Friday Inspiration: Button Tree

Friday Inspiration: a picture of anything that makes me want to get creative.

I found this in my local Hobbycraft in a corridor on my out of the lift (with a pushchair). 

I love the multimedia mix and colours.

Tempting Tuesday: Rice Crispy Sushi

Tempting Tuesday: trying not to kill my family with my experimental cooking.

 

 

You may have noticed by now how obsessed I am by sushi and yes, although I hate fish in all forms, I am finding all the ways I can to make the super cute food regardless. 

This version is made using lovely gooey rice crispy cake and sweets. 

 

Melt 25g of butter with 100g of marshmallows in a pan, then pour over 100g of rice crispies & mix well. 

 

After a few failed attempts to flatten it out, I finally managed it by putting it in between two Teflon sheets (can't recommend them enough) and going over the top gently with a rolling pin. If you're too rough, you'll just crush the crispies.

 

I laid rainbow strips across the top & trimmed the rice crispy accordingly. 

I would recommend making the rice crispy cake shorter than the strips because it'll squish into place better. 

 

I put a strawberry cable in the centre and rolled it up. This is possibly the trickiest thing I've ever attempted but I got there eventually after much rolling and squashing. 

 

Then it's the joyful slicing up. I love this bit.

 

 

Not bad for a first attempt. 

Monday Make: Recipe Book

Monday Make: This week's project

Now that I'm finally working through my recipe scrapbook, I thought it time to revamp it. I loved it but it was a bit tired and well worn on the few pages I actually used on a regular basis (mostly vanilla sponge and pancakes).

I found an A5 ringbinder in my stationary stash and filled it with painstakingly printed out lined pages, with lovely rainbow lines and a cute border (put together in Microsoft Publisher). I also made some cute title pages and a front cover in Photoshop.

I found some leftover A4 dividers and cut them to size to separate the chapters and used my label maker (yay! love my label maker) to label them.

Just in case you need them;

Now I just need to finish writing out my recipes and I look forward to amending the ones that inspire me but I can't put in as they are because they contain ingredients I hate...

Monday Make: Sandcastle

Monday Make: This week's project

Inspired by Pinterest I wanted to have a go at making a sandcastle. 
My thoughts were a combination of these two makes;

So I started with my Pringles tube (had to buy them especially), a few toilet rolls and some cereal boxes. 

I did this at least three times and I still wasn't happy with it, but continued regardless.

Then I covered my creation in strips of paper with PVA to strengthen it. 

I stuck on some sea shells and pebbles from the boys collection with a hot glue gun (yeah, I never throw their beach collections away). 

Then I glued on some play sand. It took a few layers and a lot of patience. 

I'm not that pleased with it but I'm glad I gave it a bash. 

If I ever do it again, I would make a smaller, cuter version. 

What do you think? 

What would you do differently?

Leave a comment below. 

Sticky Saturday: Flower Petal Placemats

                                Sticky Saturday: messy play fun with kids

I've had this project in my plan for the year's activities but I had begun to think we couldn't do it, as I had originally planned to use the blossom from the local trees, but my timing was out and the blossom is gone now. However, my Mother's garden is chocca full of flowers, so with her consent, I went round with a carrier bag.

These are very simple to make, and beautifully effective.

I cut out some frames using sugar paper and popped them inside laminating pouches.

The trickiest bit was laminating that many placemats before everyone went home...

You can always tell how much the parents/carers liked the craft by how many are left when we close...they were all gone.

Monday Make: Flower Brooch

Monday Make: This week's project

 

 

I made this for a present. It didn't work out quite how I imagined it to be but I'm hoping in time the petals will go a little floppy and twisty, giving it a more organic kind of look.

The recipient put it straight on (though she may have just been being kind) and then, compliment of compliments, a bumble bee immediately made a bee line (see what I did there haha) for it. She soon worked out it was a fakery but it was nice to see her fluffy bottom, if only briefly.

 

#tbt: Butterfly Wall Art

Throw back Thursday: taking a look at stuff I've made in the past.

 

 

I made this about a year ago.

Actually, I made it, took it apart and re-did it several times until I was happy with it. I'm super glad I didn't give up on it or leave it after the first attempt because it sucked.

It's made using pages from my old copy of Pride and Prejudice (which makes me love it even more), brown paint, some brown fabric from my stash, a wooden frame Mr Strawberry made for me, a staple gun from B&Q and a butterfly cutter from Hobbycraft.

I painted the pages using watered down paint, then cut out the butterflies when they were dry.

Then I painted the tree across the top of the fabric.

Once dry, I pinned the butterflies to the fabric and stitched them on using my sewing machine.

Next I stretched the whole thing across the frame and stapled it down at the back, starting in the middle of each side and working my way outwards.

Then I discovered the stitching had made a lot of the butterflies split in half, so I glued them back on and glued the others to make them a little stronger. A year later, they're still attached, which is amazing as it's been hung in the living room, sharing it's space with two raucous boys.