FREE PRINTABLE HOT CROSS 'BUN'NY EASTER EGG BOX

Whoopee!  The sun is shining and it seems we'll be having a warm and sunny weekend.  Perhaps the Ark will be able to find dry land and we will be able to disembark.  :0)  Poor old Britain, we really seem to have had a hammering this year as far as the weather is concerned.
 

So.... as it looks as though Spring might be heading our way, and Easter is fast approaching, I thought I would share this fun Easter box - ideal for creme eggs and other goodies.

Now before we go any further I think I ought to explain why I have a box with a scowling bunny.

Are we the only country to have hot cross buns at Easter?  (They are a fruit bun with a cross marked on the top which we toast and are traditionally eaten on Good Friday to commemorate the crucifixion)  When they come into the shops you know that Easter is on the way bringing with it Summer and some warm weather - can't wait!

I digress - As to how I came up with this stunning Easter bunny box idea -
  

The other day we were reading a story about a bunny who got stuck in a hole in a tree trunk, and he was a ......  hot cross bunny .... and my little butterfly brain suddenly had a lightbulb moment and I thought - how about a Hot Cross 'Bun'ny Box for the Tiddlers Easter eggs.  It's cute and you don't get too much sugar overload, always a problem on Easter Sunday.  Tiddlers tearing round like mad things on a sugar high is never a good thing when you have a house full of people!

So off I went to the trusty computer and came up with this.

The file is downloadable, printable and very easy to put together.  You get two on a sheet of A4 card (preferably photo paper) and the only other thing you need is some glue.

If you want to have a go the link to the file is below, then right click and 'save as'
If you download it please leave a comment or send me a photo of your creation. I'd love to hear from you.

I must admit my little Hot Cross Bunny might not be everyone's cup of tea, so I'll be adding a happier, sunnier bunny box in the near future.  Stay tuned!

SANTA'S CHRISTMAS LANTERN ADVENT CALENDAR BOXES, WITH EDITABLE AND PRINTABLE LETTER FROM SANTA AND 'TASK' INSERTS

  A couple of years ago I made these cute little lanterns as Advent calendars for the Tiddlers and they were so admired by everyone that I decided to put them into a downloadable and editable PDF file.  

 The idea originally had been to hang them up using little pegs, but after the problems of the year before when the calendar was mysteriously empty by the 8th of December, it was decided that the Santa would send his Christmas Elf to deliver them daily instead. So on the 1st of December a letter arrived from Santa introducing Elfred the Christmas Elf.

Inside the lanterns, there was a joke, a gift (usually a sweet) and a task to be performed that day, which if carried out would ensure Elfred would look kindly on them and deliver a lantern overnight for the next day.

   
Now, our Elfred has a wicked sense of humour and hid the lanterns in different places every day, so as you can imagine great fun was had running around in the morning trying to find them!


The lanterns themselves were very quick and easy to make - just as well as I had to make 72, owing to a little cousin getting in on the act!

Requirements for making the Calendar

1. The PDF download - which includes the 24 lantern boxes, a fully editable letter from Santa and 24 editable  'task for today' inserts for the boxes - available below

2. 12 sheets of A4 size good quality photo paper, 240gsm preferably or the heaviest card that will go through your printer for the boxes

3. 2 sheets of A4 card for the inserts

4. 1 sheets of A4 card for the Santa Letter

5. A pair of scissors

6. Double sided sticky tape,

7. And maybe, if you're bold enough, some little pegs to hang them up with.

The 'tasks' inserts can be edited by highlighting and replacing the 'your text here' with the task of the day, and the letter from Santa can be fully edited with all the text being replaced in the same manner or if you prefer just the names where indicated

The pdf file has two boxes per page and instructions for putting them together.  The boxes themselves measure 3.5inches high (excluding the hanger) by 1.75 inches at the widest point and as you can see a individual size Haribo packet of sweets fits inside very nicely.

I hope you have as much fun making them as I did and your Tiddlers aren't outsmarted by your Christmas Elf.

Lantern's Glow Advent Calendar Boxes
Price - £4-00p

STUNNING!

Number 1 Tiddler decided to make a cake for Little Brother and this was the result

Bearing in mind that Number 1 Tiddler is only just 7, I was just blown away by her creation.
She bought herself some angel cakes, some pre-made moulding icing and some merengues and set to to make an Occy, a Nemo, a Cuttlefish in a cave and a 'pearl' 5 in an oyster shell.

Looks like we older members of the family crafty clan are going to have to up our game. We have serious competition!!

PEAPOD & SWEETPEA, THE DOOR DRAGONS - NEW FREEBIES

Peapod The Door Dragon has turned out to be very popular with the Tiddlers but I've been asked if there is any way to add a name to the hanger to make it a bit more personal and therefore a bit more comforting.

So here are two new door hangers for you to download and print. Peapod and his little sister Sweetpea.  Both are editable so you can add the name you require and then print off.

                           CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PEAPOD FILE

                        CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SWEETPEA FILE

The files are PDFs but most computers have Adobe Reader installed so it should be easy enough to open them.
When it is opened, to add the name you want, just highlight the 'Name Here' and type in the name and then print it either on both sides of a bit of A5 card or on two pieces and cut round them and stick them together.  I usually then laminate them for extra strength.

THEY ARE BOTH BRAVE LITTLE DRAGONS, AND ARE ALWAYS READY TO SEE OFF ANY SCARY THINGS, SO THE GROWN-UPS CAN LEAVE IT TO THEM!
- contented sigh ;0)

'THERE MIGHT BE SOMETHING SCARY UNDER THE BED'

The number of times I've heard that at 8 o'clock at night. A Tiddler who has been reading Grimms Fairy Tales with delight at 5 o'clock, is now faced with the big dark bedroom and suddenly those stories seem a bit too real.
So I came up with an idea.  I welcolmed Peapod into our family.  Now - Peapod is only little, but he can be very fierce if he sees something scary, and will easily chase it away.  So if you hang him on your bedroom door or somewhere where he can see you and the whole room, he can look after you all night so you can snuggle down and get some well earned rest, all ready for another bout of Grimms Fairy Tales tomorrow.

If you want to make a Door Dragon, download and print the file below.  I've made it so it makes two (you can either print it double sided or print two and stick them back to back and then cut them out.  I've found that either laminating them or covering them with sticky back book cover plastic helps them stand the strain of room guarding a little better)

I hope this works with your Tiddlers as well as it did with mine and you get a few evenings peace and quiet. :0) 

If you do download Peapod, can you leave a comment and let me know if he is keeping guard in your house. I like to keep an eye on him and make sure he's doing his job properly.

                 Click here - then right click and save image as .......

THE WORLD'S OLDEST MOSHI MONSTER

THAT'S ME!

I've been cleverly maneuvered into becoming a Moshi Monster by the Tiddlers.  I wasn't overly happy about them becoming obsessed with a video game, but when I actually got to have a look at it, it ticks so many educational boxes that I've been converted. 

1.  You have to adopt a little monster and look after it.
2.  You have to shop for it and get the best value for money with its food, clothing and home
3.  You have to earn Rox (currency) by going on missions and completing puzzles
4.  As the little monsters don't speak english but the program is subtitled in speech bubbles, it encourages you to read.
5. During the missions you find little Moshlings (little monsters) which you keep and look after in your zoo.

So as you can see there is plenty of brainwork required for a Tiddler.  It's also well monitored for security and when you write messages to other 'monsters' the content and spelling of the messages is checked and approved before being able to be sent.

So here I am, as I said the world's oldest Moshi, trying to keep up with my Tiddlers who have a bulging zoo and a superb palace and tree house for their little charges.

They are both in love with Iggy, the little monster who runs round trying to eat your pointer when you log in, and of course their own little monsters, so I have eventually found hama bead patterns for him and Furi here on  http://kandipatterns.com/tag/view?tag=moshi%20monsters 
Unfortunately the Poppet one didn't look very much like the character so I made up my own.

I'm hoping this doesn't step on any copyright toes. If there is a problem please let me know and I will remove the picture.  I'm not a very experienced blogger and I'd hate to get into trouble. 


Anyway I'm off now to feed my little monster and keep her happy so I don't get outclassed by my Tiddlers. Because although they are tiny they are red hot when it comes to using a computer!

RUN, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN - YOU CAN'T CATCH ME I'M A GINGERBREAD MAN!

Following the phenomenal success with my knitted jelly babies for the Tiddlers, I thought I would have a go at some of the other toys in Jean Greenhowe's collection.  The obvious choice for Beth was a pink ballet dancer and I thought Ben would like Superman.  Well, the ballet dance was a definate hit, but although I made Superman with blue hair, as requested, Ben's first comment was "Is there a jelly baby for me?". 

 

So back to the drawing board and I thought for a change I would make Gingerbread men - jelly babies with a difference.

First I had to find the right colour wool.  Not as easy as I thought.  My first choice turned out to be more dough boy than gingerbread, according to my daughter.  So with the help of our very obliging local wool shop - "Is your gingerbread usually brown or more burnt?" - We found exactly the right colour and I cracked on.  After making brown jelly babies, I 'piped' round them in white using double crochet and added little buttons for sweeties, down the front.

 

With a certain amount of trepidation, I handed them to the Tiddlers together with my family of little 'egg cups' (so cute) for Easter and ......tada! 

  

 

Success! They have joined the ranks of the much loved - sorry Superman!

ONE, TWO, KNIT A FEW.......

Five and a half years ago, I started what can only be called a knitting marathon. Our first grandchild, Bethany, made her entrance into the world and so I started on the shawls.  Beth had a yellow and a pink one.

They turned out a little bigger than I expected, the yellow one being over five feet in diameter, but they really did look spectacular and have a 'secret' sewn into the middle of them (A little butterfly and a snail) 

Two years later, Ben arrived and I started all over again. He has white and blue, both of the five foot variety, with a 'secret' truck and plane.

The Tiddlers love their 'blankets' and take them everywhere ( a bit of a struggle for an overburdened mum, but Michelle rises to the occasion, bless her.) All of the shawls  have been used, loved and washed for at least 3 and a half years now, and as you can see have stood up very well to the test of time.

I've been so pleased with them, as I thought they would end up looking like rags after a few months hard labour, but they are still bright and springy and loved.  Isn't knitting wonderful!

KNITTING NANNA

I've been a fanatical knitter since my Great Aunty Rosa took me in hand and introduced me to the gentle art when I was about 6.  Since then my knitting needles and crochet hooks have never left my side - much to my families amusement and sometimes embarrassment.  I went through a spell of picture jumpers, which turned out really well, but the girls weren't altogether happy about me wearing them - sigh!






What's wrong with a fifty year old with a Winnie the Pooh jumper, that's what I want to know?

I just love the little bees on this jumper and so did the little girl who was being held by her Dad behind me in a queue.  She spent an interesting 5 minutes trying to pull them off.  Poor Dad ;0)

Teddies are a favourite of mine and this one made from one of Jean Greenhowes pattern turns out so well, that I end up making them by the dozen.  As soon as one child gets one, I can guarantee that there will be a spate of  'please can I have one's.  They are soooo cute.



The nice thing about them is that they have proper, cute little faces, they can be made to sit or stand and if you make them out of a boucle wool they actually look furry.

My daughter's friend, Remo is an avid Naples football team supporter, so when his brother came over with his family and they decided to go to see Liverpool V. Naples, I thought I would make his new little nephew a Naples strip.  The boots were a particular success as they look like little shoes and socks and they actually stay on!  (Something we found with the last few newbies is that they are amazingly adept at removing footwear). So these boots are now being turned out in all colours to go with various outfits.  They look lovely knitted in pink with little white socks for the girls.  Good all round pattern with maximum effect for minimum effort.  Perfect!!!

BUTTERFLY LOLLIPOPS FREEBIE

These butterfly lollipops are just too cute and so popular. I have had lots of requests for the template. So I have decided the best way forward was to make it a freebie so you can all have a go. It's a .jpg file so everyone ought to be able to use it.

                 Click here - then right click and save image as .......

Butterfly Lollipop Freebie

All you have to do is print it out on photo paper - I use 240gsm, which is quite robust and doesn't tear easily. Cut round the butterfly . Make two small punch holes about 1" apart along the body and thread the stick of a small round topped lollipop through the holes together with a hair clip (optional - but nice- extra).

 I hope you find this file useful, and if it is, could you leave a comment and I'll see what else I can find! ;0)

WELCOME LITTLE ONE

I've been experimenting with the idea of keys as cards just lately, starting with these cuties.

They really do make an unusual card, either stand alone or as a topper.  The difficulty I have is that because they are double sided, when you come to print them out, unless you have a flatbed printer like my age old Epson, the keys come out offset. doh!

I'll have to see about a fix for that - something else to keep me attached to my computer for a few minutes. This is a standing joke in the family.  I only have to say 'It'll only take a minute' & everyone settles down for the long haul - I do tend to get a bit sidetracked occasionally :0)

DUCKY ROCKING CARD FOR ALL OCCASIONS!

How cute is this little duck with hovering butterfly

 This card was made for my daughter Paula on her last birthday and although she's grown up (?) she still loves to get cute cards - so this one fitted the bill perfectly.

Looks cute from the back as well!

Pink Paisley Card for Triplets

This Card is sooo cute and can be made in blue if you wanted it for baby boys - well, actually any colour you like.