A super easy felt craft (heart created by hand)

Though I love crafty things, I'm afraid my skills in the 'crafty' department are somewhat, mmmmm, none existent simple.

That said, I was a little bit smug pleased about how this turned out. It's not going to fill you with awe but, if like me, you're not the most talented craftster (and yes, I did just make up that word) on the block, it may offer a little inspiration:

A Lovely Little Heart

You need:

• felt (about 50p a sheet from Hobbycraft)
• thread
• buttons (I got a giant bag for 99p from Hobbycraft)
• ribbon
• stuffing (pulled from one of Ben's old soft toys)
• fabric glue (again, Hobbycraft, £2.99)

1. Cut the your desired shape. To make two either fold fabric in half and cut at the same time of use the first shape as a template. You may want to pencil sketch onto the felt first.

2. Using fabric glue, stick buttons on (this holds design in place while you stitch). Once glue has dried (about 20 mins), stitch buttons on with thread. NB- it can be tough pushing needle through glued area so you may want to use one of those little rubber thumb protectors. 

3. Glue the two shapes together and leave about 20mins. Leave a gap to add the stuffing.

4.Stitch round the edge, don't worry if it's not perfect- the glue should hold the stuffing in and it all adds to the charm (at least that's what I told myself).

5. Stuff it- poor Spongebob!

6. Tuck a little piece of ribbon in the top, glue the gap where you inserted it and, when dried, stitch over that. 

Done! It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish but I found the whole experience really relaxing.I've since had a go at making bits on my friend's sewing machine and, I'm not going to lie, it's far easier and the results much more professional! I'll share those soon...

Take care and hope you're all having a lovely weekend.xxx

Inspired by you guys... bath time toys

Ben loves his bath time but as he's getting older, there are less and less bath toys available aimed at his age range. I have bought a few things in the past such as this shoot the duck (fell apart on second use), these bath crayons (a nightmare to wash off) and this football game (ditto the duck game). Normally, we've had little success and so Ben tends to play with plastic figures/ bottles etc.

Then I saw this inspiring blog post. What a fab idea and great for any age!

We went to Hobbycraft to get some crafty bits for various projects but the only foam we could find was quite thin and smooth textured. Unsure it would work, we opted to buy one sheet of grey (40p) as a trial and, if successful, we would buy the £4.99 bumper pack (the bright colour version) with 50 sheets of foam.

I have to say, this is super easy, super cheap and really satisfying to do.

You need:

• Foam 
• Scissors
• A pencil
• Ten spare minutes

Draw your desired shape in pencil (if you're super confident you could even skip this stage). I got Steve to draw mine as I'm not blessed in the drawing department, if you're like me, you could always print your desired silhouette from Google images etc and draw around that.

Cut it out

Wet and apply to tiles!

How easy is that? Now we know this smoother/ thinner foam works too, we're going to be cutting monster body parts, shapes etc (as shown in the previous linked blog)for Ben to wrap up for Christmas. As he's a bit older, we'll also give him some uncut sheets to make his own designs (though I think he'll have to do those outside the bath).

Happy crafting everybody!xxx

Sweet Valentine

I have been so excited to post about this: the fruits of our Valentine craft night and also some Valentine cards I've made. I'll start with the craft night:


Firstly we all had a go at making these:

{Heart shaped crayons}

They were so easy, full instruction here. Simply snap up old crayons into pieces around 1cm (depending on colour effect you'd like); we didn't have enough old crayons but you can get new boxes of cheap crayons from around £1 at cheap shops. Experience taught us that it was best to only layer the crayons around 2-3cm deep in the case. For casing, we used plastic type of cupcake cases:

We heated the oven, popped them on a baking tray and heated them until they were melted. Top tips? When they are 80% melted and the kitchen starts smelling of melting crayons, that's when to take them out. Also, use a baking tray with a side so when you remove them from the oven you can pour some cold water in the bottom to set them quickly. That's it, job done! 

{Can you tell we were pleased with the outcome?}

Next, we all got on with our own projects. As I said earlier, I'd bought these things:

To make this. Now, mine are certainly not as neat, but for somebody who doesn't usually stitch and with no template, I thought the outcome was pretty cute:

{To make both of these took about 40 minutes in total and less than £6 for materials}

Laura made this beautiful garland in about 20 minutes using felt- amazing! She used plain white felt, heart felt coasters purchased from Asda (Wallmart in the US) and some red ribbon.

Now, to the cards. For Ben I made this:

{Outside}

{Inside}

Super easy to make:

1. Use blank cream card (I used bought cards but you could just use normal card and fold).
2. Stick down two foam hearts at an angle (I bought mine from a craft shop but you could just cut two out of red card).
3. Stick a playing card on top (told you this was easy)!
3.Using clear nail varnish, cover two of the hearts and dust with red glitter.

For Steve:

Super easy to make:

1.I traced this sketch of a fox as I'm truly awful at drawing!

2.Stick sketch onto coloured paper

3.Use glitter to highlight (stuck on using clear nail varnish)

The insides:

1.I used a stamper set from the ELC fro the writing, then small envelopes I had from a card making set. 

2.I put Love Hearts in here with messages for my boys.

Only question now, what do I do with the leftovers?

Hope you are all looking forwards to Valentines Day. I'm off to go and have a game of Lego with Ben- happy Saturday folks!x

That FELT Great

So, my talented friend made this necklace:

It's on a silver chain with all black and then one grey felt flower (the photo was awful due to black on black). I'm going to commission her to make one for me but at the moment I can't decide on a colour. I was thinking all grey with either one electric blue flower or with one a sage green flower. Thoughts please?


On a totally random level, I thought I'd share this with you:

Totally forgot Ben had these from a joke box and got such a shock when I went to tuck him in a couple of nights ago and he had them in. I'm not going to lie, this photo totally freaks me out: the fringe and teeth combo is just too much! Certainly a photo to be saved for his 21st birthday. x

You gotta have heART

Art. You gotta love it. But, hand in hand with art comes something that gives me cold shivers: creativity. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by so many creative people: my father sculpts, my mother bakes, Steve draws (even Ben draws), one of my best friends is a master florist, many of our friends are professional photographers, art teachers... got the picture yet? They are uber CREATIVE. I, am not.


It's not something that sits easily with me. I have dabbled in all sorts but never found anything that I really enjoyed. I always found this frustrating, especially seeing the satisfaction those around me get from their creative passions.  My job does have creative aspects, but I wanted something that would offer escapism from the daily grind. 


 Luckily for me, I found it this year:

Stained glass always fascinated me and drew me in, but it didn't occur to me it was something I could do. I was unsure how you would go about learning and whether I had the 'creativity' to do it. But, determined to find a creative outlet, I persevered. 


The above is my first attempt at fusing glass. Luckily, I found a local artist who also offered tuition at a really reasonable price. I did enjoy the fusing of the glass and it was certainly easy in fact, the hardest part was thinking of the design. There are changes I would make if doing it again: the harsh, abstract nature of the branches doesn't sit well with the gentle, mellow green of the leaves. If I was repeating it, I would keep the trunk short and stop it where it meets the greenery of the tree. I did love the glass powder which creates the lovely affect of the setting sun. I wanted to try both fused glass and stained to see which I enjoyed the most; there was no competition. This truly fed my soul:

My first attempt at stained glass. I loved it. The end product may be simple but it was the whole process that was wonderful. I'm one of those rubbish people who can't clear my mind during yoga or massage, this though, required you to be absorbed in every moment and I found this truly relaxing. So now it hangs proudly in my kitchen over the window. Can't wait to get started on my next design, after all, I am a creative person.