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.

Glitter Nuggets

Again following along with my fairies theme, these glitter nuggets are perfect in any fairy world, or to decorate a garden path for your dolls house, use as magnets, counters, as counting stones (to help children with maths), and whatever else you can think of. I think you can't have too many of them, and they are so easy to make and pretty to look at!  Again, this is a really simple craft, and fun for both adults and children.

I got this idea from http://stimulatinglearning.co.uk, one of my favourite blogs for teaching young children. Her blog is so inspirational.

All you need are:
Clear glass nuggets (I got mine from the local dollar store in a net bag)
Clear nail polish
Glitter
Plastic tray or lid for working on (small ice cream container lids are good)

Pour some glitter onto your tray.
Brush nail polish onto the bottom of your glass nugget.
Dip nugget into glitter.
Tap off excess glitter; leave to dry.
When dry, apply another coat of clear nail polish.

I have found that young children can pull off the layer of glitter when I adhered it using the nail polish; in this case, apply PVA glue to the bottom of the glass nugget rather than nail polish; dip in glitter; and apply a protective coat of nail polish when dry.

To help with counting, I made sets of ten nuggets in different colours: 10 silver, 10 red, 10 pink, 10 green, and 10 blue.

Wishing Stones

Rock painting is such a peaceful activity. Following on from my fairies, I decided to paint some wishing rocks, to go into a fairy garden. These are simple to do. All you need are:

Stones

Acrylic paint

Clear nail varnish

A tool to create dots - a skewer works well; you could also used a chopstick for larger dots, and toothpicks for small dots.

 Gather some stones. I collected some stones from the beach, but I also bought a bag of rocks from the local dollar store. Give them a coat of paint, top and bottom and allow to dry. (Don't paint both the top and the bottom at once. Paint the tops and let them dry; then turn them over and paint the bottoms and allow to dry). It is easier to paint a whole pile at once rather than just doing one stone.

Dip your tool into the paint, and dot onto your stone. You can do whatever patterns you choose. I did a couple of random patterns, wavy patterns, and some circle patterns. I used one colour at a time, putting silver on all my stones; then chose another colour paint to put on and applied it to all my stones; and so on. This gives stones a chance to dry and saves you switching back and forth between colours.

When dry, apply a coat of clear nail polish to protect your stones.

Fairies!

I admit it, I love fairies. I have done ever since childhood. My favourites stories were about brownies, gnomes, dwarves, pixies and elves. And fairies.
So when I went to Thames and saw this beautiful book in the local sewing shop, I couldn't go past it.

 The lady in the shop was lovely, and when I started to talk to her about the book, she took me out the back and showed me all the fairies that one of her customers had made - and they were gorgeous! That was it, I had to buy it! And it didn't just have fairies, there were ninjas, mermaids, witches and wizards, leprechauns.... It showed me the versatility of these basic pipecleaner figures and how I could adapt them to suit whatever theme we might have at school. The book contains patterns for everything - the clothes, the bodies, gorgeous treasure keepers, and even little animal bags and pouches! (There are even hints at the back of the book for teaching children to make them).

So, I went home, and already had most of what I needed so I got started straight away! I love how easy it is to make each fairy different, just by changing the hair, the colour of the dress, adding a flower or two, using different thread, adding sequins or beads or tiny flowers.

That night I found myself dreaming about fairies, and I couldn't wait to get up and start making more of them.  I had to go and buy some more pipecleaners the next day.

It's funny how once you start looking out for something, it comes to you. I visit my local charity shop almost every weekend, and once I started looking for fibre (for the fairies hair), I found bags of 6 balls of eyelash fibre for only $3 a bag. In different colours too! So I am not going to run out of fibre any time soon.

Some fairies have gone to school where we have created a Fairyland on a little table for the children to play with; I have got some fairies in an Autumn display on my pedal organ which does not work and is pretty much for display purposes only; and I have got some fairies in my craft room waiting to have a garden made for them. What do you do with your fairies?

I do have some fairies available for sale.  You can find me every month at the Mt Eden Village Craft Market with my children's book, fairies and other story telling characters and crafts.  https://www.facebook.com/Mt-Eden-Village-Craft-Market-338452259534044/

Just Desserts - recycling bottle caps!

I love cakes and desserts, and I love fairies and dollshouses and miniature things. This is a combination of the two, inspired by Anne Farrell's blog (an Australian artist). This is a fabulous way to recycle and re-use lids and bottle caps, perfect for the dolls house or family corner or miniature world, and perfect to make with children. I did this with four year olds and they loved it and made lots and lots!

You will need a selection of:

Lids (from milk bottles, soda drinks, empty cooking oil bottles, medicine bottles, dishwash, shampoo and moisturiser lids. I found myself raiding the kitchen and bathroom cupboards, and the recycle bin!)

Bottle caps

Buttons

Beads

Glue. Tacky glue works really well and dries clear and strong. But try PVA and hot glue as well. Hot Glue has a different consistency so you can try different things with it, such as swirling it upwards, or  use it to give a clear covering over the top of beads.

Ribbon. Try gluing a length of ribbon around tall lids for fancy cakes.

Felt and craft foam - helpful to cut into small circles to place on top of lids (for the beads to sit on) or inside 'pie cases' to resemble icing and fillings.

Play around with your materials, placing beads and buttons on lids to create fun little cakes. I turned some bottle caps upside down to make tart cases, and filled them with seed beads. The best way to do this was with the hot glue gun, and a teaspoon. I dipped the spoon into the beads, and poured them over the hot glue, then tapped off the excess. I found it best to work on a tray, otherwise the seed beads went everywhere!

I put some small lids on top of a larger lid, and topped them off with a selection of beads. Choose which colours you want to go for and what effect you would like. Brown beads resemble chocolate.

Some large beads had a visible hole  - I solved this by using the tacky glue and gluing a small bead over the top of it.

When working with the children, I laid out a selection of beads, lids, bottle caps, PVA glue and brushes, and let them go for it. If using PVA, be generous with the amount of glue you are using, to hold the beads fast.

At school I had brought along some seed pods.  Some children had emptied the seeds out of the seed pod, so we stuck the seeds onto the lids as well.  You could try using seeds, lentils and beans as well. There are no limits to imagination if you are willing to let it soar.

The children suggested we put the cakes in Fairyland, so the fairies could have a tea party.

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