Adult/teenage craft
Advent calendar
Yay! I finally managed to get an advent calendar tutorial up. I do hope you like it. I tried to come up with one that uses simple materials, is easy to make, is suitable for adults and kids, and one that can be customised to suit your own colour scheme.
If you wanna have a go you will find full instructions after the jump…
These models are pretty versatile; you can hang them in your tree, make a garland from them or you can stand them on your windowsill.
*I can’t believe how quickly the months are flying by. Where is the pause button!*
Click on the link below to view the how-to!
Read more…
Kaleidocycle {aka folding paper toy!}
Have you ever made a kaleidocycle before? They are pretty fun. All you need is some glue, paper and 5 or 10 minutes!
There is an animated gif at the bottom on the post so that you can see what they do.
There are also instructions & a template below too ^_^
YOU WILL NEED:
- – – – – – – –
- Template
- Paper or thin card
- Glue
- Scissors
- Ruler and needle for scoring
HOW TO:
- – – – – – – –
1. Print your template and cut it out.
2. Using a ruler and sharp point (compass or needle) score all the lines on your template.
3. Fold along all vertical lines.
4. Fold along all diagonal lines.
5. Fold your template over so that the three tabs tuck under the stripy part of the template. Glue into position (a glue-stick works well) and leave your model to dry for a few minutes.
6. Bend the kaleidocycle round as shown.
7. Tuck the remaining tab into the other end of the kaleidocycle. I found it easier to put a little tape over this join (rather than glueing)…
8. Play!
The animated gif is a bit shaky. I was alone in the house so had to use my chin to press the button on the camera (whilst the camera was attached to tripod). High-tech indeed!
By the way, check out this free download (courtesy of my cousins band) which contains: trick or treat poster, DIY ‘creeps’ mask, high quality MP3 and exclusive video art.
And, Helen, from Curlybirds just put together a ‘vintage Halloween costume‘ post on her site. Do have a look….it’s pretty funny 
Printable wrap {halloween edition!}
Do you give people presents at Halloween? If so, here is some printable wrap you might like to use. The templates are A4 so only suitable for small presents. (As you can see I hijacked pacman again ^_^)
We have had a terrible year in the UK for rain…it has been coming down by the bucket-load for months on end…hence the raindrop sheet!
The templates are at the end of the post. Have a great week ^_^
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TEMPLATES
- – - – - -
Raindrop wrap
Pacman wrap
Lightning wrap
Ghost treat boxes
Just a bit of housekeeping before I begin. I have been making a few changes to the layout of the site so, if this page looks odd, right-click and select reload. (If you are still having problems please email me, or leave a comment, and I will get back to you).
I saw these ghost milk bottles and thought they were very cute and easy…however I couldn’t get hold of little milk bottles so made some milk cartons instead which I’m going to stuff with Halloween goodies for the kids (& my hubby!).
There are seven simple designs in all (including a few pac-man inspired ones) so you can print out your favourite one/s.
HOW-TO
- – – – – – – -
You will need:
// White paper or thin card
// Glue stick or double sided tape
// Scissors
// Something to score your paper with. I use a needle and metal ruler.
// Treats to fill your box with
STEP-BY-STEP
- – – – – – – -
1. Print out one of the following templates then cut, score and fold along all the lines (see the ‘cutting/scoring plan’ below for more details).
Design 1, Design 2, Design 3, Design 4, Design 5, Design 6, Design 7
2. Cut and score along all the lines (see the ‘cutting/scoring plan’ below for more details).
3. Fold into box shape and secure tabs with a gluestick or sticky tape.
4. Carefully press the sides of the carton in to create the tetra-pak style top.
5. Fill your boxes with treats, confetti and even a spooky joke!
6. Tape the top closed. I used washi tape but you can use a paper-clip, split pin or anything that comes to hand.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
SCORING/CUTTING PLAN
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
- Cut along solid lines
- Score and fold along dotted lines
Hope you all have a fab weekend ^_^
I ♥ marbling
I saw these chocolate wrappers on Oh Joy ages ago and they completely changed my mind about marbling (I always used to think marbled paper looked a bit dull and assumed you needed loads of equipment).
It turns out it’s not so hard…and the results can be really colourful (Yay!).
HOW-TO
- – – – – – – -
You will need:
// Marbling paint. I used Marabu Easy Marble (not a sponsored plug!)
// A tray (I used a recycled foil food container)
// Paper (make sure it fits inside your tray)
// Water
// Cocktail sticks (a twig will do!)
// White spirit for cleaning up (or cooking oil…see comments section below for details)
// Newspaper
// An old top or Apron
STEP-BY-STEP
- – – – – – – -
1. Fill your foil container with some water….a few inches is fine. Then pop some drops of marbling paint onto the water. Limit your palette to three or four colours.
2. Give the water a swirl with a cocktail stick.
3. Shake a few more drops into the water if you fancy!
4. Once you are happy with the pattern gently lower your paper on top of the water and leave it for a few moments.
5. Then carefully lift the paper off the surface of the water.
6. Pop your design, face up, on some newspaper to dry.
HINTS & TIPS
- – – – – – – -
- Use a scrap of cardboard to ‘scrape’ the top of the water in-between each go. That will get rid of any paint residue from your previous attempt.
- I used coloured paper. Because of this, one of the marbling colours I chose was a transparent colour (crystal clear), that way you get to see the colour of the paper too.
- If you are doing this with kids I would definitely recommend using some gloves and an apron…it gets a bit messy.
- Have fun!! I found marbling incredibly relaxing so grab a bit pile of paper before you start…you will get through it.
- When your paper has dried, press it under some heavy books to make it flatter & smoother! Make sure you sandwich it between greaseproof paper just in case it leaves a mark.
- If you want some more inspiration then check out my Pinterest marbling board ^_^
- This particular marbling paint is oil-based so you will need white spirit to clean up any spills.
gems & crystals // printable paper
Hello! The gem obsession continues and I have been working on some printable paper that you can download and use for wrapping gifts or scrapbooking etc.
I’ve also made a few of my paper-cut gems in black which I prefer (I think)….I want to make about a 40 or so and stick them on the wall (in reality this might have to go onto the future projects list)!!
My youngest son started school yesterday which was a very happy/sad occasion. He’s doing half days for a few weeks and then I will be spending all my time on the website (and a new book which I’m keen to tell you about).
Hope you are all well & happy ^_^
Quick craft // DIY galaxy envelopes
Galaxy DIY’s are everywhere at the moment and it’s easy to apply this theme to lots of paper-craft projects. All you need is an old astronomy magazine (they contain page after page of mind-blowing images that you can cut out)!
I made some envelopes (and some geometric wall-art….coming soon)!
There are a gazillion envelope templates on the web that you can use (or you could use my string-tied envelope template). You could also make some galaxy gift-tags/ribbon or some 3d galaxy geometric shapes.
Do leave a comment if you have any more ideas ^_^
Oh, and the font in the top image is called Later On and it’s free!
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