Having fun with sugru, plus a Father’s Day offer!

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Abi

In todays post I’ve been having fun with sugru, it’s a wonderful new product which promises to enhance your life through it’s never ending applications. sugru are also running a Father’s Day promotion which makes this post quite timely.

I first heard about sugru when my Dad was enthusing about it, it acts like play dough but sets to a durable rubber and can be used for a huge range of purposes from DIY to stamp and jewellery making! It’s one of those odd products that someone tells you about and you’re kind of interested but once you’ve had a play and have some sugru at your disposal you start to get really excited! I can’t think of any other situation where you can mould rubber to your own design. The uses are endless, but if you’re stuck for ideas YouTube and the sugru website are chock full of weird and wonderful creations from other fans around the world.

‘..sugru, a new wonder material described by many as play dough for adults, that sticks to almost anything and sets over night.’ The good folks at sugru sent me over my own pack to try out and I can say without hesitation that I love sugru! I started small by mending my husband’s leather boots. The sole had become detached and he was ready to throw his well loved shoes into the bin, so I figured that there was no harm in rolling a little sugru around the heel just on the off chance that it might help. I have to confess I didn’t think this putty like substance could ever be strong enough to mend a boot…. but it did! As you can see in my photos I rolled the sugru into a thin tube and inserted around the detached heel before pushing the heel down. I even placed a blob onto the sole where it had worn unevenly (will have to talk to my hubs about good posture methinks). The result is fabulously fixed toe warmers, I couldn’t have been more impressed! Not one to be satisfied with mere cobbling though I set about my next sugru test. After watching a wonderful video showing how sugru could be used to attach Lego bricks to almost anything, I decided to create a dog cam. I wanted to attach a wireless camera using Lego to a dog collar to view the world as seen through the eyes of my dippy Dalmatian. This was another resounding (and hilarious) success which I can share with you here in my latest YouTube video. Some of the picture is rather shaky but getting a happy dog to walk in a calm and orderly fashion is a bit impossible 🙂

Check out a special Father’s Day offer HERE and see some of the ways people use sugru around the world – so you can sound like you know what you’re talking about when Dad opens his gift!

sugru is available at a wide range of retailers including B&Q, Wilko and Maplin, outdoor stores including Blacks and Ellis Brigham as well as online at sugru.com. Sold in packs of 3 from £6.99 and packs of 8 uses from £12.99, sugru is available in a variety of colours – red, yellow, blue, black and white, all of which can be blended to make any colour you like!

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Make your own Monster tutorial and Peg people with Bostik!

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Abi

Time for my latest post as part of the Bostik Craft Bloggers Network. With our recent box of crafty goodies my kids and I made funny woolly monsters and peg people. Bostik kindly sent me a box containing:

Bostik Blu-tack glue stick

Bostik Blu-tack foam pads

Wool

Bag of mixed bits (including wooden pegs, sequins etc)

Bag of mixed bits (including foam shapes, lolly sticks etc)

Sheets of foam

Felt

Cardboard

Pipe cleaners

Tissue Paper

Monsters!

Try making our fun and silly monsters with this tutorial. They were a firm favourite in our house as it appeals to both genders and different ages.

Begin by cutting two ‘N’ shapes out of cardboard, these are then stuck together using tape. Lolly sticks are inserted across the top and down both sides to give some structure. This is a creation of my Mum’s and is the perfect invention for rapid pom pom making.

Grab your wool and stick the end down to one side of your ‘N’ using tape. Then wind the wool around the ‘N’ as shown in this picture. You want a decent amount to give your pom pom some body.

Next cut a length of wool and tie around the middle of your pom pom securely, for safety tie it again to the opposite side.

Now take a pipe cleaner and wrap around the centre in a similar fashion, add another facing the other way, these will then form the arms and legs.

Next cut both sides of your pom pom and slide off the ‘N’ shape. Trim off any longer pieces of wool.

Trim the arms and legs to your preferred length and consider bending a small part of the pipe cleaner back on itself to prevent sharp ends. We then stuck foam feet and hand shapes onto the pipe cleaners using the Blu-tack foam pads.

Draw around a small glass on a foam sheet and cut out, this will become the monster’s face. Draw the features on with a pen and attach using the Blu-tack foam pads.

Variations in size, colour and feet/hand shapes all add variety to your monsters.

Peg People

First take a peg and slide a pipe cleaner through the open slit. Twist around the peg to form arms and then stick into place using tape.

Next take a rectangle of felt and slide though the peg. Using the Blu-tack “Blu glue stick” secure the felt directly onto the peg to create trousers.

Now cover the upper part of the peg using the glue stick and some tissue paper.

We cut a waistcoat shape from the felt which was attached using a couple of small stitches.

A hat/bandana is made by cutting a triangle shape. Fold the triangle in half and make a small stitch at the back.

Fold the final triangle point back down and stitch it together, slide over the peg dolls head.

Finally glue a few sequins in place for buttons.

My daughter also made a female variation where a dress shape was cut from felt and hair made using wool.

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Sweet Dessert Pizza Recipe!

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Abi

If you’ve never tried or even heard of this delicious dessert then you need to try out my Sweet Dessert Pizza Recipe now! It’s ridiculously simple, a perfect activity for children and fulfils a sweet craving like no other.

What You’ll Need

Plain pizza bases (make or buy them)

Chocolate Spread

Bananas

Strawberries

Jelly Babies

Marshmallows

Other sweets (anything that melts well)

The beauty of this pizza is that it’s completely adaptable to your own personal taste, if you don’t like banana then leave it off, if you can’t stand jelly babies use something else, it’s really up to you. Basically anything goes, but the best toppings are those that melt well.

Start by placing your pizza base onto a tray and evenly spread the chocolate spread right across the surface.

Now begin to arrange your toppings, I like to spread out marshmallows towards the centre in an even pattern as it allows them to cook evenly. Fruit provides a welcome freshness and works well spaced between. Jelly babies are wonderful but they do make an unholy mess if placed to close to the edge as they melt right off onto the tray.