Handmade Poppies by Poppy Sparkles

Handmade Poppies by Poppy Sparkles

Remembrance Day is drawing near and the Poppy Appeal for 2011 has officially started today. For those who would like to remember the brave men and women who have and those that continue to risk their lives, but would like a more unique poppy I have created a Poppy Sparkles Remembrance Day Poppy.

Each handmade poppy is individually handmade with red grosgrain ribbon, finished with a large black button and a brooch pin on the reverse.

For each poppy sold I am donating £1 to the British Legion and have set myself a target of £50. I am just £8 or 8 poppies away from this target - a big thank you to those who have supported me so far.


You can purchase a poppy from my website and I will then donate the £1 per poppy on your behalf.

 To view my progress, you can go to my Just Giving Page.

Quality Yarns with a Less than High Price Tag

Today I'd like to share with you some tips for picking up yarns at a lower price. Some yarns can be less than cheap, but once you've used something of better quality I bet you won't go back to more budget, acrylic-rich yarns. I personally love cotton - I love the feel of it and it's a great choice for clothing as skin can breath. My tastes in yarns can get expensive, so I've had to find ways to pick up some of the lovely yarns I buy at reduced prices.

Ball o' Wool  by Jane Heller Photography

Tip #1: Check out the oddments bin
Whenever I visit my local yarn shop I always check out the 'oddments' basket. I've picked up some absolutely beautiful balls of yarn at reduced prices as there are just a few balls left - not enough to create a bigger project should as a jumper, but ideal for smaller projects such as wristwarmers or a hat. I often pick up odd balls of cotton this way which I use to make cupcakes in a range of colours for my kids to play with. I recently picked up 4 balls of Sublime Cashmerino Aran at just £2 a ball - so far I have a lovely cabled beanie, but intend to add matching wristwarmers and perhaps even a cowl or neckwarmer.

Blue Yarn Ball by Heather Future on Etsy

Tip #2: Kemps Wool Shop
Kemps Wool Shop is a little online treasure trove of yarn, with some at absolutely bargainous prices. There's a range of well known makes such as Sirdar, Twilleys, Sublime and Rowan. I've ordered from Kemps Wool Shop a few times and it's great to pick up quality yarns at fab prices.


Tip #3: Check out Ebay

Some of the yarn on Ebay is being sold at the usual RRP price and for odd balls of yarn the postage charges make it an expensive option. However, keep an eye out as there are often bargains to be had, especially when someone is selling off a job lot of yarn having decided not to make a planned project.

Organic Cotton Yarns by Scarecrow Organics

Tip #4: Check out Etsy and other handmade market places
Crafters tend to be hoarders and may have to 'de-stash' at some point. A selection pack, like the image above, is also a great way to sample a range of colours without spending a forturne. Check out the supplies section on places like Etsy for such listings.

Do you have any tips for purchasing yarn? Any great places for picking up beautiful yarns?

Make your own Ladybird (or Gaston for the Ben and Holly fans)

Randomly on Saturday night my little boy started to tear a piece of paper into stripes and colour them black. "I'm making stripes to make a tiger" he replied upon questioning. Well, of course, silly mummy for not knowing. I was really pleased at this stroke of creativity, undirected or prompted by myself or Daddy and promised that I'd get a glue stick and he could make a tiger the next day (it was time for bath and bedtime routine).

So we slept, had breakfast, Sunday morning outing with Daddy whilst I had a bit of chill.... ok, so I didn't exactly chill. I managed some housework, blogging, catching up with emails and twitter and some knitting. I don't do sitting around doing nothing very well.

Lunchtime and the kids arrived home. The promise of a glue stick had not been forgotten and whilst in my craft room finding one, a spot of inspiration hit me when I glanced at some red and black card. I grabbed the card, a little circle punch and the glue.

Mr Man likes to 'paint' with glue!  Sorry about the blurred image, but it's the only one of my little boy and he's sat next to me insisting he has a picture of him used like his sister.

Within minutes we were making ladybirds, or 'Gaston' as my kids are Ben and Holly fans. It's really simple to draw a ladybird based on Gaston - in fact, within hours our 3 year old can now draw one!

Little Miss' Ladybird

Mr Man's Ladybird - he decided to colour the head for a more authentic look and I created an eye using a larger circle punch to punch out the white scalloped circle and then added one of the black spots.

And this is Daddy's who really got into making ladybirds!

 Simply draw a semi-circle, add on six legs, facial features and antenae. I then punched out some spots out of black card and let my kids loose with the glue. In future I'll be using PVA glue and glue spreaders as usual - little man managed to use an entire stick of glue - he had to coat the entire ladybird in glue, not just the spots!

Grrr! Tiger! (Excuse the poor tiger drawing by Mummy!)

Once we were done and ladybird-ed out we returned to making that tiger with stripes.

Creating a Kids' Craft Box - Guest post by Red Ted Art

Today I'm pleased to welcome Maggy from Red Ted Art, who admits she loves to "Get Crafty with my kids" and bring weekly How Tos for Adults and teens. Maggy also writes The Good life Blog. Today Maggy will be sharing her tips for creating a kids craft box - the bonus is that it isn't all about rushing and spending money. 

We love to craft and we love to craft with “anything”…. I am a strong believer that you shouldn’t have to buy lots of expensive materials to have fun with your kids.

So today, is all about how to build up an inexpensive but fun craft box!

Storage

Firstly, find somewhere  to store your materials.. or else you will soon find your house turn into crafty chaos. A shoe box or two would do the trick!  You can even decorate these with your kids – an activity all in itself!

Essential Bought Items

Simple Stick men with googly eyes

I try and say that you really don’t need to buy much, but there are some basics:

·         Scissors,

·         PVA glue,

·         Paint,

·         Googly Eyes

Yep! That REALLY IS IT. To begin with. 

Over time you can add things like:

·         Funky Foam,

·         Felt,

·         Pipecleaners,

·         Feathers

But the first list is our most used items. We ADORE googley eyes and find that they do transform most things in an instant – just see our stick men and you will have to agree!

We like using acrylics, as they don’t crumble. But they stain. An alternative  is to mix poster paint with a little PVA glue.

From the Home

·         Loo Rolls

·         Ribbons from gifts

·         Tissue paper from flowers/ gifts/ store bought items

·         Wrapping paper from gifts

·         Lids of all shapes and sizes

·         All manner of boxes

·         Paper used in packaging (we decorate it and use it as wrapping paper)

·         Old clothes (old, but not too tatty)

·         Basically ANYTHING you can get your hands on and that looks useful!

Our favourite “recycled” craft have been our Robots. But we make MANY loo roll men too..

From the office:

·         Old subject dividers (as coloured card)

·         Old presentation covers (clear sheets of plastic)

·         Waster paper from printer

From Nature:

·         Stones

·         Sticks

·         Pine Cones

·         Chestnuts

·         Acorns

·         Leaves

·         Helicopter seeds

If you need help to Get Crafty with Nature, check out my ebook. For the price of a cup of coffee, I will hopefully inspire you to get crafty all year around.

I do hope that the above is helpful and that you will start creating a very special (and inexpensive) craft box for yourself!

Thank you Maggy - although I have a craft box, it's good to be reminded of the host of crafting resources I can find all around me without spending any money.  

Do you have a craft box for your kids? What are your essential items? Or have you been inspired to start a craft box by Maggy's suggestions?