Wednesday 28 May 2014

Deconstructed craft


Clearly I love a craft project and the structure it teaches. But I am also a huge proponent of allowing kids to let their imagination run wild and to create without boundaries or restrictions. My 6 year old made me this fruit bowl yesterday. She's my fifth child, and it wasn't always easy for me to stand back and allow thick brown plastic packaging tape to smother pretty pink tissue.

This holiday or weekend or rainy day, make sure you've stockpiled some cereal boxes, toilet rolls and tape. If you have the materials available, it makes it so much easier for kids to experiment. And you can put the kettle on...

Thursday 22 May 2014

'An apple for the teacher' note cards.

How often do you need to grab a little note card for an occasion but don't want to shell out big bucks for a greeting card? We've just printed up a pile of these apple cards for next to nothing. They'd be super sweet for your favourite teacher (and we just happen to have THE best teachers in the world!) but they'd work for every other occasion too! 

If you don't have an ink pad, you can use acrylic or poster paint. You might just lose some of the detail with a thicker paint.










Monday 12 May 2014

'Spring has sprung' felt flower bouquet

Today's project has been influenced by my lovely Mother's Day tulips and by our Netherlands project in the book. But the finishing touches were provided by my 6 year old studio assistant today who was too sick to go to school, but miraculously recovered when I started cutting out the felt. She has designed the flowers and added the genius touches of detail on the leaves. 

These flowers are super easy to make, and because felt never fades, they really are everlasting flowers. If you don't have the book, you can buy it online...


They're really quick to make. We used scraps of felt and a few pipe cleaners. Draw flowers onto paper to use as templates and then cut out the flowers and leaves. A couple of tiny snips in the centre of the shapes, feed the pipe cleaner through and you're done!







Saturday 10 May 2014

Friday 9 May 2014

Gorgeous glittery heart tag for Mother's Day!

This weekend is Mother's Day here in Australia so here's a really quick and pretty project to make your presents even sweeter. 

We reckon any day is a good day to give a present...so even if it's not Mother's Day where you are, why not give a gift to someone just because?












Tuesday 6 May 2014

Pretty Autumn Pinecone

 
Autumn has well and truly arrived 'Down Under' in Sydney. The leaves on the trees range from hot pink to brightest yellow. We've borrowed some of these colours and used a pinecone to make this sweet 'pretty autumn pinecone'. Now we know the rest of you are enjoying sunny Spring...so watch this space for a gorgeous Spring project!