Saturday 15 November 2014

Leaf Lantern

This is something I have done at Forest School but equally you could do at home and the results are fabulous (if I say so myself!!!)
Leaf lantern when lit

One of the images I love on Pinterest are those of leaf lanterns made with autumn leaves. So I spent half term experimenting with different glues and ways to make a simple leaf lantern.
I used a clean jam jar, autumn leaves, pva or school glue, a rubber band and some raffia at the end to pretty it up with. I tried different glues - a glue stick, Copydex, but they didn't work nearly as well.
In daylight

'Paint' the jar with some pva glue. Then wrap a leaf around. Paint on more pva over the leaf and add another leaf, overlapping it. Keep painting on glue and wrapping leaves until the jar is covered. Carefully add a rubber band to hold them in place and leave to dry.
When they are dry you can swap the band for a piece of raffia or a ribbon to look pretty.
Pop a night light inside and wait a few seconds after it is lit.
The colours are beautiful


Please BE VERY CAREFUL when lighting the night light inside the jar, and DO NOT LEAVE IT UNATTENDED.

Sunday 2 November 2014

Glittery Mittenry

Half term week has been busy with all the usual things like dentist appointments, hair cuts and a lot of washing - for some reason!!! I've also been busy making Christmas goodies and restocking my Folksy shop.
mini mittens with tinsel cuff
This year I have updated the mini mittens - you can find the pattern for knitting them here by making them in pastel colours and the cuffs in tinsel wool. I have to admit I don't like knitting with the tinsel wool it makes my hands itch and I certainly couldn't wear anything made in it, but it looks lovely as a Christmas decoration!
sparkle and shine
I've been using King Cole Tinsel Chunky and just followed my pattern - I didn't change the needle size. I did think the mittens would look cute as a pair on a longer twisted cord and then hung on the tree like that.