Great Crafts for Children's Birthday Parties

You may remember I posted a while ago about a birthday party I was asked to host for a group of 9 year olds at our local craft shop. The first party I did was a bit hit and miss because I'd not thought through how much help the girls might need and how awkward it would be without patterns for them to follow, so this time I was prepared.

I made a sample of the what they were going to make:

The bags I pre-cut with the folds marked and I had a selection of buttons, hair bands (for the closure loop), cord for the straps and hama beads so they could make hang tags.

Again this was a 9 year old's party and with the exception of one of the girls, they all had a fairly good idea of sewing so although they needed help with threading their needles and knotting the thread, they were all off and raring to go.

They all chose to start with creating their hang tags and then moved onto making the bags and here are their results:

The girls had great fun making their bags, they all wore them home (although two escaped before I could take photos!) and the Mum's seemed really pleased with what they had made.

I think in hindsight 2 hours would have been better than an hour and a half and I could have staggered them so they didn't all get to the same stage at the same time, but it was a really fun afternoon and I will be actively promoting them now as I feel like I was quite happy in my comfort zone (much more so than last time!)

If you were thinking of holding a party at home for children aged 7 - early teens creating something like this would be perfect - but be prepared for a big mess to clear up and the kids needing a lot of help!!

Crafty Christmas Tutorial Link Up - Free Christmas Tutorials & DIYs

Remember how I said that my Gingerbread Man Felt Gift Tag Tutorial was part of a link up?

Well I've got the details of all the other fantastic tutorials that make up the link up!

The Lovely Laura (BugsandFishes) has put together 30 amazing looking tutorials for you guys to have some crafty fun with over the festive period this year!

Mosaic A

Mosaic B

The links to the individual tutorials can be found on Laura's blog or you can follow the links here, but you'll need to refer back to the 2 mosaic pics above.

(Links for mosaic A)

Felt House Gift Tag Holder – I ManuFatti

Christmas Trinket Hoop Mobile – Carina’s Craft Blog

Felt Polar Bear Ornament – La Creature and You

Christmas Hoop – Claire Payne

Embroidered Christmas Mug Rug – Button Button

Polymer Clay Star Ornaments - Saraccino

Knitted Christmas Stockings Garland – Knit Me a Cake

DIY Christmas Ribbon – Adventures & Tea Parties

Embroidered Mistletoe Ornament – Bugs and Fishes

Scented Salt Dough Ornaments – Retro Delicious

Crochet Christmas Tree Decorations – Homemade@MyPlace

Christmas Cross Stitch Raccoon Ornament – Hugs are Fun

Polymer Clay Christmas Tree – Little Creatures

Christmas Wish-List Felt Envelope - Jumbleberries

Felt Christmas Tree Toy – Pinwheels and Stories

(Links for mosaic B)

Let it Snow Embroidery Pattern – A Little Happy Place

Festive Wanderers Embroidery Pattern – Unexpected Kitty

Festive Felt and Fabric Coasters – Betz White

Holiday Ribbon Pillow – Mrs. Saint Nick

Felt Gingerbread Man Gift Tag – Grace’s Favours (ME!!)

Crochet Christmas Star Jar Covers – Dinki Dots

Edible Christmas Ornaments – Hydrangea Girl

Cross Stitch Christmas Trees – Made by Mrs M

Secret Love Letter Christmas Gift Tag – Crafts of Texture

Applique Love Christmas Card – Halcyon Threads

Christmas Mini Mitts – The Crimson Rabbit

Felt Reindeer Ornament – Pickle-Lily

Christmas Carousel – Aura Verde Crafts

Embroidered Christmas Stocking Ornament - Cocojude

Stencilled Christmas Embroidery Hoop - Angharad

Phewey.... that is a LOT of crafty goodness! 

I hope you get to visit some of these fab sites and would love to see any gift tags that you make using my tutorial!

Happy Crafting!

Owl Brooches - a cute gift for Mother's Day

Hello? Is there anybody there?

Okay, well I'll assume there's hundreds of avid readers already (hey, a girl can dream, right?) and plough on! So for those of you who know me you'll know that Grace's Favours started last August (2011) and whilst it has not quite gone viral in that time (we've ascertained that I'm prone to the odd daydream already!), it's not doing badly at all and I thought a blog would be a nice addition.

So for my first post I thought I'd tell you about these owl brooches, which are a new line for the shop, just created this week and about to go up onto the etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/gracesfavours and I think they would make a fab Mother's Day gift, which is of course just round the corner here in the UK (18th March)

What do you think of these little fellas? They can be made in any colour scheme, I think of the 3 so far the blue one is my favourite!



I created them because I needed a thank you present for a lovely member of staff at my childrens' nursery, who left on Wednesday and another lovely member of staff at the nursery who turned 21 at the weekend (so young... I think I vaguely remember turning 21!!). They were really fun to come up with and I love the way they each seem to have their own little personality!

Okay, I suppose now I'd better get on with listing these little critters onto the shop and try to stop my 3 year old daughter (Seren) from emptying out the entire contents of my sewing box onto the floor in an attempt to find something interesting to play with!