family craft ideas (guest post)

I have a great guest poster for you today! Eva’s going to share some fab ideas to make family crafts that you’ll love to display:

Craft and Decor Ideas for All Ages

Do you find that your creativity is being stifled? Are you too busy looking after the family and working at your day job to find time for your favorite crafts and activities? There is a solution – steal a weekend! Ban electronic goodies for a day while the family all works on various craft and décor projects! Do not worry if the family thinks that they are not very skilled or talented – there are plenty of quick and easy projects that are suitable for all.

Seasonal wreaths for year round greenery and fun

Wreaths add a touch of warmth to a blank door or wall and are often thought of as being only for Christmas but this is not so. Change your wreaths with the season to enjoy a sense of freshness – sadly, good weather does not last forever, but you can make it last another week or two by delaying the change to the autumn wreath!

Spring wreaths can feature soft pinks and blues with soft bright green ferns and vines, while summer ones can make the most of your flourishing flower bed with vibrant yellows and red with luxuriant shiny green leaves.

Autumn gives scope to use brilliant flame notes with wonderful warm earth shades to create a lively piece.

Winter would be trickier were it not for the opportunity to get festive with lavish amounts of silver glitter to simulate snow in creating beautiful and delicate looking wreaths to brighten up the dullest space. Enjoy some beautiful seasonal and occasional wreath by Williams Sonoma.

Paint on glass for a wonderful effect

Recreate a favourite photo by rendering it onto glass using translucent paints to create a gorgeous stained glass effect. Trace over the photo to create an attractive picture using just a few bold lines. Then paint in the colours with a sparse palate until you have a very simple yet striking effect that, while not an exact copy, is strongly reminiscent of that scene or person.

Another idea for unique and attractive painting on glass is to turn old wine glasses into flowers! Paint the base and the stems in green and position the petals around the bulb of the glass. Depending on the paint you use these glasses can be ornamental or functional, perfect for using at barbecues for a splash of summer colour. Chole of Ranibow & Honeysuckle shares a cool idea to paint glass. Do check it out.

If you love the look of coloured glass displays but cannot afford to buy some of the ruinously expensive pieces available on the market you can make your own very quickly and easily – even fairly young children can have a go, but be careful of enamel paint as it is not child-friendly, especially when caught in hair!

Find an unusual and attractive plain glass vase or jar and purchase a quantity of enamel paint in your chosen colour. Apply the paint generously inside the jar or vase, using brushes or sponges to ensure an even covering. Curves may make it a little awkward to reach deep inside the vessel, but you can always tilt and turn it so the paint runs into every crevice. Keep turning and moving it until the surface is fully covered then invert the jar for a short time – be careful to place it on something absorbent as a surprising amount of paint will run out.

Please do not use these vases or jars for living plants or anything edible, they are solely decorative! These creations are opaque and look absolutely stunning on an elegant sideboard or bookcase. A contemporary collection of book case is displayed at Shop 4 Furniture. Must visit.

Once each family member has completed a beautiful objet d’art and has seen it take pride of place in the home you may find that you have awakened their creative genius, paving the way for many days filled with trimmings and glitter while you satisfy your inner artist.

 

Thanks Eva, I’m definitely trying the wreath one with our littlies!

felt crown for kids

felt crown

Here’s a simple project for your kids, which will actually get used. Not like the countless toilet roll projects which accumulate around here!

018Start with a strip of felt a little smaller than the head it needs to fit. I’m not gonna judge if you’d like one for yourself!

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Grab some gems or stickers and let your child decorate away!

023A couple did fall off, but it’s been so well used I didn’t mind. If you wanted to make them more secure just pop some hard wearing glue after you kid has left the room!

022Can I just mention how much I love this ceramic egg holder? Perfect for the few little bits which don’t have a place. Especially the pretty ones you don’t want to store away. I also put things like the kids’ gems and googly eyes in here which don’t last in the bag too long.

I go mine from a charity shop for £1.99, but I’ve seen a six hole one in Wilkinsons for a similar price.

felt crownAnyway, once you’ve decorated sew on a length of ribbon and melt the ends. Then you can tie it on you little one’s head.

felt crownNeedless to say that she loves it. Great addition to our dressing up supplies.

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Ethan now wants one too. Kings have crowns too! :) The little photobomber!

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She’s about as good in front of the camera as her mum!

How would you make one of these more “king-ly”?

 

 

 

 

 

rain cloud magnets

blog 010These cute little magnets were just made with clay and some left over magnetic tape.

blog 013Shape it how you want, push the magnet in the back and bake it.

blog 014Simple, cute and perfect for my daughter’s picture (though these are actually a gift).

blog 016And I don’t mean to brag, but this picture may have gotten my daughter a head teacher’s award at school.

blog 017And to gift it I wrapped it in tissue paper and popped it in a box I saved from some stamps my daughter got for Christmas.

blog 018Wrap in twine and I’m calling it cute! Love the versatility of these type of magnets; what would you make?

 

 

 

 

 

 

clothes pin magnets

clothes pin magnets

 

Hope you’ve all had a great Christmas. We loved spending time as a family enjoying all our new toys. And as much as it was nice to have that time “unplugged”, I’m happy to be back to blogging again. :)

I made these magnets for my sister. I just modge-podged some scraps of fabric onto the front and sealed with another layer to keep it durable.

magnet clothes pinsThen I glued on some strips of magnetic tape. It come pre-sticky so made my job easier, I just trimmed it down.

clothes pin magnet

 

And easy as that you have something cute and functional. For which I had all the supplies on hand. Added bonus!

clothes pin magnets

What hand made gifts did you give or receive this year?

I was featured on Practically Functional

super simple lace cowl

lace cowl

A couple of months ago my friend made herself this cute cowl/infinity scarf (I honestly don’t know the difference…)

So I decided to attempt my own.

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I don’t photograph well….kinda looks like I’m mad, or sleeping. Awesome.

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Now I look like I’m winking…creepy.

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Let’s agree that I never do another self portrait again? And FYI, I’m totally flying no make up, not even concealer, as if my skin and eye bags weren’t an obvious enough clue keeping it real, plus I want to still be friends, and to be honest if I looked really cute and then showed you how easily I’d made the scarf you might start to hate me a little. :)

lace cowl

I actually upcycled a top my sister gave me which was a little tight. Okay a lot tight, but it works well for this.

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This is how the cowl looks when it’s not folded. I literally cut the bottom off the top, pinned the top edge under and sewed a straight line. You could even hot glue if you’re adverse to sewing.

lace cowl

There you go! Super easy and will hide the sticky finger prints from your little angel nicely!

lace cowl

 

Ah, much better with my head chopped off!

This would make an awesome gift, just upcycle an old top, and if it’s jersey knit you wouldn’t even have to sew the hem!

Perfect for when you want to craft something for yourself, but you have a to-do list that just keeps getting longer.