I just love the way a hand print can be made into anything you want it to. Yesterday Daddy celebrated surviving another year of being a father of two so we thought we would make him a very special card. We carefully painted the palm of the toddlers hand one colour and each finger a different colour to represent a birthday cake and candles. It was actually quite easy and fun, until I turned my back and the toddler started dipping his fingers into the paint pots! Fortunately we had two beautiful hand prints drying so it didn’t matter 🙂…
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I’ve been working on a couple of patchwork projects lately. As well as a Union Jack cot quilt, I’m also making some patchwork doll quilts for my daughter. I was really keen to get my hands on hand quilted with love by Sarah Fielke. The book is subtitled patchwork projects inspired by a passion for quilting and it’s a beautiful book. I think of myself as a pretty competent maker of patchwork, I’m not so confident at quilting. In Hand Quilted with Love Sarah Fielke encourages and inspires you to step outside of your comfort zone! The book includes 16…
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It’s been sunny and my thoughts are firmly on Spring. Our house has a beautiful bay window in the lounge which is absolutely perfect for our home-made sun catchers and bunting. We thought it would be fun to make paper daffodils and some extras to hang in the window. The toddler enjoyed this as it involved his favourite items from the craft box – scissors and glue! You will need: Selection of yellow and orange papers Craft sticks Glue Scissors Green marker pen Star cookie cutter We traced round the star cookie cutter on sheets of yellow and orange paper…
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We were sent a copy of Eco-friendly Crafting with Kids by Kate Lilley, who writes the hugely popular Mini-eco blog. I’ve been a fan of her blog for years, using one of her shadow puppet templates to make a Halloween tshirt for the toddler back in 2011. The book is as lovely and colourful as her blog and includes 35 projects designed for preschoolers up to and including the age of 5. The projects are split into themes: homemade materials, music, nature, recycling bin, paper and card, sewing and threading, science and a bonus section of boredom busters at the…
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It’s been a long time since I did anything with my socks, except wear them. The one and only time I’ve made a sock monkey was back in 2008 but they are still very much in vogue. Sock Puppet Madness Take Bawston the ornery cat puppet, for example. He’s a baseball fan with a questionable temper, so watch what you say to him. A more friendly guy is Sebastian Metaphor. He may seem aloof with his hipster appearance but behind those sleepy eyes lies a heart of gold. If you are a sophisticated sort why not have a crack at…
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Along with our handmade Valentine’s Day cards I thought it would be fun to make our own wrapping paper too. I love using brown paper as it is so easy to personalise with washi tape, stickers or paint. I saw packs of heart stickers in my local Tiger store, which is where I buy most of my craft supplies. I knew these would be perfect to make our own paper to wrap our Valentine’s Day gift. Handmade Valentine wrapping paper supplies: brown paper, red heart stickers Handmade Valentine wrapping paper The toddler adores stickers so enjoyed this little project. I…
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If you ever ask the toddler what he wants to do he’ll answer painting. He absolutely loves sticking paper to the table, choosing a pot of paint and being creative. Hand print and thumb print animals are his current obsession so what better than hand print Easter bunnies for Easter gifts? You will need: paper, paint, black and red marker pen First of all stick your paper to the table, we use washi tape, to ensure the corners stay down. Choose which hand you want to use and sponge paint over the palm and fingers. Carefully press down the palm…
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For some reason I decided I wasn’t busy enough and challenged myself to try 10 different craft projects this year. I’m really bad at falling in love with a picture in a magazine, buying supplies and never getting round to making it. No more! This year I am working my way through my stash of projects and trying really, really hard to not buy craft books, fabric or anything else. I’ll admit I’ve failed terribly at this and have some amazing craft books to tell you about 🙂 Anyway, so far I’ve tried my hand at applique houses which was…
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We love making sun catchers. Our sitting room faces south which means we get a lot of lovely sun light on the window – perfect for handmade sun catchers! After the success of the ones we made last year we thought we’d make some for Valentines Day too. Easy Valentine sun catchers You will need: card, scissors, coloured pieces of cellophane (we used sweetie wrappers), sticky tape and bakers twine. We drew round cookie cutters to make heart and circles shapes. This meant they were all the same shape and size. Then we carefully cut out the middle of each…
