Decorated shopping bags

19 May 2010

Another great project for well under R20. A great personalized gift too.

There is not much to say about this one. Anything goes! We used scrap bits of velt, left over beads and plastic squares. Only basic sewing is required.

Board games

5 May 2010

One of our mothers in the group showed her mother the pick-up sticks we made. She got inspired and sent us prepared kits to make our own board games. She used white coated MDF and cut three sizes of boards. She also sent us sheets of coloured sticky paper to cut up in squares for our checker boards. She used thick dowels to cut 24 x 1cm thick playing pieces. We drew the lines, stuck the squares and decorated the pieces. I also bought sturdy boxes which we decorated and added shoulder straps to house our toys.

Easy bead bracelets

21 April 2010

I bought frosted glass beads, ready packed in a selection of smaller and larger sizes. We used memory wire to make bracelets. Since the beads were too heavy for the wire, instead of just bending over the ends, we added clasps. A packet of beads was enough for a bracelets of three to four coils around your wrist.

Pick-up sticks for little hands

24 February 2010

This idea was inspired by Ideas magazine. Use 6mm dowel (or thickness of your choice) and cut into 30 cm lengths. Sand down to a smooth finish and paint one black, seven red, seven blue, eight green and seven yellow. Finish with a few layers of clear non-toxic sealer. Score per stick by colour: 25 for black; 10 for red; 5 for blue; 2 for green and 1 for yellow.

Suede Photo Frame

14 February 2010

We used suede and buttons to decorate an inexpensive clip on frame. The suede was cut approximately 1.5 cm wider than the glass. Before sticking the suede to the glass, be sure to sew on the buttons. We used a glue gun to stick the tucked-in edges of the suede to the glass.

Iron-on crystals

27 January 2010

Such fun with endless possibilities. Print or draw a picture/word/name and place under special sticky plastic. Arrange crystals onto drawing and stick completed picture onto clothing. Iron on reverse side for no more than 20 to 30 seconds. Wait for it to cool down before pulling plastic away. All done!

Bottled choc chip muffin mixture

26 August 2009

A beautiful and edible gift for all seasons. All the dry ingredients are layered into a bottle. The only ingredients missing to complete the recipe are oil, buttermilk, two eggs and vanilla extract.

When given as a gift, you can attach the the list of the rest of the ingredients and the method of preparation to your note.

Sugar spoon

12 August 2009

The ladies realy liked making these. The wire we used was soft and broke easily. I had difficulty finding wire off the right thickness and strenght, yet still soft enough to twist around the neck of the teaspoon. I am still looking ...

This also works better when the neck of the teaspoon is flat, rather than hollow at the back. The teaspoons were bought from a market stall somewhere in Johannesburg. Does anybody know where I can buy suitable (and cheap) teaspoons and salad servers in Pretoria?

Non-toxic play dough

29 July 2009


Small children always love playing with dough. The ingredients are 2 teaspoons Creme of Tartar, half a cup of salt, 1 cup flour. Mix together and gradually add the folowing: 1 cup boiling water, 1 table spoon of oil and food colourant (optional). Kneed until soft and elastic.

Tablecloth weights

14 October 2009

An easy project to intoduce the ladies to beadwork techniques. A futher advantage is that the same thing is made four times over and that you have your own work as an example to look at for comparitive improvements or changes.

The ladies loved making something for their homes. Something that was beautiful, decorative, functional and fun.

Sugar and spice

11 November 2009

We filled two small jars with salt and sugar respectively. Added to the salt was a variety of spices such as cloves, parsley, origano, mixed herbs, Italian herbs, etc. Depending on the combination chosen, your salt can be used as a rub for steaks, to sprinkle over fish or maybe used in a stew.

The sugar mixture was livened up by adding combinations of cinnamon, anniseed, mixed spices, cocao, etc. The sugar can be used in coffee, over pancakes, in milk slices or with a variety a cakes and bakes.