Friday 17 June 2016

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!



 

Friday 27 May 2016

We Made Tissue Paper Flowers at Mencap for Braintree Carnival

Tutorial for Tissue Flowers

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



Saturday 21 May 2016

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

Pop up picture book tutorial



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


Thursday 7 April 2016

Quiz - 12 Anagrams - In the Garden - Printable!

Quiz about garden Anagrams

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...!




Friday 4 March 2016

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....!


Thursday 18 February 2016

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

Quiz - Cities

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!





Tuesday 9 February 2016

Valentine Wall Mural...! Hearts and Glitter!

Valentine wall mural hearts

We had great fun putting this Valentine Wall Mural together...
at Mencap Art and Craft group in Braintree!

As the Beatles say "All You Need is Love"...!

Happy Valentines Day!

Saturday 6 February 2016

Tutorial for Felt Butterfly & Flowers Wall Hanging - Printable Templates

Felt Butterfly and Flowers Wall Hanging
We made Butterfly & Flower Wall Hangings this week at Mencap...


If you would like to make them with your family or with your group - they really do appeal to girls of all ages...!    Here is the Tutorial with Printable Templates.

What you will need...

Felt - A4 sheet for the background

Self-adhesive felt to decorate the butterfly - or use glue...

Felt scraps for Butterfly, Flowers and Hearts

Buttons

Embroidery thread

Thin dowel (we used green garden canes cut to size) 

Ribbon or cord to hang


How to make...

Turn over a narrow hem, just wide enough to slip your dowel into, and stitch - either by hand or on your machine, as I did.

Cut out your butterfly and flowers / hearts (mine are die cut, but you can use this flower and heart template)




Stitch your butterfly onto your background with a running stitch.

Cut the butterfly body out and stitch or stick it on top.

Decorate the butterfly with pieces of contrasting felt - use self-adhesive felt or use glue to attach.

Attach your flowers / hearts - we used buttons to secure them to the background.

Slip the dowel into the hemmed top and tie on your ribbon or cord.


Hope you all enjoyed making your Butterfly Wall Hangings!