Collage pencil pot

This would be a lovely Mother's Day gift as mums love neat stationary. You can make it in her favourite colours or to suit her office/workspace.

Step 1: get some magazines or pretty papers.

Step 2: rip out some colours/patterns you want to use.

Step 3: cut a Pringles tube to about 12cm

Step 4: glue your pretty papers onto the Pringles tube with PVA glue and cover the whole way round.

Step 5: cover the whole pencil pot with PVA glue to seal it all in and give a shine.

Quick and simple birthday card

This is really pretty and can be adapted to suit different people for example you could use blues and greens and dangle aeroplanes instead of hearts!

Get a pretty piece of card. Cut a patterned piece of paper to go on the top 5cm. Stick it on.

Glue a piece of black ribbon to the join

Cut out two hearts from patterned card. Glue some silver ribbon from the black ribbon to part way down the card. Use sticky dots to attach the two hearts. Stick a happy birthday sticker in the bottom right corner.

Attach buttons to the centre of the heart using a sticky dot. Attach tiny gems to the join where the silver ribbon meets the black ribbon.

Beaded friendship bracelet

These look really effective and are quite simple to make, the hardest bit is finding pretty beads that will fit on your embroidery silk.

Step 1: measure 30cm of embroidery silk and cut it. Measure 120cm of the same colour and cut it.

Step 2: fold the long piece in half and tie a knot capturing the short piece also and leaving a loop.

Step 3: do two square knots.

Step 4: slide a bead onto the middle piece of silk.

Step 5 continue steps 3-4 until the bracelet is the desired length.

Step 6: tie a knot and cut off the excess making sure you leave enough to tie it on your wrist.

Decoupage box

You can use a variety of things for decoupage, decoupage paper works well but is quite expensive. Magazines and comic books work well and are much more affordable. You can even use napkins as you can get them in a huge variety of colours and patterns.

Step 1: rip up the paper you are using

Step 2: mix half PVA glue with half water

Step 3: cover the box in the glue mixture

Step 4: cover the box with your paper

Step 5: wait for it to dry

Step 6: cover it in PVA glue to add a seal and a shiny finish