FATHER'S DAY PAINTING KIT STEP-BY-STEP

Here’s a step-by-step guide of Ottilie and I making the Father’s Day Crate Kit. Happy crafting!

Prep:

Grab some old clothes or an apron and have a wipe or old towel at the ready!

Here goes…

Then open up the paints and paint all your crate pieces, both sides! Wait for them to dry them slot them together like this…

1. Take the long pieces with the grooves and slot them into the base (the biggest piece)

2. Take a side piece and slot it on to the end of the crate

3. Take the other two sides and slot them into the end piece

4. Add the other long side, gently rest them in place and grab the final piece

5. Push the end piece on, wiggly the side pieces in to place. It may take a couple of go’s to slot it on. Then give it a good tap into place and there you have it!

6. Drop in your gift and hand made cards and ta-daaa! If you find a slots are a little loose you can pop a little bit of glue into the slots to keep it together

EASTER EGG CRAFT KIT | STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

EASTER EGG BOX - STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Step 1: Open up your egg box and lay out your paint and craft pack. Grab an apron and pop it on!

Step 2: Paint your egg

Step 3: Use the crafty pack and your glue dots to add eyes, ears, and other features!

Step 4: Then decorate your egg box or turn it into something fun (See egg box blog post for inspo)

Step 5: Ta-Daaaa! Egg box boat with a bunny and chick!

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INSPO: EASTER EGG ANIMALS

EASTER EGG CRAFT KIT INSPIRATION

If you’ve got your hands on one of our Easter Egg Box craft kits then here’s some inspiration for you! There are so many things you can do with the wooden eggs and crafty bits included in the pack. Have a scroll down for some ideas…

When you’ve decorated your eggs, why not transform you egg box! Head over to our Egg Box blog post for inspo.

We can’t wait to see what you make - share with us @themillhousehertford

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EASTER EGG BOX - STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Step 1: Open up your egg box and lay out your paint and craft pack. Grab an apron and pop it on!

Step 2: Paint your egg

Step 3: Use the crafty pack and your glue dots to add eyes, ears, and other features!

Step 4: Then decorate your egg box or turn it into something fun (See egg box blog post for inspo)

Step 5: Ta-Daaaa! Egg box boat with a bunny and chick!

MOTHER'S DAY PAINTING KIT STEP-BY-STEP

Here’s a step-by-step guide of Ottilie and I testing out the Mother’s day Painting Kit. Check out our Mother’s Day inspo blog post here for other fun ways to decorate your canvas. Happy crafting!

Prep:

Grab some old clothes or an apron and have a wipe or old towel at the ready!

1. Open up the paint pots and grab your brush and place the paint in the palm of your hand

2. Use the paint brush to spread the paint over the hand. Then quickly place the hand on the canvas pushing down all the fingers.

3. Finger print on the flowers using the other paint colours

4. When dry, place your flower pot over the hand print

5. Take the back off the frame, stick the canvas to the back board using double sided tape or glue and place it back in the frame

6. Ta-daaa! A lovely keepsake to treasure - Happy Mother’s Day!

HOW TO MAKE: PAPIER-MÂCHÉ

Otts and I had a fun couple of days making a Papier-mâché Octopod! She LOVES Octonauts and I was up for a crafty challenge after a week in front of a screen, so we got our craft on!!

Check out our step-by-step guide showing you a super quick Papier-mâché recipe…

There are two ways to make papier-mâché - glue or flour. We went for the flour option, it’s makes the papier-mâché sturdier and we needed strengthen for our Octopod!

FLOUR RECIPE

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 TBSP salt

GLUE RECIPE

1 cup PVA glue
1 cup water
1 TSP salt

YOU WILL NEED…

Newsprint cut into strips
Bag of flour or PVA glue
Scissors
Old bowl
Balloons
A cup for measuring
Apron / old clothes

HERE’S OUR STEP-BY-STEP FLOUR RECIPE

Step 1 : Measure out a cup of flour and put it in a bowl

Step 2: Measure out the water in the same cup and pour half into the flour and mix

Step 3: Pour in the rest of the water and mix to a smooth paste

Step 4: Blow up your balloon(s) to a size you like, pop them on a small bowl to keep them steady

Step 5: Cut strips of newspaper, dip it into the paste, wipe off excess, lay on the balloon

Step 6: Layer up the strips on the balloon, ensuring there are no gaps!

Step 7: Cover the whole balloon, ideally you'd have two layers for strength

Step 8: Tie string to the top of the balloon, hang up and leave to dry overnight

Step 9: Once dry, cut the papier-mâché to shape, using scissors or craft knife

Step 10: Paint your papier-mâché. Pop it somewhere warm to dry

Step 11: Once the paint is dry, add any finishing touches and you're done!

Step 12: Ta-daaa!!

HOW TO MAKE: A DREAMCATCHER

Here’s a step-by-step guide to making your very own dreamcatcher using our kit which you can find in our shop here

Step 1: Layout your wooden pieces and have your paint and brush at the ready

Step 2: Paint the wooden pieces, back and front!

Step 3: When the paint has dried, lay your pieces out like this and find your thread and needle

Step 4: Thread through a hole on the outer ring and tie it in a knot to keep the thread in place.

Step 5: Thread from outer ring to inner ring zig zagging from one to the other. Go all the way round until you get back to the start and tie another knot in the thread to secure it

Step 6: Cut the remaining thread into four strips and tie each one to the four remaining holes on the outer ring

Step 7: Thread on the beads at the bottom of the thread and tie the wooden leaf to the end to hold the beads in place

Step 8: Tie the ribbon to the top of the outer ring and that's it! You'll have your very own dreamcatcher to hang above your bed

HOW TO MAKE: A CARDBOARD TUBE FAMILY

You may not think much of this activity, but I did it with Ottilie (Age 3) this morning and she loved it! Check out the pics below.

All you need is… cardboard tubes or toilet rolls (one for each member of your family), PVA glue (or even better, a glue gun) and lots of crafty bits or anything you have around your house. You really can make them with anything!

Here are some of the things we used…
Tissue paper or paper towel
Ribbon or string or wool
Paper or card
Buttons or googly eyes
Pipe cleaners or lolly pop sticks or paper straws

Check out our step-by-step guide below and pics of Otts enjoying her family!

We would love to see what you make - share @themillhousehertford

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Here’s Otts enjoying her cardboard tube family!

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CHECK OUT OUR step-by-step guide…

Step 1: Find cardboard tubes or toilet rolls. One for each family member.

Step 2: Fill the top of the tubes with wool, ribbon or string for hair! Or design a hat for the top of the tube

Step 3: Cut a circle out of paper or card , find some buttons for eyes and make a face

Step 4: Pop the cut out faces on to one side of your tube

Step 5: Add arms using lolly pop sticks. Make a whole in the tube and push them through. Or stick pipe cleaners to the side of the tube and bend them into shape!

Step 6: Have fun making clothes out of ribbon, paper or fabric pieces and stick them on to your tubes to finish them off!

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