Gifts for Little Ones

Karin Akesson Giraffe Dream Big T-shirt  //  Heart Felt Handmade Hair Bow Holder  //  Stitch it Mama Unicorn Toy  //  Letter Clothing Party All Night Baby Grow  //  What's Her Name Art Custom Name Watercolour painting  //  Sparkle Child Glitter Crown  //  HelloDODO Dinosaur Bib  //  The Fox In the Attic Ice Cream Rattle  //  HAHonline Leopard Leggings  //  Diddy Colours Dinosaur Crayon Bucket

Today's gift guide is for the littlest family members, You may not have any little ones of your own but there will no doubt be a niece or nephew, goddaughter or godson who would love one or two of the goodies in our round up. Why is it that tiny things are soooooo cute! Seriously we want  our own sparkly glitter crowns!!

Sammy and H xx

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Pets
Gifts for your Parents
Gifts for your Lady
Gifts for your Man
Gifts for your Best Friend


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Crafting Trend: Loom Band Creations

We have tried our hardest to resist but we can no longer ignore the latest crafty trend that is taking the world by storm, Loom Bands. Like Scoubidou and Clackers before them these little colourful elastic bands are springing up all over the place. I am sure you heard the story of the dress on ebay that allegedly made thousands?! Well I have been scouring the inter-webs for the most innovative uses for this multicoloured wonder toy to share with you.

Pictures from Pinterest via this board  and this search.

from left to right, top to bottom. 

Crochet hook grip, Unicorn, Sponge Bob, 

Mobile Phone case, Nativity scene, gloves,

Pot mat, feet jewellery and Christmas decorations.

If you are looking for some more inspiration Loom Love blog has an amazing selection of tutorials if you want to give it a go for yourselves, and check out Buzzfeeds 'Most important rainbow loom accomplishments' article for some lol's.

My favourite loom story has to be this one from American TV star Jimmy Kimmel who asked his viewers to send in a piece of looming for him to make a suit from, after receiving over 3000 pieces his wardrobe team made this amazing creation, as well as a few other garments.... click below or head over to YouTube to view the video.

I'm not sure it is my craft but I do appreciate the effort that people have gone to, to make the amazing creations. I am a fan of anything that encourages ingenuity, imagination and most of all creativity. Long live loom!

Have you tried loom bands or rainbow loom? Let us know what you have made and if you love or hate this latest trend??

Sammy xxx

 Live, Love, Make, Like, Share, Follow, Tweet, Pin, Add, Enjoy. 

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Make it. Felt Photo Decorations

H came up with this cute Christmas D.I.Y. when we were thinking of something to make for all our friends who have had babies over the past year. She wanted to make a little something for all our new mum friends that they can hang on their Christmas tree, a little different than the usual 'baby's First Christmas' decorations that you find in the shops. So the result was these cute photo decorations. I don't' have any kids so I filled mine with pics of my loves, I even had one spare for Channing Tatum! 

You will need:

Scissors, Felt, Embroidery threads, Needle, Scraps of ribbon, White card, Pencil and marking pen and the photos you want to use

Take something round to use as a template to draw around, I used the inside of my Sellotape reel and draw a circle onto your card. 

Cut out your card with your paper scissors.

Take your felt and cut three layers big enough to comfortably fit your template on. Use your template to mark your felt a little larger than your card, then cut out all three layers where you have marked.  

Take two layers and put your card between them. With the third layer cut out a scoop at the top (that will be where you insert your photo) and the aperture for your photo to sit in, you can see I cut mine in a heart shape.

Use your embroidery thread to stitch around the edge of your aperture, I used running stitch, but you could also use blanket stitch.

 Pop your ribbon scrap in-between the two back layers to create a hanging loop.

 Pop all your layers together and stitch all the way around the edge to hold all the layers together. The closer to the edge you can go the bigger the photo you will be able to fit inside. 

I printed off some of my instagrams onto normal white paper and placed them into each of the decorations I made. 

This one of Steve and I fits so well in the heart aperture.

These are so easy and fun to make, you could make them with your kids, for your friends, or like me make a set for yourself with all the people you love in them. If you are making them as a gift you could embroider a little message on the other side, like a date or a name to make it extra personal. You can hang them on the tree or make a 'family tree' garland to hang up over your fireplace. 

I think they are adorable and will be making a set for my niece this year too.

What decorations are you planning on making this year? 

H and Sammy xxx

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Summer fun - week 5

 

This week is the final week of the school holidays, parents rejoice as your kids go back to school and you don't have to think about stuff to do with them on the rainy days - sunny days are easier as a trip to the park can always be done.

We have a breather at The Lightbox, as it affords us a few days off before the school visits start!

But, back to this week, we have been doing our drop-in activities and paid workshops as usual and this week has been felt creatures, drawing games, picture frames and bubbles on Friday of course! phew.

What has been your favourite of our holiday activities? Is there anything you remember doing as a child that you want to come back?  Let us know in the comments, who knows it could be at a workshop near you soon!

Make it

H

Summer fun - week 4

It's the penultimate week of the holidays now at The Lightbox, so we are into week 4.  Due to the nature of having so many sessions in the summer holidays, we have done a few of the workshops a few times now.  Some are more popular than others.  Although this week we did something for the first time, made Origami Bookmarks, which then got some decoration in the ways of making animals or whatever the kids wanted to turn them into.  These are so simple and it went down very well, so I think some more origami might happen next summer too.

And this week it has been sunny, so we have had the extra bonus of being able to go outside and do some chalk drawings, which always makes a nice change.

I think the parents have just as much fun drawing as the kids do!

Make it

H

Summer fun - Week 3

It's week 3 now and our last Gnome making session!  It was definitely interesting making up these little guys and seeing what different characters the families made.  We even had a group of 80 year olds who got involved in making them.

We have also been making Secret Garden's in Jars which follows on the Garden theme.  You can tell their is a Garden Designer exhibition on at the moment at The Lightbox.  It is about a lady called Gertrude Jekyll who just did about every job to do with Gardening, painter, designer, author, botanist.  The list goes on and if your into garden's you should definitely check it out before it closes on the 8th September this year.

Make it 

H

Summer fun - Week 2

Week 2 of the summer holidays is starting to get busy now at The Lightbox and one of this week's activities is fabric printing.

There are two sessions of this on one day for 4-8 year olds and then 8-16 year olds.  They made their own stamps, stencils and printing equipment and printed up their own tote bag.

This was my effort and I had fun especially using a rolling pin to make a repetitive wave pattern.  Something I have not tried before, but I definitely think I will again.

Have you made your own stamps?  What have you made?

Make it

H

Summer fun - Week 1

It's the first week of Summer activities at The Lightbox this week and its going to be getting busy.  

So I thought that my Thursday posts for the month of August would be all about what we are getting up to down at the museum with the children who come in to our daily workshops.   

One of this week's workshops was run by an artist (usually they are run by me and my boss) and she helped the children to make large scale flowers and butterflies using memory-cane and tissue paper.

We try and theme the workshops around the exhibitions in the museum - well apart from Bubbles on a Friday and that's just because why not Bubbles on a Friday!

Let us know what you have been getting up to this summer holidays and if you have kids, what's their favourite thing to make?

Make it

H

Who's Who: Little Pickles & Buttercup Designs

For this Who's Who we talked to Denise who runs not only LittlePickles fun with art sessions over in Maidenhead but also has her own company selling her own art called Buttercup designs.  All this and she works part-time as a teaching assistant as well!  Does this woman ever have time off!

What is Little Pickles fun with art and Butter cup designs? 

Well Buttercup designs came first,  It started around 2010 when I had decided to brand my art to sell at a local art market.  Buttercup was what my friend, James, who I lived with in halls of residence with at Uni called me and it just stuck. With my work changing quite drastically from one collection to another I thought it might be a good idea to put a name to my work.  Buttercup designs is like an alter-ego where I can be free and try new things with her art.  She makes handmade cards, Canvases and prints, from my vivid colour animal designs to my newer, more vintage pieces.  My view on art is that it should make you feel and I would like to think my art is as fun to see as it is to make...and each piece comes with a free smile! :)

Little Pickles fun with art sessions are exactly what they say on the tin... they are a chance for children aged between 3 and 6 to come along and create something to be proud of. I believe all children are little artists in their own right, I pride myself in giving them the full artistic experience using fab materials and giving them the encouragement and freedom to create something amazing to take home and treasure! We also have a lot of fun, make a lot of mess and keep the glitter companies in business!

How did you start Little Pickles?

Marie, the manager of our local art shop, and I were having a chat one day discussing there was a gap in the market for art classes for little ones and that they were renting out their gallery space so if I knew of anyone to get them to contact her. Then a few weeks later we were chatting again and she asked me if I would give it a go! We couldn't believe we hadn't thought of it before, it was a perfect combo of the two things I love’s the most, working with children and art! So it was decided, I booked some dates in the gallery and went home to design a poster but then realised I needed a name! So I looked around for some inspiration and saw my house bunny looking up at me and with that ‘Little Pickles’ was born and I have never looked back!

Where do you do the Little Pickles workshops and sell your Buttercup design work?

I do the workshops during school holidays in the Boville Art shop's gallery in Maidenhead, which is a fantastic space.  Mandy (my partner in crime) and myself also do crafty birthday parties.

I sell Buttercup designs cards at Sew Crafty (Sammy's shop) with all the money going to fab charities SPRING and little angels. I make those for love not money! And I also have exhibited and sold my art at every Art on the Street fair so far. 

Anything coming up that we should know about?

I will be exhibiting again at Art on the Street in Maidenhead on 12^th May and Little Pickles will be running through the summer holidays, dates are yet to be confirmed. Check out the website for further information.

What does the future have in store for both Little Pickles and Buttercup designs? 

Wow, I would like to think big and exciting things!  It's something I never dreamt I'd be doing and I absolutely love every minute of it!  I feel like I'm living the dream! 

It has been such an amazing thing to see your little idea explode into reality and not just that but for other people to see your vision and love it as much as you do, which is why Mandy and I make such a good team!... watch this space!

Such an inspiration!  Lovely to see someone who gets to enjoy what they do and be creative at the same time!  Sometimes I think when you start your own business you are not able to be as creative as you still want to be.  It’s lovely to see Denise enjoying herself and sharing that joy with the little pickles that come to join her!

Don’t forget to check her out at Art in the Street!

Live it

H