Bottle top hyacinths

I'm really loving all the little signs of spring which are appearing around The Heathers at the moment. When every new season comes around, I'm always convinced it's my favourite. I think it's important to embrace everything, rather than complain about how cold or hot it is or that you've got to de-ice the car or you can't so much as step out of the back door without lathering on your sun-cream. I love winter as much as I love Summer for completely different reasons. What I love about Spring is the way everything seems to be waking up, its beauty and its colours.

We've been a little slow in starting our Easter/Spring crafts this year. No sooner do you seem to be doing Christmassy things, than you're whipping out the plastic Easter eggs and the pastel bunting. It all happens rather too quickly for my liking. Where does the time go? Our first Spring-themed crafting attempt was this cute little hyacinth craft using bottle-tops.

We started by cutting out some paper stems and leaves and then mixed some pastel-coloured paint to make our hyacinths. Tommy then dipped a bottle-top into the paint and pressed it on the paper in a vertical arrangement, creating the shape of the flower. I was really impressed with the overall effect of using a bottle-top. It was really effective!

 

 Even Isla had fun making some bottle-top prints!

 

 

2D Spring Flower Suncatcher

I recently shared with you our 3D Spring Flower suncatcher we made together. We had some flowers left over from doing this, so I decided we'd make a few 2D versions. To make them, you'll need some sticky-back plastic, some coloured card or foam and some Spring flowers/leaves/petals.

I started by cutting out some 2D shape outlines out of foam. You could use card for this but I felt foam was a bit thicker and less flimsy. I then cut out sections of sticky-backed plastic big enough to fit the outlines onto and then stuck them on.

Tommy then set about arranging his flowers and leaves on top, pressing them down firmly to ensure they stuck to the plastic. I then sealed the pieces of artwork by adding a layer of sticky-backed plastic on the top and cut off any excess.

Again, I'm really pleased with how these have turned out. They've really brightened up our window and I'm hoping because they're sealed they'll last a little longer than our 3D version. I'd kind of like them to be up on the window for a while!

3D Spring Flower Suncatchers

I have soooooo much love for the Spring season. Everything just seems to be bursting into life and so bright and colourful at the moment. It really is one of my favourite times of the year. We've been taking some time out from what we normally do over the last few weeks, after a difficult time we've had recently and we've been trying to take our mind off things by going out and enjoying the nicer weather. So I've been quite quiet and not posted much on here in the way of craft/play activities because we haven't really done much at all since Easter.

I've always seen it as really important for children to see beauty in what is around them and to appreciate nature. It's something I always try to instill in Tommy and I will aim to do the same with Isla. Life is usually ridiculously busy, with little time to stop and look at what is around where you live or work. Children are constantly surrounded by toys and technology and it's nice to get away from this now and again, to experience some quiet time, to appreciate the environment and reflect on how lucky we are to live where we live. I definitely want our children to value and appreciate everything, particularly the things in life that are 'free' rather than commodities. I want them to get as much (or perhaps more) out of a walk on the beach or in the woods as they would do if we were to take them to Alton Towers. If we 'sell' these things as exciting, they will see them as such.

With this in mind, I wanted to create something that was a reflection of everything that was going on in the environment around us, something that would draw attention to the changes that had been happening as we had entered the season of Spring. We decided on a walk to collect 'evidence' of Spring - buds, blooms, different colours, blossom, leaves, greenery, anything really that suggested growth or new life. We found a large bucket and took it on a local walk around the village, through the park and the woods to collect our materials. There were no rules as to what went in the bucket, as long as it wasn't picked or pulled off a plant/tree. It's been extremely windy here over the last few weeks, so it just wasn't necessary to resort to picking flowers. We did take a few petals or flowers off the plants in our own garden though.

I didn't imagine this walk would be quite the hit it turned out to be. I encouraged Tommy to find as many different colours as he possibly could because our aim was to create a beautiful, colourful piece of art, and it was a challenge he couldn't resist. I also encouraged him to try and find a range of different kinds of materials, from spiky ones to smooth ones, from large-flowered ones to small-flowered ones, from fern-like leaves to broad ones and this really motivated him. We talked about the different plant names as we came across them and I was surprised to learn how much Tommy knew already.

Once we had collected a variety of leaves, flowers, blossom and petals, we returned home and then looked for ideas as to what to do with them. On Pinterest, I stumbled upon the idea of producing a 3D suncatcher. It was the perfect idea for making a piece of art out of our natural materials so we set about making it immediately.

To make it, you need a small cardboard box, some sticky-backed plastic, a collection of natural materials and some paint (optional). The box needs to be quite strong if you intend to paint it like we did.

First of all, we cut an aperture out of each side of our suncatcher, leaving a centimetre border around the edges. We cut the top off the box and then painted it white to make it look a little more attractive. The next step was to stick the sticky-backed plastic, with the sticky side facing outwards, onto the inside of the box's sides. Then Tommy carefully placed his leaves and flowers onto the sticky-backed plastic. Some of the leaves/flowers stuck better than others. The best tip I can offer is that the smaller they are, the better they will stick to the plastic. Try to create interest by sticking a variety of plants onto each side. To finish the suncatcher off, you could then cover each side with a further piece of sticky-backed plastic, to sandwich in your flowers/plants and stop them from dropping off. We didn't bother with this step, as I felt it looked just right as it was.

I'm so pleased with how this project turned out. The suncatcher is just so beautiful - it captures the sunlight so wonderfully and looks as though every single tiny piece was carefully and perfectly-placed, even though in reality it was just whacked on! I love how very different it looks from each side.

 

 I know it won't last very long unfortunately, as the flowers will die quickly; I don't know if you could get around this by drying and pressing the flowers beforehand. But I shall enjoy having it on our windowsill in the meantime!

 

Blossom Tree Printing

We haven't been doing an awful lot craft-wise lately, as the weather's been so nice and we've been taking the opportunity to have some lovely days out instead. I've had all kinds of ideas for Spring-related projects but we're only just getting round to doing some of them. We made these beautiful blossom trees the other day and I was thrilled with how they turned out so I thought I'd share them with you all.

To make them, we cut a large piece of scrap wallpaper and then I painted a tree outline that filled the paper. We then pressed a 2 litre bottle into some pink and blue paint and pressed it onto the paper lots of times to make it look like blossom. Tommy really enjoyed doing this activity and it's so easy it could be done by a really young toddler.

We'll continue sharing our Spring projects with you. I'd love to hear your ideas for Spring crafts too. It really is such a lovely time of year - I'm enjoying all the beautiful colours and general prettiness it brings.