google+ hangouts

Themed Hampers and Gift Ideas

Themed hampers are a great idea for a gift… My lovely Mum has, over the last few years, built me a ‘foodie’ hamper from her trips to the local Hare Hatch garden centre (amusingly she makes us give her back the empty wicker hamper so she can re-use it).

So inspired by this, now that she’s sadly staying in a rest home, the boys and I have put together a themed-hamper for her birthday… a Stationery Hamper.

Stationery Themed Hamper – We used a box-file filled with:

Pencil case
Smart new pens
Diary for next year
Pack of post Christmas cards for her to send out
Pack of home made notelets
Book of stamps
Return self adhesive address labels
Some posh hand cream

The boys decorated the exterior of the box file to make it look like an envelope – very clever!

Not to be out-done… the other Grandma is book-crazy, so we decided to use ANOTHER box file (this time decorated as a book…)

And filled it full of book-themed gifts:

Book Themed Hamper – We used a box-file filled with:

A selection of new books
Some Christmassy ginger cordial
Some Posh Booja Booja chocolates
A home made bookmark
Some fancy post-it notes

What would you put in your hamper?

For more themed hamper ideas try these:

Redtedart.com’s Craft Hamper and her gift hamper round up

Lifeatthezoo.com’s Breakfast Hamper

Bluebearwood.co.uk Pamper Hamper

Missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.co.uk’s Movie-night Hamper

and some fab ideas from Kelly at domesticgoddesque.com too.

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

crafts, google+ hangouts, halloween, kids, monster

Halloween Skull potato print party bags

What is it with skulls? There is something so graphically appealing about them… and with several small boys to entertain for yet another birthday party, I decided to involve them in making wrapping paper, and party bags… So we each carved a face into a potato and got printing!

It’s pretty simple stuff, you can see in the photograph of the potato, you slice it lengthwise, and carefully cut the mouth and eyes with a sharp knife. It’s essential that the potato is sliced FLAT otherwise the print won’t be nice and clean.

8yo (as he was at the time) enjoyed mixing the colours to get the murky grey, and we rolled out some brown packing paper on the table to print up the wrapping paper. The party bags are really easy to make too, you need a tissue box for a template and for an easy ‘how to’ vlog – click over to redtedart.com where one of my earliest appearances on video camera will entertain you…

These potato skulls would be great for Halloween bunting, or if you didn’t fancy getting the paints out, dowload my FREE Day of the Dead printables here.

Want to see me talking about this project and skull potato printing? Click the link and photo left, to watch via youtube…. Maggy Woodley from Red Ted Art hosted a fabulous “Halloween crafts’ on Google+.

Maggy talked us through some lovely ideas, including toilet roll bat pinatas! More links to follow from Anthea at zingzingtree, Aly at plus2point4.co.uk, Kelly at domesticgoddesque.com and Lizzie from missielizzie-meandmyshadow.

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

crafts, gardening with kids, google+ hangouts, kids, Uncategorized

Flowers and Leaves and Andy Goldsworthy

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This week my darling boys got busy with some Andy Goldsworthy style flower arranging! Well, they made some gloopy papier mache glue (recipe here: two parts water, one part flour, nuked in the microwave for 50 seconds…stir stir stir the lumps out as best you can).

Then they painted the patio and started building up their pattern of summer leaves and petals. It has to be said, 10yo particularly LIKES working with colour patterns, you only have to look at his gogo crazy bones collection which he has displayed by colour, and he LOVED David T Waller’s amazing Toy Atlas Rainbow – the hundreds of toy cars… oh, click here to see it…

This is a fabulous way to explore the science of plant decomposition too – watching as the petals’ colour changes over a period of days – and the release of carbon dioxide…

If you’d like to see how our own patio art works with Autumn / Winter leaves – take a look at the ‘sculpture’ we made with the neighbour’s children – read more here, taking inspiration again from the fabulous Andy Goldsworthy and RedTedArt of course.

10yo boy was really excited to tell his Dad all about this, and has decided that he will cover the entire patio for his birthday, in November, so watch this space!

Anyway, 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.

I’m hanging out on Google+ for a bit of a vlog…(click the screengrab to watch) with some craft buddies to share these flowers and leaves ideas, hosted by the aforementioned ever lovely Maggy from Red Ted Art. who made flower crowns and showed us how to press flowers and cute woodland people. Also present are Anna, Crystal, Anthea’s wild grass seed head art, Kelly‘s amazing helicopter seed thank you cards for teachers, Liz was featured with her diy flower-petal paints, The fairy and the frog’s discovery bottle Pop back later for more links soon.

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

Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

crafts, create, google+ hangouts, kids, monster

How to make a Despicable Me Minion keyring or badge

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

crafts, create, google+ hangouts, kids

Lolly Stick Bi-Planes

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!) This post has now moved to http://incredibusy.com/clothes-peg-bi-plane/

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/Incredibusy too… Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x
Ali also writes over on FunCraftsKids.com

crafts, google+ hangouts, kids, monster

Fun Felt Finger Puppets

So – the challenge was on… several scraps of felt, and half an hour to kill… the boys wanted a Baby 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, Baby Yoda’s 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. x

Also on incredibusy.com – and if you like Star Wars you’ll like the PORG paperchains here kidschaos.com/make-porg-paper-chains

And if it’s puppets you are looking for, check out these sweet stick puppets here

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

crafts, create, father's day, google+ hangouts, monster

Jigsaw Puzzle Piece crafts – Greetings Cards

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
VALENTINE’S DAY 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!

crafts, google+ hangouts

Beer Bottle Lids Castanets

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.

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!

crafts, father's day, google+ hangouts

Father’s Day pencil end keyring

Chaos writes:

Oh how I struggle to throw anything away, particularly, if it’s small and sweet like these tiny pencil stubs I’ve been squirreling away for some time! What to do WITH them? 10yo came up with this bright idea…A key ring for Father’s Day in the shape of D for DADDY.

You DO have to use a saw, so be careful and ‘get an adult to help’ – but seriously, this craft is SO photogenic, we couldn’t help but take LOADS of pictures!

The beauty of embedding the pencil ends into the Fimo (which we then baked for ten minutes) is that you can push them down to level-off the pencil ends so that you don’t have to panic too much if the sawn-off stubs are not the same height. We also used a hot-glue gun to make sure the key ring stands the test of time in Daddy’s pocket. As Maggy suggested, this would also work as a coaster, so we’ll keep sawing! Something for his birthday in August 🙂

This craft featured on a youtube google+ hangout hosted by Maggy Woodley at Red Ted Art and also featured Lizzie from Me and My Shadow, Anthea, Kelly, and Crystal (links to follow) click the picture to watch us!

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 andPinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

crafts, create, google+ hangouts, kids

Pine Cone Crafts – Hedgehog

Chaos writes:

Looking for something different to make with the air-drying clay we bought AGES ago from my namesake the poet Graham Clifford at Canonbury Arts, when I was working in Islington. And at the same time, pondering, what do we do with the pile of pine cones we have beside the fireplace? So we figured, this adorable hedgehog!

So easy to make this little fella, one large ball of clay, formed into an upturned face, four smaller balls, flattened for feet, claws indented with the ends of a pair of scissors, two petal shaped ears, and a little bobbly nose… I find that having a little cup of water to soften the clay whilst you are working, really helps… we used felt-tipped pens for the colour detail when the clay had dried. The feet, I’ll admit, keep falling off, so we glue-gunned them on.

We are going to try some more over the Easter break with some Fimo instead of the clay, as it’s it’s more malleable for the kids, will let you know how we get on!
THEN Maggy at Red Ted Art invited a few of us creative types to ‘hang out’ on Google+ to share our pine cone expertise…! I must admit we did have a FEW technical problems, from falling cameras to lost internet connections! You can see the edited version here, and yes, I do pop up at both ends of the video with my superman cape flapping behind me….please do take a look at the following links from the other creatives for shed loads of pine cone inspiration. Lizzie at Me and my Shadow produced a most fabulous photo holder, which is what we are going to make with the ‘spare’ pine cones we have. Aly at Plus 2 point 4 had some printing with pine cones. Anthea at Zing Zing Tree made a very adaptable felt animal creation.
The Frog & The Fairy made some adorable small world play trees. Jen Mum at the Madhouse made a gorgeous owl. Kelly (and her small person) Domestic Goddesque shows us how to make a beautiful door hanging, and of course, our lovely host, author Red Ted Art shares some pine cone babies from her book.
Oh, Maggy’s book is launched 28 March 13, so don’t forget to order your copy now!

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