Acrylic Pouring with CriSam

There's a lovely new local business I recently had the joy of experiencing - CriSam Acrylic Pouring.  Founded by Chris and Sam (hence the name), these ladies have a real passion for teaching this fun way of creating art as well as making some awesome pieces themselves.

I took part in a taster session as part of the Uckfield WI craft group of which Chris is a member, her and Sam offered it to us at a great price as we were their guinea pigs prior to them starting to offer courses.  I think it's a great idea and they're both excellent at teaching, you can really feel their passion!

Easter Egg Painting - toddler crafts

I admit I was a bit nervous about how this activity might turn out, especially with ceramic eggs, but we actually had fun with this and both twins were fairly patient with it and were happy to watch me finish off their eggs once they were done painting.

Christmas Cards with paint swatches!

by Bex

You may have seen the dragonfly cards I made using paint swatches - originally seen on Pinterest and shared here as a Pin It Do It.  It is now one of my most repinned pins!

Anyway, I decided to make a few Christmas versions too and I'm really pleased with how they've turned out!  Definitely one for this Saturday's craft club.  If you fancy joining us and haven't already emailed me, just get in touch and I'll let you know the details!

Again, this is a very simple card to make.  Just find some paint swatch samples in the appropriate colours and choose your shapes of punch.  I went for a Christmas tree and a snowflake and the obvious choices of green and blue.  You can get punches of all shapes and sizes from various places but I have bought most of mine quite cheaply on ebay.  Simply punch out the shapes and if you're neat about where you punch them out of the swatches, you can trim those and use them too!

You can make lots of different designs using the same shapes too.  I tried a couple of different ideas but I like the basic ones best.

I also made some gift tags using the same idea...

I've made a few different designs of gift tags using other ideas too (mainly glitter!) and will be sharing those ideas next week :)

Which is your favourite design above?  I like the Christmas trees in a row.

Christmas Craft Club

by Bex

So, who's up for a Christmas craft club meeting??  I have lots of ideas on the #ODCC Pinterest board and it looks like we might be having an all day event this time so we can get lots done :)  I've chosen 2 potential dates so we can pick the one which suits the most people.  There are already people interested in coming all day but if you can only make it to the afternoon, that's fine!

If you're coming all day I can either provide lunch if everyone brings along a couple of pounds towards it or you can bring your own.  Let me know preferences via email or in the comments.

So what shall we do?  Initial ideas are gift tags and decorations, maybe some Christmas stamp carving?

Here are some ideas I've found on Pinterest:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/250794272971345735/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/250794272971345871/
But with Christmas designs obviously!  :)

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/250794272972821353/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/250794272972371378/

If you have any other ideas, please let me know, we could maybe make some gifts too.  The doodle link is here to let me know when you'd rather have the meeting... http://doodle.com/kxnrdkr988st3a4k

Craft Club 2 - Bath Bombs #ODCC

by Bex

It's been a long time since our last (and first) Olive Dragonfly Craft Club meeting.  Obviously life has been a bit unpredictable over the last year with everything we have going on but I think this was worth the wait.  Again we had a few who couldn't make it but those of us who did (Ashleigh, Lauren, Vonnie, Mum and I) had a great time making our bath bombs, my flat was extremely (nicely) smelly for a few days!

We actually started off with some dinner as Ashleigh was joining us straight from work.  I whipped up some of my favourite easy recipes (baked camembert and salmon pate), ham, olives, artichokes, sourdough bread and a cheese board.  Oh, and wine of course ;)

Then we started making a mess ;)

I'd like to give special thanks to Vonnie who brought along all of her bath bomb making kit and expertise which both of which were WAY better than mine!!  She had proper moulds (I just had some silicone baking moulds and the cookie cutters I used last time) and better ingredients with dozens of essential oils and colourings.  She also brought witch hazel for us to use instead of water to avoid the mixture fizzing up too much as we packed it.  It definitely wouldn't have been as good without her, thanks Vonnie!  :)

Mum and I did use the fantastic mould that Lynsey picked up for me at TK Maxx though, I made a couple of dragonflies, one with lavender (also provided by Vonnie).

We made a bit of a mess but ended up with some fantastic products at the end of it all :)

The vodka was to remove food colouring stains from the wood surface!  

I made a selection of hearts, dragonflies, a butterfly and 2 balls.  The purple colour were lavender scented and the green were pomegranate & orange blossom (I think, possibly pomegranate & lime!).

Mum made a dragonfly and 3 balls...

Ashleigh made a few roses and hearts in red, purple and blue, she also used some of the rose petals Vonnie brought...

And Lauren made a few roses, a heart and a ball...

Thanks everyone for coming and making it such a fun evening!  :)

If you fancy joining in the next craft club event, which I'm hoping will be a Christmas themed one - either cards, decorations or gifts, just click below for details...

ODCC - Craft Club!

Well it's been so long since we've had a meeting but hopefully you're all up for another one soon?  The last one ended up being a bit of a disaster as despite choosing the best date on doodle, it was so far in advance that by the time it came to it, no-one could come anymore.  I'm going to plan this one for next month as that should give everyone enough notice but not so far in advance that people forget or end up with more important plans.  I really enjoyed the first meeting and really hope some of you would like to come along again.

I've just found out my Mum has booked her flight back here for my cousin's wedding in October and I'm getting her ALL to myself for a whole week and a half before Dad arrives and they start going off to visit other relatives before the wedding.  :)

Mummy OliveDragonfly would love to join in with a meeting so I've made a doodle for a few dates during that time.  Please fill it in only if you intend to come and I will choose the most popular date.

The plan for the next meeting is to make bath bombs, smelly and messy but fun and great for gifts or treating yourself to a pampering session.  I know Aisling, Anna and Roz enjoyed the ones I made earlier this year.  There will be some home baking and drinks and of course plenty of chat :)

If you're on the ODCC mailing list you will have already received an email with the link to the doodle poll and if you want to join in and you're not already on the list, just email me at olivedragonflybex@gmail.com to be added.

I've also got some great ideas for a Christmas themed meeting in a few months too so watch this space!

Pin It Do It Challenge - Stamp Cutting

This is an idea I had already pinned for a possible ODCC activity which had been suggested by Vonnie.  Emma contacted us to share her tutorial and has not just one pin to share but a whole board of inspiration!  I've picked just one to share here...

Source: perachapita.com via Emma on Pinterest

Emma hosted her own crafternoon to make stamps and here is one of the results...

She has some great tips on her blog so head over to check it out for the full how to and more photos!

Home-made Bath Bomb recipe/tutorial

I made bath bombs recently to see how easy it was (and as another thing for my #heartswap parcel) as it could be a potential Olive Dragonfly Craft Club project.  I definitely think this one would be fun to do again!

I used a couple of on-line tutorials for the recipe but ended up adjusting it slightly so here's what I did...

Ingredients:
300g Bicarbonate of soda
100g Citric acid (This can be tricky to find since it seems it can be used for making actual bombs.  Despite what google says, none of my local pharmacies had it but I eventually tracked some down in my local Halal shop for just 49p!  It's easy to find on-line if you plan ahead.)
A few drops of essential oil of your choice (I used 2 mixes of essential oil - Deep Sleep and Total Energy)
A few drops of food colouring (I used green and blue)
glitter (optional)

Equipment:
A large glass mixing bowl
Kitchen scales
A water spray bottle containing clean cold water
Some kind of mould (I used metal cookie cutters but I think silicone moulds would be easier to get out without damaging the bombs.)
Rubber gloves (optional but recommended!)

Method:
Mix the citric acid and bicarbonate of soda together in the mixing bowl until you have a consistent texture.  Add the glitter now if you're using it and mix well.

Add a few drops of colouring until you get your desired shade.  Mix it in quickly before it fizzes up.  I found that mixing it with the essential oil first made it easier to get an even colour.  Also, rubbing it in like making pastry breadcrumbs was the most effective way to mix it so there were no spots of colour left.  If the mixture starts to fizz, just keep mixing the oil/colour in as quickly as you can.  Do not leave it to stand or it will start to set.

The next stage also has to be done quickly to stop the mixture from fizzing up completely.  A little at a time, while constantly working the mixture, spray a the water and keep mixing until it starts to just hold together when you scrunch it in your hand.  Don't let it get it too damp.

Still working quickly, press the mixture into your moulds and compress tightly.  Leave your moulds in a dry place to set for at least 20-30 minutes.  Mine weren't hard enough after this time (they tended to expand as they set - they may have been a bit too damp) so I left them for about an hour before removing from the moulds, I didn't want them to get stuck - another reason why silicon moulds might work better.  I then left them to set overnight.

Using the size of moulds I used, I only managed to make 2 1/2 bombs out of my first mix.  Next time I plan to use a silicon ice cube tray to make lots of little ones and a silicon muffin tray to make one large one.

 I added glitter to the green mix and managed to make a few more with this batch.

I then packaged them up with some some organza left over from the wedding, some polka dot cellophane, some wedding raffia and Christmas curling ribbon...

Keep in a sealed container until ready to use.