Easy Christmas Crafts

Here's some easy Christmas crafts to entertain the kids throughout December.

I'm not a crafty mum at all but honestly these are painless and the kids will have fun.

Easy Christmas Paper Bag Stars.  All you need is paper bags, glue stick and scissors.  Easy Peasy. Click on the red link below for full details.

Paper Bag Stars

Paper Bag Stars - Easy Christmas Craft

Easy Christmas Paper Bag Stars

White Clay Dough Christmas Decorations.  All you need is cornflour, Bicarbonate of soda water and ribbon. Click on the red link below for full details.

White Clay Dough

White Clay Dough Christmas Decorations

Merry Christmas

Emma xxx

Rock Decorating Ideas

Our house has got really into decorating rocks as part of the rock hunting craze.
I am by no means an expert or particularly arty but really enjoy it.  If you are looking for some inspiration here's some of our rock decorating ideas to get you started.

Rock Decorating Ideas Sheep

Rock Decorating Ideas Coco & Day of the Dead

Rock Decorating Ideas - Trolls Poppy and Branch

Rock Decorating Ideas - Fortnite Unicorn

Rock Decorating Ideas

Rock Decorating Ideas

Rock Decorating Ideas - Unicorns

Rock Decorating Ideas

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Rock hunting Northampton. Have you joined in the rock hunt craze?

I first heard about rock hunting (rocking) in October 2017 via a BBC Three Counties Facebook post see original video here Have you taken part in a rock hunt yet? But it wasn't until recently I discovered how popular rock hunting has become in Northampton.

The Kindness Rocks Project and Love on the Rocks appear to be among the first rocking communities but now there are hundreds of groups mostly on Facebook.

You basically decorate a rock with an image or positive message and hide it (paint, hide and find).  Someone then finds your rock, posts a picture on social media if able/wants to and then hides for someone else to discover.  It is spreading some cheer and making someone smile.  It is a super easy craft activity to do with the kids with minimal materials needed.

I have recently decided to join in and have labelled my rocks with Life in the Mum's Lane as I thought it would be fantastic way to do a craft project with the kids (I'm not a crafty mum) spread some smiles and possibly find some Northamptonshire mums who might like my page as its all about local days out and parenting humour.

Rock decorating ideas

It's actually been more addictive than I thought decorating our little rocks.  My next batch will have some positive messages inspired by The Kindness Rocks Project.

Some we found & rehid 

If you want to join in all you need is some rocks, sharpies, acrylic paint or similar and varnish is optional but will mean your designs won't wash away.  I bought my rocks from Homebase a massive bag was £9.99 (we did find some at the beach but left them in a bucket with bacon from a failed crabbing trip so had to discard them!) my daughter already had sharpies and I bought some excellent pens called Posca. I only got 5 but already want more colours.

Rock decorating ideas

Rock decorating ideas

Rock decorating ideas

If you would like to join in and are looking for a Northampton group on Facebook Northampton Rocks has 800 members, Northamptonshire Rocks has 3300 and Love on the Rocks Duston has 700.  These were the biggest Northampton communities I found but there were loads including Hardingstone & Wooton, East Hunsbury, Hunsbury and Eastern District Rocks.

Why not join in and have some fun and make someone smile.

Emma xxx

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Easy Craft (DIY)

My daughter LOVES Diary of a Wimpy Kid and we have world book day very soon so I made a Diary of a Wimpy Kid inspired mask.

You will need

• white foam sheet
• pencil
• black pen
• sock/tights
• scissors
• double sided sticky tape
• elastic
• normal sell tape

I drew an outline of the face shape on the foam using a book for inspiration.

Cut this out and colour the hair strands and eyes black.

Cut the mouth out and then cover on the other side with a cut up sock or black tights.

(tights are best as this will be your child's viewing point - I bought some tights for this project which mysteriously have vanished so I used an old sock.  She can just about see!)

I used the double sided tape to stick the sock on which worked well.

Measure the elastic and use the double sided tape the stick on either side of the mouth.  Use a small piece of the normal tape to go over this for added strength and to stop the sticky bits catching on your child's hair.

Hey presto you are finished.

World Book Day costume ideas

Easy World Book Day costumes for non-crafty mums or those really short on time.

Room on the broom or The Worst Witch. If you have a witches costume from Halloween this is a super easy option.  And if your child has the same multitude of stuffed toys mine have you could assemble the dog, cat, frog and bird in a bag/cauldron.

Victorian outfits can be used for Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson

Diary of a wimpy kid.  Foam or cardboard mask, white t-shirt, black shorts or leggings, and your favourite book from the series.

A football kit is a bit of a cheat but ties in nicely with Frankie's Magic Football by Frank Lampard which my son loves.

Crocodile onesie (ours was from Sainsbury's last year) suitable for Roald Dahl The Enormous Crocodile, The Selfish Crocodile by Faustin Charles and The crocodile who didn't like water by Gemma Merino.

For older girls Geek Girl is perfect.  Normal clothes, tuck the book under your arm and decorate some black frame glasses with a red sharpie.

Dalmatian onesie which of course would suit 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith.


Road Dahl's BFG is a great World Book Day costume and can be easy to make.  The ears are just a headband, pink paint and card. 





Click the link to see full details to make the costume.

How to make BFG ears, horn and waistcoat

Finally Harry Potter. Again if you have a cape from halloween hanging around that would do over a school shirt/trousers.  Some cheap black frame joke glasses and the all important lightening bolt scar.  This can be drawn with face paints or your own eyeliner/lipliner.  A lot of shops have full Harry Potter costumes fairly cheap if you'd prefer to purchase the whole look.

Happy world book day!

Emma xxx

Easy Christmas paper bag stars!

The kids love craft projects but I'm not the most crafty mum.  Sewing/Knitting etc is not my thing. 

This craft is super easy and anyone can do it.  Paper bag fold out stars.

All you need is paper bags, glue stick and scissors.  Easy Peasy.

I bought my bags on eBay for £2 but you can get them in loads of places.

Stick 9 bags together. You glue in a T shape. Along the bottom and up the middle.

Once all 9 are stuck together cut a V shape at the open end.

Then put a T shape of the glue on the top bag and fan out and stick together.

Voila fold out beautiful stars.  You can use any colour and attach ribbon to hang in windows, fireplaces or your Christmas tree.  We found 9 bags worked best but if you used larger bags 7 would be fine.

Enjoy!

Emma xxx

How to make BFG (Roald Dahl) Ears, Horn and Waistcoat

This September 13th will be Roald Dahl's 100th Birthday.  To celebrate schools are having Roald Dahl themed days.

Our school has asked children to dress up as characters from any Roald Dahl book. I'm not a crafty mum so usually opt for the buying option but with two children this can be costly.  I did find a BFG costume for a bargain £6 at Asda but for the last 3 weeks its been out of stock so I bit the bullet and made my own.

We went for BFG as its extremely popular at the moment due to the film and I figured it might be fairly easy.  Strangely though my 9 year old was unfamiliar with the story which reminds me I must buy the book.

I used some old cream wallpaper, brown parcel tape, paint and some plain headbands.  I got mine from poundland for £1.  The tape was £2.60.  Everything else I had in the house.

To make the waistcoat

• I cut out 2 rectangles using the wallpaper (I roughly measured the children)
• We then covered one side of each piece in brown parcel tape.
• I then cut one piece in half, cut a V and stuck the shoulder's together & had a fit.
• I then shaped the shoulders and arm holes a little.
• I cut a small v in the back just so it wasn't as rigid.
• Voila a very handmade BFG inspired waistcoat.

Another way would be to get a plain brown t shirt.  Cut the sleeves off and cut up the front.

To make the ears

• I used the same wallpaper and cut out a rough ear shape.
• We painted them pink on both sides.
• We then did a rough black outline for the inner ear.
• I cut a slim tab and then stuck each ear to the £1 headbands.

BFG DIY ears

BFG make your own ears

To make the horn

• Again same paper cut into a rough square.
• We painted with a bronzy brown.
• Once dry I rolled it up and snipped the ends.
• Very basic but does the job.

Both children will wear a plain white top and any old bottoms.  My daughter has some sand art jars which we will use as dream jars and we may take fishing nets as an extra accessory.

BFG DIY costume for World Book Day

I hope this proves useful especially for you less crafty mums like me. 

Good luck with your costumes.

Happy Roald Dahl day.

Emma xxx

White Clay Dough Christmas Decorations

A few weeks ago I saw some beautiful white reindeer Christmas decorations on The Imagination Tree website.

The dough only used 2 ingredients plus water & looked straight forward so I thought I'd give it a go with the kids.

My first problem however was working out the quantities. The recipe is American so uses cups. After several Google attempts I think I've found the right measurements. I had no idea it was so varied. For example 1 cup of flour is 150 grams but cornflour is only 130 grams!

You need:

1/2 cup cornflour 65 grams

1 cup bicarbonate of soda 180 grams

3/4 cup water 180mls 

Mix the dry ingredients in a sauce pan.

Pour in the water and heat.

Use a medium temperature & stir continuously.

It will start to bubble & thicken. 

Once it begins to come away from the sides & form a ball remove from heat & cool.

Once it's cool enough to touch you can knead briefly & then shape.

We used star, snowmen, bell and holly leaf cookie cutters.

The stars didn't work as I couldn't get them out of the mould however the rest were fine.

Remember to make a hole to thread ribbon through. I used a plastic straw to do this. 

You can then either air dry for 24-48 hours or oven bake. The website I got the inspiration from suggested 1 hour at 100c but ours took approx 2 1/2 hours to dry out.

Once dry & cool we decorated ours with felt pen & holly ribbon. You could paint, use glitter pens or leave white.

We also tried a second batch with red glitter in but it turned the dough pink & I don't think we heated it enough as it was very sticky.

The kids loved making them & I would definitely attempt it again.  Ours are a little misshapen but lovely none the less.

Why don't you have a go?

If you do let me see your results. 

Emma xxx 

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