Kids Craft – Easter Egg Pendants

With it being Easter I’ve got even more Easter inspiration to share with you all, with the addition of these cute little glittered egg pendants each on its own beaded necklace.

You will need…

Packet of mini polystrene eggs
Various shades of glitter
Section of necklace threads
Selection of beads (big and chunky for little hands)
Mod Podge Gloss
Tiger wire
Self adhesive gems
Tacky glue

Tools…
Wire clippers or scissors
Glue brush (4 mod podge)
Plastic bags or jars
Tooth pick

Step 1 Take your mini polystrene eggs (however many you wish to make) and one by one cover in a coat of tacky glue.

Step 2 Place your different coloured glitters into different sandwich bags, jars or other clean clear containers. Place each egg in a bag (one egg to one bag) tie and then Vicariously shake to completely cover the eggs in the glitter.

Step 3 Use a tooth pic to remove the eggs from their bags and leave them to dry for at least a few hours before covering each in a layer of mod podge gloss.

Step 4 After a further 30 minutes or so drying time, use a needle to pierce a hole at the top of your egg from one end to the other. Now thread the tiger wire through the egg and tread on a couple of beads, twist and make a hanging loop by twisting again.

Step 5 Now thread the egg through your necklace thread.

Step 6 Now, stick a self adhesive gem to the centre of your egg.

Step 7 Now thread some big metallic beads onto the thread and tie.

Step 8 Now wear and watch as others admire your bling!

The Possibilities are endless….

Tutorial – Papier Mâché and Mod Podge Makeup Bag

This fabulous simmering bag has been put together by combining Papier mâché with mod podge. Its base that started as a cardboard box in Hobbycraft has received some super restyling, resulting in this handy storage bag for makeup.

Here’s what I used

Paper Mâché Box Bag (Hobbycraft)
Black acrylic paint – PoundLand
Mod podge gloss – Hobbycraft
Dark blue course glitter – Baker Ross Ltd
4 x Lace sequinned embellishments ( the type used for clothing and upholsteries)
Vintage Black bead and silver necklace
Small glass embellishments – PoundLand
2x small black bows – PoundLand
Old vintage broken brooch
Bag charm attachment (minus the charm)
Thick black lace (about 20 cms)
Extra strong glue dots (strips covered by plastic) PoundLand
4 metal bag feet with connectors (available from craft stores)
Electric blue felt -Baker Ross ltd

Additional tools needed

Paint and glue brushes
Paper plate ( to mix paint and mod podge)
Jewellery crimpers
Scissors
Large screw
Cork hammer

First take a paper plate and mix 4 parts mod podge with 8 parts black paint. You can add more paint or Mod Podge if required! You don’t want the mixture to turn grey, so it is important to add double as much black paint to that of the mod podge.

Once you have the mixture as it should be (gloppy and black) add a generous amount off your glitter. Because the mixture is so dark making it hard to see the glitter when mixed does mean its difficult to judge how much glitter to add! I tend to only know I have enough glitter, once my mixture has formed a very gritty texture. At first your mixture may seem dull and not very shimmery. This is only because the mixture is still wet, as it dries the glitter will become much more sparkly.

Now, prepare your box for painting by removing the current paper handles. Just cut these with scissors and discard off.

With a medium size paint brush, apply the mixture directly onto the box. (excluding the inside and bottom base). Leave to dry between 30-60 minutes dependent on room temperature. You will know your box has began to dry as the glitter will start to come through and twinkle. You will need to apply two coats of the mixture to the box.

Once dry you can now decorate.

Work on one side at a time starting with the 2 biggest sides!

Take 2 of your sequinned upholstery embellishments and decided how you would like these to be placed on one side of your box. Once you are sure how you want them placed, secure them to the box with mod podge covering both the top and bottom of each embellishment.

Add some small glass embellishments at the same time and sponge over with mod podge to secure.

Once dry cover the entire design with a second coat of Mod Podge Gloss.

Once this side is complete and fully dried, you can now start on the opposite side.

Again place the remaining 2 sequinned embellishments how you want them before finally securing with mod podge as before.

Add your 2 black bows to your design and then cover these with mod podge to secure in place.

Lastly cover the entire design in a layer of Mod Podge Gloss.

When your two main sides are completely dry, its time to start work on the two small sides of the box.

Add a strip of black thick lace so that it runs long ways, down the centre of each off your two sides. You should do this by securing with Mod Podge by adding it directly to the box and over the top of the lace. You can cut any excess lace from your box once it has dried (this is easier as the lace won’t slide about)!

Now leave to dry.

While your box is drying, its time to start work on your handle.

First take the charmless bag charm attachment and your old vintage brooch. I was able to secure the old vintage brooch to the attachment as it had a metal loop attached to the back of it, allowing me to just attach it to the keyring part of the bag charm. If your charm has no loop to attach the bag charm attachment then you can either attach one using some jewellery finishings and a solder or attach to the front of the attachment with some super glue. Once done place to one side for later.

Next, take your old bead and metal necklace and carefully break this in two equal halves, ensuring you break it where the metal connectors are and not the beads.

Use some jewellery crimpers to open the metal loops of the the beaded necklace on each end of your 2 pieces.

Now place to one side with your finished bag charm. We will fit the handles as one of the last steps before finally completing the bag.

Bring forward your box which should have dried after around 30 minutes or so. With a medium size paint brush paint the entire inner section of your box in black acrylic paint. Leave to dry for 30 minutes or so.

Once dry turn upside-down and paint the bottom of the boxes base in the same black acrylic paint. Leave to dry for 20 minutes plus.

Once all paint is dry take some electric blue felt and cut slightly smaller then your base like so. Now apply to the base using ‘Tacky glue’ leave to dry for a bit before cutting another piece of the same felt to fit the inner base of your box. This will line the box and provide padding for its intended contents. This doesn’t need to be glue in place, it should just simply slot into place but before adding it, you should secure your feet in place.

To secure the feet in place I used a long nail and a cork hammer. Turning the box upside down I banged a hole in each of the bases 4 corners. You will need to apply some pressure as you need to penetrate the felt too. Now push a foot through each of the 4 prepared holes. The feet can be secured inside the box by opening the metal connectors and lying them flat against the box. Once you have done this for all 4 feet, add the blue felt you prepared for the inner section of your box so that it covers the feet connectors and provides some cushioning for your makeup.

Now take one piece of your necklace and thread the metal through one of the holes in your bag, pushing it flat against the box. Now cover the metal directly over the top with 2 strong glue dots leaving on the plastic.

Thread the remaining end through the opposite hole (like that of the original handles) and connect in the same way with the glue dots.

Do the same for the remaining necklace and the remaining 2 holes.

Now cut through the charms loop and tie this to the loop of your bags handle nearest the bags body. Tie a double knot before finally cutting off any excess thread.

Your makeup bag is now ready to fill and display!

Here’s mine in action!

Tutorial – Decorated Polystyrene Eggs For Easter

Display on sticks in tiny bead and sand filled jars or without sticks in bowls

This month is going by extremely fast and before we know it, its gonna be Easter weekend.

Myself and the children always love getting the messy box out and this month we’ve been getting stuck into some fun Easter crafts.

Decorating eggs is a long loved tradition but it doesn’t always have to involve, hard boiling or blowing off eggs. Last year we showed you how to make great paper mâché eggs using coloured tissue paper and Polystyrene eggs. This year I want to show you some other easy and creative ways to decorate polystyrene eggs. These will give much quicker results than the paper mâché method but each will still look great and be good fun to make, especially with your little helpers on hand.

Below, I’ve included a number of different decorating ideas.

Each require different materials but these are all largely made up of polystyrene eggs, Large lolly sticks, paints, glitter, 3D Pic-Tixx, decorative tape, mod podge, strong glue dots, pink ribbon, Deco pens, egg stencils and an assortment of embellishments.

In terms of the tools required, these mainly consist of just paint and glue brushes.

All our eggs have been fitted to a large lolly stick. This is done by penetrating the flat bottom end of the egg with the stick so it sits securely in the centre of the egg making them easy to paint and decorate.

All eggs first receive two coats of paint (colour dependent on design) with each being given a drying time of 20 minutes in between coats.

Once eggs are complete and dry the final steps are to cover them in a layer of modge podge. It is when the mod podge has dried that we can remove our eggs from there sticks or if preferred you can display them with the sticks attached to avoid a visible hole (note… this is small and doesn’t pose a problem anyway).

Blue Metallic Glitter Eggs

Here are two different blue glitter eggs. The first has been given this foil effect that can be created on hard boiled egg shells using dye and foil pieces only we have created it with silver glitter and modge podge.

To add this effect to your painted polystyrene egg, roll it in the silver glitter adding more glitter to some areas then others. The self adhesive stars are a pretty finishing touch.

For the second egg we have gone for a striped design that has again been achieved by adding mod podge and rolling in glitter. Both eggs are painted in Metallic blue acrylic paint (see reference section for stockists).

Cute stencilled eggs

We have again created two eggs in this design set!

Metallic blue egg with yellow stencil

This is very simple and required only minimal effort. A stencil is applied directly over the dried painted egg and a yellow deco pen has then been used to transfer the design onto the centre of the egg.

Pink and blue bunny egg

The same method has been used on this pink egg. The only difference being is that to transfer the bunny stencil to the centre of this egg we used a small, thin paint brush and some acrylic paint (same blue used before).

Pink feather egg

This is a bit of a messy one despite the addition of a stick! Mod podge and pink feathers have been used bit by bit, one by one, to cover a painted pink egg. While egg is wet it has received a trim and a sprinkle of pink /purple glitter.

3D Pic-Tixx Glitter Eggs

Runny Egg

This is so simple yet totally effective. Just use silver Pic-Tixx 3D glitter on the top centre point of a painted black egg. This is to create a running effect. The Pic-Tixx is thick and would naturally not run well, so you manually create the effect with the easy to use Pic-Tixx applicator pen.

Dark Pink glitter egg

Again this is an incredible simple look to create. Although we are using 3D Pic-Tixx pens this egg doesn’t require a 3D design. Instead I applied pink Pic-Tixx glitter to that of a metallic pink painted egg and used the tip of my finger to blend the glitter over the entire egg. Note: A finger tip is messy but doesn’t leave the strokes that a brush leaves, therefore creating a better finish.

As a finishing touch, use some pretty ribbon to tie a bow around the centre of the pink glittered egg once it has dried.

Eggs created with adhesives and tapes

Black & Gold Spotty Egg

To create this affect randomly add strong glue dots to the body of a black painted egg. Dispense some gold glitter onto a clean surface or paper plate and carefully role the glue dots in the glitter

Metallic Purple Heart Egg

For this final egg you will need to add some decorative tape around the centre body of a metallic purple painted egg. Then finish off by securing a self adhesive sequinned pink heart to the centre of the egg, in the middle of the tape.

And that’s you done people!

Hope we gave you some polystyrene egg decoration inspiration…

Have any ideas of your own? I’d love to hear them so feel free to comment if desired.

Reference section
<a

href=”http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/12-polystyrene-easter-eggs/”>”>Polystyrene eggs (12pk) PoundLand
Metallic paints – Baker Ross Ltd
Egg stencils (6pk) PoundLand
Deco pens – Baker Ross Ltd
Pic Tixx 3D Glitter – Baker Ross Ltd

Tutorial – Pretty Lace Winter Jar Lanterns

These pretty lace and glitter jar lanterns are perfect for winter and look amazing. They make a great gift idea for any occasion including valentines day which is just days away.

Materials…

Choose a jar (I’m using empty Yankee candle jars)

Mod Podge

Ultra Fine Blue Glitter

Baby blue strip of lace (enough to tie a drooping bow around the neck of jar)

Blue pretty Heart Sticker (from 99p store comes within a packet of room stickers and found in their crafts section)

Tools…

A couple of paint brushes
Plastic cup or pot for mixing mod podge and glitter.

These are so easy yet the finished piece is stunning, perfectly suited to the winter season. They look pretty on a dresser or on a fire place and have this pretty vintage feel to them.

First mix some Mod Podge with your ultra fine blue glitter. You do need to add quite a bit of glitter. The mixture will not sparkle, but instead look very matt. Don’t worry at this stage it won’t sparkle… That’s where the magic of Mod Podge comes in.

Now take a clean brush and apply the mixture to the entire inner area of your jar… EVERYWHERE!

Apply using different strokes both in thickness and direction.

Once done leave to dry over night. The mixture takes longer to dry because of the glitter and thickness you applied it.

You will know when its starting to dry as the blue/white mixture starts to disappear. The magic of mod podge has then began to work.

By morning or sooner (dependent on when you created your piece) the mixture should now be clear leaving behind a crystallised, icy effect . The different thicknesses and strokes are still visible only in a glittering frosty looking sense.

Now transfer your blue heart to the centre of your jar, pressing firmly avoiding air bubbles.

Lastly tie your pretty lace around the neck of your jar creating a droopy dangling bow, to give it that vintage feel.

And here it is…

You can use different colour glitter too. I’m currently making a pink one that I’m decorating with ivory lace as opposed to the blue lace. I will also use a different room sticker though this is from the same pack as before.

Easy peasy … Super cute.

Decopatched Valentines Gifts Made With Mod Podge

As some of you who visit the blog may have already guessed, this girl loves hearts, and what with it coming up to valentines day, its the perfect excuse to get crafty with hearts. Today I’ve decided to make some pretty sweetie jars with matching heart magnets.

The Jar is one I’ve had ready to decorate for some time. I brought a few of them on a bric a brac stall at a bootfair last year.

The hearts are made of paper mâché and already have the magnets attached. They are of a good size and once papered, look amazing on the fridge or a magnetic notice board. These can be brought from Hobbycraft and are available both in store and online.

So for this project I used 2 large heart magnets and 1 jar. (Pairing a jar with a magnet to make a gift set)

Both the gift set and Individual magnet have been decorated differently but were both extremely simple to create.

The first Tutorial is for my Retro Heart Magnet and Jar Gift Set.

You will need…

Medium size jar (the type with a glass stopper lid)

Large sized paper mâché heart magnet (Hobbycraft)

Funky heart Decopatch paper (Hobbycraft)

Ultra fine baby blue glitter

Mod podge (Gloss)

Thick – Satin blue ribbon (Baker Ross)

Bright red ribbon (Thin)

Dark red ribbon (medium thickness)

1 Red & 1 blue self adhesive button (baker Ross)

White acrylic Paint

Sweets or other items to fill jar

Tools…

Craft Knife
Scissors
3 Paint brushes (painting, mod podge, glitter)
Small sponge (to wipe excess mod podge)
Ruler
Pencil

First the heart magnet….

1) Give your heart magnet 2 coats of white acrylic paint as abase. Allow to dry in between coats and be careful not to get any paint on the actual magnet as it may affect how magnetic it is.

2) Take a sheet of your Decopatch paper (comes in a packet of three) and cut in half using a craft knife and ruler fir support. Place one piece aside for your jar. Now with a craft knife and ruler cut paper into squares so that you can easily piece them back together like a jigsaw.

3) With Mod Podge or Decopatch glossy glue get Decopatching. I’ve explain the art of using Decopatch to decorate almost any object or surface in numerous post here before. So, without going into to much detail I’ll explain in brief… Basically cover the heart in mod podge, lay the paper onto the heart and apply another layer of glue over the top. For this project you will want the pattern to be perfect (not all mix match) So join the paper together to form the pattern (like wallpapering).
Tips… Only apply the glue to the area you wish to cover, instead gluing each section as you go therefore avoiding any areas starting to dry and becoming tacky.

If you have small areas in need of covering, then patch them up with small strips of paper.

Now leave to dry.

Note. Decopatch Glossy Glue & Mod Podge (gloss) can both be used as a glue sealer and finish. Both glues dry clear and are both easy to use. I’m using mod podge as its much faster when drying.

4) Once dry add another layer of mod podge and leave it for around 20 minutes to dry.

5) Once dry take the dark red ribbon and run it around the sides of your heart starting at the tip. Cut any excess ribbon and then use the mod podge to add the ribbon to the sides of the heart adding a layer of mod podge over the top of the ribbon too.

Leave to dry for 20 minutes or so.

6) Once dry stick your self adhesive buttons to the front of your heart like so. Now place to one side.

Now for the jar….

7) Bring forward your other half of Decopatch paper and wrap it around your jar. Start around 5 centimetres down from the neck of your jar so that the paper stops 3/4 of the way up leaving a small area unpapered. Only once you are sure its right add mod podge directly to the jar applying the paper as you go. (Apply the paper as a whole by rotating the glass, gluing and papering as you go). You will notice that you have a little excess paper at the bottom of your jar. Don’t worry! This will be removed soon. Now, add a top layer of mod podge over the top of the paper (ignoring the excess paper) and leave to dry for 20 minutes. Once dry add another top layer of mod podge and sit to dry for the same amount of time as before.

8) Once your jar is papered and the mod podge is dry the paper will be stronger and look very glossy. Now use you scissors to remove any excess paper from the bottom of the jar as to tidy it up.

9) apply mod podge around the top section of paper like a boarder. It only needs to be as thick as your thin red ribbon. Wrap the ribbon around the top of the paper and wipe any excess mod podge quickly with a sponge, to avoid it drying. Now apply mod podge over the top of the ribbon again wiping away excess as you go. Leave to dry for around 15 minutes.

10) Now mix some mod podge with lots of the baby blue glitter. Apply this to the inner section of the jar that is still visible. Also apply some around the neck and top rim of your jar. The mod podge will dry clear leaving a crystallised glittery effect. Drying time is longer as the glue is thicker and no paper is applied. Mine took a few hours to dry fully.

11) once dry tie your blue ribbon around the neck of the jar into a pretty bow.

Dried Mod Podge Mixture

12) for the top section of the lid, place the lid face down on some heart Decopatch paper and with a pencil lightly draw around it. Once done carefully cut out the circle with a craft knife. Decopatch your cut out circle to the top of the jar again adding two top layers of mod podge to the top of the paper. Leave to dry for 20 minutes.

13) Fill with Sweets or anything else you like (tea lights, makeup, pamper goodies, cookies) and fit lid.

Now just use some pretty tissue paper to wrap your heart and jar, place in a pretty gift bag ready to give as a gift.

Fabric Flower Power Heart Magnet

You will need…

1 Large paper mâché heart magnet (Hobbycraft)

Some funky flower fabric (enough to cover heart) Mine is from eBay

Medium thick orange ribbon (Baker Ross)

3 Self adhesive buttons that coordinate with your fabric (I used red, yellow, baby blue) from Baker Ross

White acrylic paint

Mod podge

Tools…
2 brushes (for paint and mod podge)
Scissors
Craft Knife
Ruler

1) Paint heart in white paint as before.

2) use a ruler and craft knife to cut fabric into two pieces one 3/4 in size and the other 1/4 in size. Use ruler to support fabric as you cut. Remove any frying.

3) cover 3/4 of your heart in mod podge placing the 3/4 piece of fabric on top at an angle so that only a 1/4 of the heart is left to cover. If fabric comes over the edges trim or just stick down as I have done. Add mod podge to both the heart and the top layer of fabric just as we did the decopatch paper.

4) Mod podge other 1/4 of heart and add the other half piece of fabric joining the pattern. Again add a coat of mod podge to the top layer of fabric working in the same way as the first piece. Leave to dry for around 20-30 minutes.

5) Once dry add the ribbon to the sides of the heart as we did for our retro patterned heart above. Leave to dry for 10-15 minutes.

6) Now stick on your three buttons like so and you’re heart magnet is set to go.

So… There you have it. Some fantastic Valentines handcrafted inspiration.

Have you made anything for Valentines Day?

Easy Personalised Art Work For Children’s Bedroom (Tutorial)

Sometimes you realise that a room could do with a bit of a cheer up. Not that you need to redecorate, painting the walls a new colour… Sometimes the addition of a little art work is all that’s needed to make a boring wall a magical one.

My daughters bedroom walls were looking a tad boring so with this in mind I decided to make some simple artwork to cheer it up a little

What I used to create this easy flower and butterfly picture.

Thick Card Square (measuring 30 by 23 centimetres)
Blue Metallic Acrylic Paint
Green Pic-Tixx 3D Glitter
3 Handcrafted Butterflies
5 Yellow Buttons
Pain & Glitter Flower Pre-Cut Shapes
Deco Pen (light green)
Glittered Card Letters
Mod Podge (clear gloss finish)

Tools
Glue Dots
2 Medium Size Paint Brushes (for glue and paint)

Optional… Box Frame To Display Art

How to Make…

1) Paint your piece of card with the blue metallic paint. Leave to dry then paint a second coat.

2) Once both coats have been applied and your card is fully dry, use your green deco paint pen to draw the flower stalks onto the card like so…

3) Use the green Pic-Tixx pen to randomly add some sparkly leafs to the flower steams. Leave to dry for a least an hour.

4) Once dry use glue dots to add the flower shapes to the ends of the flower steams. Layer these up and use the yellow buttons to finish of the bigger flowers. Be creative, mixing sizes and colours for different effects.

5) Once all your Flowers have been added use a thick brush to cover the picture in a layer of mod podge. Sponge around the flowers as glue tends to sit within these areas. Now leave to dry.

6) Once dry add your glittery letters along the bottom of your picture. Cover these in a thin layer of mod podge using a sponge. Leave to dry for 45 minutes.

7) Once dry add glue dots to the backs of your 3 butterflies (2 each to the bodies). Add to your picture by pressing and holding down firmly.

Add your picture to a frame, a box frame is best as it allows room for the butterflies.

Mine is yet to be placed in a frame but it looks pretty great wouldn’t you agree?

Resources…
Handcrafted Butterflies (£1 pack of 4 from PoundLand)
Paint, Deco pen and Pic-Tixx (Baker Ross Ltd)
Mod Podge (Hobbycraft)
Flower Shapes (PoundLand)
Letters (eBay)

Homemade Cath Kidston Inspired Christmas Baubles

My tree is extremely fun this year, I’ve let go and just gone with the flow! I’ve not tired myself down to a colour scheme or particular style as I usually would. seriously, this year its an explosion of colour and creativity with shop brought bright baubles, handmade wooden gingerbread hearts, shabby chic ornaments and dazzling home made snowflakes.

I must admit I’m feeling pretty proud to be out of my comfort zone. I love brights and this year I even brought neon baubles in funky pinks, blues greens and yellows. These mixed in with all our homemade crafts give the tree a very unique edge and I’ve got to admit I’m kinda loving it.

Yes, my love of all things vintage and shabby chic would seem something of an odd mix with that of bright bold colours, but again the home made girly decorations of pastel yarn tied hearts and gingerbread men slot in rather nicely.

Some of my favourite decorations I’ve made this year are that of the Cath Kidston inspired shabby chic fabric covered glitter baubles in pretty pinks and creams. These fabric covered baubles have been glittered with shimmering golden Mod Podge with an added touch of ultra fine pink glitter dust making them beautifully unique.

These are really extremely easy to create and a great way to upcycle them old baubles that have seen better holiday’s.

So here’s what you’ll need and some very quick simple instructions to get going and create your own baubles.

You will needs

Some old baubles (as many as desired)

Fabric scraps (Cath Kidston never fails to impress)

Selection of thick ribbon (long enough to tie around the middle conference of each bauble)

Selection of thin ribbon to hang baubles from your Christmas tree

Ultra fine glitter dust in pink (or whichever colour suits your fabric)

Mod Podge Shimmer (gold)

Decopatch Glossy Glue (optional as can just use the mod podge)

Tools

Glue brushes
Scissors
Embellishment sticky tabs

Your Baubles don’t have to be recycled as you can always pick up a bargain pack from your local PoundLand or equivalent. I also brought some great baubles for another craft project for 10p each in our local charity shop. Basically… If you have no baubles to Upcycle these can be picked up both easily and cheaply.

Step 1 – once you have decided on your fabric, cut it into small pieces (size can vary depending on bauble size and desired style)

Step 2 – Right, firstly add some mod podge to a mixing cup followed by a good few sprinkles of ultra fine glitter. mix well and cover till needed.

Step 3 – Now, given the mod podge is a gold shimmer with added glitter, you may feel its a waste to use it as the undercoat for glueing fabric. However if your using a bauble that has a very dark or prominent colour, then using the mod podge will help to prevent the colour gleaming through. I used just the shimmer mod podge for my pink bauble and both glossy Decopatch glue and shimmer mod podge for my cream bauble.

Now start coating the bauble with your chosen glue. If working with both glues, use the Decopatch glossy glue for the undercoat and the mod podge for the outer coat (this requires patience as you will be required to continuously swap between brushes every few seconds). If using just mod podge then just paint it directly onto the bauble layering fabric and mod podge as you go.

Note… The outer section should only have a thin layer of mod podge as this will be the baubles finish. If second coats are desired these can be applied only once your first coat is dry. This avoids bumps and drips forming. Also try to brush in pretty much the same directions to avoid noticeable odd looking brush marks.

Step 4 – now attach a decoration hook or if you don’t have any some thread or ribbon (don’t worry you can change for prettier hanging ribbon later). You need to attach either one of the above now so that you are able to hang your baubles as to allow them to dry quickly and evenly. My mod podge only pink decoration was actually dry in an impressive 30 minutes where my cream bauble took considerably longer. I just left them both over night as they were decopatched in fabric just before I headed of to bed.

Step 5 – Once dry inspect baubles and if second coat of mod podge is required then again cover in a very thin layer and then allow to dry (do not add any more fabric just mod podge)!

Step 6 – Once all coats are applied and baubles are nice and dry, its time to add the finishing touches.

For each bauble take your chosen thick ribbon, cut down to size and wrap around the middle of your bauble (securing with a few glue dots or embellishment sticky tabs if needed). Now, tie into a centre bow. If desired, use a small piece of ribbon in the same colour to wrap around the centre of your bow. Secure in place with a glue dot or very small embellishment sticky tab. This will give the bow a really neat and tidy finish.

Step 7 – now choose your thin hanging ribbon. for my pink bauble, I have gone for a striking thin pink ribbon to match my bow and a white glittery organza ribbon to hang my cream bauble. If you don’t fancy adding any more ribbon at all, yarn looks really effective! You could just use a decoration hook for a really easy and simple look.

So, there you have it! Cath Kidston inspired fabric glitter baubles that are simple to create.

Shabby Chic decorations for my tree of randomness!

Personalised Wooden Christmas Hearts

These wooden Christmas hearts can be hung from the tree as decorations or used as keepsake gift tags.

Here I’ve made some personalised Christmas hearts for the children decorated using the first letter of their name. The other hearts feature mini glittered hearts and Gingerbread men.

To make some of these keepsake Christmas decorations and gift tags you will need…

7 Large Plywood Hearts (or how many you wish to make)
Plywood Letters (for personalising. I’m using G, A & H for Alice, G and Harley)
2 x Medium plywood hearts
2x Mini Wooden Gingerbread Men
Red Acrylic Paint (Christmas Red)
Blue Acrylic Paint (Duck egg)
Gold, Silver, Red Glitter
Bronze Glitter (Ultra Fine)
Wood Glue
Decopatch Glossy Glue (or Mod Podge)
Selection of Ribbon (I’ve used red, gold, silver, blue)

Tools…
Glue brushes
Paint brushes
Drill to make holes

Firstly, I drilled two holes at the top of each end of my large hearts.

I then painted them each in two coats of Acrylic paint, Christmas Red and a shabby duck egg blue. I did this for both sides allowing each an hour in between to dry.

Once the paint was dry I added one coat of acrylic glaze to each side of the heart.

While my hearts were left to dry I started work on my letters and shapes.

One at a time I covered one side of my letters and shapes in Decopatch glue. I then quickly covered them in the different coloured glitters using shakers. I did my letter A in gold, G in red and H in silver. The hearts were covered in gold and silver glitter (I even made a blue one for a later project). As for my mini gingerbread men, these were covered in a very dark ultra fine bronze glitter.

I then left these to dry for an hour.

In the meantime I brought forward my duck egg blue hearts and covered these in some shimmer (gold glitter added to a little Decopatch glossy glue). The red hearts stayed just as they were.

Once my letters and shapes had dried I added another layer of Decopatch glue over each, followed by a second coating of glitter.

As soon as I’d covered all my letters and shapes in a second coat of glitter I took a clean brush for each item and added my final layer of Decopatch glossy glue directly over the top of my glitter. The glitter is still wet at this point so be aware that your brush will get a tad sparkly (this is why I recommend a brush for each item). There is no need to wait till the glitter has dried as by adding a good amount of glitter to your items it will mean you only remove any excess. The glue will look very white and make the glitter seem extremely mat, however, Decopatch glue dries clear and glossy adding that bit more sparkle to your glitter.

Once you have completed all your shapes leave them someplace safe to air dry for an hour or so dependent on their drying environment.

Once everything is dry you are now ready to attach your letters and shapes to your painted hearts. This is best done with the use of a good wood glue.

My wood glue was super fast drying so I didn’t need to wait long to move onto the final stage of this project. Be sure to read the instructions on that of your chosen wood glue, as to allow yours to dry for the required time stated.

Now all that’s left to do is add the ribbons, threading them through the back of the heart and then tying them into a pretty bow.

Finishing Touches (optional but effective)

The children’s names were added to the personalised letter hearts in a black permanent maker. I also choose to use one of my hearts as a tag on a gift for a friend. I like this idea as the wooden tag can then be kept as a keepsake! I feel its a really personal touch. So, on this heart, I wrote a sweet little message on the back before wrapping her actual gift in brown parcel paper, tying with pretty ribbon and finally attaching my wooden heart to the ribbon… Very effective!

You can hang these hearts anywhere in the home. The tree, dresser, over jars as to create decorative storage or even in that of the children’s bedrooms. Use them just at Christmas or continue using them throughout the year, its up to you!

Reference Section

Large wooden hearts plus letters and shapes I brought from HobbyCraft online.

Decopatch Glue – HobbyCraft

Glitter Shaker – Baker Ross Limited

Ribbon – Selection from various shops and craft markets

Acrylic Paints – Hobbycraft

Easy Handmade Luxury Gift Tags

There is nothing like a gift given with them little personal touches to show that its bearer has put real thought into it.

I think that gifts should always be wrapped with tender loving care and I therefore like to wrap my Christmas gifts to friends and family in a homemade style.

To do this I simply wrap in pretty tissue paper and tie with beautiful coordinating ribbon, before finishing with my very own handmade gift tags to give it that extra special personalised magic touch.

Here’s what you will need to make any of the styles I’ve created for this post.

2 different colour card scrapes) as to create two square embellishments for your tags)

Pic-Tixx 3D Glitter in gold and silver

Some small gold bead balls

Selection of ribbon to complement tag colours (I used cream, black, pale blue, orange/gold)

Small length of thin black ribbon (enough to tie into a bow)

Hole reinforcers

A5 Silver card or another colour of you’re choice (A5 will give you 4 tags per sheet)

Silver card for the tags star unless you wish to use any other colour or patterned card (half of A5 size works fine)

A5 Gold card (or colour of choice)

A5 Shimmery cream card (or colour of choice)

A5 Glittery patterned blue & white card (other colours are fine but be sure the pattern contains that of small flowers or even better, snow flakes)

A5 Glittery leopard print card (for heart tag)

Tag Template (or draw & cut out your own)

Heart template (or you can draw this free hand like myself)

Glue dots

Glossy Decopatch Vanish or Mod Podge

Tools needed

Scissors or precision knife (I use the latter)
Hole punch
Glue Brushes
Pencil
Rubber

Firstly select your card which should be of reasonable good quality in a medium thickness.

Use your tag template to draw around and transfer to whichever card designs you have opted for. I used gold, silver, shimmery cream and a piece of blue and white glittery patterned card as listed above. Tip… Use a pencil to do this as it allows you to rub out any lines later on. Note, all my card was pain white on one side making it easy to trace the template and later write your message. Lastly don’t forget to make out where the tags hole will need to be.

You will then need your leopard print card or other! On the plain side, draw a heart shape. You can draw around a heart template if you have one or like myself, draw it free hand.

Now using either scissors or a precision knife (which I used) cut out all your gift tags.

Once complete, use a hole punch to punch a hole in each of your tags. For your regular shaped tags punch a hole at the top centre of the tag a cm from the edge. As for the heart tag, punch your hole a few cms from the edge on the top right hand side.

Decorate each tag using the different instructions below for each.

Sliver Tag

Use two different designs of card to cut out the shape of one small and one big square. Be sure to ensure these are no wider than your tag. See the silver tag below for a visual idea on required size.

Use glue dots to Secure the squares to the centre of the tag ensuring they are at a slight angle with the smaller square slightly over lapping the larger squares top left hand corner (see image for further clarification).

Now use gold Pic-Tixx 3D glitter to boarder around the hole of your tag as well as to create a cross on one of your squares. Now use silver Pic-Tixx for the remaining square. This should now resemble two ribbon wrapped gifts.The Pic-Tixx should be shaken and tested first as to make sure it isn’t coming out too watery. If this is the case keep applying pressure to the tube in till it thickens up.

Take two tiny gold beads and place in the centre of each square pressing gently into the Pic-Tixx glitter. Now place your tag to one side to dry.

Gold Letter Tag

For the gold tag use gold Pic-Tixx glitter to boarder the tag all the way around its edges. Now boarder the hole like you did for the silver tag. In the centre of your tag write the letter of the gift recipients first name in the Pic-Tixx silver glitter (the Pic-Tixx precision nib makes this simple to achieve).

Use four of the tiny gold beads to decorate the four corners of the tag. The Pic-Tixx glitter boarder will act as the glue needed to hold the beads in place. You can now place your gold tag to one side to dry.

Blue & white Glitter Tag

For this tag you should have selected any patterned card featuring small flowers or better still snow flakes.

Use the silver Pic-Tixx glitter to randomly draw around some of the flowers or snow flakes (see pic for clarification).

Now use the gold Pic-Tixx to boarder your tags hole (as you have done for previous tags).

Now take some of the gold beads and place them in the centre of the glittered Pic-Tixx flowers or snowflakes. If any of your Pic-Tixx flowers or snow flakes are located at the edge of your tag only exposing small areas of the design then reframe from adding beads. As you can see I just added three beads to the pattern in the tags centre.

Now place with your other tags to dry.

Shimmery Cream Tag

Cut two similar sized triangles from your silver card, ensuring they are no larger or wider than your tag (see image of mine for visual instructions).

With glue dots secure the triangles to the centre of the tag as to create the symbol of a star (one triangle is placed upside down on top of the other to create this effect).

Use the gold Pic-Tix Glitter to write the the first letter of your gift recipients name In the centre of your star and again boarder your tags hole.

Place one gold bead at one of the letters edges allowing the Pic-Tixx to secure it in place.

Place your tag with the others to allow to dry.

Leopard Print Heart Tag

Bring forward your leopard print heart tag and with a precision knife with a small tip cut out two tiny oval shapes at the centre top of tag (see precise location in the image of this tag)

Once you have taken the above step, use the gold Pic-Tixx glitter to boarder the tags edges and that of the oval shaped cut outs and tags hole.

Now randomly add the tiny gold beads around the tags boarder (see image)

Lastly, place your tag with all the other decorated tags and allow to dry.

Tags will normally be fully dry in around 3 hours, in some cases quicker depending on the drying location. Mine took around an hour but I left a little longer as to be sure.

Once all tags are dry cover the designs in Decopatch glossy glue or shimmery Mod Podge. If using using Decopatch Glue add some ultra fine silver glitter dust (just a pinch). Glue will dry clear giving the tags a professional and durable finish.

Again tags can take anything from an hour to three hours to dry. You will know when the process is complete as the tags will look shiny and the glue would have dried clear. I like to do this part before bed so I know my tags will be fully dried by morning.

Now add hole reinforcers to the back of your tags hole to ensure its extra strong.

Finishing touches

Use the thin black ribbon to thread through the two oval cutouts on the leopard print heart tag. Then to finish tie the tread into a bow cutting off any excess.

Now thread your chosen ribbon through the hole of all your tags. You can make a loop by securing ribbon to the back of the card or leave ribbon hanging so it can be attached, allowing tag to dangle from gift.

Messages written on gift tags look extra special when they have been wrote in glittery or metallic gel pens.

Would love to help about everyone else’s festive craft ideas, so feel free to share.

Reference

Pic-Tixx – Baker Ross Ltd
Card – eBay
Tiny Gold Beads – HobbyCraft
Ribbon – Baker Ross Ltd

Autumn Collage Toddler Style

We love Baker Ross Ltd and can always be found raving on about their fantastic online store that stocks absolutely everything craft.

The toddler who will be 3 this December and not yet in nursery, is a massive fan of anything arty & crafty. This may have something to do with the extent of crafting activities we do in the home. I can honestly say that from the moment Harley opens his eyes in the mornings his requesting we get out the paints and glitter.

I do really love crafting with the toddler. its a great way to enjoy the time we have together before he does start school. Its also an excellent opportunity to get them involved in fun but educational activities. Harley is my youngest of three children and with no future plans to add to the numbers, I’m really hanging on to these Pre-school years, because as most parents will know… Before you know it they have started school and them early years quickly disappear.

A few days back Harley was in a true crafty mood… So much so, there was no stopping him from his creative activities, not even for a spot of lunch.

He had lots of crafty fun making this fabulous autumn collage.

For this activity, Harley used…

A large piece of coloured card ( PoundLand)
Section of giant glitter finger and stamping paints 500ml (Baker Ross Ltd)
Selection of coloured self adhesive foam (Baker Ross Ltd) that I cut into a selection of shapes
Some poster paints ( Sainsburys)

Tools required… Fingers, brushes… Plus lots of imagination.

There really was lots of messy fun when it came to this extra thick tactile glitter finger & stamping paint. These come in large 500ml pots and are available in various colours. They are one of the newest products in the Baker Ross range and at £3.99 per pot, a really great buy.

Harley used both his fingers and a number of different brushes to apply the paint to his collage. This paint drys super fast and due to its thickness it transfers from pot to paper really well. Its really tactile so a great paint for any little sensory seekers.

Harley also used some standard poster paint before finally enjoying some sticking fun. This was achieved with the foam shapes (that I had cut out for him). These were applied randomly around the collage, with Harley mixing paint and foam as went.

Lots of sticky, sensory fun.

Once dried Harley’s Masterpiece was hung on the wall for all to admire.