Air Drying Clay Christmas Decor. with your kids

Hello my lovers,

Well I wasn't feeling very well, so I decided to stay home and try to have some rest, you may be thinking " you had all weekend for that"... well that's actually not the case... with this 2 little pretend to be monsters and all the house work one has to do, cause it can't possibly be tackled during the week for work reasons has you may well know... I'm already knackered even before the working week starts ... oh well...

 So it got me thinking well I may not be able to walk due to a pain in my leg buuuuttt I can sit down, I may not be able to right or read a book due to my headache but I can still craft...hummmmm

 So I grabbed the air drying clay, my fimo moulds called my little one (she's nearly 3, if you do it with your kids be very careful, not to let them touch their face or swallow any bit) to help me as well, she sat on my side and looked eager to start "What are you doing mommy she asked" - "we're going to make some Christmas tree decorations" I told her; Yeihhh she said with the chickiest smile you could ever see on a child...

 So the material you'll need and that we used is:

- air drying clay
- moulds or cookie cutters
- rubber stamps for patterns or designs
- plastic bags to cover the table
- 1 toothpick ( to make the hanging holes)
- some ribbon or cord
- gloves (optional - if you don't want your hands to get all mucky)
- an hard surface covered with foil or plastic bags to let them dry
- acrylic paints ( spray, etc. - your choice really)
- PVA glue + Glitter ( you choose the colours)

NOTE: it obviously only gets decorated after completely dry which may take around 24h depending on how deep it is; Let it dry away from any windows or sun exposure or it may crack.


How to:

1- take some clay and shape it into a ball or several balls that's up to you, with a pvc roller or one you would only use for crafts roll the clay out into about 0.3mm thickness;

2- place it on your moulds, or use the cookie cutters at this stage, and demold or stamp with the designs you want them to have;

 3- Place it on the hard surface covered with a plastic bag or foil and let it dry;

 4- when completely dried, paint it and decorate it;

 5- attach the ribbon when the paint is dry, and finally hang it up, and enjoy your and your kids work of art.

Hope you enjoy doing it has much has I did.

Go on have some fun and quality time with your little ones, there's nothing like creating memories with them :)



xxxxx

St. Mary's Cathedral Christmas Raffle DIY Prizes

Hello my lovers,

Sunday seems to go by really fast... in fact faster now then ever before, Christmas is nearly here, Kids are going crazy asking for this, that and all the rest and to top it off school holidays are upon us :) yes yes I know we all love it...

 So, St. Marys Cathedral is holding a raffle after the show that the kids will present before the holidays start, parents friends and family were asked to help out with some prizzies to get people interested and then raise funds that would then go towards the school; SO you ask?! - well, I decided to get crafty and make some prizies...

I made a list of things that I could do, and this is what I came up with:
* a x-mas saying canvas
* a blue soft toy
* a box of x-mas tree decorations
* 1 set of Gift boxes
* 1 stationery set
* 1 mini album set

I already made one of the prizies " Christmas saying canvas", I used the sizzix eclips machine some vinyl , a canvas board, some modge podge and some glitter .
Here's a video off some of the steps.

I apologise in advance for my english has its not my native language :) hope you like it, it was my first video ever so hopefully the following ones will be better ;) .

My baby Girl is 6

Hello everyone how have you lot been?!!

Busy yeah, I can believe that more than you think this day to day shores, Christmas run, and in eventuality b-days or other party's do take the better of you every now and then, the secret is "FOCUS" yes you heard me.. "Focus " is the key ingredient in any recipe, any shore or any project, don't loose hope it will all get better or done soon, and then a wonderful thing happens you "will" be able to relax in the knowing that all you had to do is now done... so start it early so that you can finish it early and then  RELAX...

Anyway, with all I had to do this week I also had to prepare two birthday cakes, yeahp not one not 3 2. I cant believe that six years and 3 days ago I had the most traumatic, intense, amazing moment of my life or any women's life GAVE BIRTH... there is no words to describe it really at one point we just want it out, and another we just feel so much love when we see and hold that  little sprout for the first time; it is magical.

 We didn't make any party per say because it was a school day, instead my lovely sprout :D asked me to make her a cake so that she could celebrate with her school friends and colleagues, and another one so that we could sing happy b-day with her, that was her day and she decided what she wanted to do, so we ended up going to Macdonalds as well.

Here's some pictures of the cakes:

 

She is an Hello Kitty fanatic, so I designed the topper and then e-mailed it to a lady on e-bay that printed it onto icing "paper"

 

This one was my first ever done with Icing I think it came out quite alright don't you?!

Now, If I were to buy this from a shop it would cost me at least £15 to £20 each and making it myself I spent £15 including the boards and cake box to take it all the way to school ( inc. the hello kitty topper) 1 kg of flour costing at around £0.80 the same on sugar and eggs plus butter it all brings me to less than £20, so there you go 2 cakes for the price of 1 :) I'm one happy mommy, and whats best is that she loved it .

See you soon my lovers and remember sometimes it pays off to do things yourself, and it has a whole different meaning to it obviously :)

xxxx

Letters for Santa

Hello my wackys,

 How has everyone been lately?! Yeahp that time of the year is arriving once again, and there's only 6 weeks until Christmas the most busy time of the year in any shop, everyone is rushing around buying this that and all the rest, many people I know have all the Christmas shopping sorted, me however is a whole different story, I haven't done a thing yet the work, my girls, housework and this pregnancy... yes yes I know... its true Pregnancy are leaving me drained;

 However in the hope of changing this little fact I'm making this letters to Santa Template for my little ones, I saw some in the shops but I believe they are charging way to much for what it  is £2.00 to £3.50 for a couple of A4 cute letters with 2 envelopes and 2 pretend Santa stamps seem a bit of a highway robbery :), so little old me thought, if they can do it why couldn't I?!

So here they are, I used a software called craftartist:

 

Now , all we need is a red or green envelope and a pretend stamp, and voila your own letter to santa, you can ask your child to make the stamps themselves, and that way it will be much more magical, and santa will get it way faster.

 

If you don't have the software I used you can always do it with word and some google images :)

 

Go on, you have a try I'm sure the kids will love whatever you do.

 

*****