valentines flowers - Crafting out family time together

ONE OF the many ­activities parents can do together with their ­children is making crafts.
The pleasure children can derive from creating ­something of their own can be equally ­fulfilling for the parents, as the ­process ­allows them to bond with their children and create beautiful memories.valentines flowers
This is made even more meaningful if the projects result in crafts that can be put up on display for others to ­admire. Both parents and children can then look back on them with pride.
There are many craft books that can be found on the shelves of ­bookstores for the uninitiated and the more professional craft-maker. One of them is Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts(published by Potter Craft).
Prepared by the editors of the Martha Stewart Living magazine, this 365-page hardcover tome, as stated in its preface, is dedicated “to the celebration of holidays and to the crafts enthusiasts who create and do all the things that make the occasions so special and meaningful”.
Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts offers “225 inspired projects for year-round celebrations”, and indeed, there are enough ideas in this book to cover all the major American celebrations like New Year, Valentine, Easter, Mother’s and ­Father’s Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, ­Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and ­Christmas.
Many of these ideas are a result of years of planning by the team of crafts editors of the Martha Stewart Living ­magazine.
The craft projects ­include making cards, ­decorative items, gifts and gift wrapping, table centrepieces and party favours – all with step-by-step instructions on how to create them as well as the items needed.
Some of the items are as commonplace as eggs, fruits, candies (sweets) and ribbons, and the tools – scissors, tweezers, pencil, ruler, glue and wire. But there are certain items you will need to get from a craft shop or a good stationery shop.
While we might not celebrate all the festivals mentioned in the book, the ideas for the gifts and decorations can be tweaked to suit our culture and traditions, ­substituting appropriate designs to suit our needs.
For example, there is a whole section on decorating eggs for Easter but check out the lovely egg-cherry blossom tree (pg89) that will not look out of place for Chinese New Year.
Not all the crafts in the book are suitable for children but with their parents doing the hard part, they are doable.
Some innovative ideas suitable for children to tackle are cooker cutter ­ornaments (pg 281), heart-and-lollipop valentines flowers (pg47), custom canvas bag (pg137), folded shirt cards (pg155), pop-up bouquet card (pg120), fingerprint stamps (pg57) and candy cane mice (pg328).
There are also love-knot bracelets (pg38), glittered balloons (pg21), money and gift card wrappers (pg331), glittered paper ornaments (pg291) and hand-y valentines (pg44) to make.
There is a useful basic techniques section at the back which lists the essential tools and supplies needed for the crafts and teaches the correct way to use some them; as well as thumbnail images of all the clip art and templates ­included in the book.
You are advised to download the originals from the ­www.marthastewart.com ­website.
Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts is one book that will keep the family crafting – and ­bonding – together for many years to come.