Craft: Medal for the #1 person in your life

Hi hi ladies of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Kiddo loves medals and trophies.  We decided to make a '#1 Dad' medal for The Hubs for his birthday.  We got the idea from a craft book that we borrowed from the library.  

So, to start off, we made circular templates and pinned them onto felt and cut the circles out.  You will need 1 big and 1 smaller circle.

Next, we stitched the smaller circle onto the larger piece.

The last and biggest piece of circle is optional and we decided to use a scallop shears to give it some nice details.  We hot-glued the circles as well as the number 1 cut out as shown below.

Kiddo wanted jewels on hers so we glued some on hers.

Here's The Hubs' '#1 Dad' medal (",) 

This DIY craft is suitable for grandparents as well as teachers too (",)

Craft: DIY Teachers' Day presents

Hi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Teachers' Day is approaching.  Kiddo and I are busy preparing little gifts for her teachers.

I've collated last year's as well as this year's gift ideas in this entry. 

Here are some ideas: 

1) Magnets - teachers use magnets all the time, right?  

I drew the outline of these cupcakes and flowers and got Kiddo to fill them in.  After which, we laminated them and cut them out together. 

Affix these adhesive magnets onto the back and you've got yourself some DIY decorative magnets! 

2) Clips 

Other than magnets, teachers probably use clips very often.  Using the same cupcakes and floral laminated cutouts, affix a clothes peg behind and you've made yourself some clips (",) 

3) Hair accessories 

Kiddo's dance teachers have long hair, so using the Big Shot die cut machine and the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die we made them some hair ties. 

Here's Kiddo cranking up the machine...

and peeling out the felt cutouts.

We layered the felt pieces together and made them into layered floral pieces.

I used hot glue and adhered an elastic band at the back of the flowers.  You can adhere a magnet and turn this felt flower into a magnet as well (",)

4) Cards... good O' cards

We made some simple cards with cutout clothes.  When her teachers open these cards, they'll get a poppin' surprise!

Check out the pop up flowers hidden inside the cards (",) 

For the simple instructions to making this pop up card, check out this video (",)

Hope you've enjoyed the gift ideas for Teachers' Day (",)

Castle craft for kids

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

It has been some time since Kiddo and I embarked on a 'large scale' project.  Since we've no plans today, we gathered ALL the boxes, cardboard pieces and all the odds and ends that I have been saving and we spent some time thinking of what we can create.  

Eventually, Kiddo and I decided to create a castle.... 

"A big one, Mama..." reminded Kiddo.

We made use of the wall paint that we have and painted all the sides of the boxes and cardboard materials.  I particularly like using wall paint as it dries really quickly.

To add some texture to the plain walls of the castle, we stencilled some 'bricks' at random parts of the walls.

Lastly, we assembled all the parts onto a large piece of cardboard and secured them with hot glue.  

Kiddo made some flaggies for the towers and added her figurine family on the deck of the castle.

Here's the back of the castle.

We spent almost the entire day working on this project.  We did not rush.  Took our time to get it right and also lots of breaks in between.

Talk to you ladies soon!  

DIY trinket dish

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",)

Now, just what did I do with this stack of dishes from Daiso?

Along with this baggie of wooden cylinders ... which I spray painted gold...

I hot glued the wooden blocks together before adhering it onto a plate. When the glue had dried, I glued a little cup on top.

Mission accomplished!  

Here's one for Kiddo...

                           

and here's mine... 

Talk to you ladies soon!!! 

Check back for more craft ideas (",) 

Robot craft for kids

Hello friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Kiddo and I embarked on a robot sculpture project using boxes that I have been collecting.  Yup, I have a corner in the craft room where I keep empty boxes coz you'll never know when they will come in handy for craft projects.  

First we placed the head, neck, body and legs together to see if the body parts go well together.  

Next I covered each individual box with silver vinyl.  My dad found a huge ream of silver vinyl discarded outside a warehouse and he carted it home for me.  It's a huge industrial sized ream and he has been bugging me to use it.  So now I have!  After covering each box in silver, Kiddo and I added hot glue and stuck everything together. 

We decided on how we wanna design the face and body of the robot using random bibs and bobs that we have and Kiddo put together a name for her girl robot... she also insisted on adding eyelashes to make it look like a girl.

Kiddo made a marshmallow stick for MXJO using the packaging peanuts that I kept.  We also used the same foam peanuts for the arms of MXJO. 

Here's a rundown of the items that we used other than the boxes and silver vinyl:

• plastic fork and spoon for antennae 
• plastic bricks and goggly eyes for eyes
• jumbo paper clips for ears
• cardstock for mouth and name tag
• magnetic clock on body
• green glitter foam for button panel
• pom poms for buttons
• packaging foam peanuts for arms

Oh yes, I untwisted the jumbo paperclips and pushed the foam peanuts through for the arms. 

Yups, that's all for today (",) 

MXJO checking out! 

Phone craft using foam and random bits

Hey hey friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Kiddo has a phone! ... yup...one that she made with foam (",) 

I kept these two pieces of foam sheets after removing them from a package and today, I thought of a good way to use it - Kiddo and I decided to make our own mobile phones (",) 

I cut out some rectangles for the buttons using card stock.

To achieve a slightly popup effect for the buttons, we used these double sided foam to stick the buttons onto the foam.

When Kiddo was done with her buttons and home screen, she pulled out her sticker album and started to add some Bling! to her phone.

Kiddo's really thrilled with her phone...*ahem... pls ignore the laterally inverted numbers that she has written on the buttons >_< 

Here's my foam mobile... robot style. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Simple, easy to make Christmas gift.

Ho ho ho! 

Well, this isn't exactly a gift... but I definitely can't call it a greeting card.  So I thought I will just call it a gift.

Kiddo and I made some Christmas canvas boards today.  Instead of giving her teachers at the art school a card, we made these holiday themed boards. 

Whenever I spy these small canvas boards in Daiso, I will load them into my basket, knowing that they will definitely come in handy.  

Before I go on to show the simple steps that is involved in this quick project, I wanna talk about this compass cutter that I found at Daiso.  I have been wanting to get a circular cutter/puncher despite having circle dies for my Sizzix Big Shot machine as well as a Silhouette Cameo machine that practically cuts any shape in the world.  This cutter is easy to use and very portable.

Here is a close up of the compass cutter.  Using the mathematical compass concept, instead of a pencil, there is a blade - instead of drawing circles, you cut circles (",) 

You get to cut a variety of sizes by simply adjusting the compass needle to the left or right.

Kiddo chose the patterned paper and I went ahead to cut out some circles.  This $2 compass cutter worked fabulously!  The only drawback with such cutters it that you will end up with a hole in the middle of the circle due to the needle point.

We gathered some sequin strips and bows...

and some colourful magazine pages.

Kiddo is allowed to use the hot glue gun under my supervision and we glued the sequin strips, circles and bows in place.  For the holiday greetings, we cut out a rectangular background and proceeded to stamp out, 'Merry X'mas!' on a less colourful cardstock.

All done! (",) 

Simple and quick and definitely not too shabby - Christmas ornament balls canvas boards.