Butterfly sun-catchers
After the wettest April in a hundred years the sun has finally made an appearance in my part of the world! Yay!!!
In order to celebrate we have been making sun-catchers. I remember making them when I was a kid but had honestly forgotten just how brilliant they look with the sun streaming through them.
To make your butterfly sun-catcher you will need:
• Black paper
• Tissue paper
• Pencil crayon
• Scissors
• Craft knife (optional)
• Glue-stick
Step 1
Cut a butterfly shape out of a black sheet of paper. If you are not that confident with drawing you can download a template here. (You should be able to print this on black paper and still see the lines.)
Step 2
Using a light coloured pencil-crayon draw shapes onto the wings of the butterfly (if you use the printable template you can skip this bit). Then using a pair of scissors, or a craft, knife cut out the shapes. Most kids will probably need a hand with this step.
Step 3
Get your squares of tissue paper and tear them into strips. You can choose any colours you want but bright colours work best!
Step 4
Get your glue-stick and apply some glue to the wing of the butterfly and then stick the strips across the wing. Don’t worry if the tissue paper overlaps, you can actually create some really interesting effects by layering it in this way. Make sure you lift the butterfly up every now and again, just to make sure it isn’t stuck to your work-surface!
Step 5
Turn your butterfly over and trim the paper strips so that they are level with the outside edge.
Ta-da…
Stick your butterfly to a window…
Top Tip:
To get kids more involved with the cutting stage let them make the holes in the wings using craft punches, or even a hole-punch.
Pi’ikea Street
Say a big hi to Pi’ikea Street (pronounced pee-ee-kay-uh street). They have been sponsoring my site for a while now and have now decided to sponsor me for an entire year which is ace (…so I thought they definitely deserved a BIG shout-out).
Pi’ikea Street make cool (& educational) apps for kids. They include Memory Train , Interactive Alphabet and Counting Bees. Check out their site for more details. (You can view a demo video of Memory Train and Interactive Alphabet…and listen to the soundtrack…which was put together by the wonderful Lullatone!).
But wait, there is more good stuff…
- Pi’ikea Street run a monthly coloring contest with an iPod Touch prize (U.S residents only).
- They are also running a Pinterest Competition. You can win an iTunes gift card package. Hurry, hurry though because the competition closes on May 17th 2012. (U.S residents only).
- They have a lovely crafts section on their website.
- To top it off Ben and Matt (the Pi’ikea team) are incredible friendly people and have been a real pleasure to deal with….yay!
I’m back tomorrow with a kids craft project…until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Crafty envy #4
The internet seems to be chock-a-block with wonderful crafty ideas at the moment. Hurray! Here are a few of my favourites. Feel free to leave a comment if any other crafty projects have knocked your socks off lately.
(Hope you have all had a good week). My big boy is five on Tuesday…I can hardly believe it!
1. Absolutely ♥ this fruity balloon garland by Brittany Watson Jepsen
2. I love Pips books (and website). This project comes from her second bookSew La Tea Do.
3. More good stuff from Jess at howaboutorange: Stiffened felt boxes.
4. DIY Planters for Say Yes to Hoboken by Claire of Fellow Fellow.
8-bit popup cards
Hello! Remember that pixel heart card I made a while back? Well it has been one of my most popular tutorials to date so I thought I would add another few designs to the collection. Meet ‘space-invader popup’ and ‘skull popup’:
Like the heart card, they are really minimal (which I just love) and easy to make once you have got the hang of it.
You definitely need a craft knife (and a steady hand) to make these cards this project is only really suitable for adults or teenagers.
If you want to have a go at making them you will find full instructions and downloadable templates after the jump.
popcorn + sprinkles = ♥
Hello folks. Hope you have all had a nice week. Before I begin I just wanted to mention that Maggy from Red Ted Art’s is doing a giveaway of my book today so head over there if you want to try and win a copy. (Maggy’s site is full to the brim of kids crafting ideas so good it’s a good place to hang out anyway).
I first saw this party popcorn recipe at shewearsmanyhats.com and was instantly a fan. I adore popcorn and sprinkles so combining the two seemed like a fine idea to me!
The recipe at shewearsmanyhats.com uses white chocolate as the ‘glue’. I am not actually a huge fan of chocolate so made mine with sugar syrup instead.
You will need:
♥ Popcorn
♥ caster sugar
♥ water
♥ sprinkles
1. Make your popcorn.
2. Cut out a piece of greaseproof paper and lay it flat on a chopping board. Then lay your popcorn on the top of the greaseproof paper in a thin layer.
3. To make your sugar syrup combine 1/4 cup of water in a saucepan with 1/8 cup of sugar and cook on a medium to high heat. You should avoid stirring as sugar crystals can form (I did stir mine gently at the beginning and end though). When the mixture starts to take on colour (see image above) remove from the heat. It can turn very quickly at the end so keep a close eye on it.
Please remember: this mixture is extremely hot so please take care! I wouldn’t recommend making it with little ones around
4. Drizzle your sugar syrup over the popcorn then add your sprinkles. The sugar syrup mixture will cool very quickly so make sure you add your sprinkles right away.
Yum ^_^ If you have any other ‘popcorn glue’ ideas then do leave a comment below!
3D paper diamonds
Hello there. Hope you all had a great Easter! We had a lovely relaxing holiday (….well as relaxing as it gets with kids). It would have been great to have another week off ^_^
Before I forget I just want to say a big thank you for all the kind messages you have send me regarding my book (you really are a nice bunch!)…and huge thanks to all the people who have bought it so far…
I’ve been meaning to get this paper diamond up for weeks now…but it’s taken ages to figure the template out (and I’ve been having breaks between each failed attempt). I really hate crafty disasters (I seems to be having a few just recently) so I’m happy that this one came good in the end!!
It’s based on simplified version of Satoshi Kamiya’s origami diamond. I did make the origami diamond to begin with but I found it impossible to keep the model closed (and really tricky to make as I couldn’t find full instructions anywhere). In the end I just made a less complictated ‘cut, score & glue’ version which was much easier to assemble!
These paper diamonds are tricky to make (& require a fair bit of patience) so definitely adults only! If you enjoyed making my paper gems then this project is definitely for you.
When you have made your diamonds you can attach thread and hang them up. You could also use them as a gift box…perfect for jewellery (or diamond rings!!). If any of you do succeed in making some please let me know (if you send me a link to your pictures I’ll pop it up on my facebook page).
How-to
1. Print out the template onto a sheet of paper. Cut around solid line.
2. Using a needle (or compass point) and ruler score along all the dotted lines.
3. Turn over and lightly bend along scored lines.
4. Using a glue-stick glue each flap into place. (I would recommend that you glue one flap and stick in place and then glue the next flap etc).
Happy Monday all!
Edited to add: A few people have had problems printing the templates (the dotted lines do not print). If you too are having problems you can download a ‘dotted-line-free’ template here!
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