Toby - proudly wearing his British Bandana!

Toby already has many fans, but here you see him in his latest role - wearing his Union Jack Bandana - Proud to be British...!

 

Felt Bunnies Wall Hanging - Tutorial and Templates

 A simple little felt wall hanging - here is how to make it...

You will need...

A4 sheet of felt for background

Scraps of felt for bunnies and flowers

Buttons

Pom pom or cotton wool balls for tails 

Double-sided sticky pads to attach tails 

Embroidery thread

Wooden dowel and ribbon to hang

 How to make...

Print out the Bunnies and Flower templates 

(my flowers were cut from a die on my Big Shot, but if you want to cut by hand here is a flower template to use)

Bunnies Template

Flower Template

Take your A4 sheet of felt and turn over a hem of 2cm (width of hem depends on the thickness of your wooden dowel - we used green garden stakes trimmed to size)

Stitch across leaving ends open - either on machine or by hand

Cut out your bunnies and flowers

Stitch the bunnies onto the background, using a running stitch

Using double-sided sticky pads, stick on the bunny tails

First stitch both layers of flowers, together with the button and then stitch onto the  background felt

Stitch stems with embroidery thread

Slip the wooden dowel through the hem and tie on a ribbon for hanging

 
 Here are some we made at Mencap - enjoy making yours!

Mencap Wins Best Float in Braintree Carnival...!

We did it .... we won First Prize in our catergory and then Best Float in the Braintree Carnival overall...!! A great team effort - well done Mencap!

 

We Made Tissue Paper Flowers at Mencap for Braintree Carnival

Mencap is putting together a float, to join in with the annual Braintree Carnival, which will be held on Saturday 11 June.

Our Thursday Art and Craft group was asked to make lots of bright colourful Tissue Paper Flowers to put on the float and so we had a lovely afternoon making them.

We followed this excellent tutorial...

Tissue Paper Flower Tutorial

Our tissue paper came in A4 sheets, so using 5 sheets for each flower, we made them up as per the tutorial. 

Because we used a slightly bigger sheet of tissue paper, our flowers were larger, but it worked just as well.

Tea and Tissue Paper Flowers

Jenna with her flowers

Andy painting Union Jacks

Queen Elizabeth's 90th Birthday Wall Mural

Using the Daily Mail photos in the various magazines they published for the Queen's 90th Birthday, commemorating Her Majesty's life, we made a Wall Mural.

And then on the same theme, we completed three Pop-Up pages in Our Project Book.

If you want to make your own Pop-Ups here is the link Pop-Up Tutorial

Three Thursdays of great craft, celebrating a great occasion, by the Mencap, Braintree Art and Craft Group...

Quiz - 12 Anagrams - In the Garden - Printable!

As the season changes and our thoughts turn to Spring, I thought it was a good time to have a Quiz - 12 Anagrams - In the Garden...

Here is the link...with Answers in case you get stuck!

12 Anagrams - In the Garden

Hope you enjoy this quiz - if you want more, do have a look at my eBook - 

41 Easy Quizzes and Answers - Printable

Great fun with your senior groups, over a cup of tea and a biscuit...!

Felt Hand Puppets - Free Printable Patterns...!

What a lot of fun these were to make - Felt Hand Puppets!

What you will need...

Felt in A4 sheets for the main body pieces

Scraps of felt for belly patches etc

Self-adhesive felt for small patches (optional - can be sewn on instead)

Buttons

Embroidery thread and needle

Ribbon for bows for bears

How to make...

Print out your patterns - here they are...

Hand Puppets Patterns

Before you start cutting out your felt, check hand size against the pattern - adjust the pattern width if necessary. Rather a little big, than too small!

Cut out two main body pieces

Cut out the appropriate patches.

Work on one of your main body pieces - We sewed the belly / snout patches on, using a running stitch, and then using self-adhesive felt, we stuck on the smaller patches. All can be either sewn or stuck on - up to you!

Buttons were stitched on for the eyes / noses and the bears each got a ribbon bow!

The monsters can be created as you will - every one is different!

When you are happy with your Hand Puppet, then stitch the two main body pieces together, close to the edges - easy to do on a sewing machine, but can be hand stitched if you like.

Use your imagination - be creative and then have hours of fun with your hand puppets....!

Quiz - Cities with NO "A" in their names - Printable!

Just a bit of fun with your group - hand out the tea and biscuits, set a time limit of say ten minutes and see how many Cities in the World they can think of with NO "A" in their names...

Here are twenty I came up with - but there are many more...

Quiz - Cities with NO A in name

Enjoy!

If you want more Printable Quizzes, especially aimed at our senior folk, have a look at my eBook...

41 x 10 Easy Quizzes with Answers - Printable...

Hours of fun and mental exercise for your groups!