Easy Butterfly Craft

My 7 year old daughter has recently started 'Brownies' which is the younger group of 'Girl Guides' in the UK. She recently came home with a lovely butterfly craft which she made so I thought I would post it on my blog for a craft project!

It is very simple to make and an easy craft for youngsters. All that is required are 3 things: 1 rectangle piece of cloth for the wings, 1 piece of card folded a few times to make a design in the centre. I pipe cleaner to wrap around the centre to make the butterfly body and antennae. That is it, as I said very easy!

Book Review - From my sisters' lips

I recently bought a copy of this book as I had wanted to read it for a long time! I actually made sure that I set aside some personal time to read this book, which was quite an achievement for me as I don't normally read much or have the time too! I normally post book reviews on the books my children read, so this is the first adult book review I have posted!

My Book Review:

When I first started reading this book I was a little surprised by it's layout, not in a bad way I might add! I was personally expecting a biography of the Author, but the book is actually a mixture of her own biography and also stories of some her friends journeys to Islam. It covers some of the important facts regarding women in Islam and the author is quite honest in her own personal views about Islam before and after she reverted to Islam.

Being a revert to Islam myself I totally understand many of the topics she covered in the book, and it was kind of re-assuring in a way to know that I wasn't alone in some of the things I went through on my own path to Islam. She covers many topics in the book including her own reversion, marriage, motherhood and religion. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it was nice to get to know the Author as she is the author of some of the great books I have bought for my young children. If you haven't read this book, I would definitely recommend you having a read!

Author: Na'ima B. Robert

Title: From my sisters' lips

ISBN: 0-593-05441-5

Fridge Magnet Design Tutorial

My 6 year old wanted to make a gift for her grandmother. She decided on making a Fridge Magnet. She used a Plastic Fridge Magnet that you can buy in craft stores that you can place either a photograph inside or a piece of artwork/fabric.

This is a really quick and easy craft project that young children as well as older children or even adults can do!

Requirements:

• Plastic Fridge Magnet Case
• Felt (or other fabric)
• Fabric paint/Pens

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut out a piece of Felt/Fabric the correct size for the magnet.
Step 2: Apply your design onto the fabric using fabric paints or pens.
Step 3: Allow the design to dry
Step 4: Once dry place into the magnet and close securely.

The magnet is now ready for use or to be gifted to someone!

Matching Quilt Covers

I made some matching quilt covers for my daughter's Bunk Beds! I had originally made them some matching quilt covers for different sized beds as my youngest still had a toddler size bed! However as she is 6 now we recently had some bunk beds put in their room. This made a huge difference to space in their room but meant i didn't have any more matching quilt covers!

I managed to purchase at a very good price some second hand (charity shop/thrift shop purchase) tab top curtains which had enough fabric to make 2 duvet covers and the colour was a great match to the curtains already in their room! Below is a photo of the original tab top curtains.

This was a really easy project, as all I had to do was remove the tab tops and go over some sewing again and cut down to the size of the quilt and do some extra sewing down the sides and leave a gap at the bottom to insert the quilt! The curtains were fully lined which meant I had a back cover for the duvets so didn't need to purchase any other fabric!

The photo below shows the quilt covers I had previously made for my daughters' different sized beds.

I did a post previously about the other bedding project here is the link: matching-bedding-for-different-sized.html Below is an old photo (from previous blog post) of the curtains which have a very similar colour to the bedding and match perfectly!

I love upcycling things and this is the second time I have upcycled fabrics to make the girls' bedding!

Painted Pine Cones Crafts

My children brought home some lovely pine cones after we had visited a park recently. We decided immediately that these would come in handy for some crafts!

For this craft all we did was use some normal craft paint and painted them all lovely bright colours! The photo shows my 6 year old having fun painting one of the pine cones.  Once they were painted we allowed them to dry which actually didn't take very long.  Young children will have so much fun doing this.

Once painted you can use these as a lovely decoration, maybe on a nice plate or in a bowl on a table.  For older children or adults you could also try spray painting pine cones to make a lovely decoration.

handmade gifts for hospital patients

For those who follow my Facebook Page you may already know that my grandmother is poorly in hospital at the moment after falling and breaking her hip! When visiting her in hospital we noticed that some of the elderly patients didn't receive any visitors and that some had come from Nursing Homes and possibly didn't have any family or friends who could visit.

My young daughters decided to make some lovely handmade cards to give to the ladies in the same ward room as their great grandmother and also some lovely gifts too! They each made a card for each patient including their great grandmother and we also went out to buy some boxes of chocolates and an imitation flower to give to them.

The Hospital staff were so touched by my girls' thoughtfulness and generosity and said how lovely it was for them to think of others! The photo below shows both my daughters busy designing each card by hand. I was so glad that through our crafts we were able to do a good deed for others. The ladies were so thankful to receive their gifts and it really made their day!

Mini Cheesecake Recipe

My children helped make these yummy mini cheesecakes - That is why they are all in vibrant colours!

I will share with you the recipe and instructions of how we made these cakes in 10 easy steps:

Ingredients:

• 1 tub of Cream Cheese (300g)
• 1 packet of Chocolate Digestive Biscuits (300g)
• Various Food colourings
• Butter (100g)
• A few drops of Vanilla Essence and lemon Flavouring
• Chocolate chips or other decorations

Method:

Step 1) Crush the chocolate biscuits (my method is placing inside a large bag and crushing with the rolling pin!)

Step 2) Melt the butter (I used microwave for quickness!)

Step 3) Mix the butter with the crushed biscuits with your hands

Step 4) Place the biscuit mixture into the moulds and press down firmly

Step 5) Optional - Place the moulds with the biscuit mixture into the fridge to make the base set a little!

Step 6) Mix the cream cheese up with a fork and add a few drops of vanilla essence and lemon juice to the cream cheese

Step 7) Divide the cheese and add the colouring to the cheese.

Step 8) Place this mixture onto the top of the biscuit base you just made

Step 9) Then decorate the top of the cheesecake with some chocolate chips or other decorations.

Step 10) Place in the fridge for about 1 hour to let it set