Shiny Happy Easter Craft

One of my most popular craft ideas ever, because it involved eating a bag of these..

Obviously there'll be mountains of them being munched over the weekend, so thought I'd post this now in case you fancy a go, and want to salvage some foil before it gets ripped to shreds and ends up in the bin...or sprinkled about the place like tiny shiny bits of confetti that you'll be hoovering up for weeks..

The trickiest bit is getting the foil wrapping off in one piece..or even two. Then you just need to decide what to decorate. We went for a butterfly and a dragonfly. I drew half the shape on a folded piece of cereal packet - cut out and open up.
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We flattened our bits of foil and cut them into strips and squares. A glue stick worked best - the foil can be fiddly and sticks to fingers with over enthusiastic gluing!
My daughter spread some on the cardboard first before sticking down the pieces she wanted for her foil decoupage.

Very impressed how she mirrored the pattern on the wings.

It really doesn't matter if bits hand over the edge because they can be tucked neatly around the back.

Turns out we needed more coloured foil than I bargained for, so had to break into another Easter egg... shucks hey? I think this is what you call craft with benefits.

Please excuse blatant advertising! We used every decent sized scrap we had..

A pipe cleaner taped to the back makes good butterfly antennae and we added a few more shiny bits.
You could make smaller ones and attach them to plant sticks - they'd look good fluttering above a herb pot.

I think there's a very strong chance we'll be making more next week!

Hope you have a lovely Easter.

Linking up with Red Ted Art's Kids Get Crafty and For the Kids Friday

Christmas craft - DIY Nativity

It was the paper houses that first got me thinking about making a Nativity scene - a simple one I could do with the kids. All it took was a straightforward conversion job, and that was the stable sorted. I settled on cones for the figures - perfect for robes, with stuck-on faces and arms. It was fun working out how to do things, but there's A LOT going on in a Nativity. By the time we'd got to the donkey, my 5 year old was rolling her eyes...
Now everything's easy to make, but to do it all in one fell swoop is probably asking a bit much...so I think the answer is a figure or two a day, and build up the nativity slowly - making it more of a christmas countdown event.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

All you need is some paper, a glue stick, a ruler (for the stable), scissors and some pens and things for decorating. I used coloured paper, but white is fine, just means a bit more colouring or painting.

First, make the stable, following the instructions for Easy Paper Houses - but before the stick-it-together stage, use a ruler to draw lines for planks of wood across the outside - doesn't matter if they're a bit wobbly as I think that adds to the effect.

For the figures, draw around the bottom of a tin or something like that, then cut the circles in half and make a cone from a semi-circle. Glue and leave to dry. If you want to decorate any robes, you can do this before the sticking stage. We used glitter, stickers and metallic pens.

Draw faces and cut out arms, making them a little wider at the ends for a billowy robe look. My daughter had a go at an assortment of different beards! Glue onto the cones.

The crib for the baby Jesus is simply a rectangle, folded at each end. Cut a thin strip from one side and stick underneath to strengthen it. Then all you need is a rectangle for the blanket and a small circle for the head. I snipped triangles out of the ends to make it look more cot-like.

The donkey is also a rectangle, this time folded in half. Round off one end with the scissors and cut a gently curved-in-the-middle, M-shape for the legs and tummy. Draw and cut out a head. We stuck on a strand of wool for a mane and tail, and for Mary and the Angel's hair - but if this is a fiddly faff too far, just draw them on.

The sheep are little bits of cotton wool with black faces and the star and angel are up high in the sky above the stable on skewer sticks.

I really think spreading out the making would be a fun way to it, and we'll definitely have a go again. Next year.
I'm now cracking on with my Knitivity which is taking AGES, and still a few wooly shepherds short...

Linking up with For the Kids Fridays over at SunScholars

and Red Ted Art's Kids Get Crafty