Imagine childhood
Take a look at one of my favorite blogs imaginechildhood. I truly love it! You can disover how to make a beautiful homemade fishing rod which would be just perfect for a magnetic fishing game.
If you want a project that is a bit less complicated then have a look at their bow and arrow tutorial. What I like more than anything about these two tutorials is that they both require corks…which gives us all a great excuse to crack open a bottle!
Printable sewing cards
I was sewing the other day and my three year old really wanted to join in. He’s still a bit young for sharp needles so with this in mind I decided to make him some little sewing cards – both my boys love them.
If you fancy having a go take a peek at the instructions below. Its soooo easy and I think it would make a neat little gift.
Learn to crochet with ‘meet me at mikes’
My new mantra is “I will learn to crochet, I will learn to crochet”. If you are feeling similarly inclined check out this great tutorial at Meet Me at Mikes.
It explains how to crochet a granny square even if you have never crocheted before. Definitely my kind of tutorial! Right…I’m off to find my crochet hook.
Our pet snail
I can highly recommend adopting a pet snail for a day. They make brilliant temporary pets! My boys were chuffed to bits and the snail seemed pretty happy too…smiles all round!
Knitted ankle bells
I have been wanting to make some ankle bells for my sons for ages. So, armed with a groovy ball of wool and some bells I set to work. At the end of it I was pretty chuffed; My first knitting project was complete and I was surrounded by two foot stomping, jingly-jangly boys to boot!
This project is especially great if you are just learning to knit (like me) as it’s dead easy and very quick – compared to knitting a cardigan or jumper anyway!
If knitting is not your thing then you can attach some bells to a felt strip and put a velcro fastening at either end.
Click below to read the ‘how-to’. In the meantime I would love to here from you if you have other idea’s for simple kids knitting projects.
Quilt inspiration
One day (more than likely after my children have left home), I will sit down and make a quilt as adorable as this!
The quilt was designed by the agency Small and made by Wai Lin Tse for ‘Parcs i Jardins’, the park deparment of Barcelona city council.
Yummy felt sandwich
I am currently making a felt sandwich and it’s been on the go for months now – just lately it’s been shoved in the bottom drawer and I fear it will never resurface!
It’s just as well there are some other beautiful tutorials out there. Have a look at crowroosterscrow felt egg tutorial (pictured). I ♥ Ariana’s site. The photography is just lovely.
If this whets your appetite and you want to go the whole hog then have a look at the felt sandwich tutorial at myrtleandeunice. You can download their felty sandwich pdf here!
Globiton botanical paint winner!
A big thanks to all the lovely people who entered my natural paint giveaway. Well done Emily Ivey – you’re the lucky winner. Can’t wait to hear about what you think of them. If you didn’t win and still fancy trying the paints in the GLOB™ range then click here to find information about stockists.
Homemade pavement chalk
Making pavement chalk is really easy, lots of fun and the end result provides you with a brilliant excuse to get outside.
To make your chalk will need:
♥ Plaster of Paris (one cup)
♥ Water (one cup)
♥ Powdered tempura paint
♥ Disposable container
♥ Greaseproof paper
♥ Toilet rolls
♥ Masking tape
1) Get your toilet roll and tape one end with masking tape to seal it off. Line the inside of the tube with greaseproof paper.
2) Pour the water into your disposable container then sprinkle the plaster on top (generally its a 1:1 ratio but check the instructions on the packet). Start by adding 1 tablespoon of powdered paint to the mixture and give it a good stir. Add more paint if necessary.
Folded paper garland
I‘ve been making these colourful paper garlands to brighten up our new home. They are really easy and very inexpensive. All you need are some long strips of paper and a few dabs of glue.
If you stick or draw some eyes on the end they also make great paper snakes/catterpillars. My three year old even managed to make his own snake (with a little guidance).
Click on the link below for a step by step tutorial.
The Big Butterfly Count
If you are living in Britain or Northern Island what better excuse to get outdoors than to take part in the Big Butterfly Count – a nationwide survey run by the ‘Butterfly Conservation’ charity.
Butterflies react very quickly to change in their environment which makes them excellent biodiversity indicators. The count will also identify trends in species that will help them plan how to protect butterflies from extinction as well as understand the effect of climate change on wildlife.
If you want to take part, simply print out the free Butterfly Identification Chart, and count butterflies for 15 minutes during bright (preferably sunny) weather from 24th July to 1st August. You can then log your findings on the bigbutterflycount website.
Giveaway ♥ Glob botanical paints
I‘m thrilled to be doing a giveaway for six packets of these gorgeous natural paints. Our competition sponsor, GLOB™, have botanically crafted colors made from fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices for use in crafts and DIY projects.
These water-soluble pigments become paint just by adding water and the range of colours includes lemon verbena, tangerine, pomegranate, plum purple, berry blue and basil green.
GLOB™ Natural Color Blends were developed first and foremost with safety and sustainability in mind. Using food-grade ingredients, their natural color blends are gluten-free, soy-free and vegan. They also use eco-friendly biodegradable packaging and recycled materials.
Check out the globiton website to see more products in the range.
If you want to enter just leave a comment below…easy!
Entries close on the 4th August 2010 and I will draw the winner on the 5th. Good luck!
Thank you for all the entries everyone! This giveaway is now closed 
Recipe for homemade glue
I‘d been meaning to try out this recipe for ages and last week we finally got round to it. Paper mache balloons were the order of the day and they turned out really well! Anyway…it’s dead easy, cheap and it works!
Ingredients
♥ Flour
♥ Sugar
♥ Water
♥ White vinegar
Combine flour and sugar in a saucepan (3:1 ratio). Add cold water to make a paste and beat out any lumps. Then stir constantly over a medium heat until the mixture thickens. Add one teaspoon of vinegar. Allow to cool before using. Store in an air-tight container. This glue will keep in a fridge for a couple of weeks or so.
Natural dye for homemade playdough
I‘ve discovered lately that its really easy to dye homemade playdough with natural ingredients. We dyed ours using raspberries, rose petals, beetroot, blueberries, turmeric and oak tree bark. Check out the results in the picture below. Pretty good eh?
As well as creating some great playdough it’s also a lovely way to teach kids that some of the most beautiful dyes can be found in your own back yard.
Party garland and a few apologies
Firstly a few apologies. My posts of late have been very sparse due to the fact that my little family still has no fixed abode. Our move from Oz to the UK has been far from smooth – our most recent saga is that the rental property we were meant to move into has been postponed until the 1st July. Arghhh!
Secondly, my ‘comments plugin’ had stopped working (without me realising) so if anyone has tried to leave a comment please don’t think I am ignoring you and please, please, please try again!
Anyway, back to business. I love the Purl Bee website – check it out. If you are a fan of sewing, crocheting or knitting it should be right up your street. The best bit is that it’s got loads of free, very cool, tutorials. Perfect for those of you in need of a good project!
At the moment I am in love with their party garland. Apart from the fact it looks great, the real draw for me is that there is no hemming required – hurrah!
Although the garland is meant for parties I think it would make a fantastic permanent feature in any girls bed room – it might also be a great way to recycle clothes that have been outgrown.
Paper city
I stumbled across this fantastic blog, Made by Joel, and wanted to share. Joel uses his blog to post toys or crafts he has created for his kids and if you have a look you will find some really inspirational stuff on there.
Pictured above is his ‘paper city’ and if you go to his blog you will find free templates to download. A perfect activity for a rainy day.
Joel has also updated his paper city recently and has included a series of very cool paper vehicles to download.
Thanks Joel!
Walnut boats
We are currently in the process of moving to the UK from Australia, and whilst everything we own is happily packed on a ship, we are stranded, due to the flight disruptions caused by the iclandic volcano! Respect to mother nature! Anyway, another month and I will be posting more regularly again.
In the meantime I just wanted to mention another great craft idea from madebyjoel.com. I’m becoming a huge fan of this site and just ♥ the walnut boats. With all my sons toys bobbing around on a ship somewhere we are having to be fairly inventive with the little we have so this is just perfect!
Ice cube painting
We decided to have a go at ice painting the other day and it was a roaring success. My three year old, who loves getting messy, and who is fascinated with ice was in his element. The results also looked brilliant and will make the most amazing gift wrap.
It’s dead easy to do, and perfect if your regular paint supply has run out. All you need to do is freeze some ice cubes with a couple of drops of food coloring in each cube – easy! I would advise laying out lots of paper on the floor or on a table as it can be a little bit messy. It may also not be a good activity for younger ones. The first thing my youngest did was try to eat them so we gave him some plain ice cubes instead.
If the weather is a bit on the cold side then ditch the paper and sit your little one up to the sink, with a bowlful of warm water and lots of containers and let the colour melting/mixing commence.
By the way, food colouring can stain little hands, if you rub some moisturising cream into them beforehand it acts as a pretty good barrier.
Geninne’s hand carved stamps tutorial
I‘m starting to develop a bit of a ‘thing’ for rubber stamps – which is probably a good thing as my three year seems equally enthralled and likes to stamp anything he can get his hands on!
So, with stamps in mind, I began googling and stumbled across Geninne’s Art Blog and wanted to let you know about her fabulous ‘hand carved stamps‘ tutorial. It would be such a great holiday project for bigger kids (and adults). There’s plenty of ‘rubber stamp’ inspiration on Geninne’s flickr site to get you in the mood. I seriously wish I had more time on my hands because I would love to get stuck in.
Owly shadow puppets
Owly creates and sells shadow puppets of all kinds! Yetis, mermaids, seamonsters, owls, and tooth fairies to name just a few. So, turn off the telly, and get the kids to entertain for a bit!
These enchanting puppets are lasercut from matboard and their moving parts are joined with brass fasteners. The puppets are then attached to a bamboo stick.
Check out Owly’s etsy site (make sure you sift though the sold items as sometimes there is not a lot available upfront). The puppets are really affordable at around $12 (US).
Owly also has a website where there is a free lesson plan which explains how to make your own shadow puppets – perfect for parents and teachers!
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