Get your Shimmer and Stix Kit here
The first activity in the Shimmer and Stix kit is to make a bright and vibrant rainbow fish by repurposing a paper plate using the Stix and your shimmer paint pens. These wonderful art supplies can be used for painting on paper, cardboard, wood and more!
Then, kids will use their paint pens to make glittery Halloween-themed cake toppers and assorted paper flowers.
Activity 1: Paper plate Rainbow Fish
There are lots of different ways to make craft out of paper plates. We have a colourful rainbow fish to share with you.
Materials
- Life of Colour Metallic 1mm paint pens and 3mm Glitter pens
- Life of Colour Silky stix
- Paper plate
- Scissors
- Stapler
- Paper
- Paint brush and water pot
- Glue stick or PVA glue
Instructions
Step one-
Paint a paper plate using the green silky stix and use a damp paint brush to smooth out the paint.
Get another piece of paper and paint a rainbow pattern in lines and even out the colours with a damp paint brush.
Step two-
Wait for the paper plate to dry and then cut a large triangle shape from the paper plate. The triangle will be used to make the fish tail and the space left behind will create a fish mouth.
Step three-
Take the triangle shape that you cut out of the paper plate and attach the pointy end to the opposite end of the plate using glue or a stapler.
Step four-
With an Earth green paint pen to add lines around the outside of the wood slice. These lines will be turned into colourful Christmas lights by adding lots of tiny different coloured lights.
Step five-
Get the rainbow lines painted paper and cut it into wavy lines across the rainbow pattern.
Use the cut pieces to glue onto your painted paper plate to create a rainbow fish. You will need to cut the edges of the paper to make it fit nicely into the fish shape.
Step six-
Cut out a small circle and paint on an eye using a metallic paint pen and then glue it into place.
To give your fish scales choose the silver metallic paint pen and draw small arches in rows onto the rainbow painted paper.
You could try out different colour combinations, different sized and shaped paper plates - why paint a whole school of fish!
Activity 2: Halloween cake toppers
It’s handy to be able to make your own Halloween decorations cheaply or out of things that can be found around the house. These cake toppers will add a personal touch to your Halloween celebrations and the same method could be used to make birthday decorations too.
Materials
- Life of Colour 3mm Glitter paint pens
- Life of Colour Metallic paint pens
- Straws
- Scissors
- Sticky tape
- Compass
- Paper or cardboard
- Cupcakes!
Instructions
Step one-
Draw circles using a compass onto a piece of paper or cardboard. Paint over the lines with a metallic paint pen and then cut out your circle shapes.
Step two-
Use an orange glitter paint pen to paint a pumpkin shape. Add a hat with a crooked top onto the top of the pumpkin and paint an orange hat band onto it too.
Step three-
Complete a pumpkin face with upside down “v” shaped eyes and a toothy grin.
Paint a gold buckle onto the pumpkins hat band and add a spooky little metallic grey spider hanging down above the pumpkins head.
Step four-
To turn the pumpkin circle into a cake topper, cut a straw in half and sticky tape it onto the back.
Next try out a Frankenstein head by painting a glitter green rectangle with spiky black hair, a red nose, monobrow, angry mouth, spooky eyes, stitches and two electrodes coming from the side of its head.
Step five-
To paint a cute little witch cake topper start off with some orange glitter hair with a triangle shaped black dress. Paint a pumpkin onto the middle of the witches dress with two circles either side which will be the witch's hands holding the pumpkin.
Step six-
Use a black glitter pen to completely paint the witch dress and make sure to go around the pumpkin neatly.
Choose an metallic orange to paint lines in the witches hair and paint a crooked hat upon her head.
Step seven-
Give the top of the pumpkin some green glitter leaves and a stalk, then paint a scary face onto the pumpkin and a cute face onto the witch with a grey metallic paint pen. Trace around the outside edge of the dress and paint a pair of striped witch shoes to finish off the witch.
Step eight-
Add a green and orange striped border around the witch and cut the painted image out. Sticky tape the witch to a straw and poke the straw (along with the other cake toppers) into the centre of a cupcake ready to serve.
Activity 3: Colourful bouquet of Paper flowers
Materials
- Life of Colour Metallic 1mm paint pens
- Life of ColourGlitter 3mm paint pens
- Life of Colour Silky Stix
- Poster paper or white cardboard
- Sticky tape
- Scissors
- Pine cones
- Straws
Instructions
Step One-
Use your Life of Colour silky stix to paint the white poster paper or cardboard. You can even the colours out with a lightly damp paint brush or your fingers. Wait for the paint to dry.
Step two-
Cut the painted paper into a large circle and then fold it in half, now cut the semicircle in half. These two pieces will each make a flower.
Step Three-
Curl the edges of the paper around to make a cone shape and tape the sides in place to hold the cone shape. Feed a straw up through the middle of the cone to create a flower stamen.
Paint the top edges of the flower with a silver glitter or metallic paint pen to give the flower some shine.
Step four-
Using a different coloured painted piece of paper (we used pink) cut out some petals - make some of them different shapes with assorted frills.
Step five-
Take a straw and wrap one petal at a time around it and sticky tape it down. Continue to layer petals around the stew until you are happy with your flower shapes.
Extra idea: Make a pine cone flower
To make a pine cone flower simply cut out some large petal shapes and paint them with a leafy pattern. Once the petals are dry you can feed them into the side of the pine cone and glue them into place.
Pine cones can be scented with a perfume or essential oils and stored in a decorative bowl to give a room a fresh smell.
