How to make a Despicable Me Minion keyring or badge

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You can’t miss the posters – Despicable Me is back (and I can’t help amusing myself by calling it ’This Pic about me’ – as that’s what my small children thought it was called….)

So, as you know, I’m on a weekly panel of crafty So-and-So-s invited to ‘hang-out’ on Google+ by the every lovely Maggy Woodley at Red Ted Art.

Like Maggy, Hama Beads (or Perler Beads as I’ve heard them referred to) were always a bit of a mystery to me when my kids were really small, and them I realised what a great thing they were – appealing to both genders on play-dates, and across a wide age range too… When 10yo was sitting down making his Despicable Me Minion (the larger of the two in the photo) Maggy’s 5yo son was working away with a furrowed brow (glancing occasionally over at my 10yo’s) – great team work, delight all round as they were revealed from the greaseproof paper and hot iron – love them!

Ours were meant to be made into badges, however, it now transpires that they are destined to adorn their book-bags!

I hung out on Google+ for a bit of a vlog… with some craft buddies to share these melty beads crafts, hosted by the aforementioned ever lovely Maggy from Red Ted Art who showed us several ideas for the Hama Beads, some fab little bowls and sweet greetings cards. Kelly made some EPIC jewellery! and pop back later for more links to Anthea, Kelly, Liz, Aly’s Tardis and Rebecca.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Google+, Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

Yarn Bombing in Wargrave

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YARN BOMBING IN WARGRAVE

Well, imagine my delight, receiving these images on an email last week… Usually emails from the OH over at Wargrave Auto Centre are quite ‘dry’ to say the least… reminding me to artwork up some new business cards, or design an Ad for the Carnival brochure.

So I was beside myself that he clearly knows me so well that he went on a walk around the village taking photos of the amazing #yarnbombing which appears to have popped up on every street corner, bench, and lamp post in Wargrave, near Henley – how delightful are these?

Both me and the children are positively enchanted by this wonderful Yarn Bombing! It made our afternoon, so thank you to the locals of Wargrave for all of their hard work and creativity!

(We particularly love the shot of the bench, and the ‘lost cat, reward’ poster sellotaped to the lamp post, we hope this helps to find him!)

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

Father’s Day Cork Printable

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A nice quick and easy Father’s Day Monster Truck card for you to download, print off, and add your own touch with these slices of cork… any excuse for another glass of wine eh?!

KidsChaosCork-NailsFathersDay-Card-craft

Simple to do… take a couple of different sized corks, I used a champagne cork, and a wine cork…

Using a carving knife (careful!) slice the corks into Monster Truck ‘wheels’ and stick onto the card, one for the back, one for the front wheel…

Click here for our other VERY popular Jigsaw piece printable Father’s Day card, so you can have one of each!

click here to print the Monster Truck> Printable www_KidsChaos Cork card FathersDay

We had previously used slices of corks for wheels on our bi-plane pictured here…click the image to read more about THAT craft too!

I hung out on Google+ for a bit of a vlog… with some craft buddies to share these cork crafts, hosted by the ever lovely Maggy from Red Ted Art who showed us several cork crafts, some CUTE Knights and Santas including printed bunting in her book. Pop back later for more links to Anthea, Kelly, Liz, The Fairy and the Frog, and Rebecca.
Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebookand Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

PINspired by PINTEREST

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Many moons ago I ran the creative department of a large UK department store. We all loved our ‘MOOD BOARDS’ – we used them in the studio, and we used them at home…folders stuffed with images of how we wanted our kitchen to look; notepads full of magazine ‘tears’ of inspirational ideas our new bathroom…

SO you can imagine my delight when I discovered Pinterest, an online version, of just that – your own mood boards, and more importantly, access to OTHER people’s mood boards – and if you don’t have a Pinterest account of your own, it’s simple to create an account!

So, I’m delighted to be part of Pinterest’s #PinItForwardUK campaign. Through this selection of excellent ‘pinners’ I’ve found some amazing blogs, and campaigners, and it’s really made me think more about my own photography, and composition too…

Read on to discover my top boards for all things ethical and creative, with upcycled crafts and DIY ideas such as A Greener Life for Us.

I recently planned a wedding (well, MY wedding, it seven weeks!) using Pinterest, I created a board called Party Time taking inspiration for the most amazing wedding cake which I just wouldn’t have had if it weren’t for Pinterest I’m sure!

Share your own Pinterest favourites

Are you already on Pinterest and have you discovered a fabulous board you’d like to tell us about? Please share a link to your best board in the comments here so we can all take a look. And pop on over to visit Chris at Thinly Spread tomorrow for even more pinspiration as she shares her Pinterest gems.

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and, AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED, on Pinterest too! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

Lolly Stick Bi-Planes

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A nice quick and easy craft for you today… you need five recycled ice lolly sticks for each plane (that’s a lot of lolly-licking – you CAN buy popsicle sticks in bulk though!)

The first bi-plane we made used the old fashioned ‘dolly pegs’ or clothes pin, and some lego bricks and wheels…

8yo said this was ‘cheating’ so we tried a normal clothes peg and sliced a cork into three, creating wheels, using a tooth pick – very satisfying!

Now, these were really quick to make, as we used our trusty glue-gun, so super-speedy, so if you’d like to get MORE from this craft, get painting, and adding some stickers maybe?… let’s see your Spitfires! (no – I am not sponsored by Shepherd Neame)

We had quite a lot of fun trying to photograph the peg planes flying high, in the sky…!

I hung out on Google+ for a bit of a vlog… with some craft buddies to share these peg planes, hosted by the ever lovely Maggy from Red Ted Art who showed us four crafts including her Lollipop traffic light biscuits which are featured in her book. Another great lolly stick craft here from Craftulate – popsicle sticks and magnets! Pop back later for more links to Aly Hodge, Anthea, Kelly, Liz‘s lolly stick boats, and Rebecca. Maggy’s other feature crafts were superhero-puppets and spiderwebs.
Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebookand Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

Fun Felt Finger Puppets

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So – the challenge was on… several scraps of felt, and half an hour to kill… the boys wanted a Yoda, so we got to work.

Ingredients:
Felt
Googly Eyes
Scissors
Glue Gun (or PVA)

We each of us drew the Star Wars character Yoda from memory on a piece of paper, to establish a 2D representation, his ears and BIG eyes seemed to be the main recognisable features. We cut him out, glued him together and built up some fiddly layers to create his creased face and ears.

We had a bit of a debate about which eyes to use, as I was super keen to use the googly eyes with eyelashes. Funny how that got knocked on the head by the two boys… I was desperate to use them, so 10yo allowed me to add them to his Jar Jar Binks – you like?! Not perfect, but you can see a resemblance!
I hung out on Google+ with some craft buddies to share these finger puppets – Anthea from Zing Zing Tree made some lovely hair pinwheels. And some beautiful rings (we’ve put our orders in! Lizzie’s little felt mice were adorable, and our host Maggy from Red Ted Art showed us my favourite felt doughnuts and strawberries.

Ali, KidsChaos.

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebookand Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

We had a day out! Thorpe Park

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The boys had been behaving well all week, homework done, on time, thumbs up from their teachers, they’d got dressed and to school on time EVERY day for the week (without me losing my voice ‘reminding’ to clean teeth, pack sports kits etc), so it was time to break it to them…. carry on like this for another five days, and next weekend we’ll take you to Thorpe Park!

The boys pored over the Thorpe Park website, planning which rides they would be going on, and in which order… this took quite some planning as 8yo is not quite tall enough for some of the scarier rides (he’s just under the 1.4m limit at 1.3m – however, there are LOTS of rides he CAN go on at that height, equally scary if you ask me!)

So we packed some snacks, and waterproofs, and set off for a day of fun.

My personal highlights were all fairly ‘water-based’ so I’d say if you CAN take waterproof trousers too, do! I hung out with 8yo, and started with Depth Charge, (picured below, a couple of times!) followed by Flying Fish, Loggers Leap (damp), Rumba Rapids(soggy), and the SOAKING WET Tidal Wave.

Another favourite of mine, which took some doing to get me on there… was the Detonator. 8yo said it was more fun going on there with me, than with Daddy, as I actually enjoyed it and queued up straight away to go back on! Gut wrenching, but a GREAT view from the top! 8yo and I LOVED RUSH too, so make sure you ask for a blue wristband for your child as you enter the park, this denotes that he is tall enough for a 1.3m ride, and speeds things up.

Meanwhile 10yo and his Dad went on ALL of the ‘extreme thrills’ rollercoaster rides that he listed as his PLAN for the day, so he had the best day EVER apparently!

(and yes, they both braved it backwards on the Swarm!)

So a great day all round, we’ll definitely be going again, and 8yo will be pestering me on a weekly basis to see if he’s 1.4m yet!

There are a few offers on at the mo, to help families to make savings when visiting: Pick up a Frijj to take advantage of a 2-for-1 coupon offer when booking tickets. Check out more information on their Facebook page.

We were lucky enough to be given our tickets by Thorpe Park, however if you book tickets seven days or more in advance you can save 30% – adults from £30.24, children from £23.52 (under 12)

We drove, as we’re only half an hour away, however, if travelling by train, South West Trains website offer online discounts on entry too.

We heartily recommend it for a day out, take waterproofs, and plan your day, would be a great day out for half term – see you there!

Ali, KidsChaos.

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebookand Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

Why we love Laura Dockrill

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Had to share this one with you, following our little prize draw to win a signed copy of Laura Dockrill’s Darcy Burdock, we were delighted that the winner had such an amazing name – Tiffany-Lee Rainbow, and even more delighted to receive this fab photo on the left, which we flipped/mirrored so that you can see what Laura wrote in Tiffany-Lee’s book!

@TLrainbow Tiffany-lee wrote:

Thank You @MoreKidsChaos & @LauraDockrill you are welcome to use my name as a character in your nextbook #justanidea pic.twitter.com/FKbmM3Ur81

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebookand Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

Jigsaw Puzzle Piece crafts – Greetings Cards

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Chaos writes:
So – the challenge to MAKE something with spare jigsaw puzzle pieces… And I think we’ve cracked it with these greetings cards. The shape of the puzzle piece with the ‘sticky out bits’ inspired us to think of Frankenstein’s monster, with the bolts in his neck, so we drew his body attached his head, with some googly eyes and requisite ‘scars’ and away you go! Ideal for a Father’s Day card, or a MONSTER Birthday card .
A second idea is a nod to the two parts of the puzzle making ONE, so it’s great for an anniversary, or wedding card. And equally adding a third piece for a new baby card!
And I’ve created FREE printables here for you:

FATHER’S DAY CARD
MONSTER BIRTHDAY CARD
ANNIVERSARY CARD
WEDDING CARD

A few crafty types came together on Google+ to discuss our jigsaw puzzle craft idea – watch it here. You’ll also be able to see our host Maggy Woodley’s Coasters, Fridge magnets, trees, snowflakes and trees; Crystal’s Brooches, Kelly’s bird puppets, Lizzie’s Family photo keyrings, Anthea’s puzzle resin crafts. If you’d like to see MORE ideas for Father’s Day click here. And more MONSTER crafts here.

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

Beer Bottle Lids Castanets

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Chaos writes:

We love the whole idea of upcycling our ‘junk’ here at Kids Chaos, and wanted to share this fab idea for making some clacky castanets…

You will need:

Beer bottle lids (Liz asked where these Spitfire bottle caps came from, they are much coveted Shepherd Neame caps!)
Cardboard
Glue

Draw around your beer bottle tops, on a piece of card. Cut out the ‘skate-board-shape’ (as 8yo refers to it!)

Fold the card in half, and glue the beer bottle lids to each end so they touch, and ‘clack’ like a castanet.

We tried a simple design, using blue-tack, and they yellow lids (shown) however, they blue-tack ‘dulled’ the sound. So we switched on the glue gun!

Before we completed the second castanet, we glued on some decoupage paper we’d picked up from HobbyCraft, and added some googly-eyes. The beer bottle lids which were glued on with the hot glue gun, make a MUCH better sound – you can hear them on the google+ hangout below, kindly hosted by Maggy Woodley from Red Ted Art.

You’ll also be able to see Maggy’s Maraccas and Guitar; Crystal’s Jingle Bell wrist bands. George’s tambourine, Lizzie’s Bluebell fairy shaker, Anthea’s bottle blowing music and further links to follow from Adele. If you’d like to see what other uses we have for bottle lids, click here.

Are you on Google+ Follow me here, and say hello, and I’ll add you back to my circles.

KidsChaosCastanets Oh, and I’m on twitter.com/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook andPinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

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