Don’t you love a crafty activity that takes less than ten minutes and yet looks pretty darn good? We made these ballerina cards last week and if I might say so myself, they look pretty cute!
Three weeks ago, our gorgeous niece Hannah made us incredibly proud. With her ballet group, she was awarded none other than the gold medal in the Dance World Cup. Every year, there are over 12,000 competitors from 38 countries, competing at their country qualifiers and at the World Cup Finals!
Hannah, who is part of Totnes School of Dance, was selected to represent Team England at this year’s Dance World Cup with a group of 12 other girls from her dance school, in the 21 and under Classical Ballet section of the competition. Hannah, along with four other girls, was the youngest competitor in the group, so this really is an exceptional achievement for her and the other dancers.
Hannah is not your average stroppy teenager, you see. Hannah, at 13 years of age, is the oldest of our happy bunch of cousins. She is the one everyone looks up to (children and adults alike!). All the children in the family love her to bits and she looks after her younger siblings and cousins like no one else would. She rounds them up, organises fun activities and makes sure all the cousins have a great time together.
Not only is she intelligent, gracious and kind, she is also one of the most modest human beings I have ever met. There is no shadow of a doubt she will grow into a ‘one of a kind’ woman.
When she was three or so, Hannah first started ballet classes.
Whenever we visited her family in Devon, she would twirl and swirl, showing us her latest moves.
She grew and grew, and kept working on her ballet sequences week after week, month after month, competition after competition. She has only been on pointe for a few months. In June, she was part of the parade for the Queen’s birthday celebrations on the Mall, and now she is a World Champion.
How did that happen? It is not luck. It is not coincidence. It is all down to hard work, perseverance, practice, learning from her mistakes and turning weaknesses into strengths, doubled with a huge dose of determination to dance to the best of her ability that led her this far. You can do anything you want in life, but to get to the kind of level Hannah has got to, you have to work, work and work harder, practice when all you feel like is staying home and having a break. Success is rarely coincidental, you see.
With my little ones, we were keen to send her a few cards to congratulate her on this incredible achievement, so we worked on a simple design they could all contribute to in their own little ways, from Wriggly’s scribbles (she is only 2 after all), to Jumpy’s choices of colours and patterns, to Beanie’s drawings to Crevette’s creativity with washi tape and wool.
We loved our ballerina cards so much we ended up making half a dozen, so some of them could be used as ‘thank you’ cards for the children’s teachers.
10 Minute Crafts: Ballerina Cards
What You Need:
A4 card in pastel colours
Lollipop sticks
Fine black pen (we used a Pilot G-1 0.5)
Pink highlighter
Cupcake cases
Glue (we used Bostik’s Fine & Wide Glu Pen)
A bit of wool
Scissors
Some nice ribbon
What to do:
Start by drawing the ballerina’s eyes and smile, leaving space for her hair, then the top of her tutu and her ballet shoes.
Colour the tutu and ballet shoes using the pink highlighter.
Fold the cupcake case in two and stick to the lollipop stick.
Fold a 15cm piece of wool in 2 and tie a knot to make a bun. Stick the hair to the lollipop stick.
Stick the ballerina to the card as well as a piece of ribbon.
All done!
Disclosure: Bostik sent us a selection of crafting supplies free of charge as part of the Tots100/Bostik Craft Bloggers’ Club. All photos and opinions are my own.
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