ebabee likes:DIY Archives - Page 2 of 6

Entries Tagged as 'DIY'

7 fabulous autumn leaf crafts

October 5, 2015

Autumn is definitely here and when you are surrounded by an abundance of leaves in the most amazing colours, it seems crazy not to do something with them. There are so many fun crafts you can do with autumn leaves that kids will just adore getting involved in. I’ve got a fun idea for a craft which I plan to do soon but in the meantime, I have collected 7 fabulous autumn leaf crafts that you can make today. Most of these crafts don’t require anything special but instead can be done using stuff you have lying around the home. Just get the kids to gather a bagful of leaves each and get started:

Paint your leaves and make fun animals. The shapes of the leaves are so great for making all kinds of animals and the stems are the perfect ready made noses or tails.

Instead of animal faces, you can just paint the leaves in pretty colours or patterns which is easier for younger kids to do. How stunning do the bright colours look and I’m especially loving the polka dots.

For a super sweet and simple DIY, how cute are these animal headbands? All you need is a handful of leaves, some kraft paper and a pen and you’re good to go. Easy and oh so cute!

This is another great idea for a craft using autumn leaves. If you’ve got paper punchers in any shape, you can punch out autumn leaves and then what you make with them is entirely up to you. I’m thinking collages, bracelets, bookmarks or anything at all.

I think these fishy leaves are just the best. Make a whole aquarium using just some leaves and two paint colours – fab!

Using leaves and other gathered bits like sticks, seeds and acorns, make the funniest leaf faces! I love how simple this craft is, perfect even for the youngest of kids.

For older kids looking for a bit more of a challenge, try embroidering autumn leaves – create faces, patterns or even stitch up a few leaves together to make a garland.

I love each of these autumn leaf crafts and can’t choose which one to try first! Have you done anything fun with autumn leaves? Do share in the comments.

Image credits and find all the how to’s: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

How do you get your kids to school on time?

October 1, 2015

Are your school mornings a mad dash? We are already three weeks in to the new school term and nothing has changed here – no matter what, we are always running late. Sometimes we make it just in time but often we end up being late and it’s getting embarrassing given we live next door to our school. I had been trying to think of ways to organise our mornings better when Anya suggested a kids morning routine chart. She said it would help her to know what order she has to do things and when.

I decided to give her suggestion a try and I finally made one last week. It’s a very simple DIY kids morning routine chart that outlines exactly what she has to do and when. We’ve only been using it for a week but the chart has helped. One of the best things about it for me is that I don’t feel like a drill sergeant anymore! I’m no longer telling her to brush her teeth 20 times before she actually does it. Or if I left the room, I used to come back and find she had emptied her lego box and started building a mammoth house which was impossible to tear her away from. Now she looks at the chart and she knows exactly what to do when. And the chart is also helping her to be more independent.

We’ve also built in a little treat called ‘golden time’ which falls in the middle of the morning routine. If the first part of the routine is done in time then she gets 5 minutes playtime. This has really encouraged her (more than I imagined) to try and get things done quickly. For us, it was always the first part of the morning that went so leisurely which meant that in the last 5-10 minutes before leaving, we were running around like headless chickens to get out the door on time. Anya doesn’t always manage to get her ‘golden time’ but the incentive is there for her to try.

I’ve made the kids morning routine chart out of regular printer paper, spelling out the morning routine. I used a teardrop shape because it looks pretty and used some washi tape to add colour but also to keep my walls from peeling! And I intentionally used a stand out colour for golden time so that it can’t be missed or forgotten. You can of course make any kind of chart – it takes just minutes and it could take some of the stress out of the mad morning dash!

Do you have any tips for taking the stress out of the morning madness?

A super quick DIY: Make a water xylophone

August 26, 2015

With all this rain going on here in the UK, we’ve been spending lots of time indoors. While I love watching the rain when I’m inside and dry, I can’t say that Anya feels the same. She is restless. So we’ve been having a few play dates, more tv than we should 😉 and lots of DIY and crafting time. Of all the stuff we’ve made, Anya has most enjoyed making this DIY water xylophone that she spotted on Cbeebies.

It’s such an easy and pretty DIY that I thought I would share it here. Simply let your kids fill 6-8 plastic or glass bottles with different amounts of water. Mix in some paint, in the colours of your choice, and your musical instrument is ready. Tap with a spoon or similar to explore the different musical sounds. Anya made her water xylophone in a pastel palette which I thought was so pretty!

The mini milk bottles we used are from the gorgeous Pretty Little Party Shop.

An easy way to teach your kids to tie their shoelaces

August 5, 2015

Confession time. My 6.5 year old can’t tie her shoelaces. How bad is that? I’ve just let that little life skill slip and I’ve forgotten to teach her. It doesn’t help that nearly all kids shoes come with buckles or velcro fasteners so the need to tie shoelaces hasn’t really arisen. But that’s no excuse, every kid should be able to tie their shoelaces right? Hands up who else is in the same boat – I’m not the only slacking parent, am I? I did a bit of a google search to make sure I wasn’t the only one and I found that many children learn to tie their shoe laces a lot later these days. There is no set age but kids should be able to tie their shoelaces by around age 5.

A little while ago Anya got a pair of shoes with laces and I had tried to teach her on those but it was proving too tricky to learn on the shoes themselves even though she tried quite hard. Anya ended up getting really frustrated that she couldn’t do it so we kind of gave up and forgot about it for a while but it recently dawned on me that she should really be able to tie her laces. So instead of learning on the shoes, together we made this very simple cardboard shoe cutout for her to learn on. Using a board like this is a much easier way to teach children how to tie their shoelaces.

Anya’s only had a handful of goes at tying and she has already nearly learned how to do it. She too says it much easier learning on this board than on actual shoes. Once she has perfected it on here, we will move back on to the shoes. I’m haven’t given you any step by step instructions on how to make this board as it’s pretty obvious form the pictures. But if you do want some instructions there are loads of tutorials out there like this one that inspired me to make my own. I will add that let the kids make this shoelace board themselves and they’ll enjoy learning on it even more.

Can your kids tie their shoelaces? Do you have an easy method to teach children how to tie their shoelaces? Please do share in the comments.

P.S. Here’s a short video on a very easy method of tying shoelaces, not the two ears method. A good idea to make it even easier for younger kids.

DIY fruity Summer diary

July 14, 2015

Do you get homework over the Summer holidays? We don’t but reading and writing practice is encouraged. With the best will in the world I know I’m not going to sit down with Anya and start practicing writing every day or even every week. We get enough homework during term time so we all need a break 😉 But I do think it’s a good idea to keep in touch with writing and reading so I thought I would make her a Summer diary where she can write what she does every few days. Last week I rounded up some fabulous fruit crafts which inspired me to make these fruity DIY Summer diaries for Anya.

Anya loved the idea of making fruit inspired DIY Summer journals and chose strawberry, pineapple and orange as her fruits. If you’d like to make these, read on.

What you’ll need:
A6 notebooks
A4 coloured paper in red, yellow and orange
2-3 sheets thin green card
black pen and brown and white coloured pencil
scissors
tape or glue (optional)

Begin by covering your notebooks with the coloured paper. When I was in school in India, we had to cover all our school books or there would be big trouble. With so many years of practice I can now cover books with my eyes closed! But in case you haven’t done it before, here’s how:

Once the books are covered, you can stick or glue the inside flaps down but I prefer to leave them just folded without glue or tape. Next I needed to make the books look more like the fruit they were meant to be. I drew leaf shapes on my green card – just using a pencil. This isn’t meant to be precise or perfect so just draw freehand. I drew three different types of leaves – one for each fruit. And then I cut them out. But I wanted to create a bookmark too so I cut a long piece of card with the leaves cut out at the top as the picture below shows. So you not only have a DIY Summer diary but also a super cute DIY bookmark to match.

To finish off these fruity DIY Summer diaries I used a fine black pen to add seeds to the strawberry, a brown coloured pencil to line the pineapple diary and a white coloured pencil to add a touch of white to the orange diary.

My favourite journal is the strawberry one – I might even make one for myself! If you’re looking for some more fruit craft inspiration, check out my round-up of some of the best.

10 fabulously fruity Summer DIY’s

July 9, 2015

Nothing says Summer like some fresh, brightly coloured fruit. Ice-cold watermelon, bright red strawberries or even the odd fruit daiquri or two enjoyed in the sunshine is what it’s all about. With the Summer holidays coming up I have DIY’s on the mind and what better than some fun fruit crafts for kids to keep them busy. So I’ve rounded up 10 of the very best fruity DIY’s – some with free printables for a quick little project and others that are a bit more involved. Most of these fruit crafts for kids would make great decorations for a fruit themed Summer party too.

How great are these free printable fruity straw decorations?

Why not try making this easy DIY potato stamp fruity apron?

These free fruit printables will make fun wall decorations for any Summer party!

For something a little more involved, these DIY fruit magnets are too cute!

Fruit isn’t just for eating, it’s for playing with too! Make these free printable fruit toys.

Loving these DIY fruity paper plates. Another great DIY decoration for a fruit themed party.

What will you fill these printable fruit gift bags with?

Wouldn’t these DIY fruit umbrella’s make great little handmade gifts?

These DIY mini watermelon pinatas are cutest pinata’s ever, don’t you think?

If you want to throw a quick and easy fruit themed party, here’s a free party printable kit ready to go!

P.S. Here’s some more fruit craft ideas in case you haven’t had your fill!

Free printable Father’s Day mustache cards

June 15, 2015

Do you celebrate Father’s Day? We don’t do gifts but we always have cards and a usually a nice family meal. Every year I have the best intentions of making a card but it never happens. This year though I decided I would be organised and make sure it happens. So I made these little mustache cards – aren’t they cute? I was so pleased with the way they turned out that I thought I would share them here. If you still need a card, then these free printable Father’s Day cards are the answer. You can print them and let the kids decorate them as they wish.

To make these cards, all you have to do is print out the PDF’s, fold along the line and cut them out. Just make sure that you don’t cut all the way round – the tops shouldn’t be cut so that the back of the card remains attached. I used pink, maroon and grey coloured card but you can choose whatever colours you like. And if you’d like the kids to decorate them then lighter colours will of course be better.

I’ve attached two PDF’s of these Father’s Day cards – one where the mustaches have little messages printed on them and the second which are left blank for you to put your own message or just to decorate as you wish. We’ve made so many of them and Anya can’t wait to get decorating. Happy Father’s Day to all those great dad’s out there!

Ebabee-Mustache-no-message

Ebabee-Mustache-with-message

P.S. If you want some more fun free father’s day printables, here’s a round-up I did a little while ago.

*I’ve linked up to What Katy Said’s kids corner.

Five fun and free father’s day printables

June 3, 2015

I’m always so last minute when it comes to a Father’s Day card or organising something for the day. So this year I thought I would try and get ahead of the game and have at least a fun card and something fun lined up well in advance of the day. We’re not in to giving gifts or anything major but it is nice to do something to mark the day. So I’m planning a family lunch and I also wanted to find a cute card for Anya to give Richard. I would love to have created my own little DIY with her and may still do next week but in the meantime I went looking and I found these sweet free father’s day printables. They’re not all cards but they can all be turned in to one or used in different ways. I like them all but I suspect Anya will choose the glasses or the cute little bow and tie one!

1. dad glasses | 2. moustache and bow wrapping paper | 3. dad colour in card | 4. dads are yay cards | 5. bow and tie banner

Friday finds: Fun things from around the web

April 24, 2015

Who doesn’t love a bit of time wasting and surfing the net aimlessly? I know I do! That’s what my Friday finds are all about and I haven’t done one in a while so here’s the latest dose. To start with, here are 15 hilarious things nobody tells you about parenthood.

Fox prints are all the rage and they don’t get cuter than this foxy shirt.

Make these and you’ll probably be the most popular mum ever.

If you could review your newborn, what would you say?

Could this little girls room be any cuter?

Got a load of your kids alphabet magnets lying around? Turn them in to these beauties.

Everybody loves a bit of Taylor Swift, right?

Hope you all have a fun-filled weekend – nomita x

Free printable Easter treat boxes

March 31, 2015

Today I have a little treat for you – these super cute free printable Easter boxes which you can fill with whatever you like. They perfectly compliment the Easter bunny cards I shared a little while ago.

These bunny boxes have been designed by a very talented design and architecture student called Annelies and they are exclusively for my readers. It was her blog – A pattern a day – that first caught my attention. The patterns she creates – wow! Just wow.

To make these boxes print out the templates provided. Annelies has designed three boxes – each with a slightly different pattern. Regular printer paper is too thin so you will need coloured card to ensure that the boxes hold together. Once printed, cut along the outline provided and then fold down the dotted lines. You will need to glue the the box together, leaving out the top flap so you can put things in the box. I love a bit of pastel for Easter but of course you can choose any coloured card you like.

Anya’s been taking these bunny boxes as little gifts for the play dates she’s been invited to over the holidays. We either fill them with little chocolate eggs or a small toy. We’ve given out a couple and they have been loved. Making the box yourself adds that personal touch which people so appreciate.

A big thank you to Annelies for creating these adorable free printable Easter boxes and for the cute bunny cards too. We have made great use of these and I hope you will too.

Here is the PDF. Print and enjoy for your personal use:
bunnyboxes