Vintage Christmas Fairy Doll Printable
Over the years I have always tried to add a free printable project at Christmas – I’m not sure I’ve managed it quite every year, but I recently came across this Christmas Fairy Doll in my collection of vintage items. It dates I think to the 1930’s. The original is pretty small, so I’m not sure if the original intention was for it to be scaled up manually, but today at least in the digital era, it should be rather easier to enlarge! To use, download the image, print out, attach the fairy onto lightweight card – I used double-sided adhesive film for this (affiliate link), customise and cut her out.…
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Scented Shapes Gift Project
Home-made gifts are especially meaningful to receive, and when those gifts are useful as well as thoughtful, it only adds to their value. This project for a useful creative gift is a very simple one which can be adapted for use with younger or older children, or by grown-ups, according to need, and also offers infinite opportunities to customise the shape, scent and style of decoration. This project contains affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission if you purchase using them. You will Need DAS Airdry Modelling Clay Essential Oils Dried Lavender Cookie Cutters You will also need: Some clay modelling tools, such as a small rolling…
Artful Advent Ideas
It has been a long time since I’ve managed to post anything on here. There are lots of personal reasons for this, which I won’t go into here, but with it already approaching the festive season, I thought it was about time added some new, and hopefully useful content. For the last couple of years I have been trying to find the time to establish a proper directory of resources on Artful Kids – it has been something of a stop-start project, but hopefully it is now, finally, starting to take shape. It is a combination of resources already on this site, external resources elsewhere which are free of charge,…
Create your own Magnetic Art Kit
I have dabbled with magnetic art in the past (see one of my early posts for junk magnetic art) – I love the simplicity, flexibility and infinite possibilities of magnetic art, and it is so easy to make your own unique sets at home. For this project I used my stash of painted papers, and purchased some thin self-adhesive magnetic sheets, which can be cut quite easily with sharp scissors. As an alternative to painted paper you could recycle some decorative wrapping paper, or images and textures from magazines. All that was required was to stick the sheets of paper onto the magnetic sheets and cut out whatever shapes I wanted. It’s also worth…
Neon Body Paint Review
Using our own body as a canvas for artwork must be one of the oldest forms of art in existence. Whether it be for ritual, cultural, cosmetic, or purely aesthetic purposes, using paint or tattoos on the body is millennia old and has never really lost its popularity. Summer is the perfect time to experiment with it, and having purchased some body paint for a forthcoming event recently, I thought the recent spell of good weather would be an opportune time to try it out. The paints which I purchased were a set of dayglo paints, which also glow under UV light, and this gives them an added dimension which…
Creating Artful Christmas Tree Ornaments
Who says that art materials can’t be festive or decorative in their own right? If you’re looking to create an artfully themed Christmas Tree for a studio, creative space, or just at home, here are a few ideas you might like to try… Festive Paint Brushes Give those old worn out paintbrushes a new lease of life by transforming them into decorations. Decorate the handles with brightly coloured paints in any style you choose, and then dip the tips into glitter paint, or PVA sprinkled with glitter. Use the hole in the handle to thread a hanging ribbon through, and away you go. Alternatively you can just arrange them in…
Further Adventures with Spray Inks
For those of you who are familiar with this blog, you will know that spray inks are one of my all time favourite mediums – I get huge enjoyment from their use and love the effects you can create with them. It’s been a while since I’ve used these inks, but having lent them to my son for his art homework, I was inspired by some of the accidental effects he had created, to dig them out again. This time I have used the medium rather differently, so I thought it would be worth sharing the results. As usual at this time of year, I have used the latest experiments…
Using Decorative Papers
If over time, you find you or the kids have created a whole stack of decorative paper, it can be a problem what do you do with it all. Personally I find it really therapeutic to create decorative paper – there’s no (entirely self-inflicted) pressure to perform, and quite often when I’m creating it, I have no end purpose it mind, so they just get added to the collection, then when the time comes that I need some, the resources are there, ready and waiting. Of course the range of uses for these is endless, and you could just as well use commercial papers if you don’t have any of…
Pixelated Papers
I find it’s always useful to have a stock of decorative papers to use for creative projects of all kinds, and of course for gift-wrapping. There are some beautiful papers out there, but it can be difficult to justify the expense of buying them sometimes. Having your own unique papers is always very satisfying, and there’s the added enjoyment of creating them. They don’t have to be complicated, you don’t have to have any artistic skill in painting and drawing, and if you are mess averse it doesn’t even have to involve paint! They are fun to produce for both kids and adults alike, and anyone can join in. This…
Decorative Fused Plastic Leaves
This project is one which has evolved out of my recent experiments with fused plastic. It’s a way of recycling old crayons and plastic bags creatively and I love the finished ‘leaf-like’ feel of these. The finished leaves can be used for a wide range of purposes, or alternatively you could cut the fused plastic sheets up into any shape you like. Materials Plain white plastic bags – or bags with large areas of white that can be used. Roll of Cling film Old wax crayons Metallic Gold Ink Pen Baking parchment Equipment Old kitchen grater Domestic iron Pinking Shears Heat Proof board (I used a toughened glass chopping…
An Artful Gift for a New Baby
A friend of mine has recently had a new addition to her family, so this project was created because I needed a small extra gift that I could give to mark the occasion – something small, unique and personal, that I could make fairly easily. In the end I decided to make this simple hanging decoration decorated with monochrome drawings (in recognition of the fact that young babies see strong contrasts most clearly). If you use ready made plain shapes, minimal sewing is required, and all you need are fabric pens and a length of baker’s twine to attach them together and form a hanging loop. I left the backs…
Mini Seaside Dioramas
Summer is here, and our walks along the beach have become more regular again. On these trips I can never resist picking up beach treasures – whether it be in the form of sea-glass, or sea-pottery, interesting pieces of driftwood, and even bits of old rope or other flotsam and jetsam. Collecting it however is one thing, finding something to do with it all is entirely another. So it was good to finally put a few bits and pieces to use to create these Mini Seaside Dioramas. The containers for these were simply some small lidded cardboard boxes I had lying around (I have saved the lids for future use!) …
