Paper decorations
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.
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!
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.
Easter garland
This is my first ever Easter craft! A ‘miffy’ inspired rabbit garland. It’s very sweet and would look cute in a babies room too!
All you have to do it print, cut and attach to cotton.
I printed the template onto pastel coloured card (175 gsm).
You can download a template here if you want to try!
I ♥ mathematics {platonic solids garland}
Oooh….it’s been I while since I last posted. We had a smashing Christmas and new year. Hope you all did too!
My computer died just before Christmas and it’s taken my hubby and I a while to bring it back to life…which is why it’s been a bit quiet. I lost 3 months worth of work (new years resolution no.33 = backup files more regularly!).
Now seems like a good time to thank all you lovely lot for visiting minieco over the last couple of years. I am ever amazed at the increasing number of people who tune in! I also realise as far as bloggers go I am quite slack…only managing to get a post up every week or two. I’d like to say that this will improve……! Thanks for sticking with me through the quiet times anyhow!
In between posts I regulary use pinterest so do pop over and check it out if you haven’t already. It’s a great site for gathering together all your favourite bits of eye candy!
There seems to be a bit of a Polyhedra craze going on at the moment. It seems to me that mathematics has never been so cool.
I have put together some templates for a ‘platonic solids‘ garland. Perfect for cheering the place up now all the festive decorations have been taken down.
Simply chop, score and glue together.
Don’t forget to thread your cotton in whilst glueing the pieces together….I forgot! (I did manage to thread the cotton through afterwards but it was pretty tricky and took longer than it should have done).
I’ll try to get a better photo of it in situ…our conservatory is really bright and sunny but the rest of the house is pretty dark (especially in this miserable weather).
If you want something a bit more subtle then you could make the polyhedra white with some neon/gold thread!
If you fancy having a go you can download templates here. (There are two templates on each page!)
Cube
Icosahedron
Tetrahedron
Octahedron
Dodecahedron
Happy chopping/folding/sticking!!
Check this site out for a jawdropping collection ofpolyhedra templates. Amazing stuff!
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.
Paper gems (+ templates)
This has got to be one of my favorite projects to date…which is a good job because I nearly broke my brain putting the templates together!! I’m not so good at maths and figuring out angles (my lovely Mum is a retired maths teacher so I should know better!). By the way this project is quite fiddly so more aimed at grown-ups or older kids.
My paper gems were very influenced by these wonderful crayons (via Deborah’s Pinterest board).
You can use these paper gems as hanging decorations (for your Christmas tree) or you can incorporate them into a mobile or garland. I would love to make about a hundred and string them up in front of my window…however there is a limit to my patience!!
If you spray them lightly on one side they look very pretty and a bit more crystal-like! (Not very eco-friendly but I found it hard to resist). Skip below the jump for pdf templates and instructions.
If you love crystals and gems as much as I do then check out these cool projects:
Home-made rock candy
Home grown geodes
Edited to add: Check out this great advent calendar idea using my paper gems. Thanks Marta!
Kids craft coming up next week…I absolutely promise this time!
Off topic:
Huge thanks to Kathreen from whipup.net for choosing one of my images for her 2012 calendar. Be sure to check it out!
I’ve been a total slacker on email lately…but intend to catch up over the next week. So if you have emailed, sorry, you will hear from me soon!
Pacman Halloween garland
I vividly remember playing pacman when I was younger and I used to get the heebie-jeebies just before one of those little ghosts gobbled me up. Anyhow…I still think they are a bit spooky (in a friendly kind of way) so thought they would make an excellent Halloween garland.
The shapes are pretty simple, so very easy to chop out. I’ve been making mine, feet up, in front of the telly. Can’t beat a bit of multitasking…haha!
I’ve left my feet in this picture to give you an idea of how big the cut-outs are. If anyone wants a full tutorial then leave a comment. Full instructions after the jump!
Want to play pacman? Check out the google version here…it’s a great time waster!
Quick kids craft: paper butterfly {with template}
My (twin) sister came up with this ‘paper butterfly’ idea and all our kids (as different as they are) love them.
We usually do the cutting-out and then we hand them over to the kids to decorate. Once they have embellished to their hearts content we tape a skewer or straw onto the body of the butterfly then the kids run around giving them a good old flap! Easy!
I usually just cut them out freehand but if you want a template you can download one here!
Hope you have all had a lovely weekend. My little boy still recovering from his tonsillectomy (I guess when the doctors told me it would be a two week recovery peroid they really did mean two weeks). My eldest son also had a great first week at school. He’s been pretty tired though and tried to pull a sicky on day three…didn’t take long for the novelty to wear off!!
Geeky weaves!
I really liked the woven gift-topper I made a few weeks ago and thought it looked really pixely! Just perfect for space invaders…
I think it would make a cool little project for big kids and grown-ups! All you need are strips of paper and some sticky tape.
You could use them as gift-toppers, or make a card from them or stick them in a frame. They require no skill to make…just a bit of patience…
If you want a ‘how-to’ then click on the ‘more’ link below.
If you fancy a change from rainbow then neon works well too!
Have you worked on a project lately that you are pleased with…if so, tell me about it (leave a comment below)!
Off topic: Thanks for all your comments/emails regarding Macrame. Tutorials coming up in July/September so keep an eye out for that!
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