Fabric Christmas Wreath

Here's my Christmas wreath. I made it using African fabrics and a wire ring. Really it would work with any kind of fabric. The whole process took about two hours.

Here's what you need to do to make one:
1. Make a big ring out of wire. I used wire that was about 3mm thick, and got my husband to close the ring with pliers. I used a dinner plate to make sure it was a circle.
2. Cut a lot of fabric strips (I used around 50). They should be about 7 inches long and and inch and a half wide. You can cut them as you go if you prefer.
3. Tie the strips on one by one. Double knot them: make the first note quite tight and the second knot loose. Keep going until there's no space left.
4. Add a ribbon or a string to hang it from, if you like that sort of thing. I used a headband from American Apparel that was too tight for my head.
5. Put a nail in your door if you don't have one already, to hang it from.

Water Tray: Glitter and Sparkle!

I'm now working at my new school in Seoul. Because the school just opened in September, we didn't have many toys and resources at first. But finally our water tray arrived, and we have been having so much fun with it! For this week we tossed in some glitter, sequins, and these linking toys that are in different shapes. You can use them to measure things or sort them by colour or shape.

 

This water tray is clear plastic, which is cool. Here's an undershot! You can see the view of the apartment blocks reflected in the water. So different from the view from my previous school in Tanzania!

Going to Inverness to write poems with the Laureates!

 Just recently I found out that I've been selected to attend a course with the Poet Laureates of England and Wales. It will take place in Inverness in August. I am so so excited, and slightly nervous! The course will be taught by Carol Ann Duffy (above) and Gillian Clarke, which is amazing. The writing house where we'll all stay is only 3 miles from Loch Ness. Did you know the Scottish Tourism board offer a million pounds if you manage to get a picture of the monster?!

I've never been to Scotland before, and I won't have much time to hang around and see all the sights, since the course is sandwiched in between the wedding and the move to Korea. This is the house where it's all happening:

I am scared I am going to die of cold! I hope it's not so grey-skied all the time! I'm trying to write poetry more regularly in the lead up to the course.

Kutsuwa Clay Kit Review: Donut Accessories

I wanted to make this clay Donut kit all week, but managed to wait until the weekend. This kit lets you make clay donuts and cakes, and then use them to make key chains and phone charms. I'm looking forward to my move to Korea, when I will most certainly need to charm my phone or risk being socially shunned.

 The contents of the box were similar to the contents of the cake jewellery kit, except this one contained 3 key chains and 2 phone charms instead of the rings and necklaces included in the cake kit. This kit had moulds of different kinds of doughnuts and bakery goods, which were super fun!

This kit make a LOT of doughnuts and I had a lot of clay left over so I experimented with making some  ice creams and cakes with the colours from this kit but using the mould from the previous kit.

I sort of want to use some of the doughnuts to create a doughnut necklace. I've only got one kit left to make: the Cake Accessories kit. After that I'll look at all the charms I've made and decide which ones will become rings, necklaces, phone charms or key chains.

Play Dough Castles

In in my classroom we've been learning about different types of sculpture and today we made this traffic light coloured play dough, with added glitter. I taught the kids how to make castle towers and walls and we all went to town making our own castles (long pointy sticks optional).

 See those yellow things at the front in the picture above? They're protective crocodiles!

Making play-dough models with kids is such a happy way to spend an afternoon and everyone was most impressed with the castle they built.

The Coolest Insects Ever

I often see really cool insects around the school. Usually by the time I go and fetch my camera, they have flown off, but here's a couple that i managed to capture. A beetle and some sort of fly with wings. So beautiful and unlike anything I've ever seen!

Paint By Numbers!

Almost everyone I know attempted a 'Paint By Numbers' set as a child. But I don't know of anyone who has ever completed one. I bought this paint by numbers of a giraffe and am about halfway through beating the challenge. It IS a bit boring, but only in the same way that a jigsaw puzzle is a bit boring (you already know how the picture will turn out).

 I'm DETERMINED to finish it. Anticipate a photo of the finished result some time within the next week and the next month!