Tag: paper craft

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!

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.

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

Easy Origami Rabbit!

This week we have been inspired to make origami rabbits for the start of the Chinese New Yea of the Rabbit!

Below are very simple instructions for our beginners bunny and we have also linked in our live Facebook tutorial for a more advanced fold!

You will need:

  1. Origami paper
  2. Googly eyes
  3. Scissors
  4. A flat work surface

How to make your rabbit:

Here is the video for the simple rabbit:

https://www.facebook.com/Heathlands.Cumbria/videos/744156427389129

In the mean time here is our more advanced rabbit fold:

https://www.facebook.com/Heathlands.Cumbria/videos/849419989649623

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

Tissue Paper Suncatchers

This week we have another suncatcher craft for you! This time we’re using tissue paper and PVA.

What you need:

Black sugar paper and some things to draw around
Colourful tissue paper
Slightly diluted PVA Glue and pritstick
Paint Brush
A poly pocket to work on
Scissors

How to make your suncatcher:

  1. To make your suncatcher frame, use two round objects and draw around them.
  2. Cut your paper frame out.
  3. Place your ring inside your poly pocket.
  4. Cut your tissue paper into little squares.
  5. Paint PVA glue on the pocket over the inner edge of the frame but not the outer edge.
  6. Place your tissue paper piece all over the glue and paints another layer of glue on top.
  7. Allow to dry.
  8. Peal the tissue paper off the pocket and glue it to your frame with pritstick.
  9. Hang your suncatcher in a window and enjoy.

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!

Spring Origami Flowers

Known as “Kusudama”, these beautiful flowers are simple to make and can be adapted for lots of occations.

You will need:

  • x5 sheets of origami paper per flower
  • x1 pipe cleaner
  • x1 lollipop stick
  • Glue stick

How to make your flower:

  1. Taking a 15x15cm or 10x10cm square of origami paper, with the wrong side up, fold it in half diagonally.
  2. Fold the outer tips inwards and upwards to meat the point at the top.
  3. Fold these flaps back down so that the long centre edge meets the outer shorter edge.
  4. Open this flap out and fold down to create a kite shape.
  5. Fold the top of the kite shape down and back up again as shown in the pictures.
  6. Fold the kite shape inward in half like below.
  7. Glue the left flap to the right flap to create your petal cone.
  8. Repeat 4 more times.
  9. Glue together with pipe cleaner twisted on itself to make a nodding head and glue this to the lollipop stick for its stalk.

Crackerless Christmas Crackers

Its beginning to look a Christmas here at Heathlands!

We adore this time of year, and we are always trying to think of ways to make Christmas traditions more inclusive for the individuals we work with.

Loud noises are often not appreciated by people with autism and learning disabilities, so we came up with this idea for a crackerless Christmas cracker.

You will need:

  • Wrapping paper
  • Toilet roll cardboard inners
  • Ribbon or paper raffia
  • A4 white paper
  • A4 colourful paper of your choice
  • A4 white card
  • Scissors
  • Sellotape
  • A ruler
  • A pencil
  • A black felt tip pen
  • A writing pen

How to make your crackerless cracker:

  1. Cut a piece of wrapping paper off the roll enough to wrap around your toilet roll tubes.
  2. This piece should be enough to make 2 crackers if you half it from top to bottom. Our piece was 35 x 19cm.
  3. Cut a 3cm strip off the long side of your colourful paper.
  4. Write BANG!!! at one end on both sides.
  5. Concertina the strip, leaving an inch at the blank end for sticking down.
  6. Stick the strip inside of the tube using the end you didn’t concertina.
  7. Place your tube on one long edge of your wrapping paper, in the middle and sellotape.
  8. The end of the tube that has the BANG!!! concertina to it is your “winning end”.
  9. Tape the winning end of your tube to the wrapping paper.
  10. Tape the concertina end of your BANG!!! to the wrapping paper close to the other end of the tube.
  11. Roll the wrapping paper around the tube and tape shut. Tape the soft end of your paper closed as well.
  12. Cut two 4-5cm strips of card from the short end of your A4 white card.
  13. Curl a piece of card and insert it into the loosing end of your cracker and tape secure.
  14. Pinch the wrapping paper space between your tube and the piece of card and tie shut with a ribbon / raffia bow.
  15. Add a gift / sweets / a hand written joke into your winners end of the cracker.
  16. Close like in steps 13 and 14.
  17. Your crackerless Christmas cracker is done!

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!

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!

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.

Origami Giraffe

We’ve been working on our origami again here at Heathlands. This week we’ve decorated paper and folded a giraffe. You can follow our instructions below and watch our live video as well.

You will need:

2 squares of paper and a surface to work on
Pritstick
Paint, palette, brushes and a sponge if you are decorating your paper

How to make your giraffe:

  1. Decorate your squares of paper with a yellow fur texture, allow this to dry, then use a rough sponge and brown paint to create splodges for your giraffe.
  2. Follow the instructions below for how to fold, or follow the link to our Facebook Art Live video.
  • Origami Body & Legs 1
  • Origami Body & Legs 2
  • Giraffe Neck & Head

Paper Roses

We’re back with another tissue paper flower idea for you! In this post we’ll show you how to make simple paper roses, they look really good bunched together or you could use some fancy paper to make a single rose for someone special!

You will need:

  • Tissue paper (or other lightweight paper)
  • Pipe cleaners

Step 1.

Start with rectangles of tissue paper, ours were about 20 x 15 cm

Step 2.

Work with one sheet of paper at a time and fold over the long side, leaving a gap around 2-3 cm at the bottom. You can also gently scrunch the paper up a little for a bit more texture if you like.

Step 3.

Hold the folded edge in your fingertips and roll the paper around in a loose spiral.

Step 4.

Pinch the other end together and twist it to secure the flower.

Step 5.

Wrap one end of a pipe cleaner around the bit you just twisted, leave the rest untwisted for the stem of the rose.

Step 6.

Make some more and then pop them in a jar or vase or tie them up with a ribbon. Have fun and don’t forget to show us how you get on!

Bubble Painting

This is a really fun (if slightly messy) activity and is great for creating patterned paper for use in other crafts.

You will need:

  • Washing up liquid
  • Bowls or dishes (one for each colour)
  • Food colouring (or you can use paint; poster paint is great for this but you could try watered down acrylic or watercolours too)
  • Paper
  • A straw

Step 1.

Fill your tray or dish about 2-3 cm deep with water. Add the food colouring (or paint) and a good squirt of washing up liquid. The more colouring you add the stronger the colour of the bubble prints; you do need to use quite a bit. Give it all a good swish around!

Step 2.

Use the straw to create lots of bubbles by holding it under the water and blowing.

Step 3.

Carefully and gently lay the paper on top of the bubbles and lift off again. You should have some beautiful bubble prints!

Step 4.

You can over print with another colour to make an even more interesting surface.

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

Penguins!

It’s Penguin Day on 25th April so we thought you might enjoy a penguin themed craft! Here’s how to make a simple slot-together model of a penguin. You could make them in different sizes and colours and create a whole colony of penguins.

You will need:

  • Penguin template
  • Cardboard (we used an old box)
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Paint (or you could use coloured pens or even collage if you prefer)

Step 1.

Print out our penguin template and use it to draw a sideways penguin and a front facing penguin on your cardboard. Don’t forget to mark where the slits will go (these are the dotted lines on the template.)

Step 2.

Carefully cut out your penguins and cut the slots; on the sideways piece this goes from the top to the centre and on the front facing piece it goes from the bottom to the centre.

Step 3.

Paint (or colour or collage) the pieces of your penguin on both sides. Most penguins have white bellies and black backs but you can use any colours you fancy!

Step 4.

When the paint is dry slot the two pieces together and you’ll have a penguin! You may need to make some small adjustments to the slots or the painted areas to make sure everything matches up.

Step 5.

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

Paper Feathers

These feathers are very simple to make but look really beautiful. We’ve used plain paper but there’s no reason you couldn’t use patterned paper or decorate the feathers before you start cutting.

You will need:

  • Paper, we used off cuts from other projects
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Pointy object like a knitting needle
  • Template

Step 1.

Cut out a feather template (or draw your own) and draw around it on the back of your paper. When you come to do the middle of the feather press REALLY hard with your pencil so it leaves an indentation on your paper!

Step 2.

Use the knitting needle or similar pointed object to go over the middle of the feather, you’re aiming to make an indentation in the paper that will show on the right side.

Step 3.

Cut out the feather. Carefully fold along the indented line (the central part of the feather) to give it a bit of shape.

Step 4.

Now for the fiddly bit! Carefully cut all along each side of the feather being sure not to cut through the central part of the feather. Use the template with the dotted lines as a guide. Take your time doing this, you want the cuts to be quite close together but be careful not to cut off the strands.

Step 5.

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

Wrapping Paper Decorations

Did you enjoy our Paper Snowflakes tutorial from a couple of weeks ago? Here’s another papercraft activity that’s perfect for using up leftover Christmas wrapping paper.

You will need:

  • Wrapping paper (or other lightweight paper)
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Needle and Thread
  • Glue

Step 1.

Cut a rectangle of wrapping paper (ours was around 40 cm x 20 cm.)

Step 2.

Fold the paper into a concertina, with each fold being around 3 cm wide.

Step 3.

Fold the concertina in half and secure with a small stitch.

Step 4.

Draw a couple of curves onto the folds, try and make it more or less symmetrical! Remember to leave most of the fold intact.

Step 5.

Cut out the curves you drew (remembering to leave most of the fold intact otherwise you’ll end up with a pile of confetti!)

Step 6.

Put glue on one of the folds at the centre of the folded concertina and stick it to the opposite fold. Open it up and repeat on the other side to complete your decoration. Add a bit of thread to hang your decoration and admire your hard work!

Origami Christmas Tree

We love Christmas at Heathlands. It the time of year where we relax our timetable to play games, make delicious food and even sing karaoke!

This year will be a little different but everyone has still been working really hard to make Heathlands as festive as possible.

As part of our festivities we are making our own Christmas decorations. We have already shared some with you and this week we thought we’d show you how to make an origami Christmas tree that you can decorate just like a real one.

We will also add an instructional video when it is loaded on YouTube.

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.

Remembrance Day Poppy Origami

Here at Heathlands we are very proud of the support our members have given to the poppy appeal over the years. For many years now we have staffed the poppy appeal table at our local ASDA but due to restrictions this year we cannot. So instead we are making poppies to sell here!

Here are our origami instructions for you to make your own poppy at home. We will update the post with a video when it has been loaded to YouTube.

You will need:

x1 15cm square of red paper

x 1 10cm square of black paper

How to make it:

1. Fold your red paper in half lengthways in both directions and then again diagonally. Four folds in total. Repeat this with your black paper.

2. With your paper in half diagonally, fold in the widest points to match the top points. Again repeat this for the black piece.

3. Insert the black piece of paper into the red as above, taking care to make sure all the folds match.

4. With the closed folds facing towards you and the open end away, turn up each flap, folding it to the middle. Repeat this, turn your work over and repeat again on the other side.

5. Fold your work in half from top to bottom, so the top point meets the bottom.

6. Open this fold out so that the top layer goes up, the next layer turns outward and the bottom layer remains down.

7. Flatten out your poppy and turn back the points of the petals and points on the centre to “round” the flower off.

And your poppy is complete!

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.

Paper Airplane

We are back with another installment of our paper folding activities!

This week we’ve made some durable paper airplanes. These are made with standard A4 paper. You could even “up-cycle” a piece that’s already be printed / drawn on and no longer in use. Or why not decorate your paper before you fold?

Our YouTube video shows you how to make your own plane or you can follow the instructions below.

Happy flying!

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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