Guest Crafter Iris And Bertie - Mother’s Day Presents

The dynamic duo have been crafting again, with Mother’s Day very much on their minds.

Marc gave me a box of wooden embroidery hoops from when he bought almost all the contents of an old lady’s craft room before Christmas.  I just put some white, cotton fabric in it, supplied the fabric pens and let Iris fly.

I have to admit it brings a tear to my every time I look at the pictures, it really did all come straight from her little heart.

The bead edging was all her own idea too, I’d forgotten to take any embellishments with me on the day, she disappeared and bought back her bead box and a necklace she said she didn’t wear, she then proceeded to break it up, pinching some of her Dad’s PVA glue and finished the hoop off perfectly. Iris loved making this so much I think she now has plans to make a few more as her end of year “Thank You” gifts for all her classroom staff, bless her.

This is Bertie’s present.  When we had our last sleepover he got it in his head that he would like some clay to “make things with”. We were all set to nip up to The Works when I thought of the small packs of Hobbycraft air drying clay I had squirrelled away. I wasn’t sure about using it, as it did have a contingency rather like chewing gum, however I did open a pack on the off chance and it seemed to have matured, being less sticky and the little man was well chuffed with it.

He rolled the clay into a ball and then flattened it slightly, before, from the box of cutters offered him, cutting a very fat house shape using a cutter he filled right to the very top. He then decided to emboss the front with a heart shaped cutter and riskily, because he wasn’t keen on the idea of letting things dry over night. coloured it in with a red Sharpie pen. He then used the rest of the clay to make a base to stand the house on.

He also wanted to decorate the front of the base, so I found some Fimo nail art flowers and a diamond dot pen to help pick them up and place them.  Oh boy, does Bertie love a tool!

Adding the “moon and back” pendant was just one of those spooky happenstances, goodness only knows how/why it was in the cookie cutter box, but it seems it was meant to be ………. and he was going with it!

Again, another tear jerker, now stashed away like Iris’s “somewhere safe” in their bedrooms until the big day ……. I know I am biased, but they really are lovely children.

Charles lll Coronation Brooch/Badge Favours

Sorry, only two posts this week, I’m really short of finished projects to post at the moment.

So I’m not sure how involved I’m going to be in the Coronation, other than being glued to the tele all day and I’m not sure either what Iris and Bertie’s school will be doing, but “just in case” I thought I would make some souvenir badges for all the staff plus the children in the class I listen to read.

I ordered the assorted, wooden, laser cut crowns from China a while ago with this idea in mind. It was much cheaper to order 50 in bulk over there, than in the UK and as I ordered well in advance it didn’t matter how long they took to arrive.

I sprayed one side of the crowns with gold paint and then sprinkled them immediately with ultra fine, gold glitter so that it would stick to the drying paint.

When everything was dry I added small, clear flat back gems for extra coronation bling using E-7000 for a really secure fix ……….

…….. before adding various sized brooch backs, according to the width of the crowns using the same glue. I didn’t want to risk any coming off.

I made the backing cards using my ancient copy of Publisher 2003, cutting them out when printed and then putting two punch holes roughly in the middle for the brooch pin to go through.

To keep the cards clean and fresh looking until the big day I sealed them in narrow cellobags using my again ancient, but invaluable vacuum sealer.

Et voila ………

……. another very simple project done and dusted.

Easter Themed Charity Shop Treasures ……….

I am not going too overboard with my Easter decorations this year as Iris and Bertie will be away ……….. but then again, it doesn’t stop me making a considered purchase when I stumble upon the odd little tranklement to help titivate my seasonal shelves ……

…….. like this little trinket tray for £1.

There’s no markings on it, but the blue finish reminds me of something I have also seen in brown, if that makes sense?

Then there’s these guys, again no markings but by the way their faces are painted I think there may be a bit of age to them.

At £1.99 I’m wasn’t going to leave them behind.

And finally, out of the 3 for 99p bucket, so only 33p, this frog eggcup (???) to which I’ve added a little air dry clay to plant a plastic succulent …….. I am very tempted to find him a little crown to perch on his head, who hasn’t had to kiss the odd frog!  Happy days!

Easter Bunny Favours

I seem to have entered my Easter 2023 craft zone, not sure how long it will last ………..

Today, no great shakes again, taking the capsule Easter bunnies I bought from Poundstretcher when everything was half price. To the best of my knowledge they cost £1 for a pack of eight in white or pink.

I started by taking ten, wooden white hearts and colouring them pink to make feet for the pink rabbits so that they could stand up.  I set aside another ten hearts for the white rabbits. I added the toes using a black biro to stop any ink bleeding into the wood.

Each rabbit was then given a pair of googly eyes and a bow and allowed to dry before putting the front of the bunny capsule onto the feet…….

…….. I used B-7000 glue to do this, which was easier said than done, as the capsule halves had a tendency to fall forward in the drying process, so in the end it was easier to leave the glue for about half an hour to go really tacky before putting the two parts together.

I then left the rabbits overnight for the glue to set thoroughly ……….

Meanwhile, I gave the behinds of the bunnies a small, white, pom pom tail and ……….

…….. using a template I cut out tags using a strong yellow card ……

 

……… adding faux stitching round the edges of the back and front, using a fine liner, black pen, before gluing a metal greeting plaque on the front along with a wooden ladybird to “spring” them up.

When the rabbits feet were set I was able to pop a creme egg into each one …….

…….. and package them up with another three small foil wrapped eggs in a cello bag with the tag threaded onto a ribbon and tied in a bow.

Twenty pink and white bunny favours done and dusted and ready for Iris and Bertie to give to the lunchtime supervisors at school.  Happy days!

Little Easter Bunny Egg Cup Favours

This is an idea I found on Pinterest that I thought I could run with and the reason why I am currently scouring the local Evesham Charity shops for old egg cups.

The clear chicken cups cost me 50p each, which, to be honest, is the most I am prepared to pay in a charity shop, but if I can’t find enough in time for Easter I have the white ones as a back up found in Home Bargains for 79p each.

The green Easter grass was bought online along with another bag of yellow. The Works (just this once) let me down. On their website they had the grass at £2 for a 50g bag, however it said “assorted”, I thought I had selected the green, but when it arrived I found two big bags of pink instead. When I phoned to complain I was pointed to the bumf right at the bottom of the description which said “Colours and designs may vary, only one supplied”  - needless to say it was duly returned and bought elsewhere, because when I want a certain something I don’t want to go into a lottery for the colour!

The pack of five mini Lindt bunnies came from Iceland and cost £2.

I started by putting three small Lindt eggs in the bottom of each cup, over which I placed a small wad of the grass ……..

…….. then added two, self adhesive foam pads on the bottom of the rabbits to ensure that they stayed in place when all packaged up and transported etc.

I then dotted tiny flower beads around the bunny, using B-7000 for a secure fix.

The beads came from a card of 12 elasticated bracelet  found in my favourite Evesham charity shop for just £1.50, well, it would have been rude not to!

I coloured the small, wooden tags (from The Works a while ago, not sure if they are still available) with a yellow Sharpie pen, adding faux stitching to both sides using a black biro as I didn’t want any ink bleeding into the wood.  The metal Easter tag came from a job lot of crafty of bits and pieces a while back and cost me just 20p for a pack of 10.

I put two clusters of three flower beads on the tags to Easter them up a bit more.

When everything was dry I was then able to put them into a cello bag to help protect them with the tag tied with a ribbon, in a bow.

A really simple idea, no great shapes costing, including everything, about £1.10 to put together.  A little festive tranclement for all the cook ladies at I & B’s school.