Posts Tagged ‘paper’

Paper Plate Handbags

Paper plates are a staple in any craft kit. The plain cardboard generic brands work best as they are thin and have no plastic coating on them. Hopeless for putting food on but brilliant for drawing, gluing, cutting, stapling and painting. Decorating is purely optional. If you are making this for a boy and wish to ‘man it up’ a little, tie it around their waist for a bum bag. (US readers, I think you call them ‘Fanny Bags’, but we don’t here in Australia – I’ll spare you the explanation. Google it if you’re curious)


Paper Plate Handbags are easy to make, all you need is 2 plates, a stapler and some ribbon or string. Decorating is entirely up to you. The plates pictured below have a coat of acrylic applied first. For a quick and easy project, leave the plates plain then children can decorate the finished bags with stickers, markers, crayons etc.
Click here for full instructions (Simple Bag)

Click here for full instructions (Pdf)

*Much cheaper than the real thing, AND you can barely tell the difference! Although, like the genuine article, try not to get it wet….

More of my paper plate crafts:

Easter Suncatcher

Paper Plate Basket

3D Opera House


Strawberry Pot

This pot is made by layering sheets of tissue paper and paper mache glue. The type of glue used here is called ‘Mix-a-Paste’, sometimes known as ‘Methyl Cellulose’. It comes in a powdered form from craft stores (eg Jacksons), but I think it is very similar to wallpaper paste. If neither of those options are available, try ordinary paper glue such as Clag or watered down PVA. Methyl Cellulose is a very ecomomical adhesive. A very small amount of powder makes alot of glue when mixed with water. Although it isn’t a strong adhesive, it is perfect for paper projects such as this one.

You will need: red & green tissue, glue, brush, scissors, green pipecleaner and 2 bowls. The bowls I have used are about 11cm in diameter and 7cm in height – but anything close to that size will be fine. Allow 2 days to make this one as the pots need to dry overnight before you can remove them from the bowls.

 

Click here for instructions (Pdf)

Sunflower Bowl

Following on from my last ‘Strawberry Pot‘ post, this is a bowl made using the same technique of layering tissue paper and paper mache glue.

The Sunflower Bowl is very simple to make as you only need to layer 8-12 sheets of tissue rather than many small pieces of torn paper as you would in normal paper mache. Pictured below is a lid I made using the same technique but with brown tissue. Click here for full instructions (PDf)

Valentines Craft; Woven Paper Heart Basket

The templates for this project are available at the bottom of the instruction sheet. Click here for Woven Heart instructions and templates.

 

Valentines Craft; Patty Pan Rose

How to make a simple Valentines rose. All you need is coloured patty pans (or cake cases), green plastic drinking straws, pipe cleaners and scissors. The patty pans pictured are from IGA. I mention this as they have the ones which are coloured on both sides – sometimes hard to find. Here I have made a red rose, but you can make a variety of different flower types. See my video, below, for some other ideas.

Click here for full instructions (Pdf)