It is like Santa's Workshop In Here…

A couple of weeks ago my sister-in-laws mom, sent me a box of fabric, in it was about 15m or maybe more, of pin-stripes ticking. Far too much to fit in my fabric storage space, so I decided that everyone and their dog would be getting a bag this year. I used the ticking for the base fabric and the Ebi-kun and I picked out a different fabric for each kid for the flap. The kids range in age from one and a half up to 12 so I made the bags in different sizes. 

Once I had the cutting out done (my least favourite part) the actual sewing didn't take long at all and it was so much fun making so many different bags!

I think this one has to be my favourite, the flap fabric is just adorable and the spotty strap just fits with it so well. I want to give my friend Jacqui a quick plug here, she makes adorable kids bags, so if you are looking for one, check out her site Meeabee, she does custom orders too so drop her a line if you are looking for something specific.

I still have loads of the ticking left, so now I have moved onto adult bags! Have you started with your Christmas gift making yet? Please share what you are making…

How To Make A Monster Box

We decided to give our craft supplies box a makeover. It was easy and fun to do.

What you need:

A box (we used a shoebox)

Kitchen paper

Paper glue 

Acrylic paint

White glue

Cardboard egg carton

Paintbrushes, water, cloth for spills.

Start by covering your box with a layer or two of paper towels, use the paper glue to stick the towels to the box. It may need a little time to dry.

Next, paint the white paper towels the base colour of the monster that you are going to make. We used a slime green colour.

While the painter is drying, cut out three parts from the egg carton to make the eyes. Use another section of the egg carton to make a nose. When the paint is dry, use the white glue to stick the egg cartons to the box.

Now tear some strips of kitchen paper and glue them to the base of the eyes and some more around the nose. You can also add a mouth if you like. Then make three eyebrows to go above the eyes, use the paper glue to stick these in place. Allowed to dry.

Here comes the fun part, first paint each eyeball white. Then add the iris and the pupil, add a tiny dot of white as reflection. Next, paint on the blood vessels start at the top and work down to the base of the eye, allow some red paint to dribble around the base of the eye.

As we used to slime green as the base colour for the monster, we mixed up some dark green to add definition. Have fun painting your monsters face. Allowed to dry.

We didn't have much time, so we only decorated the top of the box, turned on its side it's quite a scary monster. This technique using kitchen paper is a lot of fun and can be used for many different projects, such as the spell book that we made last year.