Mini flowers in a vase - Shoebox kitchen

We’ve had a bit of a break from our homemade dolls house kitchen, but I keep thinking of little things to add to it, that could work in the rest of the house too… when we eventually get round to making the other rooms!

These little vases of flowers are tiny and sweet, and not difficult to do.

You will need:

Egg carton

Scissors

Green paper (or plain paper painted)

Coloured tissue paper (for the flowers)

Craft glue

Paint (if you want to paint the vase)

1. Roughly cut out the middle cone from an egg carton - you need the top 3cm (1in.), so either measure from the top, mark the sides and join the marks, or draw a rough line by sight (halfway down the cone should be about right). Cut up from the open end and along the line.

2. Cut the tip of the cone off - easiest way is to squeeze the cone flat and snip across the very top of the cone. You will have to trim the corners so it sits on a flat surface.

3. For the base of the vase, cut out a small square or circle from the egg carton lid, dab some glue on the narrower edge of the cone, and stick in place.

4. While that’s drying, make the flowers. Cut a strip of green paper about 6cm long and 3cm wide. Snip all the way along the strip, just over halfway down. Keep your snips close together.

5. Hopefully the glue on the vase will be set enough now to paint. Paint any colour you like - or you could just leave it plain.

6. For the flowers, cut little square shapes from some tissue paper (about 1cmx1cm/1/2in.) A good tip is to fold your tissue paper a few times so you have several layers, cut a strip and then cut squares from the strip. (They really don't have to be perfect!) 

7. Scrunch up your little squares into your buds and blooms!

8. Brush glue inside the vase, roll the bottom part of your green strip, and put it into the vase. Let it unfurl a bit and push out and arrange your stems and leaves.

Dab glue on some of the green stems and stick on your flowers.

9. Optional - snip some of the green leaves into a more pointy shape if you want.

Egg carton sheep

These sheep are the first project in 'Make Your Own Farm Animals' and they're really quick to do - a few egg boxes, cotton wool and a black felt tip, and you'll have your own flock before you know it!

You will need:
Egg carton
Pencil
Scissors
Cotton wool
Glue
Black felt tip pen (or a Sharpie if you're happy to use a permanent pen)

1. Cut out an egg cup, roughly first, then neaten up the edge. Turn it upside down and draw a cross on top with a pencil (see below), and continue the lines down the sides of your egg cup.
This should give you four well spaces legs.

2. Use a black felt tip pen or a Sharpie to colour in the bottom part of the legs, so they are more chunky.

3. With your scissors, snip up the sides of each leg (8 snips) - don't worry if you snip too far, you'll soon be covering the top part with cotton wool.

4. Snip the card HALFWAY BETWEEN each leg too (4 snips)

5. Push all the flaps of card, between the legs, under your sheep, leaving the four legs down.

6. Cover the top of the egg cup with a thin layer of glue. Tease out a small piece of cotton wool with your fingers and stick it on top of your sheep. A small amount of cotton wool looks best.

7. Draw a head on either the egg carton lid or some spare cereal box card. Keep the shape simple so it's easier to cut out.

8. Use the black pen to draw two circles where you would like the eyes to go and colour-in around the circles. Add a black dot in the eye if you want. Glue in place.

9. For a lying down sheep, cut a shallower egg cup from your carton and cover the whole thing with cotton wool. Glue on the head.

TIP: A white correction pen (like Tipp-Ex) is handy for eyes if you want to add them after colouring-in the head, or you want to make a sleeping sheep with closed eyes.

Many more animal projects like this in my book, 'Make Your Own Farm Animals'

Pretty tissue Peonies

Peonies are a real head-turner at this time of year, with their showy blooms in all kinds of colours. I saw the most beautiful tree peony the other day with enormous pink flowers, which sort of got me thinking about this project. And of course peonies were centre stage at the royal wedding.

The great thing is, because of their naturally ruffled, billowy shape, they're really easy to make.

You will need:
Sheet of yellow tissue paper
3 sheets of coloured tissue paper for the flower
Scissors
Craft glue
Elastic band
Pipe cleaner (optional)

1. For the petals, we used a white sheet of tissue paper and two pink sheets.
Fold one sheet a few times, so you have a few layers and cut a square, about 16cm by 16cm (or bigger if you want).
The shape of our sheet meant it was easy to fold into a square shape that was roughly the size we wanted, so all we had to do was just cut along the creases.
Repeat with the other two coloured sheets, so you end up with lots of tissue squares.

2. Take one square and fold it in half, then fold it again, into a smaller square. With the pointy end (that's the middle of the square) nearest you, fold into a triangle and cut the other wider end into a curved shape, so it looks a bit like an ice-cream!
I've drawn it on so you can see more clearly. This might be a good thing to do for younger makers too. It doesn't matter if the shape you cut varies from piece to piece - having different petal shapes will add to the overall effect.

3. Then, the fun bit - opening it up to see the petals. Repeat until you have two of each colour -  6 altogether per flower.

4. For the centre of the flower, fold the yellow tissue paper sheet over a few times and cut about a 6cm strip.

5. Hold the folded tissue firmly, and cut a fringe along an open side - cut about halfway down.

6. Roll the strip tightly at the bottom, and put a small blob of glue at the end. Finish rolling, and squeeze where the glue is, so it sticks the tissue paper layers together.

7. Brush some more glue all around the bottom part of your yellow centre, then put the gluey end in the middle of one of the petal pieces and simply gather up, and press around the yellow centre. Give it a good squeeze at the bottom.

You can either keep brushing glue around the bottom before each petal piece (can get quite sticky), or just keep gathering the petals around the centre without glue, keep a firm grip on the bottom, and then, with adult help, wrap a small elastic band around a few times, to hold the petals in place.

Give your finished flower a bit of a scrunch, before fluffing it out a bit with your fingers.

You could also wrap the end of a pipe cleaner around the bottom of the flower a few times, to secure it, so it's easier to display in a vase, or attach as a decoration.