beaded mobile

I began making these beaded circles as Christmas decorations.  Then I got hooked because they really are so simple to make. The most time consuming part was the deciding on the patterns and colours.  All you need is:

Memory wire

Wire

Pliers

Beads

 Cut the memory wire into loops that are about 1 and a half circles.

Using the pliers, bend one end up and into a small loop so that beads stay on.

 Thread beads onto memory wire. You can add a charm hanging down if you wish.  When you have completed a whole circle, bend a small circle using the pliers, and wrap the remaining wire around the two ends and cut off the excess.

To make the heart, I bent wire into a heart shape, then threaded beads onto fine wire and wrapped it around the wire shape.  

One of the circles is a clear plastic curtain ring with beads wrapped around it.  

To make the 'cobweb' circle, once I had threaded beads onto the memory wire and joined the two ends together, I threaded beads onto fine wire and wrapped and threaded wire and beads back and forth across the circle.

Toilet Roll Mobile

I had a growing collection of toilet rolls, and I came up with this idea while playing around with them.  Cut the toilet roll on the join from the bottom of the roll up to the top, to give a spiral shape.  You can try drawing your own shape that winds around the roll and cut along it.

Gather a selection of papers, punches, fabrics, ribbons, embellishments etc.

Lay your cardboard spiral along the paper to get the shape and cut out; then glue on. Layer different papers and embellish as you wish.

 Thread string through one side of the spiral and attach to a stick.

Let the spirals hang freely so they can twirl around.

a fairy tea party

My 6 year old niece loves fairies! And every time I go and visit, she is always playing in the garden, making decorations for the fairies, and together we go out into the garden and gather things to create a teaparty for the fairies. Pretty petals make lovely plates to serve little florets of broccoli and sprigs of parsley.

My niece loves to eat parsley and broccoli, and what fun to eat off special little petal plates!

Daisy chains wound around branches and trees add a pretty decorative touch, and it is so nice to sit in the garden and make daisy chains. Nature is good for the soul, and so important for children's development.