Blogger Recognition Award!

I am so happy to be nominated for The Blogger Recognition Award by Katie from quirky and wonderful. Thank you Katie!

Katie is a girl after my own heart, who loves crafting and food! (Perfect)! I love reading her blog and catching up with her new recipe ideas and crafts. If you haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Katies blog, please pop over and say hi! It is a truly wonderful place!

Here are the rules:

• Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Write a post to show your award. Attach the award to the post.
• Give a brief story of how your blog started.
• Give a piece of advice or two to new bloggers.
• Select up to 10 other blogs you want to give the award to.

 

How my blog started –

My youngest sister used to blog and she tried several times to get me to start writing my own blog. She said I would really enjoy it and that it would give me a great place to write. I didn’t even consider it to begin with. I was busy with two young kids, a part time job and looking after my niece and nephew whilst my sister worked. I did not think I would be able to find the time to squeeze anything else in! However after she asked me a few more times and offered her help to set it up I thought I would go for it. I knew straight away what I wanted my blog to be about! I feel passionately about allowing children to use their imagination and explore their creativity. I love spending time with my kids and I love crafting and creating. Me and my little ones spend a lot of time doing craft activities together and we love it. I love how much confidence kids gain from creating something their-self and seeing their pride in their creating! If I inspire just one family to create and craft more with their kids through sharing my craft ideas, then I am happy!

A piece of advice for new bloggers – 

I’ve only been blogging for eight months so I still feel fairly new to the blogging world! I’m still learning new things so this award is very much appreciated! My advice would be to write about things you feel strongly for. If you write without passion or interest then I think your blog visitors will sense it. I love interacting with other bloggers too and feel like I have met many new friends from all over the world! I love blogging as I write about what I love, so it isn’t a chore to be blogging. It is a genuine pleasure!

My nominees – 

nataschas palace

florence and freddie

the joy of five

reuse recycle relove

sams kitchen

white camellias

That mom – wife life

lynz real cooking

lynnes recipe trails

I love every one of these blogs and enjoy visiting them. They are all beautiful blogs which welcome visitors with open arms! If you would like to participate, that would be wonderful, if not there is no pressure! I could have nominated so many more blogs so I have tried to nominate blogs that I don’t think have been nominated already. If you have I am sorry!

Thanks again to Katie! I hope you all have a beautiful day!

 

Cute printed chicks!

Today the weather has been awful (again)! Why is it that every time the little ones break up for school the rain begins to pour?! My hopes for doing an outdoor Easter egg hunt are diminishing by the minute! These little printed chicks really brighten up your rainy days and add a little bit of Spring sunshine to your home!

To make your printed chicks you will need – yellow paint, orange paint, glue, paper, googly eyes and a potato.

1-Begin by dipping your potato into the yellow paint and printing onto a piece of plain paper. Then dip your finger into the orange paint and print down next to the potato print to make your chicks wings.

2- Make your chicks legs with fingerprints and then leave to dry.

3 – Once the paint is dry, add googly eyes and a painted beak to finish your chick.

A super simple Easter craft which the kids will love! They have certainly brightened up our home today!

Have a wonderful Easter!

Proud of her little chick prints!

Paper plate chicks!

Today my daughter decided to make an Easter themed craft for her Dad to say Happy Easter. She didn’t want to do another Easter card so decided to make a paper plate chick. She made this craft in school a couple of years ago and she has revisited it lots of times since. I think she loves how simple and cute the chick looks! This craft is super easy and doesn’t require many materials so is very cheap to make!

To make your chick you will need – paper plate, yellow paint, orange card (or paper coloured if you have none), googly eyes, glue, paper and orange paint.

1 -Begin by painting your paper plate yellow. This will form your chicks body. Next paint your hands orange and print down onto a piece of plain paper.

2 – Whilst these are drying make a beak by cutting out a triangle on a folded piece of orange card so that it opens like a beak. We used paper which my daughter coloured in orange as we have ran out of orange card!

3 – When your paper plate and hand prints are dry cut out your hand prints and glue them on either side of your paper plate. (I stick onto the back of the plate so that it looks neater). Next stick on some googly eyes and your beak.

4 – Make your chicks legs by cutting out two strips from your orange card (or coloured paper) and fold them to form a concertina effect. Attach to the back of the plate using glue or sticky tape.

A wonderful, simple craft to make over the Easter weekend! I hope you all have a lovely Easter!

(Why not give my facebook page a ‘like’ if you enjoy my posts? I would love to see you over there too!)

 

Happy Easter everyone!

Easter egg decorating!

I wanted to share a picture of the decorated eggs my little ones made for their school Easter competition. They love decorating their hard boiled eggs and thinking about what they would like to turn their eggs into each year! Last year they made these gorgeous eggs!

This year my 8 year old daughter wanted to make the Easter bunny again (she is completely rabbit obsessed so any excuse is a good one!), and my 5 year old son wanted to make the Gruffalo. We hard boiled some eggs and let them cool completely before painting them. (We use acrylic paints as I find they hold better and tend not to slip off and drip as much as other paints). Once the base paint was dry they added extra details using felt tips. Ears and horns were made using paper and then glued on, and they used googly eyes for a more 3D effect! My daughter also stuck a cotton wool tail on her bunny! The holders were made with strips of coloured card stapled together.

The kids loved their finished eggs and they now have pride of place in the centre of our table. I think they did a wonderful job and my daughters egg came second place in her school competition and my sons placed third! They were both super proud!

A fantastic activity to try over the Easter holidays!

Paper cup chick Easter basket!

I wanted to share with you an Easter craft I did earlier today as I think it is super sweet and very cute! There are lots of ideas for simple Easter baskets on Pinterest so taking some inspiration we made some using  paper cups. I used a patterned paper cup to make it look extra special but this craft would work well with any coloured or even white cups.

To make your paper cup basket you will need – paper cup, tissue paper -shredded, yellow card, orange card, coloured card, glue, googly eyes and feathers.

1 – Begin by cutting out a circle from card. This will be your chicks head. Next glue on googly eyes and a beak. Make the beak by cutting out a triangle from a folded piece of orange card – cut on the fold so that the beak opens. Next glue down the chicks head onto the front of your paper cup.

2 – Decorate the cup with feathers and attach a handle using a strip of card.

3 – Once the cup is dry put shredded tissue paper inside. Add some chocolate eggs for a sweet surprise if you wish!

I love how simple this Easter craft is and it looks super cute! The kids loved making them and filling their baskets afterwards with the chocolate! A fantastic activity to do over the Easter holidays with the little ones.

You can adapt this craft to have whatever decoration you like on the front. You could make a lamb or an Easter egg and use sequins / glitter etc to decorate. The possibilities are vast!

For more Easter ideas please take a peek at my Easter page!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Fingerprint Lambs!

I love Spring! It makes me feel all warm inside and super excited for the warm, sunny weather! It feels like this last Winter has been a really long one so I am incredibly glad that the days are already getting a little longer.

One of the things that you can’t escape living here in Wales are sheep – which invariably bring gorgeous lambs each Spring! The cutest, sweetest little animals. I cannot help but think of Spring time when you see them bouncing around the fields here! I thought to mark the first day of Spring it would be a nice idea to do a lamb themed craft with the kids. (This craft is also a brilliant activity for Easter time).

To make your fingerprint lambs you will need – paint (your colour choice – we used silver), coloured paper, plain paper, glue and felt tip pens.

Begin by finger printing onto plain paper the shape of your lambs body.

Once you have filled your body shape with prints leave to dry. Cut out shapes from coloured paper (we used pink) to be the four legs, head and tail. Glue them onto your lambs body and add eyes. We used eye stickers but you could use googly eyes or draw them on.

Finally add a mouth and make a bow from coloured paper to stick onto the lambs neck.

My son and daughter made quite a few of these cute lambs! They really enjoyed this simple activity and are already planning on turning some into Easter cards for family and friends. A very simple but effective idea for Spring time and Easter!

 

Easter card – cheep cheep!

I cannot believe that Easter is only a week away! How quickly the time seems to pass these days!

Easter provides some fantastic craft opportunities and I love Easter as it feels like Spring has truly arrived at long last! Already the air is getting a little warmer, grass is greener, flowers are starting to bloom and we have lambs frolicking in every nearby field (much to my kids delight)!

This little cutie was leaping about in the field next to Grandmas house when we visited yesterday!

Whilst my 2 year old nephew was with me yesterday I decided to make an Easter card with him for his mummy. As he is still quite young I thought a printing craft would be cute and relatively easy for him to do with just a little guidance. I chose to make an Easter chick card as both my kids have enjoyed making these in the past and they are lovely to look back on as the little ones grow!

To make your Easter chick card you will need – card in your colour choice, orange paint, yellow paint, googly eyes, glue, scissors, orange crayon, paint brushes, a potato and paper.

Begin by printing the chicks body shape onto paper using a potato half and yellow paint (I cut a handle into the potato half to help my nephew hold the potato).

Next paint your two hands with orange paint and print down onto another piece of paper. These will be your chicks wings!

Once your chicks body and wings are dry, cut them out and stick them onto a piece of folded card like this –

Next glue down some googly eyes!

 

Then add a beak and feet. We coloured in some paper with orange crayon as we have ran out of orange card! We cut out two triangles for feet and a triangle cut on the fold of a piece of paper so that it opens to look like a beak.

My nephew also added a feather to make him look extra cute!

My sister loved her home made card from my nephew and he loved making it! I think chick looks super cute! A wonderful activity which uses a variety of different art techniques for your little ones to try!

Please take a look at my Easter craft category page for more Easter fun ideas.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Home made dolls pillow!

My eight year old daughter is becoming very interested in sewing and has made Barbie clothes in the past with ease. (It is safe to say her sewing skills are already far better than mine)! She really enjoys making little clothes and accessories herself and then using them with her dolls.

A few days ago she decided she wanted to make a pillow for her larger dolls and teddies to use. She found some leftover material we had and some stuffing and set to work!

To make your own dolls pillow you will need – square/rectangle material piece (large enough for your doll / teddy to rest their head when folded in half), stuffing, needle and thread.

Begin by folding your material in half and turning it inside out so that the outside of the material is on the inside. We used pins to keep the material in place. Then start sewing all around the open edges.

Make sure that you leave a gap on the final side of approximately 8 cm to fill your pillow with stuffing.

Next turn your pillow inside out again so it is the correct way around.

Then fill your pillow with the stuffing! My daughter loves this part!

Once you have stuffed your pillow finish off by sewing the gap up and knotting off at the end.

My daughter loves her new dolls pillow and it hardly cost me anything! She is super proud of herself and is thinking of making a matching blanket too.

I think her dollies will be very happy and comfy on their home made pillow!

 

Paper craft dinosaur!

As lots of you know, one of our favourite crafts to do are paper crafts. The kids love to make things with paper and glue, and use their own ideas in their craft work to express their individuality. If you are looking for some more paper craft ideas please check out my paper craft posts!

My five year old son wanted to do some paper craft the other day and I thought he would like to make a dinosaur as they are one of his big interests at the moment. He was super excited to make his paper craft dinosaur!

To make your paper craft dinosaur you will need – coloured paper of your choice (we chose blue), glue, scissors and felt tip pens.

Begin by cutting out the shapes you will need to form your dinosaur. We cut out a body shape, four legs, a long neck, a head and a tail.

Next arrange your pieces where you would like them to be before sticking them down. My son finds this easier so that he can decide where to put the shapes before he sticks them down with glue. Once you know where you would like the different pieces use the glue to stick them down.

Once your dinosaur is dry, you can add features with your felt tip pens. My son drew on spots and a face!

My little boy loves his special dinosaur craft and is super proud that he made it himself! I love seeing the pride in kids faces when they see what they have made.

Dinosaur now has pride of place in my sons room, “keeping a lookout for any bad dinosaurs who may enter my room mum”!