Tag: craft

How to Draw… Flower #3

Flower Heads from Different Angles

For our final mini tutorial on how-to-draw flowers, we are looking at how we can change the perspective of our drawing, through simple changes in our drawing technique.

We hope you are all enjoying the #30dayswild activities that are being shared on the Heathlands Facebook Page and we would love to see any of the creative things you have been up to.

You will need:

  • Paper
  • A pencil
  • A rubber
  • A pen

How to draw a flower heads from different angles:

  1. We are going to start by drawing our flowers first this time. Begin by drawing two (2) simple flowers with long petals like in picture one (1).
  2. Next draw a third flower, this time draw the petals at the top and bottom a little shorter, and the petals on one side a lot shorter.
  3. For our final two (2) flowers, draw the centre as “little domes” and only draw petals coming off the side or off the bottom. This way the are facing a different direction, sideways or upwards!
  4. Finally connect your flowers with some stems and add foliage like we did in our first flower tutorial which you can find here: How to Draw… Flower #1
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You can watch our video tutorial here:

How to Draw… Flower #2

A Petalled Flower with Lobed Leaves

Welcome to our latest “hot-to-draw” mini tutorial! These instructions and video’s are all about improving our drawing skills and thinking differently about the simple things we can draw to make them even better.

This week sees the start of our #30dayswild activities with The Wildlife Trusts here at Heathlands, so drawing flowers seems very appropriate!

This is the second in our flower series and this time we are thinking about how to draw petals in an alternative way.

You will need:

  • Paper
  • A pencil
  • A rubber
  • A pen

How to draw a petalled flower:

  1. Begin by drawing two (2) stems connected together like a long U shape, flaring out slightly at the top.
  2. Pencil in two outwardly curvy triangles at the top of each stem.
  3. Add a domed top to each triangle and make a smaller triangle at the bottom of each with a line. You can also add extra stems and flowers if you wish.
  4. Draw long, curved, upside-down triangles to form the petals of your flower heads. The colour in the bottom triangle.
  5. Complete your flower by adding long lobbed leaves and foliage!
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You can watch our video tutorial here:

How to Draw… Flower #1

A Wildflower – Cow Parsley

Next in our mini-series of “how-to-draw” tutorials, is flowers!

Here at Heathlands we are blessed with an amazing 8 & 1/2 acres of woodland, pasture, gardens and wetland. We have a huge variety of wildflowers, we are cataloguing these on our Facebook here: Wildflower Post

It is also June, which means we have started our #30dayswild activities here at Heathlands. You can join in at home by going to The Wildlife Trusts website.

You will need:

  • Paper
  • A pencil or a pen

How to draw a wildflower – cow parsley:

  1. Begin by drawing two (2) stems. One main stem and a secondary stem coming off the first.
  2. Add six (6) curved stalks radiating out from the end of each stem. The centre two (2) stalks should be the longest and the outer two (2) the shortest.
  3. Draw two (2) or three (3) foliage stalks coming off the main stems.
  4. Add delicate feather-like foliage to the stalks from step three (3).
  5. Complete your wildflower by adding little “stars” * to the tips of your flower stalks.
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You can watch our video tutorial here:

How to Draw a Knotwork Wreath

Step by step instructions for an interlacing wreath

We have bee concentrating on our drawing skills at Heathlands lately and this post is no different.

This time we are making things a little more complicated with a knotwork wreath, made of two interlocking or interlacing circles.

You will need:

  • Paper
  • A pencil
  • A pen
  • Something round or a compass
  • A ruler

How to draw a your knotwork wreath:

  1. Begin by drawing a circle.
  2. Make 12 evenly spaced point around your circle. Much like the points on a clock.
  3. At each point, draw an arrow. Your arrows should all point in the same direction.
  4. Inside each arrow create a little diamond.
  5. From inside your arrowheads, draw curved lines to the previous arrow and finish them parallel to them. See images for help. Repeat all the way round.
  6. From the open ends of your arrows, draw more curved lines, meeting up with the diamonds of the previous arrowheads. Again see images for help. Repeat until complete!

You can colour or decorate your wreath as you wish. I have yet to experiment, however, I believe that if you use an odd number of arrows to start with, you will end up with one continuous interlacing circle, rather than two!

Steps 1, 2 & 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Complete

You can watch our video tutorial here:

How to Draw a Heart #3

Heart Wreath with Cursive Text

Our current series of mini drawing films is concentrating on how to draw hearts. For this how-to we are learning how to draw a shamrock of knotwork hearts.

You will need:

  • Paper
  • Coloured pencil or a crayon in green
  • Metallic marker pen

How to draw your layered hearts:

  1. Begin by drawing a large “scribbly” heart with you green crayon or pencil.
  2. Next add lobe shaped leaves all the way around your heart.
  3. Finally add your desired message over the top of you wreath with a metallic marker. You could print out a font to trace or draw your lettering in pencil lightly and go over in marker when you are happy.
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You can watch our video tutorial here:

How to Draw a Heart #2

Heart Shamrock Knotwork

Welcome to a new mini art instruction!

Our current series of mini drawing films is concentrating on how to draw hearts. For this how-to we are learning how to draw a shamrock of knotwork hearts.

You will need:

  • Paper
  • A pencil or a pen

How to draw your layered hearts:

  1. Begin by drawing four heart with the bottom points, pointing at each other.
  2. From the bottom of each heart, draw short lines on the same path as one of the side of the hearts pointing towards the heart counter clockwise to it, then draw a small square in the centre.
  3. Draw parallel lines to the right hand side of each heart joining the square in the centre.
  4. Repeat step 3 for the left hand sides.
  5. Your heart knotwork shamrock is complete!
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You can watch our video tutorial here:

Drawing with a Difference #3

We are continuing with our new Drawing with a Difference series today, promoting the idea of drawing without traditional mediums or tools.

For this instalment we are exploring pixel art further, by using paper collage as our drawing method.

You can find our live video here:

https://www.facebook.com/Heathlands.Cumbria/videos/738797261074582

What you will need:

  • Colourful paper cut into equal sized squares
  • Card to paste your collage to
  • A glue stick
  • Squared paper
  • Pencils or felt tips to plan your design

How to make your pixel art collage:

  1. Plan out your design using the squared paper and felt tips. You can always use google for inspiration!
  2. Cut enough squares of equal size to complete your artwork.
  3. Find the centre of your design, then mark the centre of your card.
  4. Starting with the centre 4 squares, begin gluing your design.
  5. Continue working outwards until you are done!

Drawing with a Difference #2

To follow on from our first drawing with a difference session we recorded a short video of continuous line drawing, but with a difference!

Instead of using traditional drawing tools, we played with PVA and wool.

What you will need:

  • Slightly watered down PVA glue
  • Pasting brush for glue
  • Colourful yarn, wool or string
  • Colourful cards
  • Scissors
  • A glue stick

How to make your continuous line drawing:

  1. Create a background for you picture using coloured card and your glue stick. We made a very simple landscape.
  2. Paste PVA over the entire area you intend to draw on.
  3. Cut lengths of wool and draw your shapes, subject or objects by laying the wool into the glue.
  4. Your fingers may get messy, if you are struggling to not lift the wool by accident as you lay it, use the end of a pencil or paintbrush to help position the wool.
  5. Adding extra glue on top may also help.
  6. Once dry, paste over the entire picture again.
  7. Your picture is done!

You can find the video instructions here:

Drawing with a Difference #1

Here at Heathlands we love to explore new and exciting ways we can express ourselves with Arts & Crafts.

With this in mind we are starting a new series of live demonstrations, short videos and blog posts, for you to have a go at “drawing with a difference”. So, what do we mean by this? Quite simply we mean drawing, with anything but pencil and paper.

Our first session went live yesterday, Monday 27th February 2023 and the link to the video can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/Heathlands.Cumbria/videos/1359988764543889

Drawing with a Difference Session #1 – LEGO!!!

The inspiration for the first of our sessions is pixel art, a method for creating images with small squares or pixels.

For this activity we decided it would be really fun to use Lego Dots, as our pixels as they are movable and easy to use. We also decided to draw a polar bear, Monday was international polar bear day!

What you will need:

  • A Lego base plate
  • Lego Dots
  • Your imagination!

How to make your dot / pixel picture:

  1. First you need to decide what you are going to “draw”.
  2. select your colours and start with key features or if you prefer an outline of your idea.
  3. Fill in your work, moving your pixels if needed.
  4. Repeat as much as you like!

Below are some examples of pixel pictures we have made, including a few step by step images of the polar bear.

Step by step polar bear, you can also find a stop-motion here: https://youtu.be/3QcqkYIWqNU

Origami Ninja Star

We thought for this weeks 5 minute craft we would have a bit of fun!

The origins of the bo-shuriken or ninja throwing star in Japan are still unclear, despite continuing research. This is partly because shurikenjutsu was a secret art. Thankfully the art or origami is an easy and accessible way to make your own stars!

What you will need:

  • 4 pieces of 15x15cm origmai paper
  • A work surface to fold on

How to make your throwing stars:

  1. With wrong side up, fold your paper in half diagonally and unfold.
  2. Fold each edge of the square into the middle fold line. Repeat for all four sides creating a squashed diamond.
  3. Fold in half along your original fold line, making a long triangle.
  4. Fold this in half again so that both sharp points come together.
  5. Repeat steps 1-4 for all 4 pieces of paper.
  6. Slot each point over the next forming a square and pull the points out.

Secret Valentines

If like us you are a romantic at heart this fun and easy Valentine’s Day card is a whimsical craft that you can easily do at home!

Wax relief or resist, is a simple and versatile technique where a white crayon or oil pastel is used to draw “invisibly” on white paper, then painted over to reveal the design. It is very important that it is an oil pastel and NOT chalk.

For this craft we thought having the recipient reveal the design for themselves was a fun and unusual quirk for a card.

You will need:

  • An A5 piece of white card or watercolour paper, folded in half
  • An A6 envelope
  • A white wax crayon or white oil pastel
  • Water soluble colouring pencils
  • A pen to write your message inside

How to make your card:

  1. Using your crayon or oil pastel, draw your design heavily onto the front of the card.
  2. With your water soluble pencils, colour in randomly around your design. Be careful not to colour over the crayon or pastel. You may need to check where you drew but tilting the card to see the design.
  3. Write a message inside, including instructions to “colour in” the front with water.
  4. Deliver your card!

Recycled Card Gift Tags

Here at Heathlands we are always looking for way to recycle, reuse and repurpose things instead of throwing them away.

Christmas can create quite a lot of waste and we decided to look for ways to reduce the load of rubbish and recycling we were putting to the curb.

One of our activities has been made possible by finding some fantastic die cutters / punches for repurposing our Christmas cards!

This craft also works with any old greeting cards just as well.

What you need:

  • Old greetings cards
  • Tag punch / cutter
  • Corner punch / cutter
  • Circular cutter
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Hope punch
  • Narrow ribbons or twine

How to make your gift tags:

  1. For using the tag punch: using a ruler and your pencil, measure out strips of card at your desired size. Our gift tag punch cuts at 1.5, 2 and 2.5 inches. Slide the card into the punch face down and press hard.
  2. For making rectangular tags: cut your card to the desired size and select which corner size you are punching. Punch all four corners.
  3. For circular tag: using a circular cutter, place over desired section, hold firmly and while pressing down rotate the cutter.
  4. For ALL tags: not use your hole punch and punch each tag for string / ribbons.
  5. Cut a piece of ribbon or twine around 4 inches long. Double it over. Pass it through the punched whole and put the loose ends through the loop.
  6. Your gift tags are complete!

You can also see our video here:

https://www.facebook.com/Heathlands.Cumbria/videos/531733505691518

Origami Witch

It’s been a while since we shared an origami fold, so here is a video of Helen T making an origami witch.

You will need:

  • Lightweight coloured papers
  • Black felt tip pen
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick

How to make your witch:

Witches hat and face:

  1. Take your first square of paper for your hat. Fold it in half diagonally and unfold.
  2. Fold each side inwards to form a kite shape, aligning the outer edges with the diagonal fold. Unfold again.
  3. Next fold in the out corners to match the new diagonal folds. See the video for more clarity.
  4. Now fold the side in again to make the kite shape once more.
  5. Fold the sharp point down to meet its opposite corner.
  6. Then fold the sharp point back up with a little less than a cm difference. Then fold this over again. This forms the brim of your witches hat.
  7. Turn your work over, fold the bottom point up to meet the fold on the reverse.
  8. Fold in either side to form the shape of your witches face.
  9. Trace around the shape of your witches face on a scrap of paper. It should be a trapezium.
  10. Tuck this into the folds of the witches face / hair and draw on a face.

Witches body and broom:

  1. Take your second square of paper. Fold it in half diagonally each way, unfold, then fold in half edge to edge one way.
  2. With the paper in half, fold down the folded edge toward the centre, creating a triangle.
  3. Next take the folded flaps and turn the the edge in the centre up to the edge of the triangle. Do this on both sides.
  4. Turn your work over. Fold down the the outer top edges to form a square, turn your work over again.
  5. To form your witches feet, turn the bottom two points up and out over.
  6. Next make your broom, cut a small square of brown paper and cut multiple slits into it to form bristles. Cut a strip of paper and using a glue stick, wrap the bristles around one end.

Assemble your witch!

  1. Using your glue stick, stick your witches head to the body.
  2. To complete, stick the broom to one of your witches arms.

And you’re done! Make multiple to create origami bunting or change the size of your paper to create a witch / warlock family.

https://fb.watch/gc2Kmv0Rkp/

Origami Pigeons

We love to break a stereotype here at Heathlands, and today we thought we look at the common and much unloved pigeon.

Commonly thought of as a pest and carriers of disease, nothing could be further from the truth. The pigeon is an intelligent animal, with excellent recognition skills, as well as superb navigation abilities.

There are 5 regognised pigeon / dove species in the UK with the “feral” pigeon being a decendant of the now rare Rock Dove. You can find out more here:

https://www.countryfile.com/wildlife/birds/guide-to-pigeons-and-doves-of-the-uk/

Today’s craft activity is how to make origami pigeons and doves.

What you will need:

  • Pale blue / grey / cream origami paper
  • A black felt tip pen

Instructions:

Standing Pigeon / Dove
Flying Pigeon / Dove

Finger Puppet Penguin

Today is world Penguin Day!

World Penguin Day is celebrated on the 25th April each year, as this is roughly the date of this amazing creatures annual, northward migration. The day is a celebratory and educative initiative, that encourages people to learn more about penguins and their environment, how important they are to our ecosystems and the threats they face.

World Penguin Day is the perfect chance to learn more about these fantastic and fascinating creatures. Read up on the different species of penguin around the world and dig out some fun facts to share with your friends and family.

Did you know that there are 18 species of penguin and of these 11 are considered to be globally threatened?

For fun, we thought for World Penguin day we would make a cute finger puppet!

What you will need:

  • Felt in black, white and yellow
  • Black embroidery thread
  • PVA or Copydex
  • Needle
  • Scissors
  • Pencils
  • Googly eyes

How to make your penguin:

Please refer to the photos below.

  1. On the black felt using a white pencil, draw around your index finger with a cm space all round.
  2. Fold the felt over and cut out two shapes at the same time.
  3. On the white felt using any pencil, draw around you index finger again up to you middle knuckle.
  4. Cut one shape out.
  5. Cut a small triangle for a beak out of the yellow felt.
  6. Choose two googly eyes.
  7. Glue white felt, beak and eyes to one of you black felt pieces.
  8. Using black mercies cotton or embroidery thread, sew the two black pieces of felt together around the edges. Leave to bottom open.
  9. You can use blanket stitch or whip stitch.
  10. Your puppet is complete! Happy World Penguin Day!
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A Sunflower for Ukraine

We are devastated by the awful events unfolding in the Ukraine. At Heathlands we have always strived to support others who need help, whether this is fundraising for Children in Need, staffing the local Poppy Appeal table or raising awareness through our activities here and online.

To show our solidarity with the Ukraine, this week we are making paper sunflowers, to display in our windows both at Heathlands and at home. Below are the instructions for you to make your own.

What you will need:

  • x1 sheet of A4 yellow card
  • x1 sheet of A4 bright blue card
  • x1 sheet of A4 blue sugar paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick
  • Pinking shears (optional)
  • 2-3cm large circular whole punch (optional)
  • Pencil
  • Something circular to draw around, about 10cm in diameter

How to make your Sunflower:

  1. On your yellow card, draw around your circular object and cut disc out.
  2. Draw an elongated petal shape, cut out and use this as a stencil. Draw around in 16 times and cut out.
  3. Fold all of your petals in half.
  4. Using your blue card and paper cut out approximately 8 small discs in each colour. These will be your sunflower seeds.
  5. Cut a long wiggling stem for your sunflower from the blue card.
  6. Cut a heart shaped leaf or two from your blue card or paper. You can use pinking shears to do this to give a realistic leafy look. This is optional.
  7. Glue your petals around the edge of the large yellow disc like the rays of the sun.
  8. Alternating between blue card and paper, glue the “seeds” in the middle in a spiral pattern, working from the outside, in.
  9. Glue your leaves to the stem and glue your stem to the back of the flower head.
  10. Your sunflower is complete!

Bonfire Night Pinwheels

Bonfire Night is a beloved event here in the UK but Fireworks are not for everyone. Here at Heathlands we have a number of individuals who do not enjoy the loud bangs and whistles that come with Bonfire Night.

With this in mind we thought we would share a fun craft activity to make a Catherine Wheel full of sparkle and no noise.

You will need:

  • Shiny card – we used gold
  • A ruler
  • Scissors
  • Drawing pin
  • Paper stick or paper straw
  • Loose tinsel (the kind you throw on your tree)
  • Sellotape

How to make your pinwheel

  1. Measure your card along the short side.
  2. Using your ruler, mark the same length on each long side. Join the marks up and cut to make your card into a square.
  3. Again, using your ruler, mark the centre of your square by lining up the opposite corners.
  4. From each corner draw a line towards the centre 10cm long.
  5. Cut along each of these lines.
  6. In the centre and on every other point on your card make a small hole with your pin.
  7. Bend each point with a hole into the middle, using your pin to join them all up, and put the pin through the middle and into your straw.
  8. Gather 8 pieces of tinsel and tape together in the middle. Fold this bundle in half and tape to one of the points of your pinwheel. Repeat this for all four points.
  9. Your silent Catherine Wheel is complete!

Firework Printing

This week we are really looking forward to Bonfire Night!

To go alongside our Firework Pinwheels, we have made this printing activity for you to make your very own indoor fireworks display!

You will need:

  • Large black paper
  • Acrylic / poster paints
  • Cardboard tubes
  • Scissors
  • Glitter (optional)
  • A paintbrush
  • Paint tray

How to make your fireworks display:

  1. Using your scissors, cut your cardboard tubes down from one end in narrow strips, between a 1/4 to a 1/3 the way down.
  2. Fan your cut tube out.
  3. Spread your paint evenly on a paint tray. Dip the tube into the paint and press onto your paper.
  4. Sprinkle with glitter.
  5. Repeat until you are happy.
  6. Using your paintbrush, paint “trail” lines for the rockets shooting up into the sky.

Everlasting Jack O’lanterns

We love Halloween at Heathlands! Dressing up, carving pumpkins and caramel apples are all favourites.

The thing about pumpkins though… they don’t last forever. So! We thought we’d share with you how you can make an everlasting pumpkin!

You will need:

  • 1 piece of A4 orange card
  • 1 piece of A4 green card
  • Two split pins / paper fasteners
  • Scissors
  • A ruler
  • A hole punch or something to make holes in your card
  • A pencil
  • A black felt tip pen

How to make your pumpkin:

  1. Along the long sides of your orange card make marks in 3cm intervals and join them up using your ruler.
  2. Cut 8 strips of orange card.
  3. Cut a piece of green card for a stalk. We have put a picture below to show the S shape we used.
  4. Put holes in each end of every strip of card and in one end of the stalk.
  5. Put the stalk onto a paper fastener first and then thread all of the card board strips on at one end. Spilt the pin and flatten it out.
  6. Use the other paper fastener to connect together all the other ends.
  7. Twist / turn the layers out to form your pumpkin.
  8. Use your felt tip to give your pumpkin a face!

Spooktacular Halloween Lantern Jars

We are getting in a spooky mood here at Heathlands with the run up to Halloween. Today we’ve mean making tealight jars, inspired by Helen W’s tissue paper lantern jars that can be found here!

You will need:

  • A glass jar
  • PVA Glue watered down. Around 50:50 is perfect.
  • A paintbrush
  • Tissue paper. White and black for a ghost and orange and black for a pumpkin.
  • Scissors
  • A pencil
  • Some scrap paper or newsprint to work on.

How to make your Halloween jar:

  1. Decide what style of jar you are making and pick appropriately coloured tissue paper.
  2. Water down your PVA and mix well.
  3. Cut your tissue paper into 2-3cm squares.
  4. Paint a little of your jar at a time and make one even layer of tissue paper all over. Making sure there are no gaps.
  5. Use a hairdryer if you want to speed up the drying process, or leave overnight to set.
  6. Fold a small piece of black tissue paper in half and from the folded edge draw a mouth. Also draw an eye shape. Cut these out, the mouth should be one piece and symmetrical, you should have two eyes that match.
  7. Glue these on and paint another layer of glue all over. Leave to dry.
  8. Put a tealight in your jar and place it in your window!

Fire Breathing Dragons!

It’s been a while since a blog post. So I thought I would share this fun craft with you all, how to make fire breathing dragons!

You will need:

A toilet roll inner
Tissue paper in fiery colours
PVA
Paint, palette & brushes
Pompoms – x2 white and x2 mini ones to match your dragon
Scissors

How to make your dragon:

  1. Begin by painting your toilet roll inner in whatever colour you would like it to be. We chose greens and reds for ours.
  2. You can add texture for its scales by doting a different colour of paint on or, waiting for it to dry and drawing texture on with pens.
  3. Cut your tissue paper into 10-15cm long strips with tapers at one end.
  4. Paint a 2cm strip of PVA inside one end of your dragon tube and start sticking your fiery tissue paper in. Add more glue as you add layers.
  5. Glue your two white pompoms at the other end of the tube for eyes and your mini pompoms above the fire for his nostrils.
  6. Paint dots onto your dragon for pupils.
  7. Allow to dry and blow through the tube to animate your fire!

Origami Zebra and Tiger

Here is another origami instruction from Monday Arts Live, this time a zebra and tiger!

You will need:

2 squares of paper and a surface to work on
Pritt Stick
Paint, palette & brushes if you are decorating your paper with paint, or you can use pencils, felt tips or ink.

How to make your lion:

  1. For your zebra decorate two of your squares of paper with black wiggly stripes and the same on orange paper for your tiger.
  2. Follow the instructions below for how to fold, or follow the link to our Facebook Art Live video for how to decorate your own paper.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=968214173923580&ref=watch_permalink

Eva Stamps!

This week at Heathlands we have been making stamping blocks! These are really simple to create and are a great way of getting creative and decorative with your crafts.

We’ve made our stamps to be interchangeable, meaning that the number of stamps you can create are only limited by the scale of your imagination.

To make your stamps you will need:

  • Eva foam / funky foam
  • Sticky back velcro / hook and loop tape
  • A block of wood
  • Staple gun
  • Scissors
  • Pencil / pen

To use your stamp you will need:

  • Flat paint tray
  • Poster paints / acrylics
  • Paper / material to stamp on

How to make your:

  1. Stick the hook side of your velcro onto your wooden block.
  2. Staple to secure at each end.
  3. Draw your desired shapes for your stamps onto the eva foam making sure not to make them any larger than the block of wood.
  4. Cut out your shapes and add the loop (soft) velcro tape onto the back. Remember that your stamp shapes will reverse or “mirror” when you are stamping. So draw letters and numbers the wrong way round.
  5. You are ready to print! Pick your favourite paint colours and add an even layer to your stamp and get printing. You may need to gently rock your stamp to get it even.
  6. Remember not over load your stamp or it will slide.
  7. Have fun!

Other idea’s for simple stamps include: leaves, flowers, simple shapes, birthday balloons, snowflakes and Christmas tree’s.

Minion Memo Board!

Here at Heathlands we will soon be opening our brand new and renovated portacabin! It was designated “blue bubble”, however we wanted to make the space as warm and cheery as possible. So, the space will be decorated with both blue and yellow. Thus Minnion Bubble was born.

With that in mind, I thought for this weeks craft we would make something for our new space. A memo board inspired by minions! We’re using lightweight denim and yellow ribbons for our theme, but you can use any colours or patterns you like.

What you will need:

A wooden board or piece of MDF

Fabric

Ribbon

Quilt wading

Decorative upholstery tacks

Picture hanging fixings

Staple gun

Scissors

Screwdriver or cordless drill with phillips head bit

How to make your memo board:

  1. Make sure your board has no sharp edges and sand off anything you think might snag your fabric.
  2. Place your board on top of your wadding, leaving a gap around the edge so that you can wrap the wadding around to the top.
  3. Cut the wadding to size.
  4. Cut your fabric to the same size or every so slightly larger.
  5. Wrap the wading and fabric around the board, and starting from the centres of the sides, working out, staple them down. Periodically check that the fabric is stretching evenly.
  6. Starting from one corner, staple your ribbon from the back, and wrap it diagonally around the front of the board. Cut the ribbon after each wrap. Work along the board, making sure to leave even gaps.
  7. Repeat step six in the opposite direction to create a diamond pattern with your ribbons.
  8. Use your decorative upholstery tacks to pin down the ribbons at each point where they cross.
  9. Attach hanging fixtures to the back, put up on your wall and enjoy!

Beaded Suncatcher

A few weeks back we decided to follow up our #30dayswild nature dreamcatcher craft from The Wildlife Trusts with a suncatcher.

The craft was for one of our Facebook art live shows, so I thought I would write a blog post with instructions on how to make your own.

What you need:

A sturdy stick to hang your beads around
Wire
Glass beads
Twine
Small pliers / wire cutters
Scissors

How to make your suncatcher:

  1. Cut 5 lengths of wire, x1 30cm, x2 25cm and x2 20cm
  2. Place a small bead about 2cm from the end of each wire, turn the wire back on itself and twist together.
  3. Thread each wire with your favourite glass beads, leaving 4cm to wrap around your stick.
  4. Arrange your wires: small, medium, long, medium, small, along your stick, around 3cm apart.
  5. Cut a length of garden twine around one and half to two times the length of your stick and tie it to either end of your stick.
  6. Hang your suncatcher in a window and enjoy.

Nature Dreamcatcher

As part of our #30dayswild activities from The Wildlife Trusts, we decided to follow one of their instructions that you can find here.

Making a your dreamcatcher is simple and fun. It’s also a great opportunity to get outdoors and explore nature. Go for a walk and collect natural materials to make your dreamcatcher with.

What you will need:

Three sturdy sticks
Garden twine
Natural materials to decorate – hag stones (stones with holes in), feathers, shells, leaves, flowers, grasses etc
Scissors

How to make your nature dream catcher:

  1. Arrange your sticks in a triangle and tie together with twine. Leave one with a long tail to hang.
  2. Create a pattern of your choice in the triangle with twine. It can be a simple or as complicated as you like.
  3. Once you’re happy with your twine, start decorating! You could also suspend some of your materials from pieces of twine from the bottom.
  4. Think about adding flowers for colour and herbs for fragrance.
  5. Hang your dreamcatcher and change out the fresh materials when they wilt.

Origami Diwali Boat

What is Diwali?

Diwali [or deepawali] is the Indian festival of lights, usually lasting five days and celebrated in the Autumn, in the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika, mid October to mid November.

The festival is widely associated with Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity and it celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. Diwali is also a harvest festival, and is different from many other Indian festivals in that there is no fasting, but instead feasts celebrating the seasonal bounty.

Other traditions include cleaning or decorating homes, prayers and rituals and one of these is lighting Diyas. Diyas are small oil lamps, that are often floated on the Ganges river, during Diwali they represent enlightenment, knowledge or wisdom. Floating on a river these appear like little boats.

So we thought making a floating boat for our origami instruction would be perfect coming up to the festival. This year is between the 12th and 16th of November.

Felt Leaf Coasters

Another autumn inspired craft for you this week: some seasonal coasters for your cups inspired by autumn leaves.

You will need:

  • Felt in autumnal colours
  • A large leaf (to make a template, or use ours!)
  • Paper and pencil
  • Scissors
  • Embroidery thread in autumnal colours
  • Needle
  • Pins

Step 1.

Using your leaf as a guide, make a paper template that is leaf shaped and big enough to put your cup on.

Step 2.

Pin the paper template to your felt and cut out two leaves. We used different colours for each side of our coaster.

Step 3.

Stitch the two leaves together with running stitch, we stitched lines to look like the veins in leaves.

Step 4.

Make yourself a nice cup of tea and test out your coaster!

Origami Puppy

This origami fold is a little more complicated than previous activities we have done, but the extra work is definitely worth it!

This week for our paper folding, we thought it would be fun to make a little decorative friend. All you’ll need is a piece of square paper and two googly eyes.

To make your own cute puppy friend follow video and the instructions below:

Autumn Leaf Rubbings

As the weather is changing, we are thinking about the turning of the seasons at Heathlands. The leaves are changing colour and starting to fall, the nights are drawing in and its becoming chilly.

Today we have been making patterns and pictures using leaves and crayons. These rubbings can also be made with textures around your home, think about coins, baskets, keys or even cutlery!

Below are written instructions and a how to video:

You will need:

  • Paper
  • Wax crayons
  • Leaves

Step 1

Collect your leaves. Try to get ones that aren’t too dried out as they will crumble. If your leaves are wet, dry them off.

Step 2

Place a leaf under your paper with the bottom, textured side of the leaf facing up.

Step 3

If your crayons have paper wrappers on them, take them off and pick a colour. Turn the wax crayon on it’s side and rub the crayon over the paper where the leaf is with pressure.

Step 4

Repeat step 3 with different leaves and different colours and fill your paper.

Make Your Own Stamps

These little stamps are easy to make and you can use them to decorate all sorts of things like cards, wrapping paper or use them to make pictures.

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You will need:

  • Corks
  • Scraps of funky foam (if you don’t have any then thin polystyrene food packaging will also work)
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Glue (something strong like PVA works well)
  • Paint
  • Something to stamp onto (such as paper)

 

Step 1.

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Draw the shapes you would like to make stamps of onto the foam, you may find it helpful to draw around the end of your cork first so you know what size to make your design. Keep them simple!

You can add extra details to your stamps by drawing in lines with the pencil, you’ll need to press hard to make a good indent.

Step 2.

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Carefully cut out your shapes.

Step 3.

Glue your shapes to the ends of your corks, use plenty of glue as it needs to be secure. Let the glue dry thoroughly.

Step 4.

Dip your stamp into your paint and then press the stamp onto your paper (or whatever you’re printing.) You’ll probably get several presses before you need to dip into the paint again. Practice until you get the right amount of paint on the stamp each time.

Step 5.

Have fun decorating with your stamps! Don’t forget to show us how you get on!

Mini Beast Masterpieces

Let’s Rock (paint)!

We’ve been spending lots of time outside recently and have been enjoying spotting some of the smaller wildlife around our site. Inspired by our mini-beast sightings we’ve created some painted version of our own and we thought we’d share how we made them so you can have a go too!

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You will need:

  • Stones/Rocks
  • Paint (acrylic is ideal but any paint will do)
  • Varnish (if you want to put your rock creatures outside)
  • Googly eyes (optional)

Step 1.

Wash your stones or rocks and allow them to dry. While they’re drying you might want to plan what kind of mini beast to paint and what colours to use.

Step 2. 

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Paint your stone all one colour, choose the main colour of your mini beast. For example, red for a ladybird or yellow for a bumble bee. Allow this coat to dry.

Step 3. 

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Add some details to your painted rock so it looks like your mini beast; black spots for a ladybird and black stripes for a bee, for example.  You can use our examples as a guide or make up your own!

Step 4. 

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If you have googly eyes, glue them on to add a bit of character. Alternatively paint some eyes on.

Step 5. 

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When all the paint and glue has dried you can varnish your mini beast masterpiece to finish it off.

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Have fun and don‘t forget to share with us how you get on!

Wild Weaving!

Here’s a good project to try on a nice sunny day; head outside and see what you can collect and then create a beautiful nature weaving. 

You will need:

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  • A small forked branch or stick
  • Cotton string or cotton thread (embroidery thread works well)
  • Scissors
  • Natural materials to weave: grasses, stems, twigs etc. Aim for things that are fairly straight and long.

Important Notes: Only pick plants from your garden or plants that are very common and you can find a big patch of, such as grass. Try and collect materials that are already on the ground, like small twigs that have fallen from the tree. It’s a good idea to wear gloves to protect your hands and watch out for nettles!

Step 1.

The first job is to make our forked branch into a loom. To do this cut several lengths of your string, the lengths need to be long enough to stretch across the fork plus a bit extra for tying knots.

Step 2.

Tie the lengths of string across the fork of the branch, about 2-3 cm apart. Here the thread is doubled because it is quite fine but a single thread is fine.

Step 3.

Start weaving! Begin by threading one of your stems or grasses over one thread, under the next, then over the next, under the next and so on until you reach the end.

For the next stem do the same but go under the threads you went over last time and over the ones you went under.

Step 4.

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Continue weaving, alternating your overs and unders until the loom is full.

Step 5.

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Hang up your weaving and admire, when the plants you’ve woven have died the whole thing can go on the compost heap.

Have fun and don’t forget to show us how you get on!

Super Swirly Snakes!

Here’s a fun and easy way to make some hanging decorations inspired by snakes! We used card that was sparkly on one side but plain card works just as well. Hang them somewhere they’ll catch a breeze and enjoy watching them swirl.

You will need:

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  • Thin Card or thick paper
  • Scissors
  • A plate or something circular to use as a template
  • Pencil
  • Colouring pens or crayons
  • String, thread or yarn
  • Optional: Print out of the snake template

Step 1.

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Use the pencil to draw round your plate

Step 2.

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Draw a spiral inside the circle, this might be a bit tricky so take your time! Turn your spiral into a snake, using our template as a guide

Step 3.

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Decorate your snake using your colouring pens or pencils, remember to decorate both sides of the snake! We used fancy sparkly card so only needed to colour one side but if you have plain card you’ll need to colour both.

Step 4.

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Very carefully cut along the spiral line to the centre (head of the snake.)

Step 5.

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Attach a piece of string to the head of the snake (centre of the spiral.) Hang it up and watch it swirl!

Have fun and don’t forget to share how you get on with us!

Terrific Tassels!

Tassels are really easy and fun to make and look great added to key-rings, as decorations or used to make a wrapped present extra special. Follow our instructions to make your own!

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You will Need:

  • String, yarn or thick thread
  • A small piece of cardboard
  • Scissors
  • Ruler (optional)

 

Step 1.

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Cut a rectangle of cardboard about 4 cm wide and as long as you want your tassel to be. So, if you want a 10 cm long tassel cut a rectangle of cardboard 4 x 10 cm.

 

Step 2. 

Place the end of your yarn (or thread or string) at one of the narrow ends of the rectangle and then begin winding around the length of the cardboard.

 

Step 3.

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When you’ve got lots of wraps (the more times you wrap the fuller your tassel will be) cut the yarn, ending at the same edge you started.

 

Step 4.

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Cut a small length of yarn and slide it under one half of the wraps, tie it tightly around the yarn wraps at one end. Knot the two loose ends together to make a hanging loop for your tassel.

 

Step 5.

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Carefully cut the loops of yarn at the opposite end of the cardboard.

 

Step 6.

Cut a longer length of yarn and wrap it around the tassel about 2 cm down from the end you tied off previously. Tightly knot the ends of this bit of yarn so it holds the tassel together and doesn’t come undone.

 

Step 7.

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Give your tassel a haircut to tidy it up! Make lots of tassels and use them to decorate things. What else could you use to make tassels? Strips of fabric? Ribbon?

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Have fun and don’t forget to show us your makes!

Delightful Decoupage!

In this post we’re going to show you how to turn an ordinary box into a special container using scraps of paper and glue.

Decoupage is a form of collage used to decorate furniture and small objects by covering them with coloured paper, magazine cutouts and other decorative elements.

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You will Need

  • A box to decorate (a shoe box or small, sturdy cardboard box is ideal)
  • Papers to decorate with (scraps of wrapping paper and old magazines are perfect)
  • Glue (PVA if you have it but a glue stick will work just fine)
  • If you’re using PVA glue a spreader is useful (a piece of scrap card works well) and a small bowl to put the glue in and water it down
  • Scissors

 

Step 1.

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Select your decorative papers and cut them into pieces. Try not to cut them too big or too small; anywhere between 2cm-10cm is ideal. Squares and rectangles are easiest but any shape is fine. You could cut out images and pictures you like form magazines such as birds, people or landscapes.

 

Step 2.

Cover one side of your box with glue then start sticking on your pieces of paper, overlapping all the edges slightly so that all of the background is covered. Fold your paper over the edges of the box as well to give a smooth, neat finish. If you’re using PVA glue it’s worth watering it down a little bit to make it easier to work with and so that it goes further!

 

Step 3.

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Cover the other sides of the box in the same way. You might need to let them dry out in-between so you don’t stick to the table! Make sure you don’t have any gaps and that all the edges of your paper are properly stuck down. If you’re using PVA glue remember it dries clear so don’t worry if it squidges out a bit.

 

Step 4.

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Leave the box to dry thoroughly. If you have any bits of paper sticking over the edges now is a good time to trim them off and neaten things up.

 

Step 5.

To make your box more long lasting (and shiny) you could finish it off with a coat of varnish or another coat of PVA Glue. You could even decoupage or paint the inside of the box as well.

Have fun and don’t forget to share your finished makes with us!

Paper Wreath

Here we show you how to transform some cardboard and old magazines into a beautiful wreath!

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You will Need:

  • Cardboard
  • Pencil
  • Two plates, one bigger than the other
  • Old magazines
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • A piece of string or ribbon

Step 1. 

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Use the pencil to draw round the larger of the two plates on your piece of cardboard

Step 2.

Place the smaller plate inside the circle you’ve just drawn and draw round it to give you two circles

Step 3.

Cut out the circles so that you have a cardboard ring

Step 4. 

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Tie a piece of string or ribbon onto the ring so that you can hang the wreath

Step 5.

Select green pages from your magazine (if you want green leaves, you could have any colour) and cut out lots of leaf shapes. Try and make them slightly different sizes.

We made ours by folding the magazine pages in half and cutting half a leaf shape which we could then open out, giving us a more 3D effect.

Step 6.

Start gluing your leaves onto the cardboard ring. Tuck them underneath each other and work your way around. We only glued the ends of our leaves so that they would stick up a bit and not be too flat

Work your way all around the ring

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Step 7. 

Cut some petal shapes and small circles from your magazines to make flowers

Step 8. 

Glue your petals and centres on top of the leaves. Think about how many flowers you’d like and where you’d like them. I put a few on one side

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When you’re happy with the arrangement hang your wreath up and admire your handiwork! Don’t forget to show us how you got on!

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Magic Pictures!

How to make your own magically appearing pictures!

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This week we’re going to show you how to make magic pictures, they’re great for experimenting with water-colour paints and they make lovely cards.

 

You will need:

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  • Paper
  • Water based paints (poster paints or water colours are ideal)
  • Paint brush
  • Wax candle or white wax crayon
  • Water

Step 1.

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Use the wax crayon or candle to doodle a design on your paper; I know you can’t see it but don’t worry!

Step 2. 

Start painting over your doodle with very watery paint, the wax will resist the paint and your design will magically be revealed! You can use several colours on each piece if you want to.

Step 3.

Let your design dry and then, if you want to, you could make it into a card to send to someone you’re missing at the moment.

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Have fun and try lots of different designs, don’t forget to let us know how you get on!

 

Rocking Rabbit Card!

How to make a rocking card for Easter (or just for fun!)

As it’s nearly Easter we thought it would be fun to show you how you can make a rocking rabbit card. You don’t need many supplies and you could adapt this tutorial to make all sorts of other rocking characters.

You will Need

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  1. A piece of A4 card
  2. A pencil
  3. A circular template (for example a tub or plate)
  4. A Glue Stick*
  5. Googly eyes*
  6. Yarn*
  7. Tissue paper*

*If you don’t have these things you can use felt tip pens instead

 

Step 1.

Fold the card in half

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Step 2.

Use your circular template to draw a half circle on the card, making sure the middle of the circle goes along the fold in the card

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Step 3.

Cut along the line you’ve just drawn

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Step 4.

Open the card out and check the fold goes down the middle of your circle. Draw two rabbit ears onto one side

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Step 5.

Be careful! Cut out the rabbit ears along the pencil line but DO NOT CUT THE FOLD. If you have a craft knife and a cutting mat you might find it easier with these.

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Step 6.

Your card should now look something like this, fold the ears up to make it more rabbity!

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Step 7.

Decorate! Give your rabbit eyes, a nose, whiskers and a mouth. Fill the ears in with little pieces of scrunched up tissue paper. Or, you could just use felt tip pens or coloured pencils to draw your rabbit.

 

Step 8.

Almost Finished! Write a message in your card and check that it rocks then send it to someone special.

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