Fun holiday activities at Hobbycraft

I try and put workshops and classes on for the young folks when they are off school.  I also try and keep the prices as low as possible, having remembered when mine were young how expensive it can be to entertain families when everything costs money!  I offer these classes at just £2.00 per person, per activity, in the hope that it keeps them busy for a wee while, it's time away from the TV and they might take the idea home and make other things.

So, on offer these holidays were juggling balls!

Now, I do realise that juggling balls usually need to be weighted, but my main concern was parents ornaments and smacking siblings on the head with them, so I went for a safer option - styrofoam balls.  This also made the balls good for bath time fun as they float and are waterproof!

The young folk ripped up bits of duck tape and covered each ball, hiding all the white bits.

Now the difficult part... . learning how to juggle!  That, I cannot teach them as I am hopeless.

I am sure they can't do too much damage with these balls, but you never know the power of a good throw when your sibling annoys you  ;)

The next session was stained glass effect jars.  Simply cleaned and washed glass jars covered with little squares of coloured tissue paper.

They seemed to like this.... or was it the gluey mess, either way, a lot of gluing and placing of square kept little hands busy for a good while.

And of course the jars are useful afterwards too, for storing bits and bobs in, or for putting a tea-light candle in and making a lovely fireside glow.

Next up was Wind Spinners.  Another fun idea of sticking things to CD's, and hanging glass beads from them so they spin in the wind and catch the sunlight.

The amount of glue-dots I had gone through at this point was unreal!  I should have shares in them  :)

Just look at those happy faces, crafting seems to make everyone happy.

Such beautiful wind spinners too, gorgeous patterns and doodles, ready to hang and spin.

The last session was cardboard tube owls.  These were fun.  Again, lots of glue-dots and cut out shapes to make feathers.  Finished off with wings and big googly eyes.

Those eyes were not glued in, honestly!

Twit Twoo.......

Thanks for coming, if you did.  The reason I keep putting these workshops on is because you all like to come, so maybe see you all next time  :)

Warwick Bridge W.I. Group

A few weeks ago I was invited to Warwick Bridge W.I. group to talk about crafting. 

Now, as much as I enjoy a good natter, I don't like talking about myself, I would much rather show people how to do something then chat as I go around seeing what they are doing.

So, that is exactly what I did.

I thought some Zen style doodling would be just the thing.  Everyone can Doodle, there's no right or wrong way of doing it, and you can either frame your magnificent masterpiece, or screw it up and put it in the bin  (yep, I have had people do just that!).  

So the night before I doodled a sample piece  (I thought I should mention it was the night before as there is wine in the photo and I didn't want you to think that W.I. meets are just an excuse for drinking!  This was my wine, in my house  ;)

Sample made, I'm pretty happy with it.

Off I went, did a quick introduction to myself, an even quicker demonstration, then handed everyone a pen and a sheet of black card and set them to work!

What a fun evening, full of doodling and chatter, and some fabulous work was produced.  I am hoping none of it went in the bin, I personally think it was all too good for that.

Thanks for having me Warwick Bridge W.I, I hope you all continue to doodle and I will maybe see you again sometime...

Toy Cars and a mirror.

I finally got round to doing something I had in my head for ages last weekend.  I made my grown-up son a gift.  He is car mad, and loves the colour red - which made the decision of what to make a little easier.

First of all I sourced some toy cars - the matchbox size ones.  I paid £5.00 for a shoe box full on a Facebook selling site and got to work with a can of Plastikote enamel spray in metallic red.

This bit was quite enjoyable, seeing all the different shaped vehicles all turn a vibrant shade of red.  (I also managed to spray my wheely bin, which I was using as a table!)

Don't they look great?

I then scoured the charity shops for a suitable mirror and found this lovely oval one with a wooden frame for just £2.00 - the dust was free and there was plenty of it, but after a good squirt of Mr Muscle it was nice and sparkly.

I decided that hot glue would probably be the best way of sticking the cars to the wood.

Bostik glue gun, Hobbycraft's own glue sticks  :)

They did the trick perfectly.  So much so that I can pick the mirror up by a single car and it still holds.
Not that I will do that very often of course, but these things need to be tested.

I wasn't going to include this little crane vehicle, but when I saw how the arm draped across the mirror I knew I had to  :)

Not sure which is my favourite vehicle - the cement mixer is up there I think.

And then we were done!  Now to find somewhere nice to photograph it so you don't see all the moss on my conservatory roof!

Dining room.... that'll do.  :)

He seems to like it anyway, and I am pretty pleased with the result too.   Now, what can I spray and stick next?

Giant ninja

Having made a few Little Lady Ninjas recently, I wondered what it would be like to scale the pattern up and make a larger one.

I went off to the shed and found the chunkiest yarn I had laying about, which happened to be a super chunky called Lumio.  (this is a fun yarn, it has a reflective thread running through it!)

Using a 10mm hook, I got to work.  This is the crown of the head, compared to a proper sized LLN.

After quite a bit of stuffing, she was finished.  A big chunky magnificent orange ninja!  Shown with a regular one to show scale.

She went off to visit her friends in Hobbycraft too  ;)  But not for long as there was a little girl waiting to meet her.

Hope (granddaughter) seems to love her new orange friend.

Have you ever scaled up a pattern?

Little Lady Ninjas

This new pattern popped into Hobbycraft, where I work, recently.  I hate it when new things come in as it costs me a fortune - in fact I don't think I ever make any money at the end of the month working there, I seem to plough it all back into the business! .. Anyway.....

Just look how cute it is.  It is by Sarah-Jane Hicks and produced by DMC Creative.  The cotton used is DMC Petra.

I was asked if I would create some of the little cuties for display - well, of course I would.

So, off I skipped home with the cotton and the pattern and got to work.

Before long I had three little heads with shiny black eyes staring back at me.

And soon enough the first Little Lady Ninja was born.  And just how cute is she?

Then along came another one to keep her company.

And a third soon followed to make up the trio.

Off they went back to Hobbycraft to adorn the display.  They seem quite happy just hanging there, looking about.

Having watched me make these little cuties over the few days that I was busy with them, Hubby then asked if I would make him one for his desk at work, but he wanted it to be black and white.  (well actually, he wanted silver "throwing stars" , but he was too impatient to wait for me to buy silver cotton, so he settled for black & white.

 I loved doing these, they were so much fun.

Easter chick cover for a Creme Egg - Tutorial.

Ok, so it is way too late for Easter this year, as in ..."Zoom, where did it go"... but Creme Eggs are nearly here all year around and you could get started for next year, after all, I am sure it will be back around pretty quickly!

Anyway, here is a tutorial to make these little cuties.  Please link back to here or my Facebook page if you make and share, credit is always appreciated  :)

BODY - Round 1. CH 2, then work 6 x DC's into the 2nd CH from your hook. (6 stitches)

Pull up a length of scrap yarn into the last stitch (to use as a stitch marker)

Round 2. CH 2, DC in same stitch (DC 1 into next stitch, then work 2 x DC's into the next) Repeat all the way around (9 stitches)  Pull the scrap yarn up through the last stitch on every row from now on.

Round 3. CH 2, DC in same stitch (DC 1 into next 2 stitches, then work 2 x DC's into the next) Repeat all the way around (12 stitches)

Round 4. CH 2, DC in same stitch (DC 1 into next 3 stitches, then work 2 x DC's into the next) Repeat all the way around (15 stitches)

Round 5. CH 2, DC in same stitch (DC 1 into next 4 stitches, then work 2 x DC's into the next) Repeat all the way around (18 stitches)

Round 6. CH 2, DC in same stitch (DC 1 into next 5 stitches, then work 2 x DC's into the next) Repeat all the way around (21 stitches)

Round 7-12. CH 2, DC into the next 20 stitches  (21)

Round 15. CH 2, DC into the next 4, DC2tog, **DC into the next 5, DC2tog, repeat from ** one more time and break off yarn.

WINGS (Make two) - Row 1. CH 2, then work 2 x DC's into the 2nd CH from your hook. (2)

Row 2. CH 2, DC into the same stitch, then work 2 x DC's into the next stitch. (4)

Rows 3-4. CH 2, then work 1 DC into each stitch. (4)

Row 5. CH 2, DC2tog, then DC into the last stitch. (3)

Row 6. CH 2, then DC into the next stitch then SS into the last.

BEAK - Row 1. CH 2, then work 6 x DC's into the 2nd CH from your hook.   Break of yarn with a tail for sewing.  Fold in half ready for assembly.

ASSEMBLY - First sew the wings in position, next the beak and finally the eyes. Pop a Creme Egg in and there you go!