A really simple craft for children to make ahead of Mother's Day is a tiny egg carton flower pot with pompom flowers. You need: egg carton green card or felt playdough- air drying clay would work too pompom flowers Cut your egg carton divots out. Cut the card or felt into strips a little longer that the egg carton is round, and a third higher. Feather- make little cuts- all the way down the long side of the … [Read more...]
how to make a pompom flower
How to make a pompom flower from a stick and a pompom*. What I love about this craft is it's simplicity. They genuinely look sweet and rustic and pretty. Yet they also have many, many applications. The purple ones would make great thistles for anything Scottish-themed- St Andrews' Day or Burn's Night for example. The white ones look like dandelion heads or cotton balls. They make great trees in … [Read more...]
3-D heart mobile from recycled magazines
To keep the Girls occupied at Granny's house recently, we cut out lots of hearts from the December edition of various magazines. This was a great opportunity to hunt through for reds and pinks and glittery gold pages, so a good exercise in colour-identifying for Dimples. The Girls also worked on co-ordination and general motor skills feeding the paper into the heart cutters. Whilst it was a super activity, I've since been puzzling what to … [Read more...]
Paper plate unicorn
To make a paper plate unicorn, you will need: a paper plate paper scraps (I used the outer cover of a magazine) stickers glue/sellotape First take your plate and fold the two sides in, so that you have a narrow end (the unicorn's mouth) and a wider end (forehead.) Secure with tape Fold down the narrow end plate edge to make the nose. From some of your paper scraps, form a cone and stick to the unicorn's … [Read more...]
Christmas cross-stitch lanterns from recycled jars
So, you take a few old jam jars and make sure they are squeaky clean. Once dry, tape the image you want to copy onto the inside of the jar with the image facing outwards. I planned on printing off cross-stitch patterns to make my life easier but the printer wasn't working, so I had to wing it a bit. Use Sharpie Markers to make your design onto the jar. Once done, bake in the oven at 150 for 10 minutes or so to set the markers. Then add … [Read more...]
Handmade Christmas: Ring Bowls
This winter I wanted to make something pretty but very simple, that I could give to my mother and mother-in-law for Christmas. To make these little ring bowls, you will need: air drying clay rolling pin doily of piece of lace acrylic paint Mod Podge (or clear varnish) Firstly, soften your clay: air-drying clay has an odd texture and it needs working a lot to really soften it. Once softened, roll out … [Read more...]
How to make a Gingerbread House from a cardboard box
We got back from the school run last Monday to find a rather large delivery. The large delivery was, in itself, very dull. But it came in a large box with a lot of bubblewrap. So, after lunch, we put the box- along with a second smaller, document box- to good use and made a Gingerbread House. … [Read more...]
