Modelling with Salt Dough

Kat created these pieces from salt dough back in February half term then painted them with acrylics over the Easter break. You have got to love a bit of salt dough haven't you!?!

Kat's Melted Crayon Experiments

Kat's second request of the evening on Saturday was to do some melted crayon art. So, out came the crayons, the pencil sharpener and the baking parchment along with the iron and ironing board. She arranged the shaved wax on card before placing it between sheets of parchment paper and ironing over the top. We used the iron on its coolest setting and used lots of baking paper because the wax is pretty greasy and has a tendency to melt off the card so we needed to protect the ironing board. Although it does not always produce the most beautiful creations it is definitely an incredibly satisfying process.

Nutella Marbled Loaf

Kat was still in school while we were enjoying our half term last week so she had her one and only sleepover with us on Saturday night. Once Jessica was asleep Kat's crafting demands came thick and fast and it all began with a request to make cake. Big fans of Nutella that we are, we opted for a recipe for a marbled loaf cake from GoodtoKnow. It was very straightforward and the resulting cake was delicious. I think you can probably tell from the photo that Kat wasn't brilliant at splitting the cake mixture in half so we ended up with rather more chocolate than plain cake but no-one's complaining!

Drawings to Decorations

When I was in Wales in September I asked Kat to do some little sketches for me so that I could make some sample Christmas gifts as I am hoping to offer these personalised decorations for sale this year. After going straight to YouTube to get some inspiration she provided me with this little Santa Claus drawing which I have made into a decoration for her Mum's tree this year. I'm really pleased with it but I particularly love turning young childrens' drawings into keepsakes, which is what I'm hoping to focus on doing this Christmas. Once I've got my samples and wooden blanks ready to go I plan to set up a facebook page and will post details on here. Keep your eyes peeled!

Kat's Top for Jess

Almost the minute that Jessica and I arrived in Wales, Katryn wanted to get sewing. She's so ambitious and incredibly confident but she also likes to have me around just in case anything goes wrong. On this occasion she was determined to make a top for Jessica and she decided to make it from some off-cuts of a dress that I'd altered for her. The fabric is stretchy and difficult to handle but she coped well. Aside from the finished article being a little bit long and rather snug I think she did a lovely job. 

Painted stones

Acrylic paints are brilliant. We love them. Fast drying (which avoids everything turning brown) and hard-wearing it is the perfect choice for this project. Dad buys packs of 20 12ml tubes from The Works for just £5 for the kids so it doesn't break the bank either. 

Over Whitsun last year, Dad bought a couple of brooms and buddlejas for his front garden. Planting them produced an array of stones in the rubble that I dug up so once the hard work was over, Katryn, Archie, Jessica and I set about painting what we had unearthed. If you look closely you can see that they were generally painting creatures: bees, ladybirds, ants, spiders, butterflies, a millipede and a toad are about all I can identify from this picture! Here they are in Dad's pebble border...

Back at home we've also decorated quite a few stones and shells. Jess loves it when I do painting with her as opposed to watching her do it by herself so we usually bring a stash in from the garden and she tells me which ones I'm allowed to decorate. I find it really therapeutic and Jess likes playing with them out in the garden. 

During one of the few hard frosts this winter I ventured out early and spotted these beautiful ice crystal formations on all of our stones and shells. I couldn't resist snapping a picture and sharing them...

St David's Day Holiday Homework

Half term holiday homework for Katryn and Archie was to create something inspired by Wales. I believe it's a St David's Day competition. Two of the seven wonders of Wales are Llangollen bridge and Pistyll Rhaeadr, a stunning waterfall. Both these wonders are very close to my childhood home and were the inspiration behind the crafts that Katryn and Archie created.

Katryn used painted lasagne and button mosaics to create a fabulous image of Llangollen bridge...

Archie made a collage to represent Pistyll Rhaeadr with a lovely Welsh dragon floating in the middle of the waterfall...

 

Katryn's Cushions

During Katryn's summer visit last year she convinced me (it didn't take much) to teach her how to use a sewing machine. I will admit that I only taught her as much as she needed to know and I wasn't massively thorough in my tutorials but she left feeling confident enough to take my first sewing machine back home with her. 

She jumped straight in and made this beautiful striped bolster cushion as her first project...

... and this was her second...

She did really well, picked up the basics quickly and was determined to do it as independently as possible. I was very proud of her. She got a great deal of satisfaction from making something from scratch and Archie is now desperate to learn how to use it too! He was a lovely little helper when I was making Dad some new curtains recently.

Pompom Skirt Mark 2

Having seen the pompom skirt that I made for Jessica, Katryn requested that I make one for her too. This gave me the opportunity to hone the design and incorporate a different waistband. I found it so difficult to stretch the elastic through the sewing machine so I opted for threading it through a folded and stitched casing at the waist. It gave a much cleaner finish and has made me determined to make more skirts in the spring. Even with the two layers of fabric and pompoms it only took me about an hour from start to finish.

I just wish my model would let me take a normal photograph of her. These were the most sensible shots I managed and it only got worse when Archie and Jessica got involved too!

    

Katryn paints Peppa

Sometime in the past couple of months I picked up a “paint your own” Peppa pig moneybox from WHSmiths for the bargain price of £2.49. Katryn finally got around to painting it this morning. I have to say, it was an unusually good kit and I would definitely recommend it although possibly not for the 3 year olds that it’s “suitable” for. There were quite a few fiddly bits that Kat wanted help with and she’s pretty good with her hands. She did the vast majority herself though…

    

 

Oops Snooze, I seem to have painted some of Peppa’s head red…

Here’s the final product…

         

Kids Craft Kits from Wilkinsons

During my half term and Katryn’s recovery from a nasty bacterial infection, she had fun with these craft kits from Wilkinsons. It’s all too common to find that kits for kids are too fiddly or have instructions that make no sense. I often use similar things with the Brownies but these ones are noteworthy because they worked perfectly and were very easy to follow. As an added bonus, they are very inexpensive. Who could quibble at a pound for two puppets or two keyrings? I think the lion puppet looks more like a teddy bear with funny hair, but, really, who cares. We had fun!

    

Quiet Crafting Time in Liverpool

Katryn and I headed to my Auntie and Uncle’s house in Liverpool this week to escape the madness and get some quality crafting time together!

So that Katryn would feel “less embarrassed” sleeping in a boys room we first made a butterfly mobile to hang up. It was a kit we bought from Sainsburys which had really good instructions and was pretty easy to make although gluing all the pieces together for the twelve butterflies was a little tedious.

The following day we were busy creating pretty things from felt and buttons. We made quite a few brooches, a hairclip and a flower chain for Auntie Liz that we left on her fridge. I did the stitching but Katryn did everything else…

 

 

 

Finally,I want to share a picture that Katryn did for Mum a few weeks ago. She had been studying bees at school and I just love her attention to detail. Look at the hexagons (there are a few that actually have six sides!) in the bees nest and the protective mask on the bee-keeper. Her phonetic spelling of honey did make me chuckle I have to admit.

Face Painting at the Ceiriog Valley Carnival

It was the Ceiriog Valley Carnival last Saturday and, for a change, I made it there. It was a freezing cold day (not to mention the rain) but Katryn and I enjoyed the couple of hours we spent there. Katryn opted to have her face painted as a spotty dog although I’m fairly sure that the decision was made more to prove me wrong than anything. I was sure that she’d choose the beautiful butterfly.

Here it is in all of it’s glory…

 

I do find the tongue a little creepy I have to say!

Jubilee fever & clay mermaids

It was a jubilee special in the Cbeebies Art magazine this edition so Katryn and I have been busy this half term. Actually, I’ve avoided doing too much and have let her get on with it.

She made four of these royal portraits out of various stickers and foam pads…

The jubilee bunting required a lot of cutting and sticking and the odd bit of colouring…

I also finally let her break into one of her Christmas presents from me. She made and painted six plaster mermaids and attached magnets to the back of them. She did really well painting them because the brush was quite thick and the mermaids were quite intricate. We do love a bit of arts and crafts!

Half-term crafting

I’ve not had much time for crafting this week but here are a couple of things that I have managed to squeeze in…

1. Crocheting

Last Saturday I tested the patience of my dear friend Lib to breaking point as she taught me how to crochet after my dismal attempts the weekend before. We made a small granny square using a few different stitches and a cute little flower – somehow I managed to gain an extra couple of petals on mine, who’d have thought counting was supposed to be my area of expertise?! I’d had a few glasses of wine during this process and was a little concerned that I may not retain these new found skills so I took my hook and wool on a hospital visit on Monday where I made Nan-nan a perfectly proportioned flower with the required six petals and started to make a blanket. During the course of the week the blanket has grown a little and Katryn set me the challenge of making a butterfly, which I did as a flower with four petals. Here is the blanket at the moment:

It’s only about 25cm square at the moment but I’ll get there.

2. Marbled Neapolitan Cake

This one speaks for itself!

Penblwydd Hapus i Katryn

 

Yn y bore, bydd Katryn yn chwech a hoffwn ddymuno iddi penblwydd hapus iawn. Dwi’n drist iawn na allaf fod gyda hi eleni ond rwy’n siwr ei bod yn mynd i gael diwrnod gwych a byddaf yn gweld hi wyr yn fuan.

Llawer a llawer o gariad, Katryn. xxxx

Crafting with Katryn

I’ve had a lovely half term holiday with Katryn. She was very good at humouring me and trying out lots of crafts that were quite new to her, and one that was new to me too.

	On our first morning, Katryn found my beads and decided that she’d like to make some ear-rings for her Mum. Sarah was surprised that they were actually quite pretty!
Next job was a touch of marbling. We played around with this a couple of times and decided that it definitely looks best if you only use a couple of different inks at a time.
	We spent the day in Hyde Park and took a quick trip to John Lewis on Oxford Street where Katryn bought a princess Hama bead kit. That evening she spent ages putting the beads on the pegboard only to pull the whole lot on top of herself and have to start again! More care required!!
On Monday we made this sock bunny that came in kit form from John Lewis. It’s from a company called Sock Creatures. Having had a quick look at their website I like all of the other creatures better but nevermind! We made this for Great Nan who was 87 that day. The kit came with an insane amount of stuffing so I’m looking forward to making my own toys in the future. Katryn was a great help cutting things out and helping me with the sewing machine.
	On the topic of Nan’s birthday we decorated her a cake and as you can see, we found time to do a little face painting too…
It was John’s 30th birthday this week. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be there to help him celebrate but Katryn and I made him this card and sent it to John via David.
	Back in Wales we organised a party to cheer Mum up. We made a gorgeous banner, tissue paper balloons, party hats, paper flowers, a board game and a pass the parcel. It was great fun!!