Following the theme of hand print fun, last week we got messy with the paints to create some Easter cards. Hand print animals are really easy to do and require few materials. We added a good dollop of yellow paint onto the paint tray and the toddler sponged it onto one hand before carefully pressing his hand down on to a sheet of paper. We left the hand prints to dry over night and then I added some legs, eyes and a beak with sharpies. As we wanted to make these into cards we then glued them onto blank cards…
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I’m on the look out for inspiration for our new home and finding plenty of it in craft books. I was recently sent a copy of Hand Knit Your home – 30 knitted projects for a modern home by Melanie Porter which is full of new ideas. Hand Knit Your home is a really interesting book as it presents a fresh perspective on decorating your home. The book is divided into three chapters and colour schemes – hot ideas, cool collection and pale palette. The projects are really inspired, ranging from a small flower vase cosy to a large floor…
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My sister is moving to the country cottage of her dreams this weekend. When we visited a couple of weekends ago we drove out to see it and it is lovely, a typical ancient cottage and it even had a stable door for the front door with roses growing around it! We thought we would make her a card as she is really excited about moving from town to country. I set up everything the toddler needed – a paint tray, big dollops of his favourite colours and some corks. We’ve painted with corks before and they’re the perfect size…
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I do so love being sent craft books to review and was lucky to receive a copy of folk art needlecraft – 35 step-by-step projects using traditional motifs from across the globe by Clare Youngs. I have recently been trying to improve my limited knowledge of stitches so this book arrived at a great time for me. It is full of lovely inspiring projects for the home, children and gifts, all of which can be completed in a couple of evenings. Some of the projects really appealed to me and have been added to my Day Zero craft list! I…
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I’ve had an idea about making a bunting blanket for a while, using a vintage blanket and scraps from my stash. Vintage bunting blanket I love experimenting with dye so tried dyeing part of an old baby blue cashmere blanket with Dylon Sunflower Yellow handwash dye. It didn’t look pretty during the process and I wasn’t too sure about colour mixing rules either. Anyway, I rinsed it and left it to dry and in the daylight it looked nice, a kind of faded green/yellow. From my stash I used some previously dyed vintage wool blankets which had been dyed with…
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It’s Mothers Day and I have a lovely easy craft to share with you which is perfect for little hands – let me know if you try it for yourselves! You will need: pencil scissors white and green paper straws yellow pipe cleaners sticky tape Hand print lilies for Mother’s Day First trace around your child’s hand on a sheet of white paper. My toddler adores using his hands in crafts and this really made him giggle for some reason. We drew around his hand four times and then I cut them out. Carefully curl the top of the paper…
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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…
