Multicoloured crayons

I don't know about you but our crayon pot always seems to have hundreds of little bits of crayon at the bottom that never get used.

I was sorting through our craft drawers yesterday and was about to tip all the broken bits into the bin when I remembered an idea I'd seen on Pinterest a while ago.

I went to the cupboard and got out a rubber ice cube tray from Ikea and put all the bits into the water sections (making sure all the paper was removed first.)

I then put the tray into the oven on 40 degrees/gas mark 3 for 15-20mins. After they were all melted I carefully took them out of the oven and left them to cool. Once they were set I removed them from the ice cube tray.

And voila we have new, multicoloured crayons!

N.B be prepared to throw the ice cube tray in the bin after as you definitely won't want to make ice in them again!

Happy Making xxx

Like a 4 year old!

My little girl (Bean) is 4 and she is definitely walking in her mummy, and daddy's, footsteps when it comes to creating!
The other day she decided she wanted to make paper cupcakes and came up with the design all by herself. The results were really impressive (considering her age) and definitely blog worthy!

Here's the equipment Bean told me she needed to make her paper cupcakes;

Pink paper
Sellotape
Cotton wool
Pink glitter glue
A straw cut up into little bits (to use as sprinkles)
Cupcake cases

First She wrapped the cotton wool in a square of pink paper and secured it with tape.
Next she put glitter glue on top and sprinkled the bits of straw onto the wet glue.
Finally she placed them in the small cupcake cases.

Here is the result!

Last week I bought Bean a shadow box from off eBay. When it came I decided it was a little bit too plain, so instead of painting it we decided to decoupage it!

Here is how it looked before:

(I forgot to take a before photo so I had to use this one from off eBay!)

Here is how it looked after:

And with some of her little ornaments:

The other week Bean came up with the idea of a story she wanted to write called The Brush and The Broom. Along with her clever Daddy they created this very cute little video .... what do you think? An animator in the making maybe?!


I've finally finished a quilt I've been making for my friend's baby girl. My intensions were to give it to her as a gift the first time we were introduced, but it wasn't quite ready - oops! She's now 4 months old, oh how that time has flown by!
Once the quilt is safely in the nursery of my friend's gorgeous little girl then I'll post it on here for you to see the result!

So until then....

Happy Making xx

Charlie and Lola house

I'm a huge fan of Pinterest and love the concept of virtual mood boards as a way of inspiration. One of my boards is dedicated to craft ideas for my children. I was showing Bean, back in January, all the lovely ideas I had 'pinned' for her and Spud, in particular a beautiful idea of a dolls house in a small suit case. (Click here to see it in all it's fabulous glory!)
My idea had been to work on my own version of it whilst Bean was in bed and then give it to her for her Birthday. Unfortunately she had other ideas and for a month didn't stop asking me if we could make it!
I guess my mistake was showing her the idea in the first place, but I had wanted to see her reaction and see if all the effort would be appreciated!


Bean was desperate to make this project together and after seeing the Charlie and Lola stage show on New Years Eve, she had made up her mind that she wanted it to have a Charlie and Lola twist!
When she was hit with a bug that month I decided we should get to work on it to pass the time. So whilst Spud was having his naps we got all her Charlie and Lola books together for inspiration and got creating.


It's taken us a while, catching half an hour here and there, but we have finally finished. It isn't how I visualised it but it's exactly how Bean wanted it, so I'm happy!

All the rooms store in the lid of the vanity case and the dolls and clothes store inside too.

Here's what we used:
An old vanity case
Cardboard
Foam board
Fabric
Felt
Ribbon
Buttons
Stickers to decorate
Glue gun
Thread
Toy stuffing


We found a vanity case in my mum's loft which was perfect for this project!

We cut the card (x4) to size so it fitted neatly inside the lid of the vanity case and then planned out each room on the card.

We made paper stencils

We then cut out the furniture using the foam board and Bean coloured them in using felt tip pens. I used a Sharpie marker to draw the detail.

We covered the boards using fabric and a glue gun on the front and felt on the back, trapping some ribbon in between to use as a handy tab.

We then stuck the furniture onto the fabric using the glue gun again.

We decorated the front of the vanity case to look like a house using felt.

Next we made Charlie and Lola by cutting them out of pink felt and hand sewing the face detail on with black thread. (this was done by me whilst Bean was in bed!)

Stuffing them with toy stuffing

We used small pieces of yellow felt for their hair and coloured felt for their clothes and shoes. 

We made Charlie's jeans out of some scrap denim.

Bean helped me with the sewing of Lola's dress and shoes. She's actually quite good at hand-sewing!

Lola Has buttons at the back of her dress so that we can make some more clothes for her and swap them over.

I've really enjoyed doing this project with Bean and will miss having something to go to when we have some spare time. Here it is completed....

She is now asking me if I can teach her how to sew on a sewing machine! I'm a little nervous as she is only 4 but I guess we have to start somewhere!
Wish me luck, and until next time...


Happy Making!

xx

Memories

I've had a really busy few weeks being mum and making things to sell so I've not had much time to post any makes. I have also been working on a few projects that aren't quite finished yet, so I will be showing you those once they are complete.


Last week I started to clear out my mum's loft and came across lots of treasures from mine and my brothers childhood.
Whilst I was up there I found a box of badges that my brother had collected.
I thought it was a shame that they had been up there for 20+ years, unseen, so I got thinking about what I could do with them.
With my nephews birthday coming up I decided to create a canvas for him using the badges in his initial, J.


Here's the result....

Bean and I have been working on something special for the past 8 week, doing a little bit when ever we have a spare half an hour or so. 

I'm really hoping that we'll be able to complete it over the Easter holidays. Once we've finished it I'll post it on here, so until then.....

Happy Making xx

A lovely scarf necklace

Do you have any broken beads you don't know what to do with? Or a dress than needs a statement necklace? 
Then take a look at this post I did for More Than a Mum and see how easy it is to make something lovely for yourself!

Happy Making xx

Guest post; challenges of a mum

As well as being busy with craft I'm also very busy being a mum!

Here is something I wrote for More Than A Mum after being challenged one day at Bean's swimming lessons.

Maybe it will challenge you too?

xx

Decoupage: jar vase

A friend of mine recently showed me a jam jar she had decoupaged to use as a vase. I'd seen decoupage before but I had never tried it. I asked her if she would guest blog about it so that I could later have a go myself, so here it is...

About Mary:

I am a stay at home Mom living in Cheadle, Cheshire.  I mainly spend my days playing and looking after my little man but like to squeeze in a craft here and there.  I enjoy a variety of different crafts: Crochet, scrapbooking, sewing, decoupage, and many other things.  I am originally from the States, Michigan to be more specific. In my last few years there, I did a lot of sewing, making myself costumes for Renaissance Faires and such.  I'm definitely an amateur at most things but I do enjoy it! 


What you need:

Jars

Tissue paper
Small paint brush 
Mod podge, Decoupatch or some other glue with varnish in it. 


Step 1: Tear your tissue paper into pieces.  They can be uniform or completely random.

Step 2: 

Paint a bit of the glue on the jar where you want to place your first piece of tissue.  Using the brush, pick up the tissue by tapping it with the end of the brush then placing it onto the area you just glued. Paint on more glue over the top so it is sealed covered by a layer of glue and sealed onto the glass. Continue this process, overlapping the pieces of tissue until the entire jar is covered.  
Note: I did not do the bottom of the jar, but you can if you want. 
Allow to dry - it will dry pretty quickly so you can touch it but it will remain tacky for a while.  I recommend doing this project on parchment paper in case the jar sticks to it, it's easy to remove.

Step 3: 

Finish as you'd like.  I tied a ribbon around the top.  You could decorate further if you wanted.  I know with Mod Podge, you can do paper as thick as a photograph as long as you use the glue underneath and seal it up well, so the possibilities are endless! 


Thanks Mary!


Isn't this great? The possibilities for Decoupage ARE endless. You could cover photo frames or tea light holders, and in most craft shops you can buy shapes, letters or boxes specifically for this craft. I've even seen a wooden chair covered in a patchwork of different tissue paper! 


I had a go at covering a glass bottle to use as a vase, like Mary. As much as I wanted to do it by myself Bean insisted on helping me, which proves that even a 4 year old can do it! 

I used two different patterned tissue paper for mine as I thought the russian doll paper would have been too much on its own. 


I'm going to give this to my mum for Mothers day as her kitchen has recently been decorated red! 

Please Let me know if you give this a go, I love seeing your photos too. You can now find me on twitter @Makencreate so send any photos to me on there and maybe you'll make it into my gallery on my next post!

Until then,

Happy Making xx