Eggstreme Sports

Once again it is time for the school Easter Egg competition. I think my daughter has done rather well this year. This is all her own work, and the only part I have had is providing stuff, as well as my husband doing a dash into town to look for quail's eggs, as the normal eggs wouldn't fit in the canoe.

Still no knitting you will notice. There is some on the way. 
 

Corky the Giraffe

My daughter has a bit of a craze on giraffes. Hence the giraffe onesie and numerous other giraffe stuff. So I thought you might like to see this giraffe that she has made. 

The giraffe is made from corks (can't think how those got into the house!), a drawing pin, glue and a marker pen. You also need a craft knife to cut the cork, and wire cutters to cut the wire. So this giraffe although very simple to make would need an adult to supervise.

As she is old enough to do these things herself, and I had no hand in the giraffe-making, I am going to hand over to her to explain how to make a Corky Giraffe.

Step 1. First, I went and used a knife in the kitchen to cut a cork into pieces for the feet, head, horns and ears (you should ask someone to help you or you may get into trouble). Also keep one whole cork for the body.

Step 2. Then I got some thick black wire and cut four bits the same length and one longer one.

Step 3. Using pointed pliers, I made holes and put the wire in them to make my basic giraffe. To make sure the wire stayed in place I put some glue on it.

Step 4. To make the face I put a drawing pin in him to be a nose - I let it not go the whole way in so it sticks out a bit. And stuck the horns and ears on.

Step 5. Then I used a sharpie to draw on the eyes and a tiny mouth.

Step 6. I let him dry for a few hours and then he was done!
 

Skater Girl Skirt

Cutting out the paper pattern.

School holidays are the time when you need a few indoor projects. So my daughter and I decided that it would be a good idea to make a skirt. Since she has not done it before, we thought we would have a go at following a pattern. We were also a bit inspired by the return of The Great British Sewing Bee.

This was the pattern we used.

She picked a light weight cotton, which I thought would be easy to sew, and would gather easily. She hasn't done gathers before, so I thought it would be good to learn a new technique. The skirt is gathered at the front, and has elastic inserted in the waistband at the back.
 

Not quite sure what was up with the beret. I think she was getting in a 
French fashion sort of mood.

A little bit of hand stitching to close up the channel for the elastic.

And here is the skater girl in action

Great Eggsplorers

School holds an Easter Egg decorating competition. So I thought I would show you my daughter's entry - "Captain PegLeg Egg and the Great Eggsplorer". (Just noticed her spelling mistake! Spelling not her strong point.)

Three years ago, when my son was at the same year in school, this was his entry. I was sure I had this on my blog very early on, but can't find it now. Funny how both their creations were "eggslorers".
 

Loom Bands

Loom bands are the craze that have swept the country. I don't know if they have gone global, but they are certainly are big in the UK. My husband came home from work one day, saying that all his colleagues were wearing a band made by a small relative.
 

But did you know that you can also make small creatures? The tutorials for these are very easy to find on Youtube. My daughter made herself the panda, and the duck for me. I think they are really cute, although they do take quite a lot of bands. I got my little duck on condition I would go shopping for some more bands. 

I would love to hear about any interesting loom band creations you have come across.

 

Troll Makeover

On our recent holiday we found this sad little creature washed up on the beach.  How long had she been in the sea? What adventures had she been through? Little One decided to adopt her, but she definitely needed a bit of a makeover.

It is amazing what can be done with a bit of pink fluff, some glue and an indeliable pen.  And a bit of pink wool for her new outfit. Her name is Dune.

Now she is ready to meet the other little trolls, and be part of the gang.  But she will always retain the marks of her adventures. (Can you see her smooth hands, feet and ears?)

And the bigger trolls. (Some of these trolls are nearly as old as me, which is why they are so wise.)  I just love trolls.

Little House on the Prairie

Little One and I were watching a new programme on kid's television last week called "Totally Rubbish". Right up our street. All sorts of crafting, and upcycling. A paper artist called Su Blackwell was featured, making a little scene out of old phonebooks. Some of her work, much of which is inspired by fairytales, is really amazing. I have possibly misnamed this post, as I should have called in Little House in the Big Wood.

So when a new yellow pages popped through our door, Little One thought she would have a go this afternoon, at making something with the old one. I was summoned with my knitting needles to help make some of the little tubes. (I got a bit grumpy about the risk of glue on knitting.) I have been working on a new knitting pattern all week, but it is still not ready to go. Can you see the complete concentration on her face?

So while she was constructing I thought I would have a little go at making a paper daffodil. I have left it in with the others in the vase, and will see if any of my family notice.

We have not really done much paper craft, but it was really fun. Very cheap afternoon's entertainment too.

Kid's Craft - Dragonflies - Learning to Twist and Wind

This is often the first project I do with my craft club.  It seems very simple, but to make a dragonfly, requires quite a lot of skills: careful cutting, threading, twisting, winding, measuring, tying knots. I found it a really good way to assess the skills of the children.  (My knitted dragonfly pattern came out of this project.) I also like this project, because everyone has something to take home at the end. That is really important when you are little.

So first of all this is what you need:

Some beads that will thread on to a pipecleaner

Dragonfly wings printed on acetate or paper

Scissors and elastic thread (optional

Pipe cleaners

Selection of wool

The first job is to cut out your dragonfly's wings. This needs to be done really carefully. Cut between the upper and lower wings, but it really important to not cut through the central section that holds the 4 wings together. Print a few extra wings, just in case you need them.

Next take a pipe cleaner and fold it in half.

Thread two beads onto the pipe cleaner, and push these down to the fold. These are your dragonfly's eyes. We picked beads that were the same, but I guess you don't have to. My daughter later decided to draw on her beads with a permanent felt tip, but that was just her own idea.

Then twist the pipe cleaners round a few times to hold the eyes in place. This step may seem very simple to a grown-up, but you may need to show a child exactly how to hold the head firmly in one hand and twist with the other.















Now you have made the head.

Next slip the wings between each side of the pipe cleaners. Make sure you have them the right way round.

Start twisting the two halves of the pipe cleaner again as firmly as you can, to make the rest of the body.

Now you have your basic dragonfly, but he looks a bit thin. The next stage I call chubbying him out.  Cut off a length of wool, and tie one end to your dragonfly. Now you need to do the winding. Winding around the wings can be a bit tricky. The great thing is nothing at this stage is wrong. Dragonflies come in a huge variety of colours. It does not matter if he ends up fat or thin. You might want to thread some extra beads onto your dragonfly's body.

One way to join in another colour is to knot your wool together.

If you are clever you can wind two pieces of wool at the same time.

You may need to help a child with fastening off the wool, as this is a bit tricky.

With little children you may also need to help them fix the elastic to their dragonfly. I have a really big blunt needle, which some children could manage. Try to find the balance point, which will vary a bit depending on the beads you have used, and the wool. If you haven't got elastic you can use piece of wool to hang up your dragonflies.

What is lovely is that no two dragonflies will look the same.

Try and get you little crafters to help tidy up. Not always easy, but another important skill to learn.

We decided to tie our dragonflies around the garden umbrella, and my cat was definitely interested in them.

To download the dragonfly wings right click on the image below. I tried to put in a button that you just click and it downloads but in my usual technaphobe way, I had a bit of trouble with this. If anyone knows an easy way to do this I would love to know. The other place you can get the wings is on my dragonfly knitting pattern on ravelry.

The wings should be an A4 sheet and approx 14cm wide. If you decide to print them on acetate be very careful to check you have the right type for your printer or photocopier. Printing them onto paper or thin card can work well too.

Happy crafting!