Pop Up Cards

The kids have really loved doing these.  It's just a matter of adding a few slits into some card and adding anything you want to the pop up mechanism.  Have a look at this website for more instructions and photo's of the mechanism.  I think we are going to do all of our Christmas cards this way.  x

http://lahinks.blogspot.com/2009/07/whatever-wednesday-pop-up-zoo-birthday.html

Miniature Gardens

It's been a long time since I last blogged.  You might think that it's because we haven't done any craft.............. gosh that would be terrible!!!............Thank goodness it's not so. You will be happy to know that my kids have not missed out.  I just haven't had the time to photograph and blog about it.  So I'm very sorry about that.  These little craft gardens were so special I made some time to add them.  They aren't step by step but I think you will get the idea.  Enjoy xxx

To start them off we gathered paper plates, air drying modelling clay and green tissue paper. 

• Roll up some modelling clay and flatten it out a little and add it to a section of the paper plate.  How much you need will be dependant on what needs to "stand up".
• Add some PVA below and over the modelling clay and include the rest of the paper plate.  Use the sheet of tissue paper All over the top of the plate and modelling clay.  This we be the grass and the base of the garden.

From there it's really up to you what you want to add.  Here are some ideas:

•  Pipecleaners through buttons make great flowers.
•  Stickers can make a great path
•  Cut out shapes for trees and pond out of coloured paper.  Stick a twig or icypole type stick onto the back of the tree shapes
•  Add some stickers/split peas/rolled up crepe paper to the trees for colour
•  Modelling clay can make some great little ducks and small buttons can be beaks.
•  Button furniture
•  Icypole sticks or matchsticks for fences

The sky is the limit!!  My kids are 3 and 5 and they loved making them.  You will too!!!

Polystyrene / Styrofoam ball Ducks

I think these little ducks are a "quack up"......so so cute!!!

Materials:

• Foam sheet (whatever colour)
• Marker texta
• Googly eyes x2
• Scissors
• PVA glue
• Hot glue gun
• Large (eg: 10cm) polystyrene ball
• Medium size polystyrene ball
• Small polystrene ball
• Feathers

Method:

1.  Cut the small ball in half
2.  Use hot glue gun to stick them to the bottom of the large polystyrene ball. Flat part of      ball should be used for stability (don't want no falling duck) so glue rounded edge to large ball.
3.  Using sheet of foam cut out 2 duck feet. I laid one piece on top of each other and cut the scalloped edge. Round out the back of foot as appropriate. Glue to bottom of each small 1/2 ball.

 

 

4.  Cut a large oval out of the foam sheet that can be folded in the middle to create a beak. 

5.  Add a line of hot glue, off centre, fold together and create a bit of a ridge.

6.  Add 2 dots with marker texta for nostrils.

7.  Use a pair of scissors to score a line in the middle size ball (this is optional as you could glue it directly without scoring).  My line was pretty rough but you get the idea.  Now use hot glue to stick your beak into the groove.

8.  Glue on the head to the larger ball.  Attach the googly eyes to the head using hot glue or PVA.

9.  Now go nuts with the feathers.  You can see that my kids have had fun with the those!

The only thing left to do now is give them a name...... in this case maybe Huey, Duey and Louie?

Food colour painted flowers

I had to share these as they looked so beautifu!
Food Colour painted flowers. The only instruction was to
extend the flower as close to the edge of the page as possible and this was what they came up with.
Sharpie marker texta's were used for the outline.
Gorgeous!!

Foam sheet or paper Dinosaur with movable parts and button toes.

Materials required:

• Coloured card or Foam Sheets
• Scissors
• Hole Punch
• Pattern from here: http://crafts.kaboose.com/img/craft_images/moveable_paper_dinosaur.pdf
• Buttons (one for eye and some for toenails)
• Googly eye
• 4 x split pins

Method:

1.  Cut out all the pieces as per pattern and punch holes as per pattern.

  

2.  Match up all the holes and work out where you will put the spikes on the back

3.  Glue down the spikes.  Glue down the extra button where the eye will go and then glue on the googly eye.



4.  Glue on the buttons for toenails.

5.  Where the holes line up put in the split pins.  (mine were a little long but worked ok).

6.  My kids were happy for them to be plain but you could easily use sequins for scales etc to add another dimension. 

The boys loved doing the dinosaur roar!!!!

Cardstock Robots with button parts

 

Materials required

• Scissors
• Glue
• Various Cardstock (the shinier the better)
• Assorted Buttons
• Pipe cleaners
• Sticky dots
• Scatter stars (or sticker stars)
• Black heavy paper for background

Method: 

1.  Firstly cut out a oval head shape. 

2  Just below the centre cut the oval in half

3  Assemble it so that it looks like the robot has an open mouth.  When happy glue it onto the paper....see below:

4.  Then cut out some feet, hands and a rectangle body. Place them slightly apart on the page and glue down

5.  Between the body and hands/feet glue down pieces of pipecleaner.  You can twirl them if you wish.

6.  Stick on the 2 stickers for eyes and add some button eyes. 

7.  Cut a smaller rectangle and place it onto the body of the robot and then glue it down.  Add some buttons for the robot components and also glue in place.

8.  Finally add some scatter starts to the page so it looks like the robot is standing against a twinkling sky.  You can also add other items such as rockets etc :)

The Girl Robot

The Boy Robot

Mothers day cards with fake flower petals and patty pans

Mothers day 2011



.

Pulled apart fake flowers with patty pan centres and glitter added. Icy Pole stick used for stems and leaves were from pulled apart fake flowers.





Another version of description above. Recycled using cut up old box. This enabled the cards to stand on their own.

Slightly different centres. Some foam flower shapes. A stickers, paper letters and hearts.

Photo's are always a great thing to add to any card. So personal.

My daughter finished hers off by writing a greeting inside.  Beautiful job guys. xx

Easter Cards

I think Easter Cards are a lovely thing to be presented with at Easter.  I love my kids putting their personal touches on things and they can really do whatever they want with cards.  For this activity though we decided to use "Food Colour" for painting to make our eggs: 

(see earlier post "Food colour painting" http://kidslovecraft.blogspot.com/2011/03/crayon-oil-pastels-and-food-colour.html)

What you will need:

• Cardstock / Coloured Card
• White paper
• Food Colour mixed with a little water
• Paint Brushes
• Embelishments / glitter / ribbon etc
• Scissors / ruler

Method:

1. Put paint all over the paper randomly.  Wait to dry and then cut into egg shapes.
2. Fold a sheet of coloured paper in half.
3. Tear around the edges of another piece of coloured card so that it fits within the dimensions of the front of the card.  (use a ruler to use as a tearing guide or use scissors if you wish)
4. Add your egg shapes where you wish.
5. Stick on your embelishments / glitter / ribbon etc.

Easy pain free activity the kids and card receiver will love.  Here are some different examples:

Terracotta Pot LollIpop Easter Egg Baskets

These will make great gifts for easter and thanks to http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/flower-basket-661378/ for the idea.

What you will need:

• Terracotta pot
• Card stock / Coloured paper
• Template of a flower (I got mine here... http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/images/flowercard1.gif  http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/images/flowercard2.gif
• Scissors
• Stickytape
• Glue
• Tissue paper
• Paint
• Brushes
• Stickers / Flowers or items to glue on
• Lollipop
• Easter Eggs
• Pebbles (something to hold up the lollipop)

Method:

1. Paint the terracotta pot
2. Cover the stem of lollipop in green tissue paper (or green ribbon or equivalent)
3. Enlarge the flower template so that it is bigger than the head of the lollipop and then cut it out.
4. Tape or Glue the Flower onto the head of the lollipop.  You can add another flower or circle to the inside of the lollipop if you feel the lollipop itself isn't enough.
5. Cut out one or 2 leaves out of green paper and add a message for the person it was made.  When finished Sticky tape it onto the covered stem.
6. Finish decorating the dried pot with some decorations of your choosing.  We used flower cut outs.
7. Add some tissue paper of your colour choice to the pot and then half fill with pebbles so that the lollipop is stable.
8. Finish off by filling the remainder of the pot with small easter eggs. 

A lovely gift to give a loved one this easter. xx

The pot above had an accident and had to be reglued with PVA.  To reinforce it further I covered the whole thing in red tissue paper.  There was lots of tears about the broken pot so we needed a quick fix.  Turned out ok all things considered.  Maybe I should have been a recontructive surgeon.....NOT!

Easter Egg Baskets

These baskets are so effective and it was a joy to make them actually. 

Materials needed:

• Square sheet of cardstock (I cut mine down to 27cm x 27cm)
• Ruler
• Glue
• Sticky tape
• Scissors or a guillotine
• Stickers / items to glue on
• Shredded paper

Method:

There are a couple of really good sites that will show you how to do these see one link below:

http://seilifestyle.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-make-easter-basket.html

Each square equated to 9cm by 9cm.  I basically divied up the 27 x 27 cm sheet into 9 equal squares.  It shows which lines needed to be cut on the S.E.I website.  See their pic below. 

Very easy once scored and cut to bring it all together.....

These are a couple we made that we filled with shredded paper after decorating with stickers.  Each child had letter stickers to add their names to their baskets.

I think the kids will find them perfect for collecting those eggs during their easter egg hunt!!!

Paper bag scarecrows

These were a great little project.

Materials:

• Coloured paper
• Ribbon
• Googly Eyes
• Marker texta
• Icy Pole Sticks
• Glue
• Newspaper
• Foam Flowers (optional)
• Brown paper bags
• Sticky tape

Method:

1. Fill a paperbag with newspaper.  Insert a Icy pole stick into the bottom of the filled bag sealing the end with tape or Glue. 
2. Cut out a Nose (triangle works well), add some googly eyes, a couple of circles for cheeks and some shaggy hair. 
3. Cut out any hat shape you fancy, add some criss cross pattern if you wish.  A foam or paper flower looks good too.
4. Finally draw on a mouth and add a ribon around the base of the head and you are all done.

Crayon / Oil Pastels and Food Colour Paintings

Now these were fun but may I suggest the organiser of the food colour wear gloves!!!

All you need is:

• Food colour (various colours)
• White paper (we used cartrige paper)
• Brushes
• Water
• Oil Pastels
• Paint pallette or similar
• Disposable gloves
• Something to cover the surface you are using

Method:

1. Draw a picture / shape etc on the piece of paper with Crayon or Oil Pastels
2. Prepare your food colour (put on gloves) We just added a couple of drops to the pallette and a little water to the food colour.  You could use it straight but I preferred to mix a bit a water into it.  Feel free to mix the colours together to get any colour you prefer.
3. Now let them use a paint brush (one for each colour) and cover their work in different colours. 
4. Let them dry!

I think, as you can see from below, they turn out fabulous :)

Crowns

Very easy craft for the little ones this.

Materials:

• A3 coloured paper/card
• Stickers
• Glitter
• Sticky tape
• Glue
• Bits of pieces of anything really (paper, gems, scatters etc)

Method:

Fold card length wise down the centre.  Draw the shape to cut out along the folded line on one of the sides (eg: Zig Zag) and then cut it out.  Make sure there is a wide strip along the bottom that will go around the head.  Join the 2 pieces together.

Now it's all up to the decorators and the decorations......

Once decorations are complete take the crown and fit it around your child's head.  Use sticktytape to secure it together.  You can cut off some of the top of the crown so that just the strip is left when you join it together.  That way you don't have to match the zig zag etc exactly.

And there you are.....done!

Butterfly kids craft with lentil trees / leaves

Materials needed:

1. Brown paper (tree trunk)
2. A couple of different papers for butterfly wings
3. Decorations / circles etc for wings (optional)
4. Scissors
5. Glue
6. Pipecleaners (antenna)
7. Lentils

Cut out some tree trunk shapes using the brown paper and stick onto your background sheet.

Cut out 2 sets of wings in different colours.  Each pair of wings is a direct mirror image of each other so you need to cut out the shapes 2 at a time (2 pieces of paper on top of each other to cut an exact replica)

See the 2 sets above.  Glue these down onto the paper with slight gap between them where you will place the butterfly body.  Decorate the wings further if you wish using circles or whatever.

Cut out 2 body oblong body shapes to fill the gap you left between the wings.



See them glued onto each butterfly above.

Roll the top of each end of a pipecleaner to create some antenna.  

Glue antenna onto the top of each body.

Butterfly number 2.

If you have been using a glue stick it's time to change to regular PVA for sticking on the lentils.  Choose where you want to group them and use it liberally to make sure that lentils will stick.

I finished them off by cutting out their names to add to their work.



Nicely done kids!