Daily Mirror

THE BLUE PETER GUIDE TO CREATIVE

- BY EMILY RETTER emily.retter@ mirror.co.uk @emily_retter

THESE are, of course, all ones they made earlier.

But that should not stop you getting out the sticky-back plastic, detangling the tinsel and having a go at some Blue Peter Christmas crafts.

Shoe boxes were made into everything from dolls houses to dog kennels on the popular show.

And, each Christmas, an Advent crown was created out of wire coat hangers, with cards and pressies rustled up in a jiffy.

New book Here’s One I Made Earlier: Classic Blue Peter Makes is a feast of DIY nostalgia.

Time may be tighter than it once was and technology much more distractin­g, but children have not really changed so much.

So, if you fancy encouragin­g them to get crafty this Christmas, here are some of the best “makes” in the book. ■ Blue Peter: Here’s One I Made Earlier, published by Kyle Books, £14.99. John Noakes and Shep demonstrat­e YOU WILL NEED: Fireproof tinsel; ribbon; baubles; thin wire; tin lids (try from salad cream or chutney jars); Plasticine; wire coat hangers; four candles; shiny gold paper.

To make the frame, create two halves – for each one, you will need two coat hangers.

For the top half, cut the hook off one hanger and wire the two into position so they form a cross. The Host Lesley Judd with handmade cards YOU WILL NEED: Envelopes; card; glue; short pieces of green tinsel; scraps of foil (sweet papers and bottle tops will do); glitter.

First, choose envelopes and cut the card to fit inside when folded in half.

Near the bottom of the card, stick on a tree-tub shape cut from coloured foil or paper, or use a bottle top. For the tree, you candle holders are made by fixing a small lid on to each of the corners.

Pierce a hole in the middle of the lids and in the side.

Wire them to the hanger, leaving one end of the wire sticking up through the middle of the lids.

Wrap fireproof tinsel around the whole frame and fix with wire.

Cover the bottom of the lids with shiny gold paper. To fix the candles, need three pieces of green tinsel. Put a line of glue up from the centre of the tub nearly to the top, leaving room for the star.

Stick on your first piece of tinsel, slightly overlappin­g the edge of the tub, and glue the other two pieces on either side, with the top ends meeting and bottom ends spread out.

Make sure all are pointing in a downwards direction. Trim off any straggly bits to make the tree a good shape. Cut out a small star spike them on to the wire in the middle of each lid and fill the edges with Plasticine to secure. Make sure they are firm and do not wobble.

The bottom half of the frame is made the same way, but without candle holders. Fix it to the top half with wire after covering with tinsel, with the hook pointing downwards.

Decorate the crown with fireproof ribbon and baubles. from gold or silver foil a the tree. Then crumple coloured foil into flattis glue on the tree, for bau

To trim the edges of t cover the main part of i narrow edge showing.

Put clear glue on this glitter over it. Shake the some newspaper and u YOU WILL NEED: Icing sugar; egg whites; liquorice allsorts; chocolate buttons; liquorice; glace cherries; silver balls; peanuts; pink food colouring.

To make the snowmen: Add the white of one egg to 1lb of icing sugar.

Stir the mixture until it is stiff and almost crumbly. Mould a small lump for the head a for the body and pre

Make a hat with a allsort placed on top chocolate button.

Decorate with liqu eyes, nose, scarf an a glace cherry for th

For the mice: Add pink food colouring Icing sugar and egg white mice can

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