Thursday, 22 August 2013

Happy Thursday!

We're celebrating our gorgeous book Craft It Up Around The World today! It's in the top 100 Crafts for Children books on Amazon in the US and the UK!

You can buy a copy from our publishers:

http://www.rylandpeters.com/ourshop/craft/craft-it-up-around-the-world


Monday, 19 August 2013

Beautiful bright button flowers!








Here in Sydney, Australia we are starting to see signs that Spring is on the way!

We thought we'd bring you one of our favourite projects to celebrate the start of warmer weather and beautiful new growth. It's also one of our simplest and quickest projects too, so you'll be able to whip up a bunch of these beauties in no time.

If your thoughts are turning to Autumn and Fall, you could make some flowers to keep Spring with you all the time!

Keep an eye on the blog for a super sweet Fall project in the coming weeks!

Tuesday, 13 August 2013

Book review from www.mummyslittlestars.com

The awesome Fiona from http://mummyslittlestars.com/ has written us a great review! '
 
We love hearing what you've been trying out from our book and Fiona's daughter Miss M has done a brilliant job with our 'Three (Salt Dough) Coins in the Fountain'. We love that she's linked it to stories of her travels and a little educational maths play too!
 
And what's not to love about a rainbow craft project!
 
Thank you Fiona and Miss M and we hope you continue to enjoy the book and the projects on the blog!

 

Craft It Up Around the World – Fun Travel Inspired Craft ideas – Book Review


With Miss M being a huge fan of anything craft related, we were really pleased to receive the new Craft It Up – Around the World book by Cico Books.  The chapters are broken down into continents with themed craft ideas for a selection of countries within each continent.  Each craft is beautifully illustrated over a couple of pages in a high quality book.
9781782490388 1 841x1024 Craft It Up Around the World   Fun Travel Inspired Craft ideas   Book ReviewWith Miss M having just finished her foundation year in school, one of the major topics she covered in the final term was different countries and cultures around the world.  This book gave us lots of talking points and ideas which not only broadened her crafting skills but helped build her knowledge of the world and different countries.
We had a look through and were inspired by many ideas – we have a constantly growing list of ideas that Miss is keen to try from the Greek Paper Crown Wreath, to the Snowman from Finland and the Austrian Paper Dolly Choir.
Craft1 Craft It Up Around the World   Fun Travel Inspired Craft ideas   Book ReviewThe idea that Miss M most wanted to try first was the Coins in the Fountain, an idea inspired by the Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy.  This was quite close to my heart as I had visiting here with daddy before the children were born, so I dug out some pictures and we had a little talk about Rome and Italy and some of the famous sites you can see there.
Rome Craft It Up Around the World   Fun Travel Inspired Craft ideas   Book ReviewThe idea of this craft is to make Salt Dough (using just salt/flour/oil – all of which we had in the house) and then cutting out some coin shapes to represent the coins that you would normally throw into the Trevi Fountain.  These are then painted and can be used for any sort of imaginative play or for number work – a key thing for Miss M right now as she is learning the basics of addition and subtraction.
Salt Dough 2 Craft It Up Around the World   Fun Travel Inspired Craft ideas   Book ReviewFirst of all we mixed the ingredients to make the dough, then rolled it out before using a cutter to make the coin shapes.  We then used the blunt end of a small paintbrush to create holes and number designs across the coins.  Once completed these were baked in the oven until hard.  Miss M absolutely loved doing this and was totally enthusiastic eager to be involved at every stage.  She did let me help with the numbers but did instruct me what number to put on each coin!
Salt Dough 1 Craft It Up Around the World   Fun Travel Inspired Craft ideas   Book ReviewOnce the salt dough was baked and cooled we then had the exciting part of painting it.  Miss M decided that she wanted rainbow coloured coins so set to work painting her designs.
salt dough3 Craft It Up Around the World   Fun Travel Inspired Craft ideas   Book ReviewOnce they were finished and dry, I have to admit that they did seem quite impressive.  Miss M had spent a whole day crafting to create them.  They are quite strong and should last with reasonable play.  Miss M intends on using hers for maths and adding up the numbers on the coins.  She has also laid them all out across the floor to make number lines in order and the five times table.
salt dough 4 Craft It Up Around the World   Fun Travel Inspired Craft ideas   Book ReviewI love these salt dough coins.  I have never tried salt dough before but am impressed with how easy it was to form a dough, and think that it’s a great idea to bake it to create permanent artwork.  Our coins are brightly coloured and Miss M loves using them to practice her numbers and simple maths.  A great craft that I’d never have done without the inspiration from the book, and salt dough is definitely something you can use to make other crafty pieces.
The book Craft It Up – Around the World is full of inspiration from around the world of things to make that your children will love.  We have a list of things to make next and love that there’s an educational aspect too.  With each new project, is a new country, bringing new topics for Miss M to think about and she is always full of questions about the topic we are covering.  We’ve love the Craft Around the World book from Cico Books and it will continue to inspire us for many further months.
All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions. We are not paid for reviews although we do receive the product to try out and enable us to write the review.

Monday, 12 August 2013

Cupcake case rosette tutorial







At Craft It Up we've been putting together a display for Buttercreme Lane to show off one of their beautiful cakes. http://buttercremelane.com.au/

We thought it was fitting to use cupcake cases in our 1st place rosette for a cupcake designer!

You could make a rosette for any occasion...why not tell Dad he's 'Number 1' on Fathers Day, or wish someone a Happy Birthday? We've gone with the same colour but you could experiment with mixing it up a bit. You could glue your rosette to an old badge or a broach back (available from craft stores) so that your rosette can be worn all day long!

Monday, 5 August 2013

Three cheeky peeks to brighten your Monday!

 Canada: 'The Mounties Always Get Their (Gingerbread) Man'

 Brazil: A Flutter of Colour

 United States of America: 'Stick With Me' Magnet Pencil Tin

We're so proud of our book that we want to show you how gorgeous each page is! Here are 3 projects from Chapter 1, The Americas and Antarctic, to inspire your week!

Book release day in Australia!





We shared our book release with some wonderful friends at the fabulous Prints Charming Studio in Annandale. (Thanks Cath!)

To check out the wonderful courses run by Prints Charming (we were on the screen printing course) visit their website:


To see the range of extraordinary cakes at Buttercreme Lane (thanks Danni!), hop on over to:

http://buttercremelane.com.au/

Thursday, 1 August 2013

Celebratory cupcakes by Buttercreme Lane




Can you believe these cupcakes by Daniella at Buttercreme Lane? Mind blowing attention to detail and just delicious! Give her a call or hop over to her website to see her amazing cakes...

Phone0415 350 535
Emaildaniella@buttercremelane.com.au
Websitehttp://www.buttercremelane.com.au