You may remember how I turned our bean plant from last year’s allotment into a festive twig decoration back in December? Well, when I was thinking of how to bring a bit of Easter and a bit of spring into the house and thought of my twigs nestled away for next Christmas and decided to bring them out again. 
Read more: Easter Decorations #BostikBloggers
Tag: Easter
DIY Easter Bonnet #BostikBloggers
It’s that time of year where daffodils and dandelions abound, which means spring has sprung and summer is coming! But before blissful days on the beach – I’m an optimist – there are a few things to do first – like enjoy Easter! The Bostik Blogger box this month was a fairly simple one, with bold and beautiful colours, beads, ready made felt stickers and a few other springy and Easterish bits and bobs. It happens to also have been this week that Aviya popped dug out her sun hat, so it seemed fated, really, that we should be decorating Easter Bonnets this week. 
Read more: DIY Easter Bonnet #BostikBloggers
Easter Gift Baskets #BostikBloggers
We used all the felt from our #Bostikbloggers kit last week to make Easter themed felts, but we still had loads of goodies left over in our box from CraftMerrily, including all the embellishments – eggs, buttons, flowers – that are as much Spring as they are Easter.
We received a miniature basket, some ‘hay’ as my children call it, but it’s not hay! It’s the stringy stuff though, and a supersonic glue. It’s called Bostik Blu-Tack Fast Tak and seriously, this glue is like Spiderman got it on with superglue. Get that stuff on your hands and you spend the rest of the day clinging to everything around you. It’s effective though.
For these gift jars or gift baskets we made egg shaped biscuits, which the children and I decorated. You could make anything though – Jellybean Fudge is pretty and looks kind of egg shaped too. Or if you don’t have time to make something, fill it with chocolate eggs.
We then stuffed the ‘hay’ into the baskets, leaving enough overlapping so the glue has something to cling to. You could glue the strips in, but I didn’t really find that necessary. It clings quite well on it’s own. These little baskets are only big enough for about 2 – 3 tiny eggs, so don’t over fill it. 
Spray the glue (or use your regular glue) to the eggs, and lay them inside the basket.
Fill a jar with biscuits, fudge or other Easter treats.
Thread a strand of the ‘hay’ through the basket handle and attach it to the jar. You could wrap it around the lid of the jar so that there’s easy access, or you can seal it by threading it through the clasp.
Give your friends and family their beautiful Easter gifts!
We receive a craft pack as part of the #BostikBlogger project once a month. This contains craft materials and Bostik glues to hold it all together.
Easter Felt Crafts- #BostikBloggers
When I was a child, my dad made us a big felt board on the back of a Carrom board and we spent hours playing with felt shapes, making up and telling stories using this board as our base. We had a huge bag of different felt ‘stories’, but now, 20 years and two continents later, I can’t begin to image what ever happened to all of that. Unfortunately I don’t really view myself as particularly crafty – I mean, I can’t make a lady bird out of felt, or a fish out of felt, for that matter… but a little bit of Pinterest and Google later, I realised I probably can make them out of hearts, and I can make hearts!
In our BostikBloggers box we seem to receive some felt sheets every month, so with last month’s box I made these heart-based-animals.
This month the theme is Easter, and our box contained yellow and pink felt sheets, so I made some Easter eggs, spring flowers, bunnies, chickens and a duck. 
I need to buy a nice large felt sheet for the girls to be able to use their felt shapes properly, but with any luck, and a bit of practice, I will be able to make them many more shapes in the weeks and months to come.
For these I didn’t really follow a pattern as such – I just free cut, which meant I made some mistakes, but in general you can see what they’re supposed to be. 
My girls really loved their Easter shapes, despite Ameli thinking the bunny is a bit creepy looking, Aviya figured since it was pink it had to be fine. Perfect logic in my book! I know they’re not perfect, but they are fun, and that’s good enough for me.
Really Easy DIY Easter Baskets
Despite my best efforts, I’m not really massively successfully artistic, so when I come across a crafty idea that actually works, and doesn’t turn into a Pinterest Fail, I’m quite excited by it. I’m sure you’ve seen this craft perfectly done and photographed before, but this is our version, and it’s perfect for Easter baskets, or nature baskets for Spring. 
For this project you’ll need PVA Glue (I used one for wood. It worked fine), water, paper, a bowl and a balloon
Get together:
PVA Glue
Water
Paper
A Bowl
A Balloon
A Paintbrush
To start with, mix your DIY Modge Podge – the glue and water. You’ll need one part water to two parts glue. Mix well.
Next, cut strips of paper. We used an Easter craft pack like this*. Cut the paper into strips of about 1 – 2cm wide.
Blow up a balloon to the size you’d like your bowl to be, then rest it on a bowl, vase, glass or whatever is the appropriate size to rest the balloon on.
‘Paint’ the glue all over the top half of the balloon and begin layering the strips of paper over the balloon. There’s no particular way to do it, but remember that you’re making a bowl – if there’s a picture or pattern you want to see in the bowl put that face down first. If there’s something you want on the outside, put it face up as the final layer, and so on.
Keep ‘painting’ the glue on between each layer, covering all parts of it.
When you’re done, smooth it out with your hands, then set it aside to dry. You need to leave it for a good 24 – 36 hours to dry properly. If you try before it’s properly dry, the bowl will ‘crack’.
After the glue has dried, gently peel the balloon away from the sides as much as you can, the puncture it for a slow leak, preferably. Ease the balloon off the sides, and your bowl is complete.
I cut about two centimeters into the balloon and around it to make a straighter top edge, and used the off cut for a ‘handle’, attaching it with a glue gun.
It’s really sweet, and perfect for collecting Easter eggs, or leaves, sticks and flowers for our Spring nature table.
Just Have to Share – Easter Egg Nests
These are really simple, easy and quick to do. With a little supervision, these are great to do with toddlers
too.
Last year I wedged a name card between the two eggs in the nest for Easter Sunday lunch place settings and they served as lovely table decoration tooas well as an after desert snack. Read more: Just Have to Share – Easter Egg Nests