paper butterflies

I made these DIY butterflies as cake toppers for Moo's birthday cake last week. They were so effective, and virtually free to make. So here's how I did them.

What you'll need:

black and white images of butterflies x 2 copies 

paints

scissors

craft wire

glue gun

Instructions:

1. Paint the butterflies in the colours you want, making the two layers the same leave to dry.

2. Cut out and pair matching butterflies

3. With your craft wire cut a piece 30cm long

4. Make a small loop to fit your butterfly wing size leaving a long tail about 15cm 

5. Twist and make a second loop, twist leftover length around tail

6. Glue your wire loops onto the backside of your top layer butterfly, in spots to attach the wings

7. Glue a large dot in the centre and place bottom layer butterfly attaching at the centre only, press with your finger.You can bend the top layer wings up to make it look like the butterfly wings flutter.

I think these will be going on our christmas tree!

memory game

 I made this super cute memory game for Mima and thought I would share it with you...

1. Find some cute pictures, lay them out on an A4, print or photocopy two of everything. I also printed a polka dot pattern for the back.

2. Glue the two A4 sheets together, front pictures, back pattern. You could sandwich a piece of card in the middle to make them more sturdy.

3. Cut out the rounds.

4. Get them laminated.

5. Then cut them out, leaving a 5mm edge so the paper and card is sealed inside.

Then you can start playing!

fourth birthday : one

THE INVITATION - Fairy garden party 

Moo asked for a Fairy Party this year. Our back garden is quite pretty but tiny so I thought it would be perfect for a little fairy garden party with just a handful of friends. I wanted to create invitations that feel a little magical when opened and like a taster of more of the party to come, so I came up with a tissue paper fan!

What you'll need:

pink tissue paper - 12cm x 25cm

white card - cut into 3cm x 21cm strips (I printed mine first with party details)

double sided tape

scissors

stapler

hole puncher 

string

small brown envelopes

confetti gold stars

Instructions:
1. tissue paper fold this in 12mm consantina.
2. fold in half and staple at this point. cut ends round to create scolloped edge.
3. fold card strip in half, double side tape tissue fan inside card.
4. tape the centre of tissue together.  
5. hole punch end and cut into point
6. tie string through hole. 
7. put invitations in the envelopes and give a good sprinkling of confetti.

When you guests open the invitation it will fold out into a cute little fan. 

christmas : one

Yesterday we spent a gorgeous afternoon at the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School Advent Fair. I didn't really know what to expect but the highlight for me was making a wreath for our front door. I had I no idea how brilliant it would be, if I had I would have documented the process, instead I just have the reveal shot, above. This will no doubt be a yearly event so I will post in full next November.

My understanding of the Steiner school philosophy is that it focus' on the importance of our natural environment, creativity and freedom of thought. So making your own wreath is a perfect extension of these ideas.

macrame kitsets

BASIC MACRAME HANGER KITSET

In addition to our macrame workshop we have created kitsets for to you make your own at home or to give as gift. The hanger is made to fit a 15cm terracotta pot as pictured.

The kitset contains: macrame braid, 1 brass ring and instructions.
You will also need: scissors, tape or a lighter and a ruler or measuring tape

To purchase email us at mimaandmoo@gmail.com
Kitsets are $30.00 each

We currently have the following colours available-  ivory, neon yellow, orange, jute and black. If you want specific colour please email as we are placing another braid order shortly.

macrame magic

We just completed our first craft workshop on basic macrame hangers. Everyone who attended loved it, so it was well worth the effort. 
We thought we would share some photos with you...

We created a hanging display to show case the hangers we had made and different ways of using them. We were very lucky to include  fascinating terrariums from Bio Attic in the display.

Everyone took home a potted succulent so they could enjoy their hanger straight away.

We also enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea featuring cakes from The Caker.

It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon, thank you to everyone who helped and came along!

recycled : flower decorations

I'm constantly trying to find cheap or free things to do or make with Moo and her little friend that comes our house once a week.

Today we made recycled toilet paper roll decorations. They'd be great for christmas tree's or for any kind of party.

What you'll need: 
Toilet rolls - 1 per flower
Scissors  (Pinky shears or craft decorative edge scissors make a nice edge)
Stapler 
Twine or string
Paint, pens, glitter to decorate

Flatten toilet roll in half. Cut toilet roll into 5 or 6 equal sized rounds to create petals. Staple together as close to centre of flower as your staple will allow. Keep joining until all petals are added.

 

Tie twine through one of the petals. Decorate.

time to get crafty

knitted things: french knitting

I have this huge ball of french knitting that kids and adults alike are fascinating with. Well it was one but now it's in three, it's deteriorated a little bit with Moo's playing. The colours are so good to get tangled up in and there's endless possibilities for imagination to play with - a fishing line, a skipping rope too name a few.

Moo's Great Grandad knitted it over a couple years when he had damaged his hands and couldn't work for sometime. The knitting helped strengthen his hands and then he just carried on. When Moo was a baby I acquired it off her Grandma, she thinks it's around 30 years old.

Fun writing words or making pictures.

Rolling balls.

The french knitting quickly covers Moo's bedroom.  I love it, so does Moo. 

a blankie or two for mima

While pregnant with Mima I knitted a small basket weave blanket. It was the first thing I made for Mima, I really wanted to make something special for her and this seemed perfect.
Basket weave looks impressive but is actually really simple, you just alternate between the two most basic knitting stitches knit and pearl.
I used a lovely soft bamboo yarn in a pale turquoise color.
When the blanket was completed it seemed awfully small and I wondered if it would only be used for a dolls bed. When she was first born we used it as a layer in her hammock, it was the perfect size for a new born. When she graduated to a cot I placed the blanket in with her as a familiar item to snuggle. At the time I had not idea what I was starting! Blankie is now the most important item in Mima's life. Which is so lovely to see. But this created a problem, how do I get Blankie away from her for a wash or worse, what if we lost it? Luckily I had some bamboo yarn left so I started knitting, I didn't have the same amount of yarn or time so Blankie II is a slightly different shape, more squat. Mima doesn't mind at all and loves both equally.

homemade playdough

I've been making homemade playdough for Moo since she was around one year old. The recipe is so incredibly simple, I have it scribbled on the back on an envelope from a friend in my recipe file. There's something about the texture of homemade playdough that you just can't get with the manufactured product.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups Flour

½ cup salt

2 tablespoons Cream of Tartar

2 cups Boiling water

2 tablespoons oil

Food colouring

Method

1. Shift flour, salt and cream of tartar in a large bowl.

2. Pour in the boiling water and oil and mix quickly to make a soft dough.

3. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes or until you achieve a smooth consistency. Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky.

4. Divide in the amount of colours you wish to make. Add food colouring and conitnue to knead until colour is even.

5. Store in airtight containers in the fridge. Will last a few months.

We made all the colours of the rainbow, I doubled mixture to make this many colours.

up-cycle : pretty prints for Mima

I had a few garments for the clothing bin but I really liked the prints. So I thought I would use the fabric to make some summer clothes for Mima. Being a wee thing it was easy to get a pair of trousers and a pair of bloomers out of two old shirts for her. I also made a top out of a pair of Karen Walker boat pants which I had sadly ripped last summer.
I cut patterns from some of her existing clothes, but you can find loads of patterns on the internet.

It is so nice to give these fabrics new life, and doesn't she look adorable x

rainbow connection : the tea towel

crafting

Louise from Mima and Moo also writes a weekly craft post for the blog of the lovely American children's fashion magazine Babiekins. We are so happy to be part of this blog. Below are the posts we have done so far:
Fake Plastic Painted Animals

Rosette Picture Frame

Floral Headband

paint dipped branches

I have seen so many things dipped in bright paint making interiors look fabulous lately. I have had this vase of branches in a corner of my lounge which I really like, but while I was busy spray painting animals for the Babiekins blog I thought why not add some turquoise to these branches. They are not technically dipped but spray painted, the effect is the same and so much easier. I really like them.

cardboard box: doll's bed

I'd been thinking about getting bed for Moo's doll when I realised I had the prefect sized box. so why not make one?

Moo and I carefully removed all the regular packing tape and replaced with gummed tape so that it matched the box and would be possible for moo to decorate or paint if she wanted too. I remembered about gummed tape from my childhood, it looks like brown paper but has an adhesive side and gums up when water is applied (you can get it at art shops).

We then cut the bed head and ends with slots,  we chose to make it look similar to Moo's bed, but you could cut any decorative shape

Cut away the sides off the box and use these to cut out the legs of the bed. We cut small slits in the bed base  for the legs to slot into. taped to secure. 

Then I finished it off by making a little doll size crochet blanket. 

Moo says "ssshh.... Red Riding Hood is sleeping."

rainbow connection: three

RAINBOW PASTA 

I was browsing kids craft blogs for an indoor activity to do with Moo and her little friend on a wet day and I came across this easy way to dye pasta for making crafts.

The colours are so intense, we all made necklaces and a pasta rainbow with all the leftover pieces.

What you'll need 
dried pasta in different shapes ones with holes are best for threading 
string - we just used regular cotton kitchen string
hand sanitiser
food colouring
snaplock plastic bags

Method

1. Divide uncooked pasta into a snaplock bags.

2. Put a few squirts of hand sanitiser into the bag.

3. Put a few drops of food dye into the bag.

4. Seal bag and shake until dye has taken evenly. Moo loves doing this part.

5. Empty onto tray lined in baking paper, dry in the sun or if it's pouring with rain outside (like here) dry in oven at 100c for about 15 mins.

This also works for dyeing rice, so we'll be trying that soon I'm sure.

cardboard box : sorting box

Since Mima was born we have been getting our fruit and vegetables delivered by a company called Ooooby (Out Of Our Own Back Yard). They provide boxes of seasonal fruit and vegetables straight from the grower to you at a reasonable price. You receive details of where everything was grown, whether it is organic and recipe suggestions. It has been brilliant with a young baby to look after and now  feeding.
With all these boxes, I was inspired by Moo's castle and wondered what could I make for a one year old? I thought a sorting/posting box, with cut out shapes to match her toys would be cool and I was right she loves it! I think the fact that she can post her toys which she knows and loves makes this even more appealing.

I started with the rectangular Ooooby box.

Traced the outline of some of her toys and cut the shapes out.

I painted the edges of these cut outs in bright colours to accentuate them and make the box look fun.