Category: Kids’ stuff

It’s here! Directions through a Fairy tale (and other Poetic Adventures)

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By Julie Anna Douglas and Jools Wilson

10 fun, colourful poems lavishly illustrated with maps, plans and cross sections. Go shopping with a pirate! Find your way through a fairytale! Be scared in a haunted house!

‘Directions Through a Fairytale (and other Poetic Adventures)’ with words by Julie Anna Douglas and pictures by Jools Wilson.

With ideas section to inspire children to create art and poetry. You can also download free accompanying worksheets from http://www.joolswilson.com

Julie Anna Douglas has been writing poems for as long as she can remember and many of them have found homes in beautiful magazines like The Caterpillar, Ladybug, Spider and The Toy, in poetry collections published by the Emma Press and McMillan Publishing and online in The Dirgible Balloon poetry bank.

What they said:

‘An original mix of poetry and pictures (many of them maps) where children can explore a range of locations and be inspired to write about, and draw, their own special places.’
Brian Moses – poet and author.

‘Highly recommend to encourage young readers’ imagination. Fairytale lands, cities, gardens, rainforests, and more are all brought to life both poetically and visually in this stunning collection.’
Yuval Zommer – author and illustrator

Buy it here!https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1344988004/directions-through-a-fairytale-and-other?click_key=f5fb5f11da89d79754ae71e2ee1eea695fdeb058%3A1344988004&click_sum=834dc03a&ref=shop_home_active_1&frs=1

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Make a Paper Collage Angel

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You will need:

  • Card or stiff paper – cereal box card or other card will work fine.
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Fancy paper such as tissue, crepe, origami sheets, wrapping paper, old magazines – anything colourful. Or plain paper and paint.
  • Stick on jewels or other embellishments (optional)

Download the templates here.

Method

Cut out the main template, sleeves, hands, and feet from stiff paper or card.

Choose some paper for the angel’s dress and cut it out using the dress template.

Glue the dress onto the main template. You can add decorative trims if you want them. I glued some gold tissue paper to my dress and trimmed the bottom edge into points.

Cut out the face from paper and glue to the main template. Draw on the features. A small triangle of different coloured paper makes a good nose.

I cut out circles of pink paper for cheeks. You could draw these if you have a pink pencil.

Cut out the crown and glue to the main template. Check that it fits round the face before you glue. You many want to trim it. My crown is made of paper that I painted with watercolour and then glued tissue triangles to.

Cut out your angel’s wings. I used silver card for one of my angels and stiff white paper for the other. You can draw on or decorate them.

Cut out some paper to cover the sleeves and hands. Or you could colour in the hands with paint or pencil if you are using white card.

A good way to get a neat finish is to cut the paper a bit bigger than the hands and trim it after you have glued it on.

Do the same with the feet and glue them onto the bottom of the skirt.

Glue the hands to the back of the sleeves. You can add extra trims to the sleeves if you want them.

Place the wings and arms where you want them on your angel. One wing and arm are glued to the back of the angel. The others to the front. Decide where you want them and then glue into place.

If you want your angel to hang up you can add a string to the back with a piece of tape.

I hope you have as much fun making angels as much as I did!

If you have enjoyed my free content, please consider making a small donation to The Trussell Trust this Chrismas.

Spring is nearly here…

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It’s been a long winter, but Spring is nearly here and the garden is colourful with snowdrops, crocuses, primroses and hellebore. I haven’t shared any of my work since Christmas, so here are a few things I’ve been doing since then:

Working on a new illustrated poetry book with Julie Ann Douglas. We’ve been planning a new one for a while and I’d done a few drawings, which I’ve put in my blog previously, but we both liked the map illustration for her ‘Directions Through A Fairytale’ poem (view in the Gallery) so much that we decided it would be fun to make a whole book of map poems. I’m not going to show you too much of what we’re doing but here are a few sneaky peeks….

When I had drawn the illustration for ‘Directions Through A Fairytale’ I had an idea that it would be fun to present it like an actual map, folded inside a cover. Julie added some art and literacy activity ideas and we launched our map poem…

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You can get your hands on a copy of the Fairytale map here

I’m continuing to make Dress Up Paper Dolls and Paper Buildings. The newest are a Regency lady and a series of Beach Huts. I am planning to make the Regency doll into a book but in the meantime you can download both from my shop.

A Viking Longhouse, complete with removal roof and furnished interior is my next paper building project. Possibly to be followed by a Viking Helmet…

And as spring is rapidly approaching I’ve been sharing seeds.