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.
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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
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.
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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!
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
Out in the garden…compost treasures
Chaos writes:
Out in the garden this morning before school, grabbing some compost for the little Papier–mâché seedling pots pictured below.
And look! (actually, look away now if you’re squeamish about worms… oh, too late…)
There was a potato growing deep at the bottom of the hotbin compost bin! I’ve pulled him out, and re-planted the little spud, how exciting – looking forward to harvesting them later in the year 🙂 #composttreasures
To read more on our gardening adventures click here to see where we got our delicious compost for our seedlings.
To see how our garden grows, follow our Gardening With Kids posts here.
and how to make an indoor watering can 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!
Ali also writes over on AGreenerLifeforus.com
Happy Easter – and melty chocolate…
Chaos writes:
I had recently been singing the praises of Rococo Chocolate on twitter, as earlier this month I had wolfed down a couple of delicious ‘grown-up’ birthday bars (all to myself)….
As a designer by trade, I’ve always loved the packaging, with the repeat patterns of the old chocolate moulds – There’s just something so appealing about the classic blue prints.
You can imagine my delight when the chaps at Achica invited RedTedArt and I to spend the morning with them at Rococo’s Motcomb Street, Belgravia store.
We were welcomed by Julie Rosenberg, the events manager for Rococo, with delicious hot chocolate, and were given a really informative ‘lesson’ on how cocoa is grown, and becomes the chocolate we were then to try.
Julie led us down to the kitchen (which we had spied through the glass window in the floor!) and our Chocolate School continued, with egg decorating, and the fun bit of gluing the two halves of our eggs together! 
It’s such a great idea for a birthday or hen party….have a chat with Julie for more info…there’s a Half Term Children’s Chocolate Bar Workshop coming up which looks great!
So, we even got to take home the eggs we had decorated (yes, mine IS supposed to be an owl!)
Joining in the fun too were the very creative TorieJayne, Lizzie Me and My Shadow, and Jen from love chic living, glamorous glutton and lish concepts, and hannah in the house too.
A big thanks to Julie from Rococo for making it such a super morning, and to Achica for inviting us along and making it such a memorable morning!
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
Book review – The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
Chaos writes:
All this talk of Roald Dahl has got 8yo all of a twitter… (find it hard to use that word in this context, but bear with me!)
This is his collection of Roald Dahl books (Laura Dockrill’s favourite writer, and the cause of this desire to take this photo on the ‘big camera’ to tweet to Laura – bless).
His ultimate favourite is the Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, which was no.1 on the bedtime reading list before Daddy took over that job, reading Harry Potter to them every night, over the phone on loud-speaker (that’s another story altogether).
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me I think was first choice, because, (A) it was a LONG book to read at bedtime, so they get to stay up later, and (B) the language is so beautiful, (how many little boys do you know who call the loo the ‘Lavatory Pan’? thank you Roald).
The story is fabulous, and even without the Quentin Blake illustrations, and your eyes shut, your imagination marvels at the wonder of Billy’s sweet shop, the incredibly TALL house, a giraffe with an extending neck, a pelican with an over-sized beak, a dancing monkey, and the quite bonkers, His Grace the Duke of Hampshire.
Oh, and there is some ‘gun action’ always goes down well with little boys I find!
We did venture several years ago, when they were much younger, to the Little Angel Theatre and this wonderful puppet performance delighted and engaged both boys, because they knew the story so well.
So, thank you Laura Dockrill, for dragging small children back to their childhood with your fab book Darcy Burdock, and talk of Roald Dahl again… 8yo is currently reading George’s Marvellous Medicine aloud to me, and polishing off Matilda when he’s meant to have his LIGHTS OUT!
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
Gardening with kids – watching the seeds grow
Chaos writes:
So, you may have read my previous post about the lovely @soggywelly sending us some random seeds and beans? Well… look how they are shooting up!
my Mother used to make these newspaper planters (and, having shot the video of lovely Maggy Red Ted Art demonstrating how to make them).
Really simple to do with the kids, and to involve them with planting the seeds and beans. We also made some cute little labels – thank you Life at the Zoo for the inspiration!
And along with the toilet roll tubes, these can be popped straight into the earth in the garden – although, it’s so cold here at the moment, I think we’ll keep them on the window sill for a little longer!
We’ve popped these on the sitting room window sill, it’s only little greenhouse, and keep a little plastic milk bottle beside the seeds, with a few holes punched into the lid so that we don’t forget to water them… something 8yo feels proud to ‘be in charge of’ – and excited every day at their growth rate!
To see how our garden grows, follow our Gardening With Kids posts here.
And find out how to use your toilet roll tubes to make bird seed feeders too.
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
Egg Dude – quick Easter craft
Chaos writes: Eek, last minute request from small child, “Mummy – quick, I need to make an Egg character for school” – so, all his own thoughts, and creation, including the bottle-lid cap on backwards, and the techdeck skateboard! He’s even pretty handy with the glue gun too – and ran around to our lovely neighbour to borrow a Turkey Baster (video with said neighbour demonstrating!) to blow his egg in style!
Obviously, you could paint or decoupage your egg, however, he was “in a rush Mummy” – love him.
click here to see other bottle lid crafts.
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
Loving my new camera
Chaos writes:
Well, I have to say, I do love my new camera. It was an unexpected gift from my lovely husband, a complete surprise, but what a difference it’s made to my life!
It’s a Canon EOS 600D and such a joy to use…. I’ve taken loads more photos of the boys, and it’s been great for the blog – as I DO love the old depth of field thing… see what you think!
