they are so easy and seriously at least as much fun to make as paper snowflakes, of which I am a huge fan.
Supplies:
- blue and white beads (I used traditional pony beads and clear faceted beads)
- metallic pipe cleaners (I used silver and blue)
- Wire cutters
Steps:
- Gather supplies
- Cut your pipe cleaners in half.
- String three pipe cleaners (or 6 if you want to weave like the example in step 6) through a bead and place the bead in the middle of the bunch.
- Spread all six extensions out equally.
- String beads! I recommend making your snowflake symmetrical because the ones in nature are. Also, twist or turn the pipe cleaners at the end of each strand to secure your beads. (You could also just use a snug bead on the ends though too.)
- Here is an example with three pipe cleaners.
- Here is an example with six pipe cleaners.
Thats it! I think that these could be fun for so many different things! They would look great attached under the bow of a wrapped gift, be strung on garlands (as mentioned above), could make a fun hanging mobile and so much more!
If you give this Beyond the Book activity a try I’d love to hear how it goes! Share it on Instagram using hashtag #beyondthebook (I’m on Instagram as @book.nerd.mommy) or even just comment here with your thoughts. It would make my day! Or to simply save for later pin the image below.
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