Rainbow paper bunting with a sewing machine

We love a nice bit of rainbow bunting in our house…. oh, and a sewing machine. One that works anyway….(frowns in the direction of redtedart)

So I had this idea to make some colourful paper bunting with some left over paper triangles (don’t ask, I can’t bear to throw ANY scrap of paper away – even if it IS destined for the recycling!) And rainbow bunting sprung to mind… Avoiding the typical rotation of the triangles, we went with sewing down the MIDDLE of the triangle – and there you have it!

This is perfect for 17th March – St Patrick’s Day in our neck of the woods – if you fancy a #StPaddys party – would be a great decoration!

If you’d like to see some more fabulous #rainbow crafts, and #Stpaddys crafts – check out the #getyourcrafton challenge here.

Also, Maggy, Anthea, Liz, Kelly and I were in a google + hangout recently discussing various rainbow crafts, and you can watch us in all our glory by clicking here.

If you like any of these images, and would like to keep them to remind yourselves to make some later, do PinIt 🙂

Ali also blogs over on aGreenerLifeforus.com and is a new lover of Instagram too… pop over and say hello!

crafts, create, FREE printables, gardening, gardening with kids, google+ hangouts

Fairy tale crafts reward chart

Who would have thought we would be making a fairy tale craft tonight – Fridays are usually our ‘film night’ after a full-on week at school.

HOWEVER, I was taken to one side by my son’s teacher on Thursday to discuss his behaviour – and we between us to set a reward system in place… sigh, just when I thought we were getting somewhere!

So, the plan is, a thumbs up from the teacher = one reward point. And so the Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale craft reward chart was invented. And he is really engaged with it so far – we found an old wooden shelf I’d been hoarding since our kitchen cupboard makeovers (11yo wanted me to write that if you don’t have a piece of board, a sheet of paper or card will do), and found a wiggly stick on the way home from school – and got busy!.

To get started, cut out your leaves – If you use the FREE printable here – gently stick the sheet to another blank A4 sheet with a low tack magic tape, and cut around the leaves. This gives you a printed leaf, and a plain white leaf. Place the plain white leaves in position on the board, and using them as stencils, put a little paint on a scrunched up piece of kitchen paper, and dab around the edge of the paper leaf to reveal a leaf shape.

Glue the branch of the fairy tale craft beanstalk onto your board (oh yes, I DID use a glue gun), and pop the green leaves somewhere safe. We used a CD sleeve, which we glued to the top of the board to make a pocket to hold the leaves. And rewarded the boy with his first ‘thumbs up’ leaf at the foot of the beanstalk – here’s to a completed beanstalk for Jack to climb up by the end of the week… Also on the blog today – how to make the Snow White Mirror.

If you’d like to see the finished fairy tale craft article, click the youtube link here, I got together with Missie Lizzie who talked magic beans, Anthea with her elves’ shoes, Kelly talked Rapunzel, and Maggy at Red Ted Art (talking three little pigs) who hosted a Fairy Tale Craft google+ hangout.

Oh, and I’m on twitter and Instagram is my new favourite thing, I also blog at aGreenerLifeforus.com, and Erm, and funnily enough on Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over to say hello x Like it? Pin it!

baking, cooking with kids, crafts, food, google+ hangouts

Plum Pie recipe perfect for Valentine’s Day

So we have frozen plums and frozen pastry in our freezer = The Perfect Plum Pie recipe for Valentine’s Day!

We’ve been practicing for Valentine’s Day at our house this week… and reminiscing on last year’s Valentine’s Day cake, where we used a small heart-shaped cookie cutter, and some ready-roll-out icing to decorate Daddy’s cake – we came up with the perfect idea, ready-roll-out pastry, and a heart-shaped plum pie of course!

How to:

Using the frozen plums from late summer’s picking frenzy, we warmed them from frozen in a saucepan with a tablespoon of sugar, when the plums start to thaw, strain the juice into a cup (to use later as a sauce if you like), and pour the sugary plum mixture into the plum pie dish (we have a heart-shaped cake tin, perfect for many occasions!) Meanwhile lay the pastry over the plums, and crimp the edges, cut off excess with a sharp knife, and use that excess for your little hearts. to:

Brush the pastry with a beaten egg, and add the little hearts in whatever pattern you like, the egg will help them stick to the pie, don’t forget to brush the hearts with the egg glaze too, and for extra sweetness you can sprinkle some course sugar over your plum pie. Bake for about half an hour, or in our case, until the plum pie crust starts burning!

If a Plum Pie recipe is not your thing, try our Cake in a Mug, click through to Ali’s other blog aGreenerLifeforus.com

For more Valentine’s Day inspiration, try my easy to make hand in heart cards, and FREE Printable jigsaw puzzle piece crafts Valentine’s greetings cards and check out our Google+ hangout hosted by Red Ted Art, featuring Kelly from domesticgoddesque.com with her glitter heart cake toppers Lizzie with her missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.co.uk rustic twig heart wreaths and her silver birch bark candle – amazing… Plus Anthea’s needle felt hearts and Maggy’s collection of Valentines Day craft ideas.

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!

baking, crafts, google+ hangouts, kids

Valentine’s Day Hand Hearts

Ah, this one is SO easy to do, once you start, you won’t be able to stop, and you’ll have a whole room full of them stapled together as Valentine’s Day bunting!

Simply fold a sheet of paper in half, and draw around your child’s (or your own) hand positioning the thumb and forefinger slightly over the folded edge of the paper – (see the red paper image here) As you are drawing the area which will become the ‘heart’ slightly curve the tip of the thumb up, so that you can see the shape of half a heart appearing… cut around the fingers, and unfold to create this lovely shape of hands holding a heart, and repeat! If you have access to a sewing machine, you could join them together to create bunting, a stapler would work just as well, or simply write your message on the hands, and pop into an envelope! #SWALK (that’s sealed with a loving kiss if you aren’t familiar with that acronym!)

Granny has had several of these hearts over the years, dated, so we can see their little hands growing in size every year…. so sweet!

For the recipe for the Cake in a Mug seen here, click through to Ali’s other blog aGreenerLifeforus.com

For more Valentine’s Day inspiration, try my FREE Printable jigsaw puzzle piece crafts Valentine’s greetings cards and check out our Google+ hangout hosted by Red Ted Art, featuring Kelly from domesticgoddesque.com with her glitter heart cake toppers Lizzie with her missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.co.uk rustic twig heart wreaths and her silver birch bark candle – amazing… Plus Anthea’s needle felt hearts and Maggy’s collection of Valentines Day craft ideas.

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, create, google+ hangouts

Easy Teacher’s gifts for kids to make

The boys wanted to MAKE something for their teachers this Christmas, and LOVED these wallets my sister had made for them for their birthdays earlier in the year, so we’ve been saving our wide 1 Litre Tetra Pak cartons, and got busy!

All you need is a sharp pair of scissors and you’re ready to go… Make sure the carton is totally clean. Fold the carton flat so that it has gussets down both sides (see photo).
Cut the bottom off the carton. And at the top too, and cut the three centimetre deep panels into both the sides, cutting the ‘front’ into a curved flap-shape.

Fold the pack in half again, width-ways, up to the point you have cut down 3cm for the sides, and fold the back and front flap-shape over so that it starts to look like a wallet.

Open again slightly, and the panel (back) that you have not cut into a curve then tucks into the front section.

Add some velcro and your upcycled purse is ready to go. If you’d like to WATCH me make one of these, check out the Netmums Craft video here where I was joined by Maggy, Lizzie, Kelly and Anthea. “Bloggers get Crafty – Teacher gift ideas”

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

Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com

crafts, create, google+ hangouts

Advent Calendar FREE printable

Even at aged 11 and 9 the boys are LOVING this homemade advent calendar – so easy to make, all you need is some clothes pegs, a colour printer, and some colourful paper bags and you’re away! For a FREE printable sheet of the peg numbers, see below….

ADVENT-TEMPLATE-KIDSCHAOS — CLICK HERE for your FREE downloadable

I’ve simply filled each bag with something different for each day: from chocolate coins, lego characters, gingerbread men, and paper airplane kits (saved the more interesting bits for the weekend dates). And bonus, it works as an incentive too… They can only open the calendar after school, and only if they’ve got to school on time that day too… four days in and all going well! click here to download FREE>

I recently met up with a party of British bloggers at ‘do’ organised by Susanna and Jen from Britmums, and was lucky enough to come away with a few chocolate goodies which found there way into the bags too… they LOVED the chocolate popping candy cracker chocs, such fun!

For more advent calendar ideas, check out the round up over on redtedart.com and for a bit of fun, watch us in a google+ hangout where we showcase LOADS of ideas on your screen here.
Oh, by the way, I’m also on twitter/MoreKidsChaos too… Erm, funnily enough on Google+, Facebook and Pinterest! Pop over say hello x LIKE IT? Pin it!

crafts, google+ hangouts, key stage 2, kids

Christmas Cards – Stained Glass

Time to make your CHRISTMAS cards!

So we’ve gone all churchy and made these lovely stained glass window style cards…. cutting shapes from the card, and gluing coloured tissue paper behind the apertures. Eek… I let the boys use a scalpel! These look fab with a tea-light popped inside (battery operated for safety) or stuck to a window.

You may also like our Potato print button nose rudolph cards, and to watch the google+ hangout which was hosted by @RedTedArt here: and Maggy’s fabulous round-up with LOADS of ideas from some amazingly creative blogs including some more stained glass from peaklepie here: christmas-card-ideas-for-kids.

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

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