Spring Trees

So since I am enjoying the theme of spring trees while searching for ideas of craft my two could make together I thought we could do paper mache.  Thinking of what we had around the house – a soft drink bottle hadn’t been recycled yet and so there was the base for the trunk of the tree!

Oh the messy fun we had.  I thought I didn’t take too many pictures because of the messiness but I did get a few quite fun ones.

First the recipe – easy to find on the net.  I used the uncooked version  –  which was similar to making salt dough just different measurements.  So 1 part flour to 2 parts water.  (I did cups.  I think I added a little more flour so it wasn’t soooo runny!  I also added a few tablespoons of salt which was recommended for humidity areas so it doesn’t go mouldy).

Then outside we went.  I spread a plastic table cloth on the outside table, put old clothes on the kids and we had fun.  I tried to show them how to scrape the excess off but not so good at that.  What I did find in the recycle bin was newspaper and white paper so we covered the bottle in about 4 layers.  1 newspaper, 1 plain, 1 newspaper, 1 plain.

My two had lots of fun making this and it met my aim of a fun craft to do as a family.  I didn’t really care if it turned out or not, I wanted the process of a craft that we could do together esp my two to have fun playing and making together.

It was easy to make sure all the bottle was covered this was as you could see where the gaps were.  I left it out in the sun to dry, it took about a day and a half.  Since we were not removing the base I decided it was thick enough and didn’t need any more layers such as another paper mache might – eg one using a balloon as a base.

I don’t have any photos of us painting as we had visitors and I had 5 wanting to paint, including one under 2 so I couldn’t juggle the camera as well.  I also didn’t mix the paint very well (probably not enough yellow) as the tree turned out to be more purple than brown.

This craft was very messy, but lots of fun.  It didn’t need much in the way of supplies, the paper came out of the recycle bin, I had the primary colours, I had water and flour and the bottle came from the recycling as well.  A little bit of set up to make sure everything and everyone was covered (I wore an apron).  There was lots of clean up but because we were outside I could use the hose.

Next post will be about making the flowers for the tree.

Up Up and Away

The Autumn mini is out and about and I had fun playing with some more of my new stamps. This set works with the sweet treat set and is lots of fun. (these aren’t the best photos, due to the cup I cannot scan the cards)

And for a change – a flower

stamp set: A Little Treat and Choo Choo (clouds)
ink: Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White
Accessories: Circle Punch, Big Shot, Pretties Kit, Fleurettes II, marshmellows, star beads, choc chips

More from the new catalogue

Here is another use of the sweet cups. A bit harder to scan in. I made a little pouch and put jelly babies in the pouch but used blue jelly bellys in the sweet cups for she had a little boy.

My other favourite new item from the summer catalogue is a butterfly punch which coordinates nicely with the stamp set butterfly prints.

and

This was a very easy card to make and I enjoyed using my vintage brads so the butterfly floats on the card and the crop-a-dile makes it so easy to punch the holes in the butterfly and the card.

Stamp Set: Fifth Avenue Floral; Butterfly Prints
Ink: Riding Hood Red
Card Stock: Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Butterfly Punch; Vintage Brads, Crop-a-dile