surviving the sun

Wednesday 29 June...When the  summer  holidays  are so  long   and  it's  too  hot  to  spend   the  whole day  outside in the sun,you  find that  children get  bored  very  quickly.Although they  would be happy  just playing video  games  all  day, mine  do  enjoy     'making things' .
   Most  children enjoy , cutting and   gluing, so this is an ideal project  that  you could do with them.It  is   a  great idea  to  make   for yourself too !
This  project   you  will need    empty  crisp tubes,(the ones that come with plastic lids),I  have also used   cheesy  biscuit  containers and   cardboard cigar boxes, which  your  local tobbacconist    would probably save for you  .You  need   old  magazines, catalogues, comics or even pretty   bits  of  wrapping paper.You will also need  some  PVA type glue, a small amount of  varnish  and  scissors.

First you decide what  theme you would like for  your container, Children may like  to  do  a  favourite   superhero  or   cartoon character, teenagera   a  favourite  actor  or  singer  and  adults   might  like   flowers, cookery  or  fashion.

Next  you  start the ''cutting out'', this is  quite time consuming and  can be  done over a  few   afternoons.When  cutting  out   include  quite a few  suare  shapes   and  a  few  'images',

When you have  enough    cuttings,  you  need to start sicking them onto your  container, larger  squares first to  make a base.
For the glue, you will need a  small  dollop  of  PVA type glue  mixed with an equal amount of water.
Brush this all over each  cut-out   liberally.When the container is completely covered   you can then begin to   add  to it your favourite  images  to  build up a design.

On the childrens ones  we  used    cartoon strips as a background   adding   cut out images to the top.

I  used  magazine   articles as a base on mine and  cut  out   different  cake  , chocolate  and  fashion images.
When  you  have  finished your design  use  your  glue -mix  and  paint it  completely, when dry  give it another  glue-mix  covering.
Leave overnight to dry, (a  good tip  is  when you leave it to dry  leave a  wet wipe in the container to absorb any   smells.
When dry  a  coat  of  varnish  will seal it  completely  and  will finish it off perfectly.
Your  container   will have  100's of uses,  They  are  great  for the beach...one    large  crisp container  will hold, a  packet of  tissues, phone, keys, pen, puzzlebook, money, tube of mints...etc.... No more rumaging in the bottom of your   beach bag  only to find  what you're looking for  covered in sand!!

The smaller   crisp tubes are perfect to be filled with sweets  for   long  journeys, or  even  filled as a treat  for   a  small child.

Larger  tubes could be  filled  with   printout  colouuring sheets and pencils,and  a great idea is  to   get the kids to use an old toy catalogue  to decorate one   ,then  the adult could make a  slit  in the plastic lid  to use as  a  savings tub.The larger tube  is the perfect size for a  pack of marie type biscuits too!

Whatever  you think  of  to use your  container for  it  is  a  lovely  project   and  you  finish off with a personalised   item.