Craft Ideas

Craft Editorial: Christmas decorations, adding the personal touch

October 1, 2014 By Merry

It may seem as though summer has only just finished, but the festive season already looms large on the horizon and if you want to make the most of the celebrations, it’s helpful to start your preparations sooner rather than later.

For example, why not use some of the spare time you have with your children in the run-up to 25th December to create some homemade Christmas decorations? OK, so it’s easy to stock up on festive items in the shops, but your own versions will have that all-important personal touch. Also, getting stuck into craft sessions with your kids could save you cash!

Paper chains

Inexpensive yet impressive, paper chains have long been a festive favourite. You can use these decorations to add colour and cheer to Christmas trees, mantelpieces, doorways and more. The best thing; they’re simple to make. All you need are some scissors, paper and either glue or staples.

To make these chains, measure and cut strips of paper so that they are even in shape and size. The dimensions you choose will depend on the look you’re going for, but as a rough guide you can aim for pieces that are one inch wide and eight inches long. To create the chains, glue or staple the ends of the first strip of paper together to form a loop. Next, feed a second strip through the loop and join the ends. Continue this process until you have reached the desired length for your chain.

Christmas Bells

Tree decorations in the style of Christmas bells can also look fabulous and all you need to create these items are paper cups, ribbons, pipe cleaners, string, silver or gold paint and glitter. Firstly, paint your cups, adding some glitter for extra sparkle. Next, poke a hole in each base and feed through a length of pipe cleaner with a small loop at the bottom. Simply fix the bell to the loop using a small piece of string.

So that the items hang from your tree, create a large loop at the other end of the length of pipe cleaner that meets just above the cup. Meanwhile, to complete the objects, tie a neat bow around the pipe cleaner at the base of this loop.

Of course, these are just two ideas for decorations. There are plenty more for you and your kids to try out.

Sources: http://www.parents.com/holiday/christmas/crafts/adorable-chime-ornament/

http://www.parents.com/holiday/christmas/crafts/handmade-gifts/

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Chain

http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Music/Paper_Cup_Bell/Paper_Cup_Bell.html

Olympic Craft Ideas

June 23, 2012 By Merry

The girls and I are starting on a month long educational Olympic experience. First up, of course, will be Hama Beads, our default for any crafty extravaganza… but here are some other sites to get you going while we start working on learning and doing and being sporty from the dining table!

There are so many opportunities for crafting and learning; countries, flags, different sports, Ancient Greece, modern world v old world, the rings and what they mean, the history of the olympics, the meaning of the torch and endless ways to explore all of them.

Here are some craft sites:-

Information on the Olympics:-

Flags of countries competing.

Sports at the Olympics.

The Ancient Greeks and the Olympics.

The modern Olympics.

About the Olympics.

Project Britain Facts.

Activity Sites:-

Enchanted Learning.

Toilet Roll Crafts: Castle Playset & People

Hello! I am so pleased to be guest posting here today for MuddlePuddle! I am Maggy, a mum of two little ones (aka Red Ted and Pip Squeak) and write over at Red Ted Art, where I love to do kids crafts regularly, as well as show casing craft tutorials for teens and adults!

Today I would like to share one of our favourite crafts with you – our castle and “loo roll men”. I have tons of crafts on Red Ted Art, that I could have shared with, you so why this one?

Weeeeellll firstly, it uses my absolutely most favourite crafty item for kids: the humble toilet paper roll! It is something we all have knocking around at home, it is free and it is versatile! There are sooo many thinks you can make with it (check out my “round up of loo roll crafts”).

Secondly (and more importantly), we simply had so much fun with these. The kids LOVED making the loo roll people (well my son did, my daughter was still too small at the time) and they loved playing with them. Over time arms were added and then removed. Hats made and lost. Moustaches painted on and men squashed in accidents. Lots of fun and lots of opportunity for story telling and developing imagination! I remember a puppet show at Grandpa’s house with these!

Thirdly, all crafting with kids is good. Doesn’t matter what it is! So long as you let them have a go and you spend some quality time together!

On to the craft.

As you can see from the photos, the activity covered 3 days (3 different t-shirts on Red Ted!) – but of course it can be done in less!

Materials: Castle – one cardboard box, 4 toilet rolls, masking tape (opposed to cello tape as you can paint masking tape), coloured card, paint, gold tape and tissue paper (for roses)

Men – one loo roll per man, googly eyes, paint, glue fabric cut offs and a pen

1) First to our castle! We cute out a “door” and a “window”. I wanted to do another “window”, but Red Ted firmly said “no”.

2) We taped 4 differently size loo/ kitchen towel rolls to the box with masking tape. I used masking tape, as you can paint on that.

3) We painted it all white. Red Ted took it VERY serious and also painted the inside of everything.

4) We rushed off to our playdate whilst it dried.

5) We painted some loo rolls pink for “lots of men”

6) When Red Ted went to bed, I stuck on 4 pink half circles as turrets. I found some gold tape (hooray) to secure them and also painted a gold “frame” around the doors.

7) The next day, I got a 6:15am wake up call for Googly eyes – the men needed “dressing” and googly-eye-ing. The dressing, consists of strips of fabric glued one – I recycled everything and these are our old clothes – clothes that were too old for the charity shop – the skirt lining made a lovely pink dress, the old sari (that I had a dress made from) made the “baby” (green), the old shirt the daddy etc etc.

8 ) We made the men and took some photos.

9) A call for more men. More pink painting. More clothes. More goggly eyes.. and then a call for noses… then I asked if we should add some glasses. Oh yes! Even “Boy” got glasses. Then they ALL needed glasses. So I suggested moustaches… then they ALL needed moustaches, so I suggested ears… you get my drift.

10) I then suggested adding roses. YAY! I drew on a bush on the “door” and “window” side of the castle with tissue paper roses to stick on. Red Ted loved the ones at the door.. but then got very grumpy at the ones by the window.. so I had to repaint that part of the castle. Note to self: ask VERY clearly what he wants before doing ANYTHING!

11) Red Ted went to bed with his “men”! Happy.

Top Row: mum (with earrings), baby, daddy (with moustache)

Middle: Family, uncle 1, boy & penguin

Bottom: the crazy family members, with beard, moustache and crazy eyes

My favourite:

I suspect we will spend the rest of the week adding hair (wool and cotton wool) and different hats! YAY! (oh and I have added the “original” Boy & Penguin that started all this off!

I do hope our humble loo roll men and their castle have inspired you to get crafty! Have you got a favourite book that you could bring to life with loo roll creations?

Don’t forget to come and visit Red Ted Art for more Cardboard Tube fun! You will be amazed what you can make!

Thanks for having me!

Maggy

Spring Crafting with Children

March 2, 2012 By Merry

If ever there was a good time to try and breathe life back into MuddlePuddle again, it’s the birth of a new baby, something which means we have (we hope) 8 more years of early years crafty, home educating fun to enjoy.

If you’ve been a long time user of the sadly neglected MuddlePuddle, you will know that we lost our baby son Freddie in 2010 when he was 11 days old. We’ll never forget him or stop missing him, but we are thrilled to have Baby Benedict in the house who arrived in January 2012. This year I’m really looking forward to enjoying Spring again and watching a little life grow up.

To celebrate I’m putting together a collection of Spring crafting ideas from our own home and the archives of our family blog, using craft kits from our businesses and collecting together ideas from round the web. Since MuddlePuddle was first created, more than 10 years ago, a huge number of craft bloggers have sprung up and the internet is an absolute wealth of ideas.

We’ve been making Mother’s Day cards using Fimo and scrapbooking embellishments; I love Fimo, it’s my favourite crafting clay and it is ideal for making card toppers. These days kids are so savvy they can probably order personalised cards online by themselves but there is nothing quite like a bit of sticking and pasting to add a bit of love to proceedings.

Spring is probably one of the best times for crafty topics to explore with young children. Valentines Day is great, a perfect opportunity for Hama Beads and giving well meant presents to all and sundry.

We’ve already had fun this year with St Patrick’s Day (new baby brain meant I got a bit confused about dates!) and made Fimo fridge magnets and a very cool hat. I think I need to work harder on educating Amelie, our 9 year old though, who said “What’s that story about St Patrick and the Leprechauns again?” 😆

This year I’m hoping we’ll get our crafting beyond Fimo and Hama beads and explore Easter crafts, St George’s Day and some plant and outdoor themes in more detail. New baby will, of course, dictate how much I actually manage to be inventive about it all. However, if all else fails and my ability to send gifts and pretties out to send seasons greetings fails entirely, I know I can always fall back on Hallmark Greetings Cards instead. (Just don’t tell the children or they’ve never stick and paste for me again!)

Spring Craft Ideas

In an effort to start creating new content for this website, I thought I would collect together some crafting ideas for each season and start with Spring. Plenty of them will be coming from our blog over at Patch of Puddles and I plan to comb the net for other good ideas too.

I regularly collect ideas together on Pinterest too, which works brilliantly as an inspiration pinboard.

Spring

Busy Bee Crafts

Egg Box Craft at Child Minding Adventures

Activity Village

Cotton Wool Lambs at Red Ted Art

Spring Blossom Tree at Red Ted Art

Valentines Day