Easter is coming ~ Multiplication, the Bunny Hop Way

Uncovered some treasures in my stash, namely these awesome cuteness-to-goodness wooden bunny charms and could not help aww-ing at them. They made a good template for this quick and easy garland.

Did this for the fun of it, and for a craft session with the kids. If your kids are younger, maybe choose a basic repeating shape. It doesn’t have to be bunnies, perhaps eggs? Whatever works. I’ve a short ‘how to’ below but really, you don’t need it right? It’s a kindergarten craft!

Simple painless fun. Unless you cut yourself. Then, all bets are off.

Gather your materials. Paper, scissors, pencil. If you can draw freehand, go ahead. Otherwise find a template. If you like, fold it accordion style before you begin drawing. It helps you know just how much space you got to work with, and where you should have ‘joining’ parts.

As you trace your design or draw it freehand, make sure that there are parts of the design that touch the edges. If you have a sharp craft knife, use it. It makes cutting so much easier. Especially for the tight corners, the cuts turn out so much more crisp.

** I washed the paper over with a pale pink watercolour. Hence the pink shade. This craft, simple (to do and to find materials) works well in almost any situation. Print the child’s name on the individual pages, have the party’s theme, make a mini cake bunting (ok, you really need precision cutting… oh silhouette!)… you get the hint.

The teeniest heart we have in stock!

It’s an overcast weather kind of Valentine’s. Terrible for photoshoot so I’d just leave it as that. A sneak peek into the latest offering we have been meaning to share. A dainty, teeny tiny heart strung on a delicate rope chain. Perfect for layering, suitable for personalisation, great for everyday wear. A barely there kind of piece that you don’t want to remove.

Anyhow, enough of jewelry. Since I can’t offer it today, I’ve ruffled hearts to share instead. Those on my twitter and instagram (sparklethots) feed would have seen the ruffled hearts from last week. I finally got the elusive last piece to complete the project. A shadowbox styled photoframe. I got this as a nesting set of 4 at Typo (Singapore seems to only have the turquoise and brown wood versions). Anyone know where else to get these sort of frames, tell me.

A pretty easy craft, you’d need approximately 1 hour to complete. Less if you work fast and don’t try to multi-task (*sheepish*).

You’d need :-

1. cloth remmants
2. heart shaped template
3. scissors
4. needle and thread (doesn’t matter what colour, cannot be seen)
5. shadowbox frame

What to do :-

1. cut out your heart base, doesn’t need to be perfect
2. cut the cloth remmants into approximately 2cm squares (again doesn’t need to be accurate)
3. pinch the square at the middle, and sew it onto the heart (I like to start at the centre tip)
4. sew as many or as few as you like, the more you sew the denser the heart
5. occasionally pause to ‘ruffle’ the sewn squares to see how it is coming along
6. trim the heart to shape (if it goes ‘off’)
7. fit it into the shadowbox

Re the shadowbox… while the stock picture of the Eiffel tower is pretty and all, it just doesn’t go with the heart. I lined the frame with some pretty scrapbook paper instead. Scarilege maybe but so much nicer!

Some tips to note :-

Keep an inch around the heart and frame. It works much better this way. Any fabric can be used, I used tee-shirt scraps.

Been a while I know. A full month in fact. Since we last ‘met’, we celebrated CNY, I started on yet another photo a day competition (the instagram one! pretty awesome stuff) and of course, we have been busy crafting new items. The shop has taken on a dreamy mood with pearls and Swarovski bling. Quite the impression I have of Sparkle Thots.

But besides that, we have gotten our hands busy too. The son is down with fever so we crafted. Paper roses, ruffled hearts. Very ‘Valentine’. And for those who are interested, hopefully the pictures help. Pretty simple. Just time-consuming. The perfect thing to keep the kids at bay. Hah.

** What you’d need :- any 6 petaled flower, craft white glue, floral tape (the sticky green ones), chopsticks or dowels

• Step 1 : Cut or punch out at least 3 flowers for each flower. (I used 5. Basically the more you use, the fuller the flower will be)
• Step 2 : Fold each flower in half (3 times) so that you get each petal nicely sectioned out
• Step 3 : Cut a split in 1, a petal out of another and 2 petals out of the last (for my 5 piece I did 2, 2 and 1). Keep the cut outs aside
• Step 4 : Glue the flowers together
• Step 5 : Notch the points off the smaller ‘blooms’. Nestle them, one in each other, glue in place
• Step 6 : Curl the petals to form the bud, notch the tips and glue in place
• Step 7 : Skewer the chopstick through the centre of the blooms and tap down with floral tape

Hope it makes sense. If not, ask away!

Till next time… (hopefully sooner than last!)

** for a limited time, packages are shipping out either in a lovely maroon red pouch or tied with a reddish pink bow. Sweet

Edit to add :- here’s how they look bunched together! A cost free upcycled project. Use old magazines, newspapers (unwanted books) or papers for the flowers. ‘Vase’ is an old reed diffuser that’s emptied out.

see the how to at dottie angel

It’d make a sweet rainy day activity for the kids. Simple enough for them to do. With adult supervision of course! Enjoy the upcoming weekend.

❤ simply bloom photography

If you have cake decorating skills that are like my kids’, cake bunting is probably the easiest and nicest way to personalise your cake without destroying it. A simple idea, you can either purchase the bunting or make it yourself. And to get you inspired, here are some images of real cakes.

If you’re buying, perhaps the most famous Etsy seller is Kiki La Rue. Right now though, she’s put her shop on vacay (she’s on maternity leave).

❤ project wedding

❤ kikilaru

❤ seen via luna and chloe weddings

❤ my sweet and saucy

❤ callaloo soup

❤ carli’s clan

❤ jamiemancilla

❤ jamosiesweet

DIY Sugar Hearts

Yes, I have an unhealthy obsession with hearts. You can make the rest of the sugar shapes if you wish. I’m homing in on the hearts. Easy peasy DIY. A fun time-waster activity for the weekend. Make a whole jar and dress up your morning coffees with these sugar hearts and perhaps, just perhaps, Mondays won’t look so blue after all.

Happy weekend!

Seen via WIP Blog, I think I should get the kids to make some. You know, keep them occupied and stuff like that.

❤ pottery barn

Living in the city and fancy too much concrete all around? These lil jars of greenery might do the trick. Self contained, they are little bits of the outdoors brought indoors. And if you feel up to it, you might fancy making one of these yourself. Or just buy them. Do note that there are restrictions on buying these into and out of your country… because, they are live plants after all.

❤ pottery barn

❤ erin ever after

❤ a lovely place card idea from martha stewart

❤ martha stewart

❤ (sold) WhiltsieBridgeCS

❤ doodlebirdie

❤ via grayson by county home

❤ life rearranged

❤ rio mcthorne

Easier than you think! I first saw this idea on Ambrosia Girl (who adapted the idea from How About Orange) and thought these made a fun and easy craft. So whilst printing photos the other day, I threw together a collage of selected shots on polaroid frames and got to work.

So from this …

to this … (I cut up the magnet and upcycled it)

to these (trust me, the magnets are glued on at back)

A quick and easy job! If you want to involve the kids, swap the xacto knife for a pair of scissors. Or get them to select the images. I think these make lovely gifts for Christmas (amongst other occasions).

❤ country living

Well, life kind of snug up on me. I was nursing a very bad throat when I returned from my holiday. I totally lost my voice. Not a peep. The kids were happy I’m sure. As it came back, I tried to manage them. It never quite got the chance to recover. It’s still somewhat there but much much better. And hey, look, tomorrow’s Good Friday?! Perhaps these DIY crafts will come in handy for next year. On the positive note, you’d have an entire year to prepare. Or, hmm, perhaps some afternoon activity to entertain the kids this long weekend!

Have fun!

ps: don’t those bunny ears look adorable?!

❤ martha stewart

❤ by Craig & Whitney with tutorial via Modern Parents Messy Kids

❤ retro mama

❤ stylizimo blog (these would look amazing at a wedding too!)

❤ Auntie Lolo Crafts

❤ kiki creates

❤ martha stewart

Happy Easter