ebabee likes:DIY Archives - Page 4 of 6

Entries Tagged as 'DIY'

Four easy Christmas crafts for kids

December 19, 2014

Christmas is the perfect time for crafting. It’s cold outside, the holidays are on and so it’s a great way to keep the kids entertained. My preference is always for quick and easy crafts. Anything too involved and I find that the kids patience wears thin and the crafts don’t get finished. So with that in mind I’ve picked four fun and colourful crafts most of which come with free printables too.

1. How cute are those printable Christmas crackers? The printable templates also come as blank ones so they’re great to give to the kids and let them decorate as they wish.

2. I’m loving these playful DIY birch Christmas tree ornaments. For these you will need to buy the birch rounds or improvise with something else like thick cardboard. And then decorate as you wish – with stickers or drawings or both.

3. These printable tree and gingerbread pouches come undecorated so you can print on to colourful paper or plain paper and decorate. These shapes can be used for so many things – storing little treats, making hanging ornaments, gift tags and so much more.

4. A cute little printable geometric snowman that even comes with a hat. This little snowman can be used on it’s own as a decoration or if you print quite a few, it would make a super cute table decoration on Christmas day. You could even use it for place names – just write each persons name on the hat.

Have a great weekend all! Enjoy the happy, cheerful, festive atmosphere which is the thing I love the most about Christmas.

P.S. Today is the last day for UK Christmas orders from our kids clothing shop.

The best DIY Christmas trees

December 9, 2014

The weather’s turned freezing, we are well in to December, lights and decorations are popping up everywhere; that can only mean one thing – Christmas is coming! As I’ve been busy moving house, I haven’t really gotten in to the Christmas spirit but now I fully intend to.

With the chaos that a house move brings and moving to a home that needs complete refurbishing getting a Christmas tree isn’t going to work out this year. Anya looks forward to decorating the tree each year so I don’t want to disappoint her and besides I want to have a little festive corner so that we all feel a bit more Chrismassy. I thought instead of a real tree we can make our own alternative tree which Anya can help with. That’s my plan for the coming weekend so I’ve been collecting ideas for alternate Christmas trees which are also great if you have limited space or some of these ideas are perfect for creating a little Christmas corner in your kids rooms too. I especially love the simple washi tape Christmas tree (no. 2) which you can create so easily in any room of your home. And aren’t those brush trees (no. 7) a great idea too?

Here’s where more about each tree: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

DIY Mini Forest Advent Calendar

November 12, 2014

Last year the advent calendar I made for Anya was a huge hit. She loved opening those boxes so much and since about June of this year she has been regularly asking when she could have another advent calendar. Of course I was going to make her another one, just not in June! I think the advent calendar may have been her favourite part of Christmas which is just as much about the build-up as it is about the day.

This year I’ve made it a bit earlier as I wanted to share it with you sooner and I hope you like it. I was drawn to origami as I chanced across some lovely matt origami paper in a deep green. So I thought why not make a forest of mini Christmas trees and that’s exactly what happened. But of course I needed to find a place for the gifts and what better place than under the trees?

To make this DIY advent calendar you will need:

Origami paper – you can choose any colour but I went for two shades of green
Mini paper cups – they’re called souffle or sauce cups
Gold spray
Mini number stickers (or you could hand write the numbers on)

To start with make the trees. I followed an origami tree tutorial that I found online. It was a bit tricky at first but after the 2nd or 3rd tree it was really easy so stick with it. I didn’t even need to look at the instructions after the 5th or 6th tree. Follow the tutorial exactly but I added one more step. I blu-tacked each fold of all the trees as I found that they flared out too much otherwise, and didn’t stand up quite as well as I wanted them to.

Next take your mini paper cups – these are the little paper cups that you fill with ketchup and mayo. They’re called soufflé cups and cost very little for loads of them. I had them at home as I’ve used them in the past for Anya’s birthday parties to serve ketchup. They make the perfect little pots to balance the trees on and of course to put your little gifts in. Spray them gold – best to put them in a disposable cardboard box or similar otherwise they fly around when you spray as they’re so light.

Finally take your number stickers (if using) and stick them on. Fill each pot with your little treat and place the tree on top. That’s it – done! You have an easy DIY advent calendar that looks so great. Do you usually make your own advent calendars or do you buy them?

P.S. Don’t miss our newest DIY advent calendar for 2015. It’s a goodie!

I have linked up to Honest Mum’s Brilliant blog posts.

P.S. Have you checked out our new kids clothing shop yet?

{All photos by ebabee}

9 of the best DIY Halloween party decorations

October 28, 2014

Are you having a Halloween party? They seem to be getting more and more popular in the UK and while I’ve never had one, we’ve been invited to one every year for the last four years. Next year I am determined to throw my own party as I’m feeling so inspired by all the DIY Halloween party decorations out there. If you’re having a party or even if you just want to decorate your home for the kids, here are nine of the best DIY Halloween party decorations that are easy to put together in a short time and once done, your home will look pretty spooky but in a fun way. No blood and gore here as that just creeps me out! Most of these decorations are easy enough for the kids to get involved in so they will make fun half-term crafts too. Happy Halloween!

P.S. Have you checked out the ebabee shop yet?

How to plait kids hair with ribbon

September 30, 2014

When Anya started school last year, she immediately loved every minute of it much to mine and Richards joy. That is everything except PE days. PE days were a nightmare simply because she hated her PE kit and still does. She is such a girly girl who only wears dresses and skirts so the idea of wearing a tracksuit is awful for her. Of course I can’t change her uniform but I also know that I can’t go through another year of tantrums and tears twice a week. So recently I came up with an idea which I hoped would work. I bought some pretty satin ribbon in her school colour and told her she could wear ribbon in her hair on PE days. She is delighted and it’s been working really well. It’s such a simple thing but the ribbon makes her feel girly and I guess also takes the focus away from the tracksuit. We’ve been trying out a few styles with this (life-saving!) ribbon and Anya’s favourite has become these ribbon plaits which my mum used to do for me as a kid. So I thought I would share how we do these:

Start by making two ponytails. I prefer lower ponytails as they fall better once made in to plaits.

Cut a piece of ribbon and slide it in to the hair tie making sure to adjust the ribbon so that both sides are of equal length. The length of the ribbon should be more than double the length of the ponytail. This is so that you have enough ribbon left over to make a bow later.

Separate the ponytail in to three sections as you would do when you plait hair. The left strand of ribbon should be held with the left section of hair and the right strand of ribbon with the right section of hair. The middle section of hair has no ribbon.

Then plait hair as normal making sure that the ribbon is plaited in too. Try and keep the both the strands of ribbon on top of the sections of hair – like in the picture above.

Using a hair tie, tie the plait making sure the ribbon is tied in too.

Do the same with the other ponytail and then tie the leftover ribbon in to bows. And you’ve got pretty ribbon plaits.

This is the easiest and fastest way I could think of doing it as time is always running out in the mornings before school so I wanted something that doesn’t take longer than making regular plaits. Anya adores her ribbon plaits and now demands it everyday, not just PE days!

Playful: A book packed with fun craft projects

September 24, 2014

I’ve long been a fan of Merrilee Liddiard who writes the creative kids craft blog called MerMag. She has now published a book full of the most fun crafts to make with your kids. The thought behind the book is that we can make toys and fun things for our kids just like our grandparents did. Everything doesn’t have to be bought but instead it’s all about engaging with your kids to create playful things where the making part is just as important as the playing. Being the stylish mum that she is, Merrilee goes a step further with her book. While it’s all about kids crafts it’s beautifully presented with thought given to the clothes the kids wear, the interiors and every detail so that it’s a book you can happily display on your coffee table.

The book is called “Playful: Fun projects to make with + for kids” and has a big range of crafts including toy making, paper crafts, making dressing up stuff and lots more. Some of my favourite crafts include those cute wooden necklaces (pictured at the top) and those giant animal cutouts. That tiger pinata looks really fun for a party too. There are many crafty mums out there but the reason I especially love Merrilee’s creations is because everything is do-able by non-crafty mums like me and it’s very easy to genuinely involve kids and let them do a lot of it. Also, you never need ridiculous amounts of materials or complex tools. And besides all her crafts look so beautiful don’t you think?

9 of the best fruit themed Summer party ideas

August 5, 2014

Nothing says Summer to me more than fresh fruit. OK, maybe ice-cream too but fruit is up there with the Summeriest of Summer things. The bright colours, the fresh flavours, the juicy consistency all shout Summer. Apart from eating it, I love the idea of having a fruit themed Summer party for a kids birthday, a family gathering or just about any excuse you can come up with to have a party. I went looking for some fruit themed party inspiration and here are 9 of the best fruit decorations, cakes and more for a fabulously fresh n’ fruity Summer party:

Most of these are easy DIY’s or free printable so just click the links for all the details.

5 of the best DIY party hats

June 18, 2014

It seems to be birthday party season around here. Anya has a birthday party nearly every weekend from now till mid-July and sometimes even two per weekend. I now know what mum’s mean when they say their kids have a more hectic social life than them! For one of the parties coming up, the mum is a good friend and she asked me to find her some inspiration for DIY party hats as she wants to make them herself. So of course I agreed and thought I would share my favourite finds here too in case they inspire you to make your own.

These fruit inspired DIY party hats are so fun. They are bright and fresh, perfect for a Summer birthday party. You don’t have to stop at pineapples and strawberries but can include any kinds of fruit you like.

Continue Reading "5 of the best DIY party hats"

Happy confetti

March 25, 2014

Confetti is one of those things that makes you feel cheerful the second you see it. Whether it’s on the walls, on clothes or on the table, confetti just seems to have that ‘happy’ effect. I love confetti and not just for a party so I went looking around for some happy confetti to get inspired and here’s what I found:

1. DIY giant confetti wall decoration… 2. confetti onesie… 3. confetti skirt… 4. DIY confetti frames… 5. DIY confetti number cake toppers… 6. multi-coloured confetti wall stickers.

DIY dotty elephant gift tags

March 18, 2014

Recently Anya’s had loads of birthday party invites; there has practically been a party every weekend for a few weeks now. I’m a big fan of giving books to kids when I don’t know them well enough to know their interests so that has been my gift of choice. But I’m always looking for different ways to wrap these gifts so when I came across these plywood elephants I thought they would make really cute gift tags.

Continue Reading "DIY dotty elephant gift tags"