We’re having an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party!
Here’s the first of several crafty bits and bobs we’ve been working on to create the perfect setting.
Fairy Toadstools…
These are really basic but for our purposes, but have proven to be really effective and when you’re not so super focused on perfection the kids can get stuck in and really feel they have contributed to the finished pieces.
What You Need:
- A selection of plastic bowls of different sizes
- Measuring spoon
- Spatula
- Plain Flour
- Cold Water
- Table Salt
- Strong Card
- Newspaper
- Scissors
- Tape
- White Paper
- Poster Paints
- Glue Stick
1) Measure out the flour and water in equal parts, add a good sprinkle of salt and stir well. (Check the consistency, it should resemble wallpaper paste. You can add more flour or water until you have achieved this.) Put to one side.
2) Create your toadstool “stalks” by rolling card into tubes and securing with tape. Your display will work best if these are each slightly different in width and height.
Messy Warning!
3) Coat strips of newspaper in the glue mix and layer over the bowls and tubes with this paper mache mix until they are entirely covered. Smoothing down as you go.
4) Finish off with a layer or two of white paper so that when you come to paint them you won’t have any ugly newspaper print showing through.
It’s best to leave these for several hours to dry – we waited 24 hours before painting them.
5) Once FULLY dried, gently remove the bowls from the inside by bending them away from the paper mache. You’ll be left with some relatively sturdy paper mache bowls which can then be painted.
(In our case, the bowls were too sturdy to get out without tearing the paper mache so we opted to leave them in there and bought some more from the supermarket on our next visit. In retrospect we could have used balloons and popped them once the paper mache had dried and then cut to the desired shape.)
6) Paint your paper mache domes red, we went for two coats.
7) Once the paint has fully dried, glue on white circles for spots and pop a dome onto of each stalk.
8) Use as a whimsical table centrepiece or a decorate piece in your magical fairy woodland.
Suggestion: Paint a zig zag cut piece of card green to create strips of “grass” to accompany your toadstools.
Suggestion: If you have the time and inclination a much more profession piece can be formed using chicken wire as a mould rather than card and bowls. You would also be able to create a toadstool in a single piece this way too.
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We’d love to see your own toadstools, send photos of your finished pieces to us and we will include them in our gallery. You can email your pictures to us at
lilypchic@hotmail.co.uk
or add the Lily P Chic Facebook profile to your friends list, post your pictures and send us a note.
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Lily P Chic 