Jenga Block Snowmen

Remember the box of Jenga blocks I found in a free giveaway outside one of the houses on the school run, well I have been busy ………not my idea, but one I found many examples of on Pinterest.

I have got 40 done, doing ten at a time, over a couple of days, as I waited for snow and paint to dry.

I think 40 will be more than enough for my fairing gifts in place of a Christmas card this year. There are 14 blocks left in the box, I am putting these aside as there were also a few ideas for Halloween characters on Pinterest that I would really like to try so watch this space.

Wooden Bat & Pumpkin Halloween Tag/Hanging Ornament

My first Halloween craft of 2021 in April, even for me that must be a record for early starts!

Taking a wooden tag from The Works (£1.50 for 10)  I started by covering both sides with scraps of Halloween themed paper (Avenue Mandarine – Origami Paper – Boo!)

I then coloured the bats, pumpkin and frame using appropriately Halloween coloured Sharpie pens.

I put a scrap of black paper behind the frame and then added the pumpkin to the centre.  The frame and green craft stick “shelf” (Hobbycraft - 50 small, assorted coloured sticks for  £1) were then glued to the tag.

I also outlined the edges of the tag with a black Sharpie pen.

When everything was stuck Ranger Glossy Accents was applied to the frame, pumpkin and bats and green Dovecraft Enamel Affects to the edge of the “shelf” to add a little extra dimension and texture. While these were still wet, the bats added.

Under the shelf I added half a confetti shaped spiders web.

On the back I handwrote “Trick or Treat” on scrap of paper along and then added a couple of small plastic creepy crawlies. A few clusters of white gel pen dots and tiny orange stars here and there complete the tags.

The holes on the tag were covered by the papers, so a flat jewellery bail was added to the back for a thread to either tie or hang the tag from.

Fiddle Fart Tag Challenge

Being a bit of a loss where to put my craft energies at the moment I have decided to issue myself a challenge to create a whole pile of tags, each using whatever theme grabs me, starting with this one ……

……. to be honest I started it weeks ago,  I got so far and then it wasn’t working, so it sat in my tray staring at me while I waited for inspiration.  

The tags come from The Works and measure: 5.5 x 3.5 x 0.2cm and I have quite a few, bought mainly to help fill up an order to get free delivery (??!!), hence the tag challenge.

I started by covering one side of the tag with a scrap of blue patterned paper.

I then decided to create a shelf, as is my want, to help give the tag a 3D element, by gluing a wooden house and glittered Christmas tree embellishment onto a short, natural craft stick. I also stuck tiny scraps of yellow and red paper behind the heart and windows.

This was then attached to the tag, with added Ranger Enamel Accents on the craft stick and house but after that inspiration failed me!  It needed something else, but what?

In my head I had been fighting off the idea of adding a snowflake, thinking it would look random (?), however, working on another idea, I decided to try a small, plastic snowflake as if to prove my theory right, but it worked, doh!  Adding more Enamel Accents around the edges of the tag and a few doodled dots and stars using a white gel pen bought it all together, I liked it!

This being the prototype I think it can be fine tuned a little, another layer of glossy accents to create a deeper snow effect, the craft stick needs colour (?) and perhaps the tree needs a star, or tiny baubles (?) ……… so watch this space for Tag Mark 2!

What Do I Do Now …………..?

Well, that’s Easter done and dusted craft wise at least ……….

……….. it’s now time to sit back and enjoy the chocolate!

I’ve put a shelf together using the few festive bits and pieces I had, but had been really hoping, before lockdown struck, to find a few more Easter tranklements in the local charity shops to bulk things out ……

……… a few more bunnies and chickens would have been nice, but hey ho!  I have noticed that a few of the charity shops in town are gearing up to hopefully re-open on 12th April, so who knows what treasures I will find after that.  

However, one thing in means one thing out. I have a pile of stuff that needs to go back to the charity shops from whence it came, I know where it all is, but I daren’t start putting it together, because there’s no where in The Towers to put a pile of bags without it starting to look incredibly untidy. I really need to cull a lot of my Christmas stuff, some I think I will try to eBay to help finance my “craft habit” ……. but the rest has to go, my yen to create a Christmas Grotto each year has to be seriously curtailed.

But I digress, after a month or so of non stop Easter crafting it's all suddenly over …...... and I just don't know where to go from here, HELP!

The mail box in my block of flats all decorated for the holiday.

I don't enjoy making cards at the moment, however I need to get a wriggle on as I have a few I need to get done for birthdays this month ….....

So I guess I am sort of back to Halloween and Christmas again, although to be honest it seems a bit soon and I am not even sure I am in the mood, but  with more than a lifetimes f Christmas and Halloween embellishments  I just need to rev myself up and rack my brain for new and different ideas on how to use them, so please bear with me.

Tiny Easter Bunny Pin Badge Brooches

I think these will be my last Easter pin badge/brooches of the year.  I can’t believe how many I have managed to put together.

These are all really tiny, the MDF squares measure 1ins x 1ins and the oblongs 1.5ins x .45ins. and were sourced from e-Bay.

They came about after I also ordered some MDF bunnies from eBay, I knew they were 2cms tall, but even so, when they arrived they were tiny, and difficult to place on any other project (for the moment) other than on a badge/brooch.

Made just like all my other badge/brooches by creating a scene using scraps of gingham papers and edged with a black fine liner pen …….

…… and then placing the bunnies, covered with Ranger Enamel Accents in position on top, giving them a tiny pearl flat back gem for a tail.  I experimented by adding some tiny Fimo nail art flowers around the single rabbit, but it didn’t work, it was a proportion thing!

I then added two tiny punched flowers with a gold flat back gem and a sun in the corner, but the sun didn’t look right either, so in the end I simply added some doodled birds in the sky, less is more.

Finally a pin fastening on the back and a little more edging finish off the badges, simples!

Egg Shaped Hanging Easter Bunny Decorations.

This is what I did with all the middle sized eggs from a pack of 30 wooden slice type shapes I got from Hobbycraft (£3) https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/wooden-egg-shapes-30-pack/647358-1001

I started by covering the egg shape with scraps of blue and green gingham print paper and adding a little faux stitching using a black fine liner pen.

The MDF rabbits came from eBay, I have posted the link in a previous post.

I covered the rabbits with white Ranger Glossy Enamel, adding googly eyes, a black flat back gem nose and whiskers drawn using a fine black permanent pen.  I did try having a pink nose, but it didn’t quite look right.

When the E8000 glue on the rabbit had dried I added small punched daisies with tiny weeny button centres, adding a few three dot clusters in between, here and there just to fill in any empty space.  I used tiny, silver screw eye hooks in the top to hang the decoration by.

The back was covered with more blue gingham paper, a hand written Happy Easter and two more flowers, so when hung there would be two decorated sides to see at different angles.

Easter Bunny Door Wreath Mark 2 - With Added Carrots!

I have made another Easter wreath, this time for one of my lovely neighbours upstairs.

It’s funny I bought the white wicker wreaths from the Poundland Christmas range back in December 2018 and this was the last one to be used, sometimes things are slow burners craft wise.

When I made the first wreath the flower base was already done, having made it for my door last spring, with this one I had to start from scratch, and I will admit to not being as fussy about the punched flowers and leaves as before, this time I didn’t layer them or put any gems to the middles and, to be honest it didn’t look that good …… however ……

Compare and contrast, original on the left, second make on the right.

I used a glue gun for the whole of the project as I needed an instant fix. The bunny’s (China eBay) went on first, followed by the plush carrots (Home Bargains 79p pack of six). The eggs I got from Amazon (£2.99), the bumpf said there were 80 eggs per pack, but I was sent a pack of 100 which was a bonus!  However, it’s times like these that I really miss being able to go into a Poundland or The Works and buy more or less the same for £1, but hey ho!

It’s hard to believe I put around 90 eggs on the wreath in total, every time I found a gap I filled it much more tightly than the original one, probably because of the standard of my flowers which really needed to be hidden.

The underside didn’t look too bad. 

I have to say that I think I now prefer Mark 2 for all it’s fullness, I was much too restrained on No.1 but as I have another bag of eggs going spare I might just have another dabble!

Small Easter Pin Badge Brooches

Sorry, more badges today ………..

…… these are a little smaller than most of the others I have made, mainly because I wanted to use the last of some puffy Easter stickers I have had for a million years, originally bought from Paperchase, no sadly gone, in the middle of lockdown, from the High Street

The badges were made using small wooden Christmas dominoes measuring 14.6 x 5 x 2.8 cm, which I covered, on the picture side, with scraps of patterned paper.

The paper I used was a bit thin and wrinkled a bit when glued, but since most of it was going to be covered anyway it didn’t really matter.

Once trimmed and dry I was able to add the stickers, which although they were already adhesive, I still stuck them down with E8000 so I could be sure that they couldn’t be pulled off easily.  I then added a little faux stitching, using a black fine liner pen, round any of the edges that were still visible.

I did the same on the back of each badge, before finally adding the badge/brooch fitting.

I think these badge/brooches are destined to go to my cousin Christine who works in a dementia care home, to share and wear on her uniform, because she says the residents love to look and touch new and different things and hopefully they will inspire and stimulate conversation and perhaps even memories.