Hand Print Flower Collage

This spring I was lucky enough to spend the start of spring with 4 lovely girls in the Bell Household and we set to work making this lovely piece of art! It really is super simple to make, even the 3 year old twins were able to get involved so keep your kids busy in the holidays and give it a go this Easter!

What you will need:

Canvas  - I got mine from The Works but you can get smaller ones in Poundland

Blue Tissue Paper (or whatever colour you want your background to be)

Green Card

Card to match your background colour

Readymix paint

Glitter

PVA Glue (lots of it)

Scissors

Thick kids paint brushes

Step 1 - Get those hands messy

You'll need about 6 hand prints so split the hand prints between the number of children you have taking part.

Give each child a piece of card (the colour that will match your background) and then get them to put their hand prints on it. I did this by letting them put some paint on a paint brush and then colour in their hand before pressing it on the paper. I also let the kids pick their own coloured paint (which quickly backfired when they all copied each other but they were happy)

Put these hand prints to the side and leave them to dry

Step 2 - Create your Tissue Paper Collage

Start by asking the kids to tear the tissue paper up into lots of small pieces and make a pile in the middle of the table. This bit went down a treat but make sure it doesn't get crumbled into balls otherwise you will struggle with the next bit.

Clean a paint brush and use it to cover the canvas in a thin layer of PVA. Then start layering the tissue on top - you can either do all the same colour like us, or do a multicoloured collage.

Then put another thin layer of PVA over the top, as this will make the background shiny when the glue dries. Don''t worry if the tissue tears, you can always layer more tissue over the top.

Step 3 - Cut your stems

Take the green card and cut enough strips for your flowers. Then stick these strips in the centre of your canvas, grouped together at the bottom. You won't need any more glue if your canvas if still sticky but if it's already dried then just add a bit more to the back of the stems.

Step 4 - Let the flowers bloom

Take the hand prints you made earlier and cut around them before sticking them on the top of each of the stems

Step 5 - Plant your flowers

Cut a spare piece of card to the shape of a plant pot and then cover in it PVA glue. take your glitter and shake across the top to cover

Top Tip - lay another piece of card under your plant pot of that you catch the excess glitter and then can gently fold the card to funnel it back into the glitter pot

Finish your picture by gluing the pot over the bottom of your stems and that's you done! 

Told you it was easy and it's a great way to show off not only your kids art skills but their hand prints as well, rather than one of those generic kits you can by in the shops!!!!

I'll be back,

Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts

Today my boyfriend and I battled the festival crowds on our way to a lino carving course with Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts on Blair St.

Lino carving?!? I hear you say...

Well it's a way to make print stamps that you can use again and again for cards, bags, clothes and more!

Our instructors were great - we were greeted with a warm welcome as we were shown to our seats and then they supplied us with the tools we needed to get started. They gave us paper to practice on and showed us how to carve the lino, making sure you know to carve the background so that you are left with your stamp image,  ready for painting. They also have a range of pattern books for you to look through and get inspiration.

You are then left to your own devices and there is no rush to get finished. They were open from 1pm - 9pm and you can bring your own booze so great for a girly day out. The girls were still about to give you a helping hand if you needed it.

Once you are finished making your printing stamp, you go over to the painting section.  There are a range of coloured paints to use and a choice of white or brown card to print on. We had fun experimenting with the different colours and even tried out some layering.

It was great to see how different everyone's designs were and you get to take everything you have made home with you - I'll definitely be checking out what other courses they have on!

Check out www.edinburghcontemporarycrafts.co.uk for more info

Bacon and roses

Bacon and roses, not normally two words you see together but this tutorial managed to do just that!

If you're stuck for that perfect romantic meal for your man, then this has to be the starter

Check out Ferochia's fab tutorial and please let me know if you give it a go!