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My name's Jen. This is the place where I share my love of art with the world. Please stay a while, and leave a comment if you wish :)

Tuesday 24 September 2013

I Spy with My Little Eye...


...something that will keep the kids busy for hours!! No batteries, no computer, no noise! I've been making these toys for about 15 years now and still find them fun to make and even play with. The front of the laminated tag lists what's hiding among the pellets. The back of the tag details information about speech and language development as well as different ways to play with the toy that encourage learning the alphabet, and developing concepts like, bigger or smaller than, sounds like, starts or ends with the sound, rhymes with and can you find what I'm describing?
These bags are a little complicated to make, but I love a good craft challenge! I make most of the items found inside the bags from Shrink-It, Fimo/Sculpey, wood, fabric and fun foam. I add to it with little items I find while shopping like mini erasers, marbles and dice. The bag itself is made from polar fleece, with is made from recycled pop bottles. Bet ya didn't know that! The window in the bag is made from a square of 10 gauge vinyl, and the tag is laminated then secured with nylon cording.
I make several different themed bags, the two in this post are the ABC bag for children ages 2-5 yrs and the Celebrate bag for older children. Although, I occasionally catch an adult engrossed in the search!




Tuesday 3 September 2013

The Apple of My Eye

 

Well, summer is over. It wasn't much of a summer weather wise, but I had one of the best summers of my life regardless. Traveled, visited friends, made lots of stuff that I forgot to post on my blog and now it's over. I decided to spend the day in my art room and get it together. This is one of the cards I made today whilst puttering and cleaning getting ready for the fall. The card features a Stampin' Up! Sweet Treat Cup full of cherry mini jelly beans.
There are tons of instructions on the internet describing how to create a very complicated sliding trap door that uses a bijillion foam dimensional dots. My advice? Don't do it! I made a very simple trap door that is obvious and self explanatory to retrieve the candy. Punch a 3/4" hole in the card and use a 3" x 3" square of card stock, scoring one end at about 1/2", apply adhesive to the scored flap and adhere to card. Punch a small heart and use a brad to affix it, creating a twisting little mechanism which holds the door shut. It can even be refilled in you have a child to entertain! Good to be back!


Twist heart to open flap!