alice in wonderland mini flamingo croquet set

i'm having a mad hatter's style tea party in a couple of weeks. it's not going to be a huge affair so i don't want to go to over the top...but there will be some little alice in wonderland elements here and there, among them will be this little set:

i have seen some quite impressive adaptations of the queen's croquet set online, and did ponder how to go about making one that could be construed to be both effective and cute, as well as non-committal and incidental for my little gathering. i think i've managed to achieve my goal, just.

to make you'll need:

chunky wooden lollipop sticks
a pencil
white and red paint
a black pen
wool roving in brown and two other colours
felting needle
playing cards
scissors

to make:

first, draw flamingos in various poses on your lollipop sticks with your pencil, paint these pink and once dry outline with your black pen.

next needle felt two smallish balls (slightly larger than the width of the sticks) in brown, to these needle felt two heart shapes in different colours, then add small felted eyes and noses to make your 'hedgehog' balls.

then, take a spare playing card onto which you can sketch a template of an arch which has a slit through each foot (these are to be bent each way so that they can stand up) and cut out once you're happy that the hedgehogs will roll through it. then take six playing cards of your choice (consecutive numbers work well as you'll need to know what order to play in) draw around your template, cut out accordingly and fold the feet so that they all stand up.

finally, arrange your card arches on a table, grab some friends and play croquet : )