Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Keep The Kids Busy With Egg Carton Flowers

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I know we have featured Egg carton covers before but I love how easy they are to make and more importantly how easy they are for mom. Set the kids up on the kitchen bench with some paint and cartons and let them color away whilst you make dinner or enjoy a coffee break. I suggest the kitchen bench because counter tops are easy to clean and the water for wash up is right there. It’s great if you have high stools as the kids don’t get up and down and walk around. They tend to stay where you put them, making for a lot less cleanup.

Here is the tutorial and list of materials you will need. Egg Carton Flowers

Have you read?

How to Cross Stitch on Paper

I’ve done embroidery on paper before and it’s a lot of fun. You can use a needle to punch out a particular shape to stitch, or my favorite thing is to take a copy of an old photograph or a page from a magazine and add stitched details to the original picture. 

One thing I haven’t tried but would also be fun to do is cross stitching on paper. 

This is a technique that requires a fair amount of preparation because you need to find a pattern you can easily transfer and print it at actual size, then use the pattern itself to help you decide where to put the holes in your paper. And then after all that you can do your stitching. 

It’s a pretty straightforward process, but Crewel Ghoul has a great tutorial that walks you through how to do it step by step. It even includes a sample pattern you can print out and try for practice. 

The post also has tips for starting and finishing your threads so that the back looks as neat as it can, if that’s something that’s important to you. (When I have done embroidery on paper I usually just tape the thread end to the back. If the back were going to show I’d probably just cover it with more paper.)

Stitching on paper is a fun way to make bookmarks or greeting cards, but you also need to make sure your paper is thick enough to support the holes you’ll be making in it. This post has a good rundown of materials you’ll need and what kind of paper is best. She used watercolor paper but I’ve used card stock and scrapbook paper that was a little thicker than the average printer paper. 

You can always test a little on the paper you’re considering to make sure it will stand up to the project. 

Check out the post, which includes a video, over at Crewel Ghoul for more tips for cross stitching on paper. Is this something you’ve tried before? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]