Spider Halloween Headbands!

We had a lovely afternoon at Mencap making our creepy, crawly, scary, colourful Spider Halloween Headbands...

Using ready-made spiders, flowers, feathers, organza bits and ribbons we attached a elastic headband - using plastic coated ties and lots of black sticky electrical tape to secure the embellishments...

The girls will be wearing them to the Braintree Mencap Halloween party!

Beady Head Keyrings - Tutorial Wooden Bead & Felt Dolls

You just must love these little Beady Head Keyrings!

We made them at Mencap this week and even two little boy Beady Heads appeared..

We discovered how to make these little fellows by following 

this very good Tutorial...

Artmind

We used self adhesive felt for the clothes and stuck the buttons and bling on with double side adhesive tape. 

We added a keyring and some of the class made a string of beads to hang alongside.

Have fun making your own Beady Heads!

Village Collage - Easy but so Creative!

Jenna with our Village Collage

Collage is always a favourite project at our Art and Craft Group. It is very creative and I am always intrigued with what our group produces.

We chose to do a Village Collage this week. We used old magazines and I asked them not to worry about the actual pictures, but to just look at the colours in the pictures.

After all the cutting and sticking had been done, we outlined their houses with a black felt tip pen. No precise measuring was done! The charm of the houses in our village is their slightly wonky look - straight out of fairyland...

Then we cut around each cluster of houses (on the A4 card) to make an interesting shape and stuck them all onto a sheet of A2 black card.

All you will need for this project is...

Old magazines or junk mail

Glue sticks

Black pen

A4 Card (we used mixed colours)

A sheet of A2 card (for every 4 x  A4 cards)

Butterfly stickers (optional)

Have fun making your village!

My Blog is now User-Friendly! Eight new Craft and Quiz Menu Buttons...

After five years of posting Craft and Quizzes onto my Blog, I felt it was time to make it more User-friendly...

I have added eight new pages - each one containing a list of links to the Tutorials in my Blog.

Each page has a button in the Menu above - so do have a browse and see what you fancy having a look at...

Thanks to all my visitors - do hope you find my Blog helpful in finding suitable Craft and Quizzes for your groups, yourself and your families...

Pop Up Books Monsters and Frozen - a lot of fun and easy to do craft - Tutorial!

 Monster Pop Up Book 

Frozen Pop Up Book

 When we say we made Monsters and Frozen "Pop Up Books" at Mencap Art and Craft Group, we actually made one Pop Up page in our Project Books. These books are carried through the year and added to, with different themes - many relating to the seasons and holidays in the calendar year. 

What you will need -

Either, like us, an A4 book with good quality art paper or you can just fold an A3 sheet of card in half and use that...

Glue stick

Colouring in pens

A4 sheet of thin card to make the Pop Up facility - to make this, look at this excellent tutorial...

Extreme Paper Crafting - Pop up basics  (Follow Tutorial 1 The Box)

If you want to use my Frozen or Monsters prints, here is the link

Monsters Pop Up

Frozen Pop Up

or you can use you own pictures - do check the sizes as they need to be within the page when the book or card is closed...

How to make up...

Colour in the pictures

Glue the Pop Up facility into you book or card - make sure you do not glue the bits that Pop Out...

Glue and place your pictures 

Here are some we made...

Mod Podge on Hardback Notebooks - Decorating the cover!

This week, at Mencap, we decided to try our hand at using Mod Podge...!

What you will need...

Deciding that working on a flat surface was the best choice for a first attempt, we bought some A5 Hardback Notebooks.

A Bottle of Mod Podge Gloss 

Some Sponge "Brushes"

We decided to use some fairy and woodland cutouts we had and some craft paper that we use for backing paper, on greeting cards. 

(Mod Podge works best on fairly thick paper we found - sheets of thin paper wrinkled a lot - sometimes this is a desired effect, but not for our project)  

How to do it...

We found Mod Podge Rocks a very useful site, with loads of tutorials - here is the link...explains how to use Mod Podge far better than I can!

 Learn How to Use Mod Podge

So enjoy using this wonderful product - don't worry if it looks white and patchy when you finish your work - by the next day it will have dried clear and bright - very rewarding! 

Beach Hut Birthday Cards Tutorial - Summer Activity!

Caroline and Paula's cards

 As we started the last term of the year at Mencap, we decided to make Beach Hut Birthday cards - a last bit of Summer fun, by the look of the changing weather, here in Essex...Autumn approaches!

What you need...

Blank greeting cards (rectangular shape)
Coloured paper 
Thin card (for the door)
Happy Birthday wording - stickers or print my sheet out here
Colouring-in pens 
Glue stick
Seaside theme stickers (optional)

How to make...

With the card folded, make a mark on the top edge, half way across. 
Make another mark on each side of the card, about a third of the way down.
Draw a line from these side marks to the top mark and then cut, to make the roof shape.

Cut a rectangle of thin card for the door.

Cut strips of coloured paper for the stripes on the roof and walls. Cut them about 1cm longer than you need.

Using a glue stick (any glue actually will do) stick the coloured strips of paper onto the roof and walls. (Leave some white stripes showing if you like)

Let the ends of the strips stick out from the card. When dry, turn the card over and trim the strips back to the edges of the card.

Glue on the door.

Colour-in and attach the "Happy Birthday" and apply the seaside theme stickers.

Nicola made this bright card!

 Enjoy making these Beach Hut Birthday Cards with your group...

The Wizard of Oz - a Poster!

 The Wizard of Oz

 

Some of our group at Mencap in Braintree are going to Southend-on-Sea in August to see the stage show of "The Wizard of Oz", so we decided to make a poster...

The prints of the original cover and first page of L. Frank Baum's book (1900) we found on Gutenberg

The characters - printable versions of Dorothy with Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion and The Wizard of Oz himself, were easily found on Google images. 

We added the witch's hat, a rainbow (essential!) and Dorothy's red shoes. 

The Yellow Brick Road and the Emerald City and the "frame" we made from coloured electrical tape (I was surprised at how many colours are available in electric tape these days - will have to keep it in mind for future projects, as so easy to use) 

To finish off, we stuck flower stickers down the edges of the yellow bricks and a few butterflies found their way on as well!

Next week is the end of the term so we will be having our usual party food and games afternoon... plus achievement certificates all round!

Quiz - Printable General Knowledge Quiz

Time for a Quiz! 

 

Have put together a

General Knowledge Quiz
for you to enjoy with your group, over a cup of tea or coffee. 

All printable and with the answers on a separate sheet...

If you would like more quizzes to have fun with, here is the link to my

Printable Quiz eBook - 41 x 10 Easy Quiz questions

Felt Owl Purse - with Printable Pattern

 We made Felt Owl Purses this week at Mencap

They are so cute and very easy to put together.

We used magnetic fasteners (from eBay) but  this is optional - can be made just with the flap as is...

Buttons for eyes!

 

So get your felt out and start making your own Owl Purses - would be a good item to make for a fund-raising stall...!

Here is the link 

Felt Owl Purse Patterns 

Enjoy choosing the colours for your unique Owl! Cut out the pieces and sew them as per our samples!

Enjoy!

Picture / Photo Frame Fridge Magnets - Tutorial

We made Photo / Picture Frame Fridge Magnets!

 

Here is how we did it...

What you need...

Aperture Greeting cards - the kind with a ready-cut "hole" in the card like this...

Crayons or Felt tip pens

Stickers or other Embellishments to decorate the frame (optional)

 
Glue Stick

Double-sided Adhesive Tape 

Self-adhesive Magnetic Tape (we found ours on eBay)

Picture (colour-in or draw your own) - sized to fit into frame

 
or select your own Photo

How to do it...

The card has three sides - the centre with the aperture (cut-out hole) and two back flaps.

Attach one back flap to the centre card across the bottom only - using double-sided adhesive tape.

Then attach the other back flap using your glue stick - apply glue over the whole flap and press it together.

You will now have a Picture Frame with an opening at the top

Decorate the frame... some of us pencilled in a mosaic design like this...

Colour-in your picture (or draw your own) or select your photo

Insert into the picture frame

Attach a self-adhesive strip of Magnetic Tape (about 5cms) to the back of the card, about 3cms from the top 

Paula

Angela

The picture or photo can be changed as often as you like, so put the frame up onto your fridge and have fun choosing what to put into it today!

Stringing Beads - Always Relaxing and Fun!

 We had a Bead Stringing session at Mencap last week - always popular with the girls. 

Here they are showing off their new necklaces...

Watch out for a Keyring Bead tutorial! Coming up soon...

Wall Hanging to Celebrate Mencap 60th Anniversary

As Mencap is celebrating its 60th Anniversary, we decided to make a crafty Wall Hanging at our Art and Craft group.

First we made the woven "squares" using the cardboard loom method.

Then next we made some felt flowers like this 

Easy Button Felt Flowers

The "60" I found on eBay

The straps we made from strips cut from an old T Shirt, plaited with lengths of coloured wool, to brighten the grey.

The material was in the 20p box at the local charity shop

After stitching on the squares and the 60 (on my sewing machine) we attached the flowers with little gold safety pins. 

Folded the material up to make a "Cushion" which we filled with toy stuffing.

Attached the straps and there it is - bright and bold and made with such pleasure...!

Printable Quiz - "Richard and John" Famous men - Fill in the Surnames

 An easy quiz, all about Famous Men called Richard or John!

Twenty printable Questions and Answers to ponder over...

A cup of tea and biscuit will always help to make this an enjoyable activity - a quiz that will stimulate the memory and encourage reminiscing, while having fun...

Quiz - Richard and John

If you want more quizzes have a look at my eBook...

41 x10 Easy Printable Quizzes with Answers

Easter Basket to Make - A4 Printable Template

This Easter Basket is made of thin card and can easily be printed, as the Template is A4 in size. This is how we made it up...

You will need...

A4 Sheet of thin card

Paints or felt tip pens

2 Split Pins

"Nest filling" - we used toy filling, but you can use cotton wool or shredded tissue paper just as well.

Stickers for the handle (or draw your own pictures)

Mini Easter Eggs

Chicks - we bought ours at our local craft shop.

How to Make it...

Print the Easter Basket Template directly onto your thin sheet of card.

Colour-in the Bunny and Easter lettering.

Cut out the basket and round off the corners.

Cut along the four lines as in the picture.

Cut out the handle.

Fold up the two ends and fold the pieces with the rounded corners over them. 

Slip the end of the handle against the inside, so you now have four layers. 

Make a small hole through these four layers (we used a large darning needle) and hold them together with a split pin (also called a Brad)

Decorate the handle with stickers.

Place your Nest Filling into your basket and arrange your eggs and chicks.

 

Have fun making your Easter Baskets! And eating all that yummy chocolate...!

We Painted "Frozen" Calico Tote Bags!

 At Mencap this week we painted on Calico Tote Bags...

The choice of picture was FROZEN characters (of course!) 

But you can do any picture you like - endless choice!

So using the print-outs of Princess Anna, Princess Elsa and Olaf (Google search for "Frozen Colouring In" gave us many to chose from) we got started...

 You will need...

Calico Tote Bags-we bought ours on eBay

Fabric Paints

Brushes

A sheet of card slightly smaller than bag size.

Printed picture
 
We found the easiest way to trace the image onto the bag, was to slip the print of the picture into the bag. It can easily be seen through the calico and so the image is traced onto the bag with a soft pencil - we used a B pencil.

Slip a sheet of card into the bag before you start painting - this will prevent paint seeping through to the back of the bag. 

Remove it before the paint dries too much (within half an hour we found) otherwise the card will become stuck to the inside of the bag.

Using Fabric Paints we then painted the pictures as you can see... 


Notice Olaf has Red Soles (as seen in those famous Christian Louboutin shoes!!) 

Allow 24 hours of drying time and then iron on the wrong side to fix the colours. 

Easy to do and great fun...!