Easy heart print wrapping paper tutorial

Heart print wrapping paper, and gift wrap in general, can be expensive to buy, so we do make a LOT of home made paper – this heart print wrapping paper is so easy to do, and great for birthdays as well as Valentine’s Day.

We use the end of a toilet roll tube to do these (squeeze the end of the circular opening flat, and then bend in the top section to create a heart shape). Dipping the tube into the red and pink paint and printing onto the brown parcel paper, which can be bought fairly economically from office supply shops. Alternatively, we have also used metal heart shaped cookie cutters – (see photo, we used the same cookie cutter for our Plum Pie recipe) which works just as well… if a little less organically!

Using butcher’s string is another way to make the parcel look really special, particularly if you attach a home-made gift tag, which we created at the same time, using the off-cuts of the heart print wrapping paper… gently fold the printed hearts down the middle to cut a nice symmetrical heart shape and attach with the butcher’s string – lovely!

We created heart print gift tags, and greetings cards, at the same time as the heart print wrapping paper, to have a full set… and even print some extra to keep in the cupboard for that unexpected party or to use to send a pressie to Granny!

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, 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

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, 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!

KidsChaos.com

valentine’s day

Easy heart print wrapping paper tutorial

Heart print wrapping paper, and gift wrap in general, can be expensive to buy, so we do make a LOT of home made paper – this heart print wrapping paper is so easy to do, and great for birthdays as well as Valentine’s Day.

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!

How to:

Valentine’s Day Hand Hearts

Jigsaw Puzzle Piece crafts – Greetings Cards