Caterpillar pencil pot craft

Caterpillar pencil pot craft

How cute is this caterpillar pencil pot craft? My daughter is at a stage where she really loves drawing and colouring but one thing she doesn’t love is when her pencils are constantly rolling off the table! This little cutie solves that problem and was super fun to make too!

Here’s what you’ll need

  • Cardboard rolls
  • Paints (optional!)
  • Coloured paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Glue gun or pva and pegs
  • Coloured markers
  • A pipe cleaner

How to make this caterpillar pencil pot craft

First start by taking your cardboard rolls and cutting them to different lengths. We placed our full sized roll in the middle and then cut the rolls either side descending in height.

Now it’s time to add some colour to the caterpillar. Paints are a great option but this time we decided to use coloured paper. We cut out a strip of paper the same height as the roll and long enough to wrap around it and then glued it on.

Repeat the previous steps until all rolls are colored, then take your glue gun and glue the rolls together to make the caterpillar shape.

Cut out and glue on two eyes and a nose. Then take your pipe cleaner and fold it in half before using the glue gun to secure it down inside the head section of the caterpillar to make the antennae.

Glue a little foot shape onto each body roll of the caterpillar then optionally mount your pencil pot on to some card. Once dry your super cute caterpillar pencil pot is finished and ready to use!

Paper flower pot craft

Paper flower pot craft

How cute is this paper flower pot craft? We had so much fun making these to brighten up our living room! They look fab on display and make great handmade gifts for mothers day, valentines day, birthdays, teacher gifts and more!

Here’s what we used

  • Coloured paper
  • Glue
  • 2 Paper cups
  • Bamboo skewer
  • Paint & paintbrush
  • Scissors
  • A button

How to make this cute paper flower pot craft

First start by painting one of the cups to make the plant pot. Then take the second cup and chop off a small section from the bottom. Paint this section the color you want your flower to be planted in; we used brown for soil. Then finally take your skewer and color it green to make the stem. pop them aside to dry – We used a small piece of polystyrene to stand our stem up in whilst it was drying.

Take the colored paper that you will be using for the flower head and cut it into 6-8 equal strips of paper. Glue your strips together at the center to form a sun shape as in the above picture.

Take the end of each strip and glue it down at the center

of the flower.

Continue this process with all of the strips and then glue down the button to make the center of the flower.

Attach your painted stem to the back of your the flower. Then cut out a strip of green paper and glue the two ends together to make a leaf. Glue the leaf onto the stem and repeat as desired.

Glue the end piece of cup down inside the plant pot cup so that the base is facing upwards. Pierce the flower stem through the upturned cup and then through the base of your plant pot cup so that it stands stiff. TIP: if your cup has a flat base rather than a raised base then a lump of blu tack in the bottom of the plant pot cup will give the stem something to stick in to. Add any extra decoration and once dry the flower is ready to display or gift!

Handmade clay snake pots

Handmade clay snake pots

How to make our handmade clay snake pots

Today my son decided that whilst his sister was asleep he wanted to make something cool with our leftover clay. When i handed him a chunk to model with, he immediately began rolling it out saying that he was making a snake. So, with this is mind i suggested that we make our own little snake pots. I’m not quite sure why, but i can remember as kid that every time we made something with clay at school I would always make these pots without fail as my 1st choice! I’m not quite sure why or where I got the idea, I just remember having them all lined up across my windowsill in different colours. I used to think they looked amazing and that I was an amazing potter. Truth be told, I had no idea what i was doing then and i’m still learning now!

Here’s what we used

  • Air dry Clay
  • Water
  • Paintbrush
  • Paints
  • Pipe cleaner
  • 2 gems

Score and slip

Score and slip is a process used to join pieces of clay. It’s important to join your pieces properly to prevent breaking and cracking whilst drying. To attach two pieces together using score and slip you first score lines or hashtags across the two pieces you want to join or the pieces that will touch. You then take your slip (a mixture of very watery clay) and spread it across both sides of your lines as a kind of glue before securing your two pieces together and moulding them as one with your hands.

First take a ball of clay and flatten it into a disc shape. You will want it around 1-2 cm thick as this is going to be the base of your pot, rolled out to the width you wish your pot to be. Once you have your shape score some lines around the outside where you will stick your snake shape.

Take another larger ball of clay and using two hands roll it into a long snake shaped piece.

Add some slip to the scored part of your base, then similarly slip and score the underside of your snake where it will attach to the base. Then wind your snake slowly round and round itself, repeating the process of scoring and sitting where two pieces will attach to each other. You may also need to use your fingers to work the two pieces of clay together.

If when you have wound your snake around your pot, you find that it is not long enough you can roll out and add another. Just remember this is again joining two pieces so you will need to score and slip both sides and then work them together with you fingers.

Once you reach the top, take a ball and roll out the shape of your snake’s head. Attach it your body by scoring and slipping then working the pieces together by hand.

Bend your pipecleaner into a Y shape and press it into the centre of your snake’s face to make the tongue. Then press a gem/bead either side of your tongue to make two eyes. Now it’s time to leave your pot to dry. You’ll want to make sure it drys evenly, to do this we normally pop a plastic bag over the top and leave it for a day or two until hard.

Once your pot is dry you can add your base coat. If you find your paint is not thick enough to cover in one go just let it dry before adding a second. When we painted ours we just popped the tongue out to stop it getting covered.

Once your base coat is dry you can paint on any additional decoration. When your pot has dried you are finished! Don’t they just look amazing, you can use them for so many different things too! We have a tall one as a pen pot and a short one as a jewellery dish.

Here are some other crafts that you may enjoy.

Advertisements

[recent_post_slider design=”design-4″]

DIY Desk tidy gift craft

DIY Desk tidy gift craft

DIY Desk tidy gift craft

My partner has had a busy few weeks so my son and i thought we would make him a present. This DIY desk tidy is perfect for him to display at the office or on his computer table at home. My son was really chuffed with the result and so was i. What’s great too is that is that this diy desk tidy gift craft cost barely anything to make and was a really fun project for me and my son to sit and make together.

You will need

  • Tp rolls
  • Cardboard
  • Paintbrush and paint
  • A peg
  • Glue gun
  • Scissors
  • A photo
  • Items to decorate, we used stick on letters and other stickers that we had lying about

Take your piece of cardboard (we used a bit of old box) and cut it in to a rectangle to make the base. Now cut your TP rolls so that they are each a different length.

Paint your Tp rolls, Peg and carboard base in your chosen colours and put them aside to dry.

Once dry, use your glue gun to stick your cardboard tubes and peg in place on your base.

Finish decorating your desk tidy by adding some stickers and any additional decoration pieces. Now all that is left to do is add your photo to the peg holder and either gift or display your cool new craft!

Did you like this cute little gift craft? why not check out this Pizza heart card

Click here to visit Madhouse Mummy Crafts on Pinterest

[recent_post_slider design=”design-4″]