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!)
