Fun, Easy and Free Hallowe'en Knitting!

These wonderfully easy ghosts came from one of my favourite knitting designers, Jean Greenhowe. When I looked at her website, I just thought aren't they just adorable! 

Teeny, tiny ghosts that are the perfect Hallowe'en gift, an added bonus is that they are extremely quick (even for a slow knitter like myself) to knit. 

Easy Homemade Advent Calendar

This is a brilliant family project, my children and I had great fun folding these envelopes, it took my children a couple of attempts to master the technique but once they did there was no stopping them!

Homemade Flubber

We spent the day playing with this, everybody in the house has had a go at it. We stretched it from one end of the house to the other, moulded it, stamped it and generally had a ball with it!! Now I am totally new to flubber (also knows as Gak and Slime), it's hard to describe, it is firm, yet very soft and is extremely stringy although it will tear in half if needed....strange stuff indeed. I made the first batch as an experiment, then proceeded to make two more batches in different colours. We store it in airtight containers when not in use and I expect it will keep for weeks and weeks. If this gets into your carpet or your cloth sofa then you will be scrubbing for what seems like an eternity to get it out, you have been warned!

My children are of an age that they know (at least I hope so!) not to eat this stuff, so if your little ones put everything in their mouth then I suggest you try one of the non toxic recipes out there.

Yield 375g

Ingredients:
140ml Cold water
250g White PVA glue (I bought a 600g Bottle of Blue Label Washable PVA Glue for €1.99 in Easons )
Food colouring
125ml Hot water
1 tsp Borax powder (I bought a 100g pot for €1.51 in my local pharmacy)

Method
Borax powder is not suitable for small children and should be handled with care, with that in mind I recommend that an adult make this recipe.

Place the PVA glue, cold water and food colouring in a small bowl. In a larger bowl dissolve the borax in the hot water, stir until the water is clear.

Slowly pour the glue mixture into the bowl containing the borax solution. Mix thoroughly until the glue forms a squishy ball. If you remove the borax solution too soon the flubber won't be cohesive. Carefully drain off any remaining liquid. Message the flubber until it is smooth and elastic. Stick with it, at first it will be a crumbly and fall apart but the more you work it the smoother it becomes. Eventually it will become stretchy, slowly does it though, if you stretch it too fast it breaks!

Stamp it....

Create a fossil with it....

Stretch it...

Attack it!!

Canvas Button Tree

Now I know this is a departure for me, I'm usually busy in the kitchen cooking up a storm. But I am a crafter at heart, I have my finger in many crafty pies, I do a little knitting, painting, jewellery making and I especially love paper crafts. This was a project I spotted on Pinterest and thought it would look lovely hanging on the landing. This is how I made it....

I sketched the outline of a basic tree trunk in pencil on a 50x70cm (20x27inch) canvas (for a previous painting project), then I provisionally positioned the buttons. Trying to mix the size and colours for a balanced look.

I took this photo to use as a guide for when the tree was painted and dry, to act a reference point for later (which I didn't use!!)

I painted a graduated wash, light into dark with acrylic paint, I then painted in the pencil outline for the tree trunk in dark brown.

There is no real need to be too detailed, this is meant to be fun.

I used a glue gun to stick the buttons into place, then glued some really small buttons at the base of the trunk so they look like fallen blossoms.

The finished result is now hanging in pride of place on the landing. The colours change all the time, some of the buttons catch the light at different times of the day. Some sparkle in direct light, others stand out in low light. It reminds me of a tree in early autumn when the trees are at their most colorful. 

Modelling Clay (Rainy Day Projects)

Argh!!! It's raining. No need to panic, I have the perfect solution here, this will make for a peaceful afternoon and maybe even carry through until tomorrow *fingers crossed* for the final painting and decorating. Now if the sun is shining where you are then I suggest you bookmark the page for later use :)
Here in Cavan, however, it is a cold wet day so this is how were are spending the day....crafting. I am making pendants for a spot of macrame later and the children and busy making all sorts of beautiful models.

This clay is very nice to work with, it so soft and very easy to mould. It has a smooth brilliant white finish, delicate enough to be admired but robust enough that it can be enjoyed without fear of breakage. Now to be perfectly honest, this is better suited to smaller less complex pieces, we found that the bigger the finished piece was the slower it was to dry (if at all) and that noses etc fell off. So with that in mind you can steer your children in the right direction  and save tears later.

This clay doesn't have to be air dried, it will keep in an airtight container like play dough, but for how long I'm not sure. If you have very young children (that age where everything goes into their mouths!!), you might prefer my Playdough recipe, it keeps for months in an airtight container and requires no cooking (it will air dry but has a rougher texture). I still make copious amounts of it in this house :) Enjoy!!

Yield 860g

Recipe
500g Bicarbonate of soda
90g Cornflour (extra for dusting)
375g Cold water

Method
Place the ingredients in a medium sized saucepan, you could add food colouring at this stage.

Whisk together to remove any lumps, place over a medium heat and continue to stir.

Small bubbles will appear on the surface, the mixture will begin to thicken. Keep stirring otherwise the mix will stick to the bottom the saucepan. Eventually the mix will begin to come together (like mash potatoes)

This is the consistency you are looking for, soft but not sticky.

Tip into a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel, as the clay cools it will dry on the surface so be sure that the towel remains damp. Knead the clay until smooth, if it is still a bit sticky then sprinkle your work surface with cornflour until smooth (we didn't need any cornflour).

We had great fun making all sorts of creatures, the larger animals didn't dry completely and were prone to breakages, the simple projects worked best.

Lay your creations on a baking tray and bake at 110ºC/225ºF/Gas Mark ¼  for about an hour or until the pieces are dry. Alternatively you can air dry the pieces overnight, this is best for smaller pieces.

Now there were some casualties of the drying process, either by curious children or in some cases (especially the bigger pieces) large cracks developed. These cracks were fatal so the compost bin was their final resting place ;)

Those that did survive were carefully painted  and will soon be varnished. We painted the pieces with normal paint but if you want a shinier finish then Acrylic paint would work very well. The glitter glue was also out in force, it worked a treat.

Instruction on how to make the Owl are right here (4 Crazy Kids is a brilliant blog for craft ideas). 

If you are familiar with Jolly Phonics might recognise this snake!!

Some more ideas........

If your children (or us adults!!) want a more sophisticated look, these stamped pendants are very easy to make and air dry in no time. I think they are perfect for adding to Macrame jewellery, Christmas ornaments or threaded with a pretty piece of ribbon.

Playdough Recipe (No Cook)

Everything required for this really quick recipe is available in the home baking aisle. No weighing required and any standard cup will do, easy as pie! It makes a really soft pliable dough that is totally natural. You now have a steady supply of dough and your children won't know the difference between it and the shop bought variety. This is also suitable for air drying but the colours do fade, so I suggest making the dough undyed and painting the dried model instead.


Adult supervision is needed.

Makes 580g

Ingredients
½ Cup Table salt
1 Cup Plain flour
1 tbsp Cream of tartar
1 tbsp Oil
1 Cup Boiling water (must be boiling water)
Red food colouring
Yellow food colouring
Blue food colouring
Green food colouring

Equipment
Large bowl
Standard tea cup
Measuring spoons
Rubber gloves

Method

Place the salt, plain flour and cream of tartar in a large bowl.

Mix in the boiling water and oil in with a spoon. Mix thoroughly together. If you don't use boiling water the dough is much softer and stickier and may not last as long. If you prefer you could add some food colouring along with the boiling water for a single coloured batch.

Knead until smooth on a clean working surface.

Divide into individual balls corresponding with number of colours you want.

With rubber gloves, knead in the food colouring in until smooth and fully incorporated (basic colour mixing rules apply, red and yellow make orange etc.)

This makes wonderful playdough which lasts for months in little plastic ziploc bags or airtight tubs. I gave this recipe to my son's preschool and they love it.



Mix new colours, great for small hands.