Craft club junior! Book page art

Following from the previous nights book page craft club (here) I thought I would try it with the boys!

I let them use the sharpies under supervision (but still ended up with a permanent doodle on the tablecloth!).

Then they used crayons to colour it in. It took a little persuasion to get them to leave some bits blank for the colour to show through but they were really impressed with the results. I was too!!!

 JJ decided to draw 'Daddy's car'!

 While Eden went with a house design!

I love them!

Junk Art !

This is a project that has been on the go for a good few months now!
I wanted to get rid of a lot of the boys toys that weren't being loved anymore or were broken but thought they would bring some happy memories in years to come so I decided a giant rainbow art piece was the way to go!
I started by pencilling out a rainbow onto a canvas which Joplin then painted.

I then began to glue-gun the toys I had collected on to the canvas in their different colour spaces. 

 It is gradually being built up. The only big hitch though is that when it is left between gluing sessions the boys 'discover' their old toys again and want to re-love them!! See those white patches? They were once filled with toys!!

And here is the finished product!! Still a work in progress really and I am still trying to persuade Eden that he really doesn't need the purple broken toy dinosaur he hasn't played with in months! It was great fun too make although a larger project than I originally thought!

Sweetie Wreath take 2! (Secret weapon loom bands!)

I have been making sweetie wreaths such as this pervious post here each Christmas for the last few years since a visit to Dan's sister in New Zealand who always makes one for Christmas!
I was approached a couple of weeks ago by a good friend who works for a firm wanting to put on a charity fundraiser / team-building craft workshop. As the company distributes sweets it seemed the perfect craft to take advantage of the raw materials available! As I will be teaching to a team rather than individuals however, some tweaks needed to be made to simplify it.

The first step is with a wire coat hanger. This needs to be stretched to form a circle shape.

This is followed by winding a long strip(s) of fleece around the hanger. 

Now comes the new secret weapon .... Loom Bands! After the 24 hour initial enthusiasm from my son we now have hundreds around the house and they seemed the perfect solution. 

Cardboard Robot

Eden recently received a late birthday present from our  lovely friends round the corner, of a Makedo robot making kit. Basically it has all the connectors and hinges as well as a cardboard saw, hole puncher and stickers to transform junk into a wonderful creation!

It works like a cross between a cable ties and a  nut and bolt, but plastic and easy for little fingers to put together and remove with only a little help. 

It was all Eden’s design and he knew what he wanted to do. I helped suggesting how the hinges would work for the arms, and where best to put the holes, but he loved fixing it all together and being a proper workman! 

He was very proud of his creation! It was been up a week now and taken a fair bit of bashing around, being hit behind, being a dance partner and lots more and the fixings have stood up really well. Best think is we can re use all the bits to make something else soon!

Snowman outfit finished!!

Both boys have been told they need to be a snowman for their separate Christmas productions at Nursery and School - result! Only one costume to make that they can share! Fortunately the productions are a few days apart with Joplin's first, so I will have a weekend to make adjustments and probably need to take it up for Eden.
The boys can be reluctant when it comes to dressing up in public so I wanted to make it as near to normal clothes as I could. I found some great fur fleece fabric in white with a bit of stretch and so I dug out my favourite pattern for some seriously fluffy trousers! I have used this pattern so many times right from newborn sizes and I think there's still a couple of years left yet. Actually I have very tempted to scale it up for my size - they always seem so comfy looking! Anyway the pattern can be found here. I used the extra large pattern with the large on the waistband and added a bit of elastic for the waistband - the waist is generous on the pattern as it is meant to go over cloth nappies. I made them a little long with a large hem - hopefully this can serve as a turn up for Eden, and also maybe give a couple more years use!
For the top I made a pattern from a waistcoat / gillet that fitted Joplin and made it slightly more generous at the sides so it could fasten in the middle. As the fabric doesn't fray and is so fluffy I didn't even need to hem it. I fastened it on the tummy with a strip of velcro then sewed on two felt 'buttons'.
Add a white t-shirt underneath, and a scarf and hat and Ta-da! - one complete snowman costume! I can't wait to see the boys in it in their productions!!

Your comments make my day! Do let me know what you think!

Cardboard TV

A real minute make but lots of fun! 

Two holes cut in a box (with Mum's bread knife!) then an on button cut out and taped on. A cardboard remote and then see what's on!

 The weather, traffic reports of course (a crash on the M40 if you must know!), a bit of Countdown and Bargain Hunt and a few songs on YouTube (The Jam and The Cure mainly).

 Oh and of course some Fireman Sam!!

Archery Fun!!

Ever since I saw ikatbag's most awesome Archery party and fantastic tutorials I knew I had to have a go at making the boys and arrows! With a bit of a push from my friend Nic who beat me to it with her girls, I got myself off to Wicks and bought the PVC pipe, pipe insulation and other bits and bobs needed and then raided Dan's tool box! I had a fantastic morning and thoroughly enjoyed making 4 sets of bows each with 3 arrows. 

Then off to the park we went! We met some friends with older boys down there and that certainly helped as Joplin is very reluctant to take advice from him Mummy, but peer advice and another Mummy's help (thanks Marie!) gave results!

 Peter really got the hang of it and I'm glad the arrows were soft tipped as he has quite a good shot at people's bottoms!!!

The arrows certainly could fly!

 We finished off at the climbing tree (or was it Thunderbird 5!) .

Twig Raft!

Inspired by pinterest again (here) Joplin and myself set upon making a twig raft!

I found it easier after initially binding the twigs to hold them against the table edge whilst I wove the rest.

 We finished it off with a map sail.

Joplin was keen to see if it would sail....

 It did pretty well and supported a few animals.

Joplin couldn't wait to join the boat on it's adventure!

Sewing Day - Seat covers and a monster!

I have been meaning to cover or seat pads for a while and after buying some lovely Melody Miller fabric I realised it would be a disaster for my messy eating boys and rethought! I found this lovely Robert Kaufman Owls laminated cotton on Etsy and thought it would be perfect to wipe up spills and dinner!

I pinned around the cushions inside out and then sewed them up with velcro at the back and velcro to hold them to the chairs. I made them so that 2 cushions could go inside for the boys to give them booster seats and then had enough to make an adult version too. I now need more fabric to do the rest!

 back view ....

 side view.....

Sewing must have been in the air in our house today as Joplin discovered a monster kit he was given last Christmas in the cupboard. He has never wanted to listen to my instructions before so we saved it until he was a bit older but he seemed really keen today. I held it whilst he sewed around the edge. I just let him get on with it which is why there is a mix of running stich, blanket-ish stich and a few weird and wonderfuls, but it all adds to the monster effect and he was so proud he had done it all himself! The features were stickyback felt and Joplin chose them all too (the hat is actually a beak but I think it works rather well!). Eden loved the monster too and chased us around making aaarrrgh noises! 

Balloon Modelling!!

I was inspired at a wedding fair I exhibited at on Sunday by a balloon modelling company (www.balloonatic.biz).

I do some balloon modelling at the children's parties, but limited to a minute or 2 per child I generally stick to swords flowers and dogs!

After seeing them in action on Sunday though I just had to have a go though at some of the more interesting designs. After a new order arrived today of balloons, and a bit of help from YouTube, here are my results.....

Now I just have to get a bit quicker!!

Tutorials I found here:-

Fairy

Dinosar

Monkey (the tree I made up!)

and the mermaid I adapted from the Fairy.