Turtles and Tortoises

Now, I had promised monkeys, but then my youngest came up with these, all by herself, and I thought they'd be perfect for our homemade zoo.

All you need is an egg box scissors, paint, a black felt tip pen and some glue.

First, cut out a few egg box cups, then push up and round the bottoms (push in and round the corners if yours are a bit square like these ones) - so they end up looking more dome shaped.

Painting time next, and don't forget to splosh some on both sides of the egg box lid, or any other spare piece of cardboard (for legs and heads)

When dry, use a felt tip to draw a pattern on the shell, and after perusing pictures online, we added some yellow and brown spots too.

All the other bits can be cut out of the painted lid - just a thin strip snipped into four for the tortoise's legs and a rounded head with a long neck.

Use nail scissors to make a slot for the neck on one side (adult supervision). Keep the scissors closed, press down and twist gently from side to side. A ball of plasticine behind the card makes this easier.  Widen the slot so your tortoise can retreat into its shell if things get too much...

For the turtle, make the legs more flipper or paddle like (draw and cut out one front and one back leg, then use these to draw the others)
Remember to make them extra long for sticking under the egg cup.

Glue the legs underneath, in the corners, and leave to dry upside down before bending into place.

We thought the penguin's pool might be a little on the chilly side for the turtles, so made them a more tropical one!

Monkeys next. Honest.

Butterfly - The Gallery

Never think of myself being particularly patient, but the other day I spent a good hour happily chasing butterflies around a field, trying to catch one on camera. Definitely a challenge as they flit about so fast, and by the time I'd sneaked up close enough, holding my breath, they'd be off again, dancing above the wild flowers.
Most of my pictures are blurred or just of nothingness; but I really didn't mind that, or getting long grass stuck in my flip flops, or the pins and needles in my hand from holding the camera so tight. All worth it. I'd have clicked away for longer if I could.

Seeing them fluttering about is one of those joyful signs of summer (now we have one!) - and don't forget the Big Butterfly Count from the 20th July to the 11th August. Get involved if you can. Just 15 mins in a sunny spot, recording what you see. Such a great thing to be part of, and we learnt a lot doing it last year. I always look out for them now, which is probably why I ended up chasing butterflies around a field in the sunshine.

Linking up with The Gallery - this week's theme is SUN

Egg carton penguins

Apparently there are a few homemade Zoos on the go now, which is just brilliant! Though it does mean the pressure's on to come up with some new ideas.  Luckily I've been saving the penguins - and do you know, they're probably my favourites so far. SO quick and easy.

You will need:
Egg carton

Scissors
Small piece of cereal box card
PVA/craft glue
Paint (black, white, yellow)
Fine black felt-tip or gel pen
Nail scissors (straight-edged or similar *to be used by an adult)
For their iceberg home:

Egg cartons

Ice-cream carton lid or similar

The penguins are made from the long pointy cone bits in the box that protect the eggs. Some cartons don't have them but plenty do. How easy is that?

*If your cones have holes in the top, dab some glue inside the top of the cone and then push a small piece of newspaper up, to block the hole.*

First, roughly cut out as much of the middle cones as you can - this makes them easier to work with. Then, with a pencil, mark points on the 4 corners, just above the bumpy cardboard joins. Then join the points with a pencil line, all the way around the cone (just a guide so don't worry if it's a bit wobbly). Carefully cut up to the pencil line (at an angle is easiest) and then along the line. Take time doing this so the edge is nice and even and your penguin body sits steady on a flat surface.

Paint one side white - and cut out and paint a few of the egg cups and the box lid too (for the icebergs)

REMEMBER to also paint a small piece of cereal box card yellow for beaks and feet (about 10cmx10cm).

Once the paint's dry it's time for the black. I found a quick outline with a black pen or pencil on the penguin's front helped. She's pretty neat, my 6 year old, but there mightn't have been a lot of white left if we'd gone completely freestyle!

TIP: Put your penguin on a spare egg carton cone to make it easier to paint (and less messy!)

Use a black marker or gel pen to dot on eyes, close to the top of the head.

For the beak, either: 

Paint or draw one on, 

Or, cut out a small triangle and glue on,

Or, cut a thin strip from the yellow painted cereal box card. Snip the end into a 'V' and cut off the top cm or so (see picture below).

Draw a short line right under the eyes. Use the nail scissors to pierce a hole on the line (keep them closed, press down and twist carefully from side to side). Snip the slot and wiggle the scissors a little, to make it easier to slot the beak through. Dab some glue behind the slot.

Cut two long, thin triangles for feet. Stick the pointy end underneath the front, and leave your penguin lying on its back until the glue is dry. Then bend them into place.

For their frosty, iceberg scene, paint a piece of paper or cereal box card blue, and cut to fit the ice-cream lid. (Paper is easiest - press into the shape of the lid, to make creases around the edges, so you can see where to cut)

Then, have fun arranging your icebergs.
We used part of the egg box lid for a base, then cut the egg cups so they were all different sizes.

Stick the cups on top/in front/in the water - wherever you like really, before sploshing on another thick coat of white to fill any gaps.

One of our penguins has lost his head and gone for a dip...

I've had a request for monkeys and a whale... need to think about the whale, (though there is a whale HERE now!), but I've a sort of plan for monkeys, so they'll be next!

Anything else you'd like to see in the Zoo? Within reason, obviously!

Many more projects like this in my craft books, 'Make Your Own Zoo' and 'Make Your Own Farm Animals'

A new toy in town

There's been a bit of an owl production line going on for a while now; I've made mountains of them, all kinds of sizes and colours - some have found new homes, but quite a few are still here...
Anyway, it's time to branch out and try something new, so I've started making elephants.

Not exactly sure why elephants, though it probably has something to do with the simple, retro 70's shape again. Always drawn to that. I found a few pictures I liked and came up with a rough pattern... then began tinkering.

I'm sure there's a proper method for working out the correct size of gusset you need - I've put one on top and one underneath to improve the shape, and used the see-how-it-goes method, so the elephants are evolving...
Definitely tested my moderate sewing machine skills with the corners and joins, but I am speeding up!

I'd love a little help with the ears - I've made some using the same fabric and others with crocheted ears, and can't decide....

This is the latest Ellie, made from a piece of vintage sheet - I could go for the same fab fabric, or use some cheery, bright orange wool, what do you think?

Linking up with Handmade Monday

Catching a break

A tissue! A tissue? We all sit down

Maybe you recognise the lonesome green chair tucked in the corner of our spare room? The place where pending projects live. Usually for a long time.

But this one's had a relatively quick turnaround.
Now I'd have happily removed any flaky paint and left it at that - I like a bit of shabby, and it only cost me £2 at the auction; but no one else was as keen on the green, so decided instead to have a crack at napkin decoupage.
Why not I thought, after watching someone cover a small set of drawers in a zoo animal napkin on YouTube. It looked brilliant and different than I imagined. I was thinking the napkins would be cut into a patchwork of squares and used as an alternative to expensive decoupage/decopatch paper - and I'm sure that would be fine, but the beauty of napkins is a whole image can go on, a bit like a transfer.  Well it can if you know what you're doing.
And having already fallen into all the usual paper decoupage pitfalls - wrinkling/bubbling/ripping - I knew it wasn't going to be as easy as it looked.

First there was some prep work to do. And I'd forgotten how much I hate painting chairs.
No matter how careful I am, there's always a dried drip down one of the legs.
After sanding and priming I ran out of patience by the third coat of paint. Also in too much of a rush to take photos...

These lovely napkins cost me £3 for 10 on ebay and I only used 2 of them. Each one is made up of 3 layers of wispy tissue and you just want the top layer, which is SO thin!

I decided to put two birds on the top bar, some flowers along the middle one, and a whole napkin on the seat.
If I'd known then what I know now I don't think I'd have attempted the last part...Maybe a little practice on some card would have been a good idea too! But like I said I've no patience and just ploughed straight on in.

So after quite a lot of huffing, puffing and bad language, I found the way that worked best for me, was to put a thin layer of glue (I used pva) on the area I wanted to cover, then gently smooth and pat the piece of napkin down with the tips of my fingers, before applying more glue with a soft brush over the top, to really smooth it down and push out any air bubbles and wrinkles.

BUT you have to be careful not to over-work it, because if you do the napkin will disintegrate. As I found out. The best way is to work quickly, move on, and don't fiddle. I'm a terrible fiddler. The more you fuss the worse it gets. Luckily the pattern I chose was quite forgiving.

Putting the whole napkin over the seat was a different kind of tricky. I did it in sections, brushing on the glue in inch strips and then repeating the patting, gluing stages above. No need to cut the napkin to the exact size, because it was easy to tear the extra bits away from glued on part, while it was still wet. And I used a knitting needle to push through the pattern of holes.

There are plenty of wrinkles, but it did look better when the glue dried, and luckily the photo has magicked them away!

I stuck the overhanging bits on the bars around the back which worked quite well I think. And all that's left to do is varnish it. Probably 3 times. Not in such a tearing hurry to do this bit..

I guess as crafts go it wasn't the most relaxing thing I've ever tried! But towards the end my confidence grew, and with a bit of practice I can see the possibilities.

I'll definitely do it again.
For a start there are so many fantastic patterned napkins around, and they're cheap, certainly compared to the shop bought paper. Granted they're floaty and fiddly, but if you get it right napkin decoupage can give such a neat, seamless finish. And if you fancy a go, all I'd say is start small...