You should read this book!

A few weeks ago, I made a Dr. Seuss inspired canvas for my school library. This week, I've been making a pin board that will also go in the library and be somewhere for the children to recommend books that they've enjoyed to everyone else. It took ages as the Cricut was playing up a bit but I'm pleased with the final result- now it's done!

I started with a £2 cork pin board from QD which I painted bright yellow using the remains of an emulsion tester pot. All of the letters and images that I have used are from the Cricut Design Space subscription and I made them using the print and cut feature so that I didn't have to layer up lots of different pieces of card. I simply attached the letters and the images around the board with pva glue and then used some DoCrafts Gorjuss baker's twine to make the hanging string.

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-
Crafty Catz 'song title to match image' 12.3 (Paperback Writer by the Beatles)
Crafty Boots 'not a card' 15.3
Clear it out 'anything goes' 10.3
Papertake Weekly 'anything goes' 10.3
Catch the Bug 'anything goes' 14.3

Read, Know, Learn, Go

I'm always finding things on Pinterest and Create & Craft that inspire me to try something new and today's make is no different.

The original idea was shown on Create & Craft ages ago when they had a new show with lots of beautiful papers and large stencils/masks (can't remember the brand name but there were American). The guest took a canvas and covered it with paper, masked words and then painted over the top. When the mask is removed, the words are revealed in the base design. I've wanted to try it since I saw it and I've finally found an excuse!

In my school, I am the literacy co-ordinator and one of the projects I want to work on is improving the use of our library. I've found lots of nice ideas on Pinterest that I will be doing but my first project has been to make something arty to brighten up the room a bit.

This is what I've made

I started with a canvas that I've had for ages (but they are on offer in The Works at the moment) and covered it using PVA glue with pages torn from a spare copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone that I have for crafting purposes! I used the glue over the top of the papers also and then left to dry.

I then used the Cricut Explore to cut my lettering out of sticky back plastic- I used 3 different fonts all included in the Cricut Design Space subscription package. I laid the letters out onto the canvas (with the backing still on) so that I could place them accurately and then carefully stuck them onto the dry canvas.

When I had attached all the letters, I painted over the whole canvas with purple emulsion paint from a tester pot (Wilko's new 'magic' colour) and them dry brushed some hints of dark grey emulsion (Wilko's 'barely black') on top.

When the paint was dry, I used my pokey tool to carefully remove the sticky back plastic letter masks to reveal the text underneath. It was actually kind of fun too to see which words would be revealed. When one of the small letters revealed 'Professor Weasley' I had to smile (maybe Charlie teaching Care of Magical Creatures?).

I now want to try one for my own classroom with a fab quote I've seen on Pinterest that says "excuse the mess but we're learning in here", although this could work just as well for my craft room!

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-
CRAFT 'recycling' (old canvas)- 28.1
A Blog named Hero 'personalise' 29.1
Craft your Passion 'anything goes' 25.1
Ooh, la, la, 'once upon a time' (pages used from a book & it's for a library) 1.2
Polkadoodles 'case it' (idea seen on Pinterest and C&C) 30.1
Penny's paper-crafty challenges 'anything goes' 27.1

Potions class

Regular blog readers will know that I love anything Harry Potter and I've recently been crafting something for myself!

When I visited the Making of Harry Potter at Leavesden studios last year, I got hold of 3 house pennants (unfortunately the Gryffindor ones were sold out- good excuse to go back though!) and I've been looking for a way to display them ever since. I eventually found some large bottles in IKEA for just £1 each that were perfect. They looked a bit dull so I've Potterfied them a bit!

 The Skele-Gro bottle is an IKEA one, the 2 ribbed jars are from QD (the bigger one being only £2 which I thought was a bargain) and the smallest one was in a pack from The Range.

I started by using both acrylic and emulsion paints to coat the inside of the bottles. When dry, I added the labels which I found on Pinterest. The smallest bottle is ready for Felix Felicis (liquid luck) but doesn't quite have a label yet as I need to print out a super small version. I'm now on the lookout for more unusual jars and bottles and a box for a Bezoar!

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-
A Blog Named Hero 'not a card' 14/6