When a crafty idea gets wheels

My other half smiled and rolled his eyes when I showed him what I'd made last week: he's pretty used to my random knits, so always good to know I can still surprise him!

It is funny sometimes the things that spark a crafty idea; this one came from seeing Wendy's gorgeous campervan bag, which got me thinking about our camper, Betty - and as I've been making quite a lot of woolly cake and the like, I thought I'd knit a Betty...

As with all my make-them-up-as-you-go-along projects, this looks totally different from the picture I had in my head.. For a start, the plan was to make it small enough so I could stuff it with lavender and dangle it from the rear view mirror - a bespoke/personalised van air freshener if you like; but it turned out bigger than expected, and would I think be a driving hazard...so I'm not sure!

Maybe a novelty lavender bag, or it could join the toy camper collection on the windowsill. OR perhaps I should stick with the original idea and put the mini Betty in Betty, just somewhere that doesn't block my view..

I don't think the knitted camper will be going into mass production...a bit on the fiddly side with all the detail, and I found it hard to get the shape right, but my newly acquired flat circle crochet skills came in handy for the wheels. Anyway it was fun to do, and what do you think? A dead ringer??..

Linking up with the ever so lovely Handmade Monday

Easter Surprise! Easy egg box craft

I'm becoming a serious rubbish hoarder. I've a drawer stuffed full of loo roll middles and swiped party napkins, and one of the work surface walls is made of empty cereal and egg boxes with yogurt pot turrets.. But this wall is coming down slowly, because with Easter on its way, egg boxes are the rubbish of choice at the moment! They're so handy for all kinds of craft, and there are some brilliant ideas around. If you haven't already, do take a look at these 10 egg carton crafts on Red Ted Art's blog. We had a go at some of them, then got on a bit of a roll, and came up with our own idea.
An Easter egg shaped box..

little egg shaped box

They're easy to make; a few fiddly bits that need grown up help, but plenty for the kids to do.

You'll need an egg carton, tin foil, craft glue, leftover braid or coloured paper strips, and felt/sequin decorations, or any small, colourful bits.

Cut out the 6 egg holders. I usually do this with small nail scissors, or I cut them out roughly and let my 5 year old do it - but this can mean we end up with teeny tiny cups!

Scrunch up a small piece of tin foil, but not too tight - these are going to form the rounded top of your egg. Glue to the bottom of a cup, and mould until you're happy with the shape.

Then just cut out or rip pieces of tin foil, big enough to cover each part of your egg separately, and wrap tightly, folding the extra foil underneath.

I glued lovely bits of braid around the edge of the top part of our little egg box, while my daughter did some decorating. The braid needs to hang just below the edge, so it fits over the bottom part and covers the join. Well, kind of covers the join!  The sticking takes a little patience - paper clips help so it dries in place, but you could speed things up by using coloured paper strips instead of the braid.

Coloured foil would be great for a bit of variety, but we didn't have any...apart from what was on my stockpile of Easter chocolate..

creme egg eaten in the interests of craft...

There weren't many small yellow pompoms either, so we ended up making exotic chicks! Might need their feathers trimmed so I can fit in a mini egg or two..

exotic Easter chicks

Linking up with Red Ted Art's Kids Get Crafty 

and For the Kids Friday over at Sun Scholars.