Tricked out Easter Eggs
You Will Need
- Melting chocolate
- Sprinkles
- Mini marshmallows
- Mini eggs
Melt a handful of chocolate.
Tricked out Easter EggsChocolate Easter eggs are always great but lets make them the greatest! Usually, I wish Easter eggs were made of solid chocolate but this year I have come to see the benefit of a hollow egg, namely with the addition of sweet treats. Pimped out ice cream cones and milkshake jars always look so fantastical and appealing, Easter is a fantastical time of year. Why not bring all that wonder to Easter. Think of all the combinations you can try. You Will Need- Premade chocolate eggs - Melting chocolate - Sprinkles - Mini marshmallows - Mini eggs Cave open an egg, be careful not to crack it half (though, you can probably stick it back together if you do) Melt a handful of chocolate. Spread chocolate around the edge of the egg. Cover melted chocolate in sprinkles!! Dip mini marshmallows in chocolate and cluster around the egg. Fill that hollow egg with goodies. I love those candy coated speckled eggs, I've filled the egg with a mixture of those and more mini marshmallows. It's probably over kill, but I feel like these would be great with a little ice cream added. Maybe that can be Eatser dessert? These eggs are going to be gifts so I wrapped them in clear cellophane and ribbon.
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Tie The Knot Wedding CardThis is a card I made to go with a wedding gift. I went with a red and blue dog theme based around the 101 Dalamtians*. I wanted to work in some sort of pop-up or 3D effect on the card and this is what I came up with. When the card opens Pongo and Perdita pull the string into a knot. The Happy couple get to literally 'tie the knot' with this fun and cute card. *I realize I've mixed Disney dog themes here, the knot is reminiscent of the shared spaghetti from Lady and the Tramp but I thought calling someone a Tramp on their wedding day probably wasn't the best idea. And, i don't know, I jusy really like The 101 Dalmatians. It might be my number 1 romantic movie. The black and white theme is also very weddingy. you need
ConstructionFor the outside of the card; fold a white A4 sheet of stock card (I found a card that had a light engraved pattern to it) Cut out three hearts, one large, two small. I wrote That's Amore onto the largest heart. The smaller hearts were made out of card covered in fabric. I actually patterned the fabric myself by sewing long lines of fancy stitch with a twin needle threaded with different coloured cotton. I stuck the hearts to the card with sticky foam so they were kind of 3D. Everything is stuck in place, and the front of the card is done. Take a sheet of black A4 stock card and fold in half. With a white pencil write Congratulations on tying the knot - you might want to practice with a pencil first. - If you don't like your writing or can't get the placement right, you can always print out computer font and trace it onto the card using tracing paper. You can create your own tracing paper by rubbing the back of the paper with white crayon. Or you could print the text, if your printer has sufficient white ink. Don't forget to leave room at the bottom for the dogs. I drew Pongo and Perdita onto more stock card using sharpie. -You can draw or print the dogs to your preference. Next I cut out a second card backing for each dog. knot string and glue to each backing (were the mouths are placed). I glued the card pieces together. Now the dog heads should be fairly sturdy. I used more sticky foam to stick Pongo and Perdita to the card, just down at the corners. Now there are two cards, one balck and one white. Glue the two cards together along the spine, just a small strip along one side of the spine.
You can also write a longer message on either the front or back pages if you want. I've got one last Harry Potter Christmas craft to share. I made these Hedwig ornaments for my friends for Christmas. I painted Hedwigs wings to co-ordinate with their Hogwarts house. Sculpting . . .Follow the steps above to make your owl post delivering owl. Push a jewellery headpin through the middle of the owl. Then bake in the oven. I gave the owls 2-3 coats of white paint. I framed the face and eyes with black paint, and added headwigs famous snowy owl spots. I have one friend who can't decide what Hogwarts house she belongs in. I made her a Hogwats Hedwig. The wings have been painted in the colours of all four houses. I have one Ravenclaw friend, and one Slytherin friend. They got silver and blue, and silver green respectively. I'm the Gryffindor of the group, I'll have to make myself a red and gold Gryfindor Hedwig. And I have an other friend who can't decide between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. She got a Slytherin/Ravenclaw Hedwig.
Mini Book TutorialA miniature book with a miniature picture of a miniature Buster Keaton. These wee books are small enough to use as a neckalce pendant (portable writing book, stylin'!) Or they can be used as a keyring or similiar. I made the book featured in this tutorial for a friend, it was her birthday (Shout out to you reading this!!!!!!!) Buster is, of course, an optional add on. The book on the end in the photo above is my favourite book. I made it to look like a mini spell book. It has black pages, a midnight star fabric cover, gold lettering, everything! You Will Need . . .
Booking, BinDing, Making. . .The first step is a real page turner. Fold ordinary office/printer paper in half lengthways, then fold in half again. Rule out squares/ rectangles (your choice what shape book you make) along the folded edge to make up the pages of your book.* Cut out pages. *I hate measuring lines, it always goes wrong, I just make the pages as wide as my metal ruler, it makes a nice small necklace sized book. If I want a larger book I use a wider plastic ruler. Assemble pages into "booklets." I put together six pages to make each booklet. Assemble five booklets and two end papers, I like to use coloured paper for the end papers but you don't have to. Using a drawing pin, punch five holes down the center of each booklet and endpaper. You might want to make a template for the holes, it makes it easier to get each booklet exactly the same. Sewing/Binding guideI have drawn out a refence sewing guide for the book binding. It looks difficult but it is actually pretty easy, you just have to start and it all flows together. I have colour coded the steps. The red arrows indicate that the thread can be seen from the outside spine of the book and the green arrows indicate the thread should be seen from the inside page of the book. Just in case the sewing guide is too confusing I have also pictured each step below. You probably won't need it but its there if you do. Note on step 13 - Simply tie 13 and 1 together then move on to step 14. When you are finished the spine should look like this. I like to cover the binding with masking tape. Helps to keep the binding nice and tight. Cut out the cover, slightly larger than the booklet pages. You'll need two end covers, and a spine. I made the cover out of a recycled cereal box. Glue card cover to fabric. Leave to dry. Trim fabric down. Thread string along inside of cover. Then glue down all the fabric edges. Press the cover under some books as it dries. Glue booklet into cover. Press under a stack of books. Once its dry the book is done and you decorate to your leisure. I painted a small silhoutte of Buster Keaton and glued the square onto the front of the book. I like turning these mini books into pendants. I use a drawing pin to punch a hole into the top of the spine of the book and loop through a jewellery ring. That way the book can be added to a necklace. With this book I added a clip to make the book more multi-use. It can be clipped to a necklace or keychain or something.
I went completely themed for this birthday. I had the mouse hooded blanket, soft toy mouse, paper mouse puppets for the card, and I mouse-ified (it's a word now) a gift bag. You Will Need
Craft . . .Cut seven rings from the cardboard tube. Arrange the rings into a mouse shape. Fold and manipulate some of the rings to make feet and a tail. Glue all of the rings together. It is helpful to use pegs to get all the rings to glue together. Paint the rings to make the mouse stand out. Glue mouse to the bag. Place a sheet of paper in between the bag just to make sure the glue doesn't soak through the paper and stick the bag shut. Add a bow or a flower.
Following along the mouse/Beatrix Potter theme. Instead of making a card to along with the Beatrix Potter inspired hooded blanket present, I made a couple of mouse finger puppets. I pegged the puppets, using little wooden pegs, to a small card. I figured a one year old would appreciate interactive puppets over a card. PatternPuppeting . . .Trace pattern onto card and cut out. Add glue. Glue the head into a cone shape, and the body into a ring. Once these edges are dry glue a second ring inside the cone. Use pegs to hold everything in place while the glue sets. Fold ears and tail forward. I also dip the nose in white acrylic paint. (the non-toxic kid friendly stuff) Snuggled down in the blanket waiting to be discovered.
Toy MouseMr Tattlemouse; A companion to my Beatrix Potter inspired Hooded Blanket based on The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse. This mouse was kind of a throw-together piece. Made from leftover fabric. I didn't take any progress photos so treat this as a little add-on tutorial to the Hooded Blanket. I do have patterns, though! Which is the main point of this post. You Will Need:
PatternThese patterns were sketched and scanned from A4 paper, so they should be the right size if you print them A4. Sewing1) Trace and sew two ears onto doubled fabric. Cut out and turn through. 2) Cut out two body pieces, adding a 1cm seem allowance. 3) Cut a slit for the ears and sew ears into place. 4) Embroider the eyes onto the body pieces. 5) Place body pieces good sides together and sew, leave a small opening at the bottom. 6) Turn body right side out. Thread three thick embroidery threads through the seem at the back of the body. Knot threads on inside of body. Plait threads to make tail. 7) Stuff body and sew up the opening. 8) Using a few hand stitches tack the ears into a pleasing position. BowI wanted a big fancy Beatrix Potter-esque bow. Something grand. 1) Cut out bow on doubled fabric (good sides together) leaving a small opening at the bottom. Turn through. 2) Using hand stitches gather the center of the bow. 3) Wrap fabric around the middle of the bow to cover the gathering stitches. 4) On doubled fabric trace and sew two bow tails. Cut out and turn through. 5) Sew or glue the two tails to the mouse. Add the bow on top. He's a good companion for story and bedtime, listening to all the stories of naughty bunnies, tidy mice, silly ducks and rascally squirrels.
Mouse Hooded Blanket"Once upon a time there was a woodmouse, and her name was Mrs Tittlemouse." I have a Beatrix Potter themed DIY today. I have been invited to a one year olds birthday party! I think its the first infants party I've been to (since I was a child, of course) After some deliberation, and internet searching, I decided to go with a Beatrix Potter theme, you're never too young for artfully drawn woodland creatures. I made a hooded blanket. It's something cuddly, versitile, and useable, with no small parts. And unlike clothing you don't need to worry so much about geting the size right. Peter Rabbit is probably the most obvious Beatrix Potter story to go with but in the end I decided to go with The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse, just because I felt a mouse face might translate better to a hood than a bunny face. In the end it all came down to the ears, mouse ears will just sit better. I teamed the cuddlesome hooded blanket with the book The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse, and a toy mouse which i made out of the scraps. You Will Need:
PatternI traced out the pattern pieces, which you can see in the pictures below. Each picture should be sized and printed on A4 paper. CuttingHood Main soft cuddly fabric - cut one hood front and one hood back piece. lining fabric - cut one hood front and one hood back piece. Face - Cut out two felt eyes, and one felt nose. Ears - Cut out two ears in the main soft cuddly fabric, amd two ears in the contrasting ear fabric. Beacuse the ears are small they can be hard to sew so instead of cutting out the ear shape I cut a square of fabric around the ears, sew, then cut around the ears. - you can see this in the picture above. The blanket - Cut out 2 rectangles about 90 X 80 cm.* * The blanket piece is double sided. I cut out two pieces of the cuddly fabric because its so soft and snuggly but you could also line the blnket in a different fabric if you want to. SewingPin and tack the felt nose and eyes onto the front hood piece. Placement for the face can be found on the front hood pattern. *Tip: The fabric I was using frayed easily and lost lots of fluff the minute it was cut, before I did anything I overlocked every cut edge. If you don't have an overlocker Zig-zag the edges before you start. Satin stitch around the outside of the eyes and nose. Remove tacking stitches. *Tip: Place a piece of tear away interfacing/fusible web, or even a piece of calico behind the eyes and nose before satin stitching, this should help to prevent the fabric from bunching. Cut/tear away excess backing after you've finished stitching. Adding whiskers. On the wrong side of the fabric draw out lines of whiskers. Using these lines as a template sew whiskers onto the front hood. Sew over each line 2-3 times so the whiskers stand out. Add a twitchy little button nose. In the lining fabric cut out a small circle about 4-5cm. Hand stitch around the edge of the circle and pull tight to gather the circle into a ball. Stuff with stuffing and sew onto the face over the whiskers. Trace a right ear and a left ear onto the wrong side of the contrasting ear fabric. Pin contrasting fabric to soft cuddly fabric (good sides together) and sew each ear. Cut around each ear and turn through. Top stitch each ear. Pin and tack ears onto front hood piece. Placement for ears is drafted on the pattern. The contrasting fabric should be facing the good side of the hood front. Pin hood front and hood back pieces together and sew. Turn through. Do the same for the hood lining pieces. Pin and sew hood front to hood back (good sides together) Cut notches into the seem allowance to reduce bulk. Leave hood lining inside out and place over the outer piece (good sides together). Pin and sew the two pieces together along the front hood edge. Turn through so the hood lining sits inside the outer hood. Pin along the front hood edge and topstitch. Take one of the blanket pieces and fold in half along the longest edge to find the center. Pin the hood to the blanket and tack into place. Place the second blanket piece on top (good sides together) and sew together. Leave a small opening to turn the blanket out the right way. Turn through and topstitch all along the edge of the blanket. And here we have the finished hood and blanket. That fabric is too soft for words. I didn't have a one year old to model it on so Santa bear is standing in, he's a little smaller than your average one year old but he's close enough. I've added the pattern for the mouse companion. It's made out of the left over lining fabric, a fleece material. I'll probably do a quick tutorial later for it but I'll leave the pattern here for now. Like the other patterns it prints out on an A4 sheet of paper. All ready for a teddy bears picnic.
*EDIT* This is last years Fathers Day gift, that I forgot to post (oops) If I had posted this last year it would have been weeks late. Instead I'm posting this year with a couple of days spare. *Thumbs up* 1080%forgot it Fathers day weekend until Fathers day weekend. Scrambled to make this mug. Luckily this is a simple last minute craft. And I'm pretty sure all dads love superman. Then I wrote out this tutorial and forgot about it. Might be a tad late in posting....... You Will Need
MethodFirstly, wrap the piece of paper around the mug and mark out the size of your mug. Once you have that draw out your Super Dad design onto the paper. In the pictures above I have tapped the paper back onto the mug so that you can see how much of the mug will be taken up by the design. Next I grabbed a craft knife and cut out the Super Dad writing. I then taped the paper back onto the mug and traced out Super Dad in pencil. You end up with a light pencil tracing guide for the paint. When I paint thin lines / writing onto ceramic or glass I don't use a paintbrush I use a sharpened pencil, which I dip into the paint. This is heat set paint, so you have to wait for the paint to dry then bake the mug in the oven. Each brand of paint has its own temerture and baking time. The paint I used said to bake for 40 mins at 160c. It also said to wait 24hrs before baking, if you're in a rush just wait 12. Final step - Fill with goodies.
Paperclip BunnyTo start off a series of posts sculpting small polymer clay animals. All of these little guys have been baked on paperclips to be used as bookmarks, of course, any little animal you make doesn't have to be sculpted onto a paperclip. Polymer clay can be sculpted onto key rings, jewellry hooks for pendants, rings, and earnings, glue to the top of a jar, it can pretty much be added to anything. Starting with a snooty bug-eyed bunny. So far I have a couple of different bunny sculpts. You will nEed- Polymer clay* - Acrylic paint and bushes - Varnish/resin** - Sculpting tools - my two favourite sculpting tools to use are: a skewer and a sewing pin. - Paperclips *Obviously any polymer clay can be sculpted but I prefer to use Super Sculpey (beige) It's lovely and soft and creamy, and I find it isn't as brittle as the smaller squares you can buy. It's not coloured but I prefer to paint polymer clay rather than use/blend different colours. ** A clear coating of varnish will always improve the look of your sculpt. I use a two part resin varnish. Some varnish won't work on polymer clay. The oil in the clay causes the varnish to split and dry in patches. This is another reason I paint my clay. Sculpt along...The body of the bunny is basically a Hershey's kiss with a droopy top. Add a paperclip to the body. In the bottom of the sculpt I create a trench with a skewer, add a paperclip, then close over the opening. The paperclip will be baked into the clay. Using a small circular sculpting tool press two eye sockets. Roll two identical balls and press into the sockets. Roll a smaller ball for a twitchy nose. Make a small indent for lips. Create the ears, roll two long ovals, press between your fingers, pinch the top into a point. Using a skewer create a crevasse down the middle of each ear. Add the ears to the main body, I create a small dent, add the ear, then gently blend the clay together. Add two little feet. Roll two identical balls. Gently roll each ball into a teardrop shape. Using a pin, add toes to the wider end. Press two dents for the feet to fit into and blend the clay pieces together. Lastly add a little tail Bake the piece, following the manufacturers directions. Painting RabbitsGive the entire a base coat of white. I gently press a sponge over the wet paint to remove any brush strokes, and also add a fuzzy fur texture. Let the base coat dry before continuing. Add a coat of colour. I painted my bunny a soft grey. I also added a white tummy patch. The eyes are painted black, and a bit of pink is added to the feet and ears. Leave all the paint to dry. Once the paint is fully dry I add a coat of varnish. I use craft smart liquid gloss, which is a two part resin mixture. The figures are hung upside down on a clothes airer. They will drip so lay out newspaper and hang around for the first hour and a half wipe away any excess varnish. Extra Notes On POlymer ClayJust some bits of advice I've read about. Somethings to think about/research.
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Author - JEBARSBY TUTORIALSHere you will find craft ideas, tutorials and fandom crafting. Maybe some recipes Archive
May 2018
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