Tuesday, 19 May 2015 by Irene Hoofs
DIY Felt Ice Cream Cones by Laura Murray
When I was a kid, one of my most favourite toys was play-food. I used to love playing kitchens and restaurants and had a pretty extensive collection of plastic food. I had plastic donuts, pizzas and even bacon slices but none were as cute at these quick and easy felt ice cream cones! These little beauties are so easy to make - all you need is felt, pom-poms and glue. And kids will love deciding the different 'flavours' and decorating with button and bead sprinkles!
What you'll need:
* Cone coloured felt (beige or light brown)
* Large coloured pom poms
* Scissors
* Glue (a hot glue gun works really well and speeds up the process! Otherwise, craft glue or PVA would work well)
* Cute buttons, beads and sequins to decorate
Step1: Start by cutting a circle from your felt. The size of the circle depends on the size of your pom-poms, but a 10cm diameter circle should do the trick. Now cut the circle in half and roll it on itself, making a cone shape. Then secure by sticking the exposed edge to the cone with a line of glue.
Step2: Next, simply run some glue along the inside of the cone and pop the pom-pom inside. Now you're free to decorate with buttons, beads and maybe a little cherry on top!
Craft contributed by: Laura Murray
Tuesday, 5 May 2015 by Irene Hoofs
DIY Mother's Day Felt Tulips by Laura Murray
This mother's day, instead of giving flowers why not make these felt tulips? They're quick and easy to make and are oh-so cute! Plus, they'll definitely last longer than regular flowers!
What you'll need:
* Felt
* Glue
* Scissors
* Bamboo skewers
* White paint + paintbrush
Step1: Start by folding a piece of felt in half and then cutting a scallop-shape.
Step2: Then begin to roll the felt, starting from the folded edge. Make one full roll then secure the edge with some glue.
Step3: Open up the scallop-shape and fold it back on itself and secure the two sides together.
Step4: Now simply roll the rest of the felt around, making sure to keep the roll tight at the bottom and looser at the top. Secure with some glue.
Step5: Cut your skewers to the length you want the stalks to be and paint them white. Once the skewers are dry, glue the tulips to the tops. You can also cut a few leaves from white felt and stick those on as well! - Laura Murray
Happy Mother's Day to all the beautiful moms! We hope you have a great day with family and friends and thank you Laura for this sweet craft.
Craft contributed by: Laura Murray
Tuesday, 24 March 2015 by Irene Hoofs
DIY Easter egg bunny eggs by Laura Murray
Easter is almost upon us, which means another chance for some holiday-specific craft fun! Hooray! And these Easter Egg Bunny Hugs are the perfect place to start. With just a little snipping and gluing, these adorable felt bunnies will add a little extra love to any regular Easter egg! They're perfect as gift-wrapping for Easter treats and are super simple to make!
What you'll need:
* Coloured felt
* Craft glue
* Scissors
* Download Easter Egg Bunny Hug Template!
* Small - medium (approx 17 gram) chocolate eggs.
Step1:
First, download, print out and cut out this template. Then trace around it onto a piece of felt and cut out your bunny shape.
Step2:
Now it's time to get a little creative. I cut out eyes, a noise and little rosie cheeks from felt but you could experiment with different shapes or maybe even some embroidery or googly eyes. Glue on the features and while your at it, add a little glue to the end of one arm and stick the other to it to create the 'hug'! Then fold the legs up to the inside of this 'hug' and secure with a little glue.
Then simply pop an egg inside the bunny's arms. Too cute, right? - Laura Murray
Craft contributed by: Laura Murray
Tuesday, 24 February 2015 by Irene Hoofs
DIY Split-pin Robot puppets by Laura Murray
Paper craft is a great activity for kids; it's develops fine motor skills and has minimal materials and clean-up. Kid's will enjoy cutting out and creating this adorable split-pin robot. And when they're done, they'll have hours of entertainment making puppet shows and poses with this fully-jointed little character! - Laura
What you will need:
* Corrugated cardboard in multiple colours
* Split pins in fun colours
* Scissors
* Masking tape
* Large circle punch (optional)
Step 1: First, cut a large rectangle for the body (mine was around 15cm x 10cm) from corrugated cardboard. Then cut some smaller rectangles in contrasting colours to layer on top. Attach these rectangles using split pins to give the impression of panels of buttons. It can help to first poke a hole in the cardboard with the point of your scissors or a large needle (kid's will need supervision for this!) to make inserting the split-pins easier.
Step 2: Next, cut a piece of card for the head (my was approx 8cm x 6cm) and punch (or simply cut) two large circles for eyes and attach with split pins. Now cut a piece 6.5cm long and around 4cm wide and attach with masking tape to the bottom of the head and top of the body. Now your robot has a neck!
Step 3: For the arms and legs, cut 4 strips around 17cm long and 4cm wide. Cut each strip in half and then rejoin with a split pin to make elbow and knee joints. Then attach to the body. Add extra rectangles on the bottom of the legs to make feet.
And there you go! - Laura
Thank you for the cool craft Laura!
- Laura
Saturday, 31 January 2015 by Irene Hoofs
DIY Watercolour hearts garland by Laura Murray
Valentine's Day is almost upon us so why not bring a little love into your world with this watercolour heart garland! This simple paper-craft project involves some fun watercolour washes and is great for kids of all ages!
What you'll need:
* Watercolour paper (I used A3 but you could definitely use a few A4 sheets)
* Watercolour paints, a large brush and water
* Scissors
* Glue (I used white craft glue but a blue stick would also work fine)
* Baker's twine
Step1:
Begin by using your watercolour paints to create a colourful wash on your paper. Make sure to load your brush up with plenty of clean water so as not to muddy the colours. If you don't have watercolour paints, you could use poster paint or acrylic mixed with a little water. Allow the paper to dry.
Step2:
Once the paper is fully dry, take a ruler and divide the paper into vertical columns (I chose to space my 5cm apart but if you'd like larger hearts just make the columns larger). Then cut along every second line and, once the piece is cut, fold in half along the remaining pencil line.
Step3:
Now take your folded pieces and, using a ruler once again, divide them into 5cm columns and cut along the lines to make squares. Now take a square and flip it so the painted sides are facing in. Draw two lines - one down the vertical middle and one horizontal 1.5cm away from the top fold. Cut from the bottom of the vertical line up to the horizontal line on both sides to create the bottom of the heart. Then cut from the diagonally from horizontal line to the top fold, stopping about 0.5cm away from the edge on both sides. Now you've made the top of the heart! Add a little v-shaped cut in the centre of the top fold and then flip the heart back so the colours are facing out. You can either continue drawing out the guidelines on each heart of just use this first heart as a template.
Step4:
Once you've cut all your hearts, take your baker's twine and place it along the inner fold of the heart. Then dab a little glue on the point and press both sides together. Make sure to only place the glue on the point so the hearts can be easily shuffled along the twine. Repeat for all the hearts until your garland is complete! - Laura Murray
Craft contributed by: Laura Murray (Congratulations on your new website Paper & Pin! Hop on over for her beautiful images and craft projects)
Tuesday, 14 October 2014 by Irene Hoofs
DIY Felt Tablet Picture Board by Laura Murray
Smart phone and tablets are all the rage these days, especially with kids. So why not have your little ones make their very own felt tablet picture board which they can use to create countless patterns, pictures and stories simly by layering fun felt shapes! It'll get them away from the screens and using their imaginations, plus it's great use for any felt scraps you may have lying around!
What you'll need:
* 1 black piece of felt - A4 size
* 1 white piece of felt - A4 size
* 1 coloured piece of felt - A4 size (for the backing)
* Various different coloured scraps or small pieces of felt
* Scissors
* A4 card stock
* White craft glue
* (optional) Embroidery thread & needle
Step1:
Start by cutting a piece of black felt in half and rounding off it's corners. Then take half of a white piece and cut it to size for the 'screen'.
Step2:
Cut some bright coloured felt square buttons for below the screen.
Step3:
You can either use craft glue to attach the felt pieces to the black base or, if feeling a little adventurous, stitch a simple line of running stitch in similar coloured thread.
Step4:
Cover the back of the black piece with craft glue, stick it to the piece of card stock and cut off the excess. Then glue the back of the card stock to your piece of coloured stock and trim off the excess.
Step5:
Now it's time to cut some fun shapes from the colourful felt scraps! Abstract shapes are great for building patterns while simple trees, flowers, clouds and people can inspire pictures and unique stories.
Craft contributed by: Laura Murray (our new craft contributor! Go have a look at her beautiful website! So many more craft projects over there..)
