School's out for summer...

Last day of school today!  Minty made these necklaces for her teachers using felt and wooden beads.  I love her colour combinations!

After school we headed to the beach with friends for fish and chips.  There was plenty of seagull chasing, crab catching and general hilarity.  We even got to watch a pelican being released back into the wild.  A great start to the holidays!

In which I question the wisdom of giving chocolate on a Christian holiday when gluttony is considered a sin...

Am I the only one who has trouble exercising self restraint at easter?  I feel like an alcoholic who has been gifted 10 bottles of vodka under the largely farcical notion that they hold some deeper religious significance.  If anyone needs me in the next few days I will be hiding in the walk in pantry consuming roughly my own body weight in cadbury mini eggs.

I used a Jamie Oliver recipe for my buns this year.  Nigella has consistently let me down the past few years (I suspect maybe she should stick to her talents of giving the camera alluring looks and decorating her kitchen with fairy lights rather than actually writing recipes).  I used half wholemeal flour and nuttlex instead of butter since it was good Friday and I couldn't go to the shops to buy ingredients.  They still tasted excellent.

Minty made easter cards and then got too tired to write on them.

I made some origami easter bunnies (instructions here).  Honestly these are quite time consuming and probably not worth the effort.  I planned to make more but couldn't be bothered.  Like mother like daughter.

Happy Easter

Me: what part of 'no more today' do you not understand?

Minty: the chocolate part

I coloured these eggs using tissue paper (I used this water-colour tissue paper but regular tissue paper should work as long as it's not colour fast).  You just wet little strips of the paper and wrap them around the egg.  Leave the eggs to dry for about 2 hours then take off the paper.  I rubbed a little oil on them to make them look glossy.

To create the ombre effect - I sat the eggs in a container so they were 1/4 covered in dye then added more water at 10minute intervals covering another quarter of the egg each time.

Happy Easter everyone!

Alphabet magnets...

I've been wanting to get Minty some alphabet magnets for a while now, but the only ones I could find were those ugly plastic ones.  My current rental kitchen is depressing enough without adding anymore tackiness.  I'm not ashamed to say that sometimes aesthetics win out over education in this house.  Plus the little magnets in the plastic letters always seem to drop out and pose a bit of a choking hazard for the smaller members of the household who are still compelled to place random objects in their mouths.

Inspiration struck when I found these fabric letters on pinterest.  I whipped up a set for Minty's birthday.  The fabric is all from my stash - some vintage sheets, a bit of liberty and lots of quilting cottons.  MInty loves them and I don't mind having them cluttering up the fridge.  Pretty and educational - everybody wins!

How to make ribbon wands...

Today I'm going to show you how I made the ribbon wands for Minty's birthday.  I made these in lieu of lolly bags since some of our guests had food allergies.   In any case I'm sure all the kids were already pretty hopped up on sugar after their cake and ice-cream!  These were a fun party favour since the kids could enjoy playing with them at the party, as well as being something they could take home to keep.  

You will need:

- dowel cut into 31cm lengths

- 10mm screw eyes

- brass barrel swivels (size 6) - you can get these at a fishing tackle supply store.

- small pliers

- ribbon

Let's talk ribbons.  Much like men and chocolate, not all ribbons are created equal.  For a ribbon wand you need something that is going to give you a lovely rippling effect as you wave the wand.  Silk ribbon is ideal but if you can't get your hands on any or are finding the cost prohibitive you can just buy a synthetic satin ribbon, as long as it is double faced.  There is no point buying cheap satin craft ribbon, as it won't give you the twirling effect you are looking for.  For my wands I mostly used ribbon that was 1 inch thick (the purple ribbon was 1 3/8 inch thick).  

On most commercial ribbon wands I looked at the ribbon was around 2.4m long.  Personally I think this is way too long for kids aged 4 and under.  They tend to end up getting tangled up or the kids trip over them.  After a few trials I decided the best length for the ribbon was 1.6m.  This is still long enough to get some good twirling action happening but not so long as to cause catastrophic tangling accidents!  Obviously you need to be guided by the age and dexterity of the kids you are making these for.

Assembling the wands is fairly straight forward.  Cut your dowel into 31cm lengths.  Sand the ends to ensure there are no splinters.  Screw a hook into the end of each dowel.  Use the pliers to open up the hook a little and allow you to slip the swivel in place.  Close it back up with the pliers.  Stop your ribbon from fraying by holding the ends under a flame for a couple of seconds or by using a couple of drops of fray check.  The fray check will leave a dark line where it dries so I prefer to melt the ends as it looks a lot neater.  Next, thread the ribbon through the swivel and tie a knot to secure it.  Now the wand is finished take it out for a twirl!