Top 10 Indoor Craft Activities for Rainy Days
Top 10 Indoor Craft Activities for Rainy Days
With autumn fast approaching we will all be spending more time indoors.
The weather has been very kind to us, however, during the inevitable British downpours we thought it would be helpful to provide you with some inspiration on how to pass the time until the sun decides to shine.
- Essential Bath Bomb Recipe - Lavender
If you like your relaxation and bath time why not turn your hand to making bath bombs? We would strongly recommend the Lavender bath bomb over all the others. Lavender takes its name from the Latin root lavare, which literally means “to wash.” It’s known for its calming properties and can help you relax and unwind when everything’s just getting a bit much.
Ingredients:
Dry Base 1 cup baking soda ½ cup citric acid ½ cup Epsom salt or sea salt ¾ cup cornstarch Dried herbs (Lavender and/or Chamomile)
Liquid Ingredients: 2 tablespoons oil of choice (such as coconut or olive) 2 teaspoons witch hazel (or water) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or water) 15-20 drops of base essential oil (Lavender) 15-20 drops of complementary essential oil (Hemp, Sage or Chamomile)
Tools: Latex or rubber gloves Mold or greased container (such as a muffin tin) Eyedropper Spray bottle
Instructions:
- Put on gloves if you have sensitive skin
- Combine dry ingredients and mix until well combined
- In a separate bowl, combine liquid ingredients
- Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients a few drops at a time with the eyedropper. Mix well. Add dried herbs
- Combine until mix is crumbly and can just hold its shape when squeezed. Add more witch hazel or water with a spray bottle as needed to achieve desired texture, working quickly so the mix doesn’t have time to fizz
- Add mixture to molds or a greased container (such as a muffin tin). Press firmly and leave 48 hours, or until hardened. (You can press while drying so it doesn’t expand)
- Tap molds with a spoon to release. Wrap in tissue paper or plastic wrap and store in airtight container or bag. Use within two weeks (before they start losing their fizzing power!
- Upcycled Teacup Projects – Jewellery
If you’d rather be doing something instead of relaxing, how about turning your attention to the kitchen. I don’t know about you but I have far too many tea cups and mugs in my cupboards, so why not put the spares to better use?
You don’t need a jewellery box, how about opening your dresser draw and putting all your jewellery in little china cups and saucers, what better way to organise?
- Upcycled Teacup Projects – Herb Garden
If you’d rather keep all the spares in the kitchen that’s not a problem, but I’m sure we can still find a use for them. How about a lovely little herb garden? This neat design would mean you could simply snip some chives or pick some parsley all without having to step foot in the garden on a rainy day, and for those of us without gardens we can still enjoy growing herbs!
- Upcycled Teacup Projects – Bird Feeders
Since we’re on the top of gardens, let’s not forget our fluttering friends out there. I expect some of your cups may have the odd chip or scratch, these may be the ones at the back of the cupboard! So how about we use them for an audience who certainly won’t be judging the quality of them.
Bird feeders are a wonderful creation and so quick and simple to make when you have the right bits and bobs. Simply find a few cups that you’re not going to miss, tie a pretty ribbon to each of the handles, fill the cup with a mix of peanut butter and seeds, no glue required, then hang them from a variety of trees in your garden and watch the birds enjoy a tasty treat!
- Glitter Mason Jars
Are you Ga Ga about glitter? Why not jazz up some old Mason jars you probably have lying around the kitchen. These jars are perfect for storing pens and pencils, or even some pretty flowers.
Follow these simple steps to create your own gorgeous glitter jar!
First, hold the inside of the Mason jar and spray the outside with a metallic coloured paint of your choice, then leave that to dry. Once dry you need to apply an even layer of liquid glue to the bottom half of the Mason jar, try not to layer on the glue too thick as this will create an uneven look.
Next is the fun part, get your packet of glitter and shake it over the bottom part of the Mason jar while the glue is still wet. Once the glitter has dried and set add another layer of liquid glue, this will ensure the glitter stays on the jar. However, it will take a while to dry so try to be patient.
There you have it, a simple and cheap as chips pretty jar for you to brighten up your home with!
- Something for when the Grandchildren visit – Snowflake Apron
Here’s a fun project for you to do with the little ones of the family on a rainy day.
All you need is:
. A small white apron
. A pack of permanent markers, blue and light blue
. Rubbing alcohol
. Eyedropper
. Toothpick (optional)
. Glitter fabric paint (optional, but we suspect the kids will want that!)
So the first thing you’ll do is draw dots in a circle, one circle with the dark blue marker then another inside or outside the previous in light blue marker.
Next you wet the dots with rubbing alcohol, let it dry then rinse and wash. The final touch is the optional glitter paint. You can add dots of glitter paint to the existing circles or anywhere on the apron, to give it that extra sparkle
- Painting Pebbles
If the weather is keeping you stuck inside, why not make some things to enjoy outside once the rain has passed?
We’ve noticed that painting pebbles is the ‘in’ thing these days, so we thought we’d help you discover how easy it is.
So first of all we need some pebbles. We all have relatively good access to pebbles, they’re either in our gardens, at the nearest beach or at our local garden centre.
*Top tip* - Before you paint the pebbles you need to give them a wash to get rid of any grit that might still be on them. Once dry, if you have any coconut oil in the cupboards, we’d recommend you rub that into each pebble and leave them overnight for the oil to seep into the pores. The next day rub them pebbles to get rid of any excess oil, then you can start painting.
The next thing you will need is paint, the best paint to use on pebbles is either waterproof craft paint or acrylic paint. We would recommend using two layers of paint so that the colour is thick enough, after the paint has dried you’ll want to varnish the pebble so that it keeps a nice shine!
When it comes to the design of your pebbles, the sky’s the limit! Maybe opt for an animal that makes you smile, like a ladybird or a hedgehog. Be sure to use small brushes for the finer details and make sure you let the paint dry between stages of your design.
- Multiple uses for old Prescription Pots
I’m sure that several of our wonderful customers and readers have a few old prescription bottles lying around the house, well, I didn’t realise that they can be used for so many other things. So whatever you do, don’t throw them away!
If you’d like to make them look a bit prettier why not put some nice wrapping paper around the bottle, leave the top plain, just in case the wrapping paper prevents it from sealing properly. Alternatively you could paint the bottles with a design of your choice.
So what are they good for? Well, where to begin?!
I think my favourite idea for prescription bottles so far is cash storage, it can be a handy place to store any spare cash, and also, it’s waterproof! So there’s no need to fret if you drop it in water.
If you have many pointy objects in your home these bottles can come in very useful. Simply put your toothpicks, straight pins, needles and thumbtacks in the bottles then pop them in a drawer so they’re safe for when you need them.
Another fantastic storage idea for the prescription bottles is buttons and safety pins. If you’re a keen sewer, or you just like to have plenty of spare buttons around, why not keep them all together in an old prescription pill bottle, along with a variety of different sized safety pins for that ‘you never know’ moment.
Please remember to give all prescription pill bottles a thorough clean before using them for any of the above recommendations.
If you have a big stash of buttons, this button doll is a great way to use up some unusual colours!
If you like, you can use specific colours for the legs to make it look like your button doll is wearing trousers. You can even make flared jeans by using larger buttons at the bottom and adding smaller buttons as you work your way up.
The things you’ll need are:
. Lots of buttons similarly sized
. 24-gauge floral wire (64″, cut into two pieces)
So, to start off with you’ll want to fold each piece of wire in half, then thread a small round bead onto one end of a wire. Twist the wire a few times to secure the bead then repeat the same process on the second wire. To make the legs thread buttons onto the wire, putting each wire through a separate buttonhole. Add as many as you like.
Twist the wire a few times at the end of the last button, then twist both wires together to connect the legs.
Separate the wires, two on the left and two on the right. Thread buttons onto the wires, threading two wires through the same hole on the left, and two wires through the hole on the right. Add as many as you like.
Next you need to separate the wires again, you should end up with one on the left, one on the right and two up. Add two buttons to the wire pointed up then add the large round bead. Take the wires from the top of the bead and thread them back down through the two buttons below. Do this on both sides of the bead and pull the wire all the way through.
You will now have two wires one the left and two on the right. Thread buttons onto the left and right wires to create the arms. Thread both of the arm wires through a small round wooden bead. Bring the wire out the top of the bead and down each side, then thread the wire back up through the bottom of the bead to secure it.
Pull it tight against the buttons. Use wire cutters to snip off all but 1-inch, then twist the excess and tuck it into the bead opening. Pliers are helpful in this step. Repeat for the other arm.
You’re all done making a button doll! Now you can pose him however you like and you have a fun shelf sitter for your craft room, kitchen, office or a child’s bedroom.
- Upcycle Old Wine Corks into Vases
For all you wine lovers out there, most of us tend to save the corks for something, well we’ve got the perfect trash to treasure idea. This tends to work best if you’re loyal to one brand of wine as the corks will all be roughly the same size and shape.
You can make wonderful cork vases from your old wine corks that are just lying around, either tall narrow ones or shorter wider vases, the choice is yours! We’d recommend that you leave the rubber corks out of this project, they don’t look as good as the real thing.
Now the first thing you’ll need is a sturdy vase to hold the water for the flowers, bud vases work a treat!
You’ll want to look for corks of similar lengths to make the vase look it’s best. Start by laying them out on one side of your vase until you find a mix that looks relatively uniform in size. Depending on the width of your vase, you may have to trim some corks with a knife.
Next you’ll want to start gluing the corks to the vase, for this you’ll want to make sure you have some very heavy duty craft glue! Put a dab of glue on the back of the cork, not too much otherwise it starts to ooze out at the sides. Hold it in place for a few seconds before moving on to the next cork. You can move the corks around slightly so that they are evenly positioned on the vase and all flush together while the glue is still wet. Let one side dry completely before moving on to the next side.
Finish the vase by gluing corks vertically down the side. Maybe save the thicker corks for the sides. You’ll find that there are some corks that are wider around and slightly shorter than others. These are the ones that work great for the sides. Cut a cork in half and add it to the top of each side to fit the vase properly.
This is a fantastic upcycling project for you to enjoy either yourself or as a gift for a loved one. We think it looks brilliant!
So there you have it, ten fun ways to pass the time at home on a rainy day. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and hopefully it will mean you put to good use some items that are mounting up in your home.
Please stay safe and remember to keep your Helpline alarm button on at all times, even when just pottering around the house making crafty things!