Spoon Puppets

Elf asked for a puppet show for her birthday party and so they came over to my house one afternoon and we had a lot of fun creating these crazy little characters who are each based on her and her friends. The resulting show was a big success and the kids even laughed at our terrible jokes!

You'll need -

a wooden spoon

thin card

a pen

scissors

a glue gun and glue sticks 

pipe cleaners

coloured tape (optional)

fabric scraps

buttons or tiddly winks for eyes

wool for hair

jewels and feathers for decoration

Now you're read to decorate!

We used scraps of fabric to fashion dresses, sleeves and aprons and glued them all on with the glue gun (What a genius invention!) We also glued on sequins and plastic gems for some extra sparkle.

For the hair we loosely wound some wool, tied it off and glued it on. Then we added hair accessories to make them come to life. We had a lot of fun making these guys! Kx

A Mad Hatter!

Party planning is full steam ahead in our house as it's Elfins 7th birthday. I can't quite believe that she is seven. Those years have flown by so quickly and it just makes you realise how precious but fleeting they really are. It reminds me to stop, remember to try and savour every moment, not to get distracted by silly unimportant stuff and just give her my time. She has brought me such immeasurable pleasure I hope I can do the same for her.

Anyway back to partyville - I absolutely love organising parties for my kids, they love them, I love them and their friends love them so what's not to love! My mum used to organise the most amazing parties for us when we were young and I remember the 'peeing my pants' type excitement I used to feel when it was mine or even one of my brothers or sisters birthday as it would mean a party.

So we are having a Mad Hatters Tea Party and Elfin and I decided to make a Mad Hatters hat. We used it to photograph her in and make into an invite and for party games too. 

To make the hat you need - 

cardboard, scissors, sharp knife, strong tape, a glue gun and lots of lovely bits and pieces for decorating.

We measured Elfin's head, and used the measurement to draw an oval on cardboard. We added another oval around that to make the brim. For the hat itself we cut out a long rectangle of cardboard the same length as the initial measurement and then cut slits two thirds of the way down. We then used a whole lot of tape to shape it together! While I cut out the hat with the knife, Elfin helped by cutting the tape and sticking the hat together.

I then cut out the base fabric while she was sorting through all my pretty bits to find the treasure below. I glued the base fabric on using a glue gun (what a brilliant invention) and then it was then a collaboration (well mainly Elfin telling me what to do!) of glueing and sticking and getting creative with our chosen bits and pieces. We then made the obligatory price tag and our hat was ready.

Roll on party day......I can't wait!

I will post a post party report soon

love tess x