Paper Crafts

To be completely honest, this should be called ‘Dip Dye Paper’ as there is not a single bit of tied paper involved – but it sort of follows the tie dye fabric look that we are familiar with – so I will run with it!

You will need a sheet of tissue or similar paper and 3 colors of food coloring

Fold the sheet of tissue in a concertina.

Fold a triangle at one edge.

Continue folding triangles until you are left with a small triangle parcel.

Dip each point into a different colour dye and let it soak in so there is no more white visible.

Give the parcel a gentle squeeze to get rid of the excess dye – do this between sheets of newsprint and keep the parcel flat. Leave overnight to dry.

Be very careful when you unwrap the sheet as it will tear easily if it is still damp.

There are so many simple shapes that make great fossil rubbings. Look in some dinosaur books to find some skeletons to use as an inspiration or just make up some crazy dino footprints.

	Roughly sketch a skeleton and some foot prints, then dribble some white glue or acrylic paint over the sketch lines.
	Leave it to dry – make sure it is completely dry and then place another piece of paper over the bumpy print base and use crayons to color back and forth – making a crayon fossil rubbing of the skeleton picture.
	Use a black piece of paper and a white crayon to get an even more fossiled rubbing.

This is a great wee bowl that is easy to make and requires no glue, but just don’t try and serve ice-cream in it (or soup).

What you need
1 printer size sheet of light card
1 extra strip of card
Scissors
Hole punch

Cut the piece of card into five strips lengthways. Cut the extra strip of card in to three even lengths. Discard one.

Using the hole punch, punch a hole in both ends of each of the strips of card.

Roll each around a thin stick like a skewer.

Push the rolled card through one hole of each of five strips. Repeat with the other short piece of card.

Twist the strips so they spread out and create the shape of the bowl.

A crafty friend told me about the fun she had with this as a child and shared with me how to do it …

“This trick gave me endless entertainment when I was a child. Nearly every child at my school had their ‘cut off’ finger in a match box and even though we were all knew how the trick worked, there was still something pleasingly revolting about looking in the match box. ”

What you will need
1 empty match box
Scissors
Cotton wool
Red food coloring

Slide the box out of the cover and cut away the sections as shown.

Lay a piece of cotton wool (you could use a folded tissue instead) in the bottom of the box.

Dribble some red food coloring onto the cotton wool about half way down the length of the box. Slide the box back into the cover.

To play the trick, put you index finger into the hole in the bottom and practice holding the box with your thumb and middle finger so it looks natural. Tell your friends that you cut your finger off and ask them if they want to see it. Slide the box open and there your finger will lay looking lifeless on a blood soaked bed of cotton wool!

This was supposed to be a Christmas craft but I was a bit late getting it ready – then I thought that you may have some extra magazines from holiday reading that need to be used, well this is the craft for that!

Use a magazine with a bound spine rather than a flimsy stapled one.

Open the magazine to the first page. Take the top right hand corner and bring it to the centre and fold. This should be tucked as far into the spine as possible.

Tuck the folded edge into the center spine and make another fold.

Fold the triangle section up so the fold lines up with the bottom edge of the page.

Fold the rest of the pages in the same way.

Carefully fold the front and back covers to match the rest and then glue them together.

Have I got time to sneak one more craft in before Christmas? I think so – let’s try this one!

This is a lovely wee tree that uses crepe paper twist chains to decorate it.

What you will need
1 US letter or A4 sheet of card
Crepe paper in the colour of your choice
Glue stick
Scissors
Pencil

Trace around a dinner plate and fold to make a half circle. Cut out with the scissors and fold over to create a cone shape. Glue to secure.

Cut a strip from the end of the folded crepe paper.

Unroll and using your thumb and forefinger, twist twice to secure. Repeat along the length of crepe paper using your thumb as a guide to get a uniform size.

Cover the cone shape with glue from the glue stick and then attach the crepe paper chain starting at the top of the tree and spiralling down. Repeat with the other colours of crepe paper.

This tree looks good as it is but you could add some glitter shapes, pompoms or whatever you fancy.