Heart Insert from Chocolate Wrapper

Let's do something easy and fun today...blurted my kid while eating her chocolate bars...hmmm...I said, cross-checking my grocery list and drinking my cup of afternoon tea. I looked at the heap of chocolate wrappers strewn all over the dining table and just started playing with it when I ended up making a heart insert with one of the wrappers. I taught how to fold it to my daughter and within a couple of minutes, all the chocolate wrappers were neatly folded into heart inserts. Ofcourse, the heart insert is not my invention, I had learned to make it earlier from the internet...but not with a chocolate wrapper though. 

All you need is a rectangular sheet or a rectangular chocolate wrapper. Typically an A4 size paper also makes a big heart insert...so follow the same proportion of rectangular size when using a wrapper too.

Origami Heart Insert

Here's how we did it. Below shows a picture tutorial of the steps for making the heart insert.

Follow the steps closely and you too can fold these cute heart inserts easily. Here's the link to our youtube video tutorial that gives clear instructions on the steps to fold a heart insert. 

You can use this origami Heart as an insert or as a bookmark too.

It's an easy exercise requiring no complicated folds. So do give it a try...

You will also find a similar heart insert I made earlier using a gift wrapper and an origami winged heart with a secret message. You can click on the link here to get a tutorial for the winged heart.

Thank you for stopping by.

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Paper Collages from Paper Scraps: Easy DIY Ideas

Have loads of paper scrap and don't know what to do. Throw them away...no...here are some creative ideas to help you use these very paper scraps to make something beautiful...some artwork from scraps and they indeed look beautiful.

We have loads of these colored printer paper wastes that were leftover from our previous art & craft classes, workshops and more...we never throw away things easily..call it being thrifty or whatever...but there have been times when these paper scraps have helped us create beautiful things in the past. As you scroll down below you will see many examples, which were made by us during some boring afternoon, when we had nothing better to do!

What you see in the picture below is just a glimpse...we have a big carton full of these paper scraps.

Paper Scraps

Here, is what we tried one afternoon, using the above paper scraps that were leftover after we cut out small flowers using a craft paper punch.

Flower with a butterfly from Paper scraps

For the above example of the Flower with the butterfly, we tore the paper scraps and shaped them with our hands only, no scissors or any other tools were used. After cutting out the desired shapes we simply glued them onto an A5 size card paper so that we could use it as a greeting card. 

A Bee and a Flower from paper scraps

In the above example, we have used colored printer paper wastes combined with newspaper scraps too. For this, we used a pair of scissors to cut out every element from the paper scraps and then glued these shapes onto a paper.

A Girl and a Rose from paper scraps

For the Girl and the rose in the above example, we tore out paper strips from the paper scraps we had and didn't use any other tool. The rose was just created by tearing out the paper...Purely an artwork with hands!

Paper Collage of Mowgli and Shanti from paper scraps

For the above paper collage of Mowgli and Shanti, we roughly sketched out the outlines of Mowgli and Shanti with the pitcher in hand. Thereafter, we tore out pieces from the paper scraps and glued them following the pencil outline, adding on details like the shrub, sky etc. later.

A Peacock from paper scraps

For peacock above, we drew the shape on the paper scraps, then cut them out with a pair of scissors. We started with the peacock's body in the center, and thereafter added the double layer of feathers. You will also spot a small earthworm near the peacock's legs!

A Tree from paper scraps

For the tree, we cut out the trunk from a newspaper and then glued on paper strips of different colors for the tree's foliage.

These paper collages can be used as greeting cards or posters, or you can just frame them and hang them on the walls.

Hope the above examples, help you in some way or the other, to make use of paper scraps instead of throwing them away. It's a small attempt from our side to reuse and recycle paper and hope it serves as an inspiration to create things from paper wastes or scraps.

Do leave your comments, ideas or suggestions and share these ideas with your friends.

Thank you for stopping by...

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Learn to make an Origami Diya: Easy Craft Idea for Kids

With Navratri and Durga Puja just round the corner, a bunch of festivals is lined up, one after the other; this is the time of the year we all Indians eagerly wait for the whole year, to celebrate and enjoy with our families and friends. 

It is customary in every Indian home to light up the diyas during this festive season. Even in this era of advanced technology where it has become easier to decorate your house with electric lights, which will only remove darkness, the spiritual significance of lighting a traditional diya still hasn't lost its importance. As parents, it is our concern to involve our kids during this festivities and keep their interest alive in our traditions. So here's an easy craft idea for kids for this festive season which they can learn with joy; learning to make a paper diya - an origami diya for this festive occasion.

Origami Diyas

Procedure:

This origami diya is very easy for kids to try and doesn't involve any complicated folds. So just follow the procedure closely and enjoy folding an origami Diya this season.

Materials required:

All you need is square colored sheets and some sequins or colors for decoration. Here, in this tutorial we have used a simple gift wrapping paper with one side colored.

Step 1:

Start by keeping the white side of the paper facing you. Make a vertical diagonal crease by folding the paper into half and then unfold it.

Step 1: Make a vertical diagonal crease

Step 2:
Fold in the two corners to touch the central crease and you will get a kite base.

Step 2: Fold in the two corners to get a kite base

Step 3:
Turn it over. Note the crease for the next fold.

Step 3: Turn over. Note the crease for next fold.

Step 4:
Fold in the bottom part up to get a crease and then unfold it.

Fold the bottom part to get a crease and unfold.

Step 5:

Now fold the bottom tip to touch the midpoint of the crease.

Fold the bottom tip to touch the crease 

Step 6:
Fold in the bottom part again to touch the crease.

Step 6: Fold in the bottom part to touch the same crease.

Step 7:
Fold the bottom part again, this time along the crease.

Step 7: Fold the bottom part along the crease.

Step 8:
Turn it over

Turn it over

Step 9:
Now fold in the bottom part upwards and you can see the wick behind.

Step 9: Fold in the bottom part upwards
to make the wick visible from behind.

Step 10:
Turn it over.

Step 10: Turn it over

Step 11:
Note the creases on the top side for the next fold. Now fold in the both the top corners to touch the triangular edges.

Step 11: Note the crease for the next fold

This is how it will look after folding in both the top corners.

Step 11 (contd.): Fold in the top corners to
touch the edges of the triangle

Step 12:
Fold in the bottom edge.

Step 12: Fold in the bottom edge

 This is how it would look after folding up the bottom edge.

Step 12 (contd.): This is how it looks after folding the bottom

Done:
Just flip over the model and the origami diya is ready.

Done: Turn it over and done

Make more such origami diyas and decorate them with sequins, glitter or just color them with sketch pens and the diyas are ready.

Origami Diyas are ready 

Decorate the origami diyas

Suggestion for use:

You can make these diyas just for fun or you can even use them to make greeting cards and gift them to your friends.

You can a watch a quick video tutorial below.

Do try making this origami Diya and just have fun.

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Tutorial: From Paper Strips to a Heart Decoration

Just a couple of days ago, I posted a tutorial on how to use paper strips scraps to make a floral decoration. You can view the link here to view how we made the paper hearts. Making the heart units is a fun activity for the kids and keeps them involved up to a certain stage.

Left with lots of paper scraps from our previous workshop we decided to use them for some craft activity. In the previous tutorial, we made simple hearts using two similar sized stripes. To make it interesting we used two different colors to make the heart unit. While in this tutorial, we made hearts using two different sized paper strips with two different color combinations as shown in the picture below. 

 Left Inset: The heart unit formed using similar sized paper strips
Right Inset: The heart unit formed using different sized paper strips

This tutorial begins in a similar manner but the end result is different and much simpler for kids to try with minimum guidance from parents. The following tutorial includes step by step guidance to make the decoration along with pictures to make it easier for kids to follow.  

Tutorial:

We used paper strips that were left over from our previous craft activities. You can cut them as per your requirement or follow the steps below. We had strips of two different lengths, to form the double loop. We joined the two loops to make a heart shape. Once, the heart shapes were done, we joined every heart unit using glue or stapled them together. 

Materials used: Paper strips, scissors, stapler, glue.

Paper size used for outer loop: 6" x 1"

Paper size used for inner loop: 4" x 1"

Step 1: Make the inner loop using the 4"x1" paper strip by applying glue at the edges.

Step 1: The inner loop using the smaller sized strip

Step 2: Using the longer sized strip, make another loop by gluing it to the outer edges of smaller loop.

Step 2: The outer loop glued to the inner paper loop

Step 3: Make two units using two different colored paper strips as shown below.

Step 3: Paper loops using two different colored paper strips

Step 4: Now apply glue to the inner edges of the two looped units, and join them to form a heart shape.

Step 4: The heart unit formed by sticking two looped units together

Step 5: Make many such heart units using the above steps.

Step 5: Many heart units formed using the above steps

Step 6: Staple two units as shown in the picture below. You can also use glue instead of a stapler to join them.

Step 6: Join the units using stapler or glue

Done: Join all the units together using staples or glue to form the heart decoration.

Done: All the units are joined to form the heart decoration

Once done we were looking for places to use the decoration. We placed it in all the locations including the entrance door, the balcony railing, etc. We also used it as a garland around a soft toy. Finally, it ended up as a decoration for the toy house.

Decoration at the entrance door

Decoration on the balcony railing

Garland around the soft toy

Finally found the place to decorate the toy house

Suggestion or tips for use: 

This heart decoration can be used for decoration during parties or other events, or also as decoration in your kid's room. Since, its an easy DIY paper craft activity for kids, you can involve your kids to make this decoration for their birthday celebration too; involvement of kids for decoration during their own birthday celebration will not only make them happy but they will also realize the efforts we adults take to celebrate their birthdays.

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