Kids craft
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.
My book ^_^
Yey! My book has finally been released. The whole process has taken over a year and, at times, I really didn’t think I would get there! It’s wonderful to finally be able to show you some pictures, and also to feel a bit more relaxed about the whole thing.
The book is called “eco-friendly crafting with kids” and contains 35 step-by-step projects for preschool kids and adults to create together. (Even though the book is aimed at preschoolers the projects would also be suitable for 5, 6 & 7 year olds).
I picked a fairly random set of images to show you…I was finding it hard to choose. The book really does look stunning, largely due to the efforts of photographer Carloyn Barber, stylist Liz Belton and Designer Sonya Nathoo.
The book is split into eight sections; homemade materials, music, nature, recycling bin, paper and card, sewing and threading, science and boredom busters.
I would love for you to buy a copy if you like the look of it *^_^*. You can purchase one at amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, amazon.ca, barnes & noble (and many other places). You can also order it from the book depository (which does free worldwide delivery) and lots of other websites! (btw my Australian pals and I use the book depository to send presents to one another and we’ve always been really happy with the service!)
Images excerpted from “eco-friendly crafting with kids” by Kate Lilley. Photography Copyright © Ryland Peters & Small Ltd. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
Eye-bombing (the new yarn-bombing)!
I saw this great post at flutterflutter last week which was all about ‘eye-bombing’ and ever since reading it I have had an overwhelming desire to stick googly eyes to absolutely everything. It’s a great activity for the kids too!
Sugar-sprinkle monster. Sadly he is no longer with us.
Sheepish venus fly trap.
Sad string.
Cute cactus
Hungry holepunch
Prudish door handle!
Do join in! It’s lots of fun. If you want more inspiration then there is a whole website dedicated to the art of eye-bombing here! Thanks flutterflutter.
Happy Friday all! x
Space crayons
Hello! We’ve been struck down by some nasty bugs in the last few weeks so sorry (once again!) for the lack of updates.
Last night, I finally managed to peel myself off the sofa(!) and made these galaxy crayons for son #1 (he is currently fascinated with stars and planets).
If you, too, are interested in the night sky then did you know you can download high-res images from the hubble site? {Thanks Oh Happy Day for the heads up}. (I can feel a project coming on!)
Anyway, the crayons are really easy to make and fun to draw with. If you wanna have a go then see the tutorial after the jump.
If your little ones (or you) prefer bright colours then you can also make regular glitter crayons! Yay!
More starry links:
Galaxy playdough here!
Amazing ‘Stardust’ fashion photography by Ignacio Torres.
(I do still regularly pin my favorite crafts at Pinterest by the way…so if you wanna pop over then that would be cool!)
DIY string-tie envelopes
Hello! Sorry about the little break. My son has been off on his half-term holidays so I had a blog-free week!
Now I am back, I just want to give a big shout out (and a big thank you) to my new sponsors, pi’ikea street and paper glitter….do check their sites out!
I also wanted to say a massive thanks to all the people who have left comments lately (and to those who have sent me lovely emails). It’s been especially great to hear from people who have been making the projects…and ace seeing all your pictures…hurray!
I do confess that I have always had a ‘thing’ about string-tie envelopes. They seem impossible to get hold of though so I thought it would be fun to make my own. They are very easy to do!
These dinky little envelopes are great for all-sorts of things (storing paper ephemera, housing invitations/gift cards, storing seeds). I have also been making some for my sons to play with (as they are obsessed with letters/post offices at the moment). I reckon they would also make a cute gift.
By the way, now my kids are getting better at using scissors they have been really enjoying making their own envelopes using the template from my previous post.
You will find a full tutorial and templates below! Happy Monday all 
You will need:
Paper
Card
String
Glue stick
Scissors
Tiny brads/split pins (the heads of the brads I used were 3mm in diameter)
How-to
1. Print out the template onto paper. Cut score and fold.
Template one (tiny envelope, print out on A5 paper)
Template two (C7 envelope, print on A4 paper)
2. Cut out some small, card disks. Paper will work just as well but card will be a bit more hard-wearing.
3. Using a needle, pierce two holes in the envelope and a hole in each disk (marked on template).
4. Attach card disks to envelope using brads. (If you don’t have any brads then you can sew them on. See this tutorial at simplymodernmom.com).
5. Fold the three edges of the envelope up and glue.
6. Attach a piece of string to the top disk and tie off. Wrap round disks to fasten.
If you are not keen on the rainbow brights then I think pastel/neon would be a great combination. For example, make a pale pink envelope with neon pink disk and string. (Note to self: must buy neon card/paper!)
Job done!
Super quick paper toy {flying fish}
We ♥ flying fish! They take about a minute to make and you can use any old scrap of paper. When you have made one simply throw it in the air and watch it spin as it comes down.
They are ever more fun if you stand on a chair or table before launching them (be careful though!).
How-to
1. Cut a strip of paper. My strip measured about 20cm x 2cm but there is no need for accuracy (hurray!).
2. Cut slits at either end, as shown.
3. Make lots….everyone will want a go!
4. Bend the strip of paper and slot ends together.
5. Throw in the air and watch them spin as they come down (they are impossible to photograph so no photo for this step!).
Kate ^_^
Handmade geometric stamps for Handmade Living
I‘ve tried to make my own rubber stamps on many occasions but never really got the hang of it. I think half the reason is that it’s impossible to buy the proper carving blocks here in the UK.
So…I put an article together for this months issue of Handmade Living on easy rubber stamps. (I actually wrote this article about three months ago….it’s taking me a while to get used to the print ‘time-lag’ thing).
These stamps are made from erasers, using a craft knife and ruler. If you stick to straight lines then carving is easy and you don’t need any specialist tools!! Perfect for decorating your own wrap, cards and fabric etc. Great also for your kids to play with.
If you want to see how hand carved stamps are done the proper way then check out this ace tutorial at Geninne’s Art Blog. Her hand carved stamps are nothing short of amazing.
Hama bead weaving tutorial on its way early next week! More tummy-bugs/throat infections in our house this week so not much in the way of spare time! Booo!
You can pick up a copy of Handmade Living from Morrisons, Asda, Sainsburys, Martins, WH Smiths, Hobbycraft plus a number of independent shops and newsagents. Internationally, the magazine is available from Barnes and Noble in the US and newsagents in Australia.
You can also subscribe here or here if you want the electronic version.
Hama bead weaving…in progress!
Bleughhh! My computer ‘died’ at the weekend and my hubby and have have been trying to fix it since then so that’s why things have been a bit slow around here! Thankfully my sister came to the rescue and lent me her laptop today so I could write one last post to wish you all a happy holidays!
In amongst it all I have managed to find five minutes here-and-there to try out some hama bead weaving. I’m going to work on a few projects over Christmas and will put some tutorials on my site in the new year. I am very inspired by these hama bead baskets at finelittleday and am determined to figure out how to make one!!
Hope you all have an ace holiday and enjoy hanging out with your families and friends. We are off to Scotland for christmas so getting very excited about that!
Cheerio for now
Kate
x
Crackers!!
I can’t imagine tucking into a Christmas dinner without pulling a cracker first. I love the naff hats, the cringe-worthy jokes (and just the tradition of it all).
Crackers are so easy to make…and if you don’t fancy making some for the table you can make some miniature ones to hang in the tree. They also make really cool gift boxes.
I’ve put some templates together if you wanna try. I initially drew these up for my son because he breaks up from school next week and I wanted to line up a few nice things for him to do. (I’m going to ask him to make one for each of his grandparents for Christmas – I’ll cut out the cracker and he can fill it with drawings, sweets and confetti and decorate the outside…sorted!).
Here’s how:
1) Download the pdf and print onto thin card. There is a large template and a miniature template. (Full size crackers are 25cm long and miniature crackers are 16cm long).
2) Cut around the outside with a pair of scissors.
3) Score along all the dotted lines. Compass points are great for scoring card.
4) Using a craft knife cut out all the diamond shapes.
5) Fold along all the vertical lines.
6) Fold along horizontal lines as shown. At this point you would insert a cracker bang and tape it into place at each end using sticky tape. (I didn’t use any cracker bangs for this post because I didn’t get my act together and order them in time!…If you wanna buy some, have a look on ebay).
7) Bring ends together and join using a glue stick or double sided tape.
8) Tie one end with a length of cotton/ribbon/string*
9) Wrap a gift/sweets/hat/joke/confetti* in some tissue paper
10) Pop inside cracker and tie the other end with cotton/ribbon/string*
* delete where appropriate!!
Job done!!
Hope all your Christmas or Hanukkah crafts/preparations/plans are coming along a treat.
Simple Christmas tree decorations for kids (+ templates)
Phew, I finally got round to making some Christmas decoration templates for kids. (I Don’t know about you but my to-do list is out of hand at the moment!).
My two boys are still a bit young to do the cutting-out so I did it for them. Their job is to go wild with the glue, glitter, silvery markers etc etc!
If you wanna print some out for your little ones to cut-out or decorate then you’ll find templates after the jump.
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