Nursery mobile with cardboard roll, DIY

One of the trends that has made me gape in awe is the sheer magnitude of products for babies these days. As a new mom wanting to give my baby the best, I am obviously tempted to buy more for the bundle of joy. 

But let's not forget that for every plastic toy we collect in the name of a child's learning and play, we add that much more to the earth's toxin burden. Sometimes these toys are a mere phase, leaving you wondering what to do with them. Nursery mobiles are a fad with parents. From colourful to sophisticated, they are a must for any nursery with a baby and crib.

For a change, I decided to make my own nursery mobile. I am not so satisfied with the resulting piece, but it's given me loads of confidence to make more of the kind and gift to babies.

It may sound a surprise, but the project really did not cost me a fortune. I had to make use of household craft stash.

What I used:

-- a pair of scissors

-- a duct tape ring leftover after using the tape up

-- embroidery skein of the same colour as the wrapping paper or ribbon or plarn to cover the duct tape ring

 (I used parrot green colour thread)

-- a needle and white thread

-- cloth flowers of accented shades

-- punches - circle and flower type

-- patterned paper, sequins, some household cardboard if need be

-- craft glue

-- soda can pull-tab...always keep these handy, you never know what they can be useful for

I began by wrapping the cardboard roll with plarn (plastic yarn that I made before with plastic shopping bags). You can try wrapping it with satin ribbon or some patterned paper. If you plan to glue up decorative paper though, make sure you have sufficient glue for it.

I let its end stay for a while, lest I would need it later. Now came the need for my embroidery skein. A white or jute twine could be your alternates here.

I started off by leaving some thread, about half a feet, and fixing sequins on it. To fix sequins, I picked up a pair, squeezed glue on to one of them, placed the thread over it to run through its center, and stuck on it another sequin of the same shape and size.

I used the craft punches to cut out circles and flowers from the patterned paper. Some flower shapes I had in stash earlier from mail trash. I left space of a few inches on the thread, and glued together another pair of circles from the patterned paper, and some flower shaped punched pieces from magazine recycle.

After this it was about tying the thread on to the cardboard ring. Try leaving irregular spaces, and do not stick to the same length each time you cut a piece of the embroidery skein. You can fix about five such pieces on to the roll. Add some pieces of ribbon and maybe knot it up on the ring to hang down alongside the threads.

I used long pieces of ribbon to tie through the roll for a handle on top of the mobile, and inserted the bunch of four lines of the ribbon into the soda can pull tab for buckling up.

Your nursery mobile is ready. This is a rather simple one. I hope to improvise though future projects. I am sure my baby will love this. The piece took some time to make, and was taxing, considering how busy the little angel keeps me these days. But it was worth the effort. I am waiting to see the reaction on her face when I hang it near her bed.

For re-use, write to: radiscribe@gmail.com

Make a mini circle weaving loom for kids

A million ways exist to keep kids engaged, and yet nothing you do can be enough. Tragedy is when you spend hard earned hundreds on toys, only to see your child forget it after a day of play.

You can make room for inexpensive activities around home instead. I tried making a circular weaving loom, something you can try with kids on a lazy afternoon.
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Unlike the regular looms with warp and weft, a circular loom is a little different from the rectangular looms that are universal, and get used by DIYers for a range of pieces such as rag rugs, doormats, plarn projects, etc.

You need spokes, like in a wheel, drawn on the base.

Materials you need for this project:

-- a piece of corrugated cardboard

-- a marker or pencil

-- a ruler, one foot long

-- a pair of scissors

-- a spherical container such as a bowl, made of sturdy material, from your kitchen

-- yarn - chunky ideally. I used jute and wool. You can choose a couple of colours or stick to jute

-- a tapestry needle that is blunt (kids' safety) - optional

Draw a circle using the kitchen cup to guide.

Cut this circle.

Using a ruler, gauge the centre approximately and draw a bunch of lines criss crossing through the center, forming spokes for the circle.

Get the pair of scissors out again, and make small slits on the circumferene of the piece, towards the centre. These slits must be on the spokes.

Knot one end of a twine between the slits of this circle.

And run the thread along the spokes by using the space between the spokes on the rear side of this circle.

Once done with most of the spokes, knot its ends. An get the rest of the yarn out.

The looping of the spokes bit, you can do with your child. The weaving part is definitely the teachable part, where you show how the thread can go over and under the spoke-yarn and form a textured piece. You can optionally use a tapestry needle and demonstrate.

In effect, get your child to start weaving. For fun sake, get another colour yarn, or a different texture yarn to experiment with the thickness.

Either glue it towards the end, or knot the thread.

Optionally, cut of the warp from the slits and knot it up, or use this disc as a little wall hanging instead. Carry it to work, or keep at the kid's desk.

To hang it, cut a piece of wool or yarn and loop through one of the pieces at the slit, and knot it.

Try this in different colours. It's something kids will love, and you will not have to fret over costs.




Pictures courtesy: Radhika M B

For permissions, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

No sew tote from T Shirt for my stuff toys

No-sew T-Shirt totes tutorials have taken the internet by storm of late. Every other day, a new video turns up on social media. For the methodical crafter that I am, these pieces of quickie bag making from old Tees were a put off. But out of curiosity I decided to pull out my husband's old T-shirt and give the effort a shot.

Often the tutorials for no-sew bags are with small sized T-shirts. The one I used was a baggy type garment that would have landed in the old-clothes dump box, but for my experiment.

Since the internet is so full of the tutorials, I will list out tips that may be helpful, based on my project that lasted about an hour and half.

All you need for this project, is

-- and old T-shirt and a pair of scissors

When choosing a T-shirt, keep in mind the purpose of your end product, the bag. If you plan to step out of home, a decent looking one could help.

Else, reach out for those ready-to-trash ones.

Here is a picture of the Tee I used.

The colour was originally a shade of military green.

But it turned into greenish beige with over-use.

Mark out how much you want to cut at the bottom and fold the Tee at its lower end by about two inches or more if you deem fit.

Keep in mind, that you will need to cut off the hands. You can visualize the length of the hands to get an idea how much needs to be cut.

Run the scissors along the fold and cut it.

Now you may fold the T-shirt again, by an inch or two, and cut this part into several strips that start from the upper end side of the T-shirt and hang at its bottom.

Cut off the garment's sleeves and alongside the neck.

Here is where a tip of two will come in handy for you. Gauge the length of the sleeves and the neck. This T-shirt had a round neck, and had a dramatic difference in height, compared to the length or height of the sleeves. I had to trim after initial cutting. This piece of upper garment can alternatively be used as a layer that you pull over on your body in winter. It works as a bust piece that can be hidden away.

The shearing may not be as smooth as the videos online show. It is your first attempt. Do not beat yourself up. It is all about trimming and patience.

Pick one strip from a corner, and another from the other layer, and knot the two strips up. I used two knots to keep it sturdy.

Continue knotting. Tip: Keep in mind the quality of your fabric. I cut the strips two thin. A little extra width for each strip does no harm.

Knotting takes long. Load yourself with patience. Plus, it is possible that a piece or two actually breaks when you try to knot it.

Once you are done with the knotting, the bag is ready. If you want to invert it, go ahead. I did not. I was only glad to stash in my stuffed toys, toys that I keep ready for any visiting toddler to play with.

Enjoy using the tote.

It is a teen craft. And you can either use it, or gift it away. My suggestion, keep a bunch of these ready and stash in your hand-bag. You can use them for groceries. Or give away when you spot someone in need of it. Or simply make a whole cartload of them for charity.


Pictures courtesy: Radhika M B

For permissions, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

Bottle cap 3-D card or kids' art piece

If your kid has itchy fingers, bottle caps from plastic bottles, cans and jugs are must-have collectibles. Keep a stash ready and you are good to go on a lazy afternoon.

From recycled jewelry to toys, they can be used for a variety of items to make.

Here is an example of a 3-D card or an art piece you can get your child to make, and put up on the fridge or a desktop.

Keep bottle caps of at least one and half inches width ready.

You will need

-- Cardstock\

-- some colour paper, ideally construction paper

-- Washi tape stock

-- paint pens

-- sticker bindis

-- a pair of scissors

-- craft glue

Your bottle caps need to be washed and dried before you start. Gauge the colour of your cap, and pick up contrasting and accented colours for cardstock and colour paper. I used yellow polka-dot Washi tape to go with my blue bottle cap.

And cut a small triangle on its edge to make the nose of an owl on this bottle cap. After this, all I needed was two sticker bindis of the same dark colour for the owl eyes.

The next step, was to add a pair of wings to this, and maybe a dash of paint to mark its eyes more.

You can glue this over a greeting card or colour paper. You can also make a bird 3-D card, rather get your child to make it.

Cut a triangle from the red construction paper, of roughly half an inch on the longer sides.

Glue a pair of blue buttons and this beak on to the bottle cap using craft glue. You can optionally add sticker bindis on these buttons for effect.

This is nearly ready. Next step, is to pull out a contrasting piece of card stock from your stash.

And glue the cap on to it. But before that, keep a pair of one inch triangles ready from the red paper. Glue these triangles a little under the cap. For the eyes, you can add a dot with dark coloured paint pen over the sticker bindis, legs, and maybe a strand of hair or two over the bird's head. Write your favourite words.

This you can give as a quickie gift for birthdays of your little one's friends, or stick or pin on a desktop wall.

Think of more crafts with the plastic pieces unfortunately not good for environment.

Pics by : Radhika M B

For permissions, write to radicreative@gmail.com

Simple spinning top with bottle caps DIY

One of the childhood games I have loved is the spinning top, something boys in our neighbourhoods rollicked in and we girls yearned to master. It is so universal that babies can watch with their mouths open when you as much as spin a lid.

It's why used plastic bottle caps that often cannot be recycled by the recycling companies, can find a new life as spinning tops.

The only other major material you will need, is the toothpick. You can never have enough of them around.

Use these spinning tops while running your head over some corporate hassle, or get your child to make it and play. It's a tiny toy for children and adults alike.

I made a set of three with the bottle caps I have had lying around home.

Here, are some tips through the project that takes barely a few minutes.


Materials you need:

-- of course the plastic bottle caps - ideally small in diameter for a good spin

-- toothpicks of good quality

-- a long needle

-- nail cutter (if your bottle cap has protrusions)

-- crimp tools or nail cuticle pushers, or thicker tapestry needle

(I used a tiny nose-plier that is part of my jewellery tools stash)

-- optional - paint pens to decorate

-- craft glue - optional - if you want to embellish with sequins or stickers that is

The bottle caps need a thorough wash and dry before you start off with anything.

With an orange juice bottle cap, I found the center of the cap and used the long needle to poke it. An option they say, is to heat up the center of the cap. But it makes it too tricky because you never know the right amount of heat you need to poke a hole. It can simply melt it, and instead you may end up making a nozzle cap.

How quickly an easily you poke a hole depends on the thickness of the cap and the sharpness of the needle.

I started with an orange cap an it was a thick one, needing more push and some gentle taps with my nail clipper and plier.

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Once the needle went in and I managed to pull it out through the other end, Here is where, my tiny nose plier came in handy.

I inserted the cone-nose of the plier to expand the hole a little. You need to be careful with this part. Push only as much as you need. Pick up a paint pen and draw in a design on the cap. 

Insert the toothpick. It is a bit of push and pull. Leave about an inch of the toothpick below the cap's lid.

I next tried this with a blue tetra-pack drink pack's lid. Barely an inch and a half in diameter, it was the most available colour. 

This was fairly easy to poke the hole into.

I used the nail cuticle pusher tool that has a pointed end similar to toothpicks, to widen the hole a little.

The next step was to paint it. I used a while paint pen.

This bead that you see in the picture did not really work for me.So i had to remove it. Leave the paint for five minutes so it dries well. The next step was to insert the toothpick. 

And another spinning top was ready. A tip you may find useful, is that I used a nail clippler to cut off the protective protrusions that came with the bottle cap. It took care to lift some weight off the cap and made the spin better.

I used a white cap too, that came with packaged drinking water bottle.

The spinning tops are ready to spin.

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You can try this with caps of different colours. Make sure they have a smaller diameter if you plan to use toothpicks.

For bottle caps and lids slightly larger in size, you may need to explore other spinning sticks.

When you poke holes, keep your hands safe. Be careful when you do this project with children.

Pictures Courtesy: Radhika M B

For permissions to use, write to:radicreative@gmail.com