Easter bunny and chick have a little picnic! - #stayhomeandcraft

This is a gathering of some past toilet paper roll crafts and it makes a really sweet little display - perfect for storing pens and pencils, or a few Easter eggs!

You will need:
3 Toilet paper rolls (or use kitchen paper rolls)
Egg carton
Cereal box card
Plain paper
Paint
Craft glue (and a glue stick is useful too)
Scissors
Feather (optional)
Black pen
Yellow/orange tissue paper (optional)


1. Cut a piece of cereal box, about 12cm by 14cm (5in. x 51/2in.) and cut one cup from the egg carton.

2. Paint one of the tubes green, plus about halfway down the inside, and paint the plain side of the cereal box card.

3. While that's drying, gently press one of the other cones flattish, so it's easier to draw on - try not to crease the sides too much, and draw bunny ears. It helps if you draw a light pencil line down the middle of the cone first, then draw the ears either side. This keeps things even. Roughly half the tube should be bunny body and the rest, right up to the top, should be ears.

Continue the pencil line around the back - we curved ours down a little, then up to meet the other side, but straight is fine too.

4. When cutting out the middle of the ears, cut from the top down to the bottom of the ears on both sides, then fold out the flap of card and remove.

5. Cut down the other side of the ear, then cut down to the line a little further around the back of the tube, fold out and cut the flap off. Cut along the pencil line to the bottom of the other ear.

6. For the chick, flatten the last cone carefully again, and draw a curved line across, about a third of the way up the cone. Continue the line around the back. We curved this down a little, like the bunny, but straight is fine too.

7. Paint the chick, egg carton cup and some spare card (for the basket handle) yellow, and paint your bunny grey (or any other colour you like!)

8. While they're drying, Cut zigzags into you green cone. Make them different widths and lengths. On one side make the grass shorter, so you can see longer strands behind. This adds to the 3D effect.

9. Make some little flowers and insects to add to your grass.  The daisies are thin strips of white paper crossed over each other and glued together with a yellow centre (either paint or draw this on, or use a hole puncher to make a little yellow circle. The butterfly and ladybird and made from cereal box card. There is a more detailed tutorial for this meadow scene HERE.

10. To finish the bunny, either paint the inside of the ears pink, or fold a small piece of paper in half and draw a petal shape that's smaller than your bunny's ears. Cut out so you end up with two identical pieces. If you don't have pink paper, colour in some plain paper.

Glue these in place ( a glue stick is the easiest and least messy way to do this)

For the bunny's tummy, fold a small piece of plain paper in half and draw half an oval shape on the fold. Cut out and open up. Glue near the bottom of your cone.

Use a black pen to draw on eyes, nose and whiskers. Keep the eyes close to the bottom of the ears. Add a cotton wool tail on the back if you like.

11. For the chick, draw eyes with a black pen near the top of the curve, and glue a small orange triangle between them. (You could paint or draw the beak on instead)

If you have any feathers, glue one behind the top of the head.

12. The little basket is based on the nests for happy hens in my book, 'Make Your Own Farm Animals'. There's a link to Amazon here if you'd like to see it.

If you don't have tissue paper, or want a more speedy option, just cut a strip from the yellow card thats a good size for a handle, and glue the ends inside the egg carton cup. Use some paper clips to hold this in place while the glue dries.

If you want to use tissue paper, loosely fold a few sheets of yellow and orange over several times, and cut across, keeping the strips really thin. When you feel you have enough, unfurl and pull the strands apart, then scrunch and rip them up a bit.

13. Brush some glue inside the egg cup and press a good amount of your ripped up tissue paper strands into the glue. Fun and messy! Keep pressing the tissue paper around the inside until it moulds to the shape of the cup, and most of the strands are glued down. Do the same on the outside, pressing and squeezing the cup until the tissue paper looks quite flat. Cut off any fly-away bits.

14. For the handle, glue and press another handful of strands onto the yellow painted card. Press as flat as you can.

Then cut a strip from the middle - shape and size it for the basket, and glue the ends inside. Use paper clips or something similar to hold the ends in place while the glue dries.

15. Assemble all your pieces on the card and glue in place.

To make the base more sturdy, you could glue to a thicker piece of cardboard.

 Now it's ready for pens or chocolate eggs! (know what I'd choose..)

Stay Home and Easter Craft!

These are such strange and uncertain times.  Life for everyone has changed beyond measure, but the one thing we do have is time. For many of us that means an abundance of time at home with kids. Now obviously this can be both a blessing and a major challenge.. keeping little ones busy and doing something worthwhile isn't always easy, and that's where craft comes in.

Cutting, gluing, creating, painting and getting messy can be such a fulfilling way to spend time together. And you don't need shop bought craft supplies - some of the best stuff to craft with you probably have at home already, like cardboard tubes, boxes and egg cartons. Transforming everyday objects is when the magic happens!

And it's not just the kids who're occupied and using their imaginations. Getting a little lost in a craft project can be a perfect distraction for us too. A bit of craft therapy is a good thing at the moment.

It also helps to have a theme and a focus, with days stuck at home stretching ahead of us - so with Easter racing up, I've put together a collection of Easter crafts you might want to try - birds, trees, bunnies, fish, butterflies and flowers! Just click on the title for the full project.

Egg Carton bluebirds in an Easter tree

The little egg carton birds are a big favourite here, and these blue birds are a really simple to make version. Change the colour and size if you want, it's totally up to you. The same goes for the tree top - why not try a different shape?

Easter bunny egg holder!

Well, it doesn't have to be an egg holder, but any opportunity to sneak in some chocolate! This would make a lovely table place setting for Easter day. Make one per child, pop their name on a piece of paper and prop it in front of the ears. Hide a little treat inside.

Shiny Happy Easter Crafts!

REMEMBER TO HOLD ONTO YOUR EASTER EGG FOIL!!  I know that's sometimes tricky with eager, impatient little chocolate egg hunters, but there's plenty you can do with it, even the small bits!! The great thing about using foil to cover cardboard shapes is you can easily wrap the bits that go over the edge, underneath. This gives a really neat finish.

Rainbow Foil Fish

This is a good way to use up those smaller pieces of foil. Great for a picture collage or a shiny mobile.

Springtime Egg Carton Posy

Such a bright and cheery craft - egg cartons are brilliant for making flowers. They make lovely gifts too.

Egg carton turtle and babies - #stayathomecrafts

 Another craft that uses the whole egg carton, and makes a perfect home for the little turtle babies!

You will need:
2 egg cartons
Cereal box card
Craft glue
Paint
Black pen
Nail scissors (optional, to be used by an adult)

1. With green paint and a big brush, paint the outside of an egg carton, the cereal box card and the bottom of the egg cups from the second carton.

2. Squirt some red and some yellow paint on a plate or palette, and mix them in the middle to make orange, then have fun splodging on yellow and orange on your turtle and baby turtle's shells, and dab on a little red with finger tips. Messy and fun!
We got a bit carried away, so added a few more blobs of green on top, to break up the bright colours.

3. For the big turtle's head, cut a strip from the green card, about 4cm wide. Cut it so it's about 6cm long and round off one end.

4. For the back legs, cut a strip about 3cm wide, cut two pieces from either end of the strip, about 5cm long. and round off one end of each.

5. For the front flippers, use a decent sized cup or glass and draw around the rim. Cut out the circle and and cut the circle in half.

6. Cut away the middle part of the semi circle - use a pencil to draw this first, if it helps.

7.  Then round off one end of each flipper, but make sure you round OPPOSITE ends, so the flippers can go either side of the turtle's head.

8.  Glue the legs inside the carton at one end, on or near the corners.

9.  Use a black pen to draw the face on the head part, and either glue this in the middle of the other end and glue the flippers on top of it, or flippers first and head on top. Whatever's easier.

If the flipper doesn't go far enough down the side that's attached to the lid, cut the connecting card a little and slot the flipper in.

10. The baby turtles or turtlettes, are made in a very similar way. Cut out as many egg carton cups as you want. For a quick finish, cut a strip for the head, snip into 2cm lengths and round one end. Draw on a face. Either glue the end of the head piece inside the 'shell'. When dry fold into place, OR, make a hole in the side of the carton cup, about half way up (to be done by a adult - keep nail scissors closed, press down and twist from side to side. It helps if you put a piece of modelling clay behind where you're making the hole, so there's something to press into)

Once you've pierced through, make a slot for the head and push it into place.

These babies will look sweet as they are, but if you would like to add legs, cut a thin strip for the back legs, cut off small pieces, about 2cm long and round ends.

For the flippers, draw around something small, like a  thread spool or small spice jar - cut out the circle, and cut the circle in half. Cut away the middle of each semi circle and round one end of each, making sure they're opposite ends, and glue the ends under the turtle's shell. When dry, fold out.

When the babies get tired of swimming, they can always have a little rest under Mum's shell..