This was originally going to be just a Unicorn pen pot post. My eldest is obsessed with Unicorns. I don’t know what it is about them, but for the last couple of years, everything seems to be unicorn themed. My three year old was less enthused by the unicorn idea, so went with a dinosaur for him instead. So here they are. Unicorn and dinosaur pen pots.
Unicorn Pen Pot…
To make a Unicorn, you will need:
- an empty tin. We’ve used an empty baked beans can here.
- white or light coloured paper
- Coloured card to make the inner ear.
- multicoloured yarn
- glue
- scissors
- a black marker
- a pink marker or pink paint
- Glitter card in gold or silver
Start by cutting a piece of white paper or card to fit your tin. Wrap it around the tin smoothing it down as you go. Make sure that it is nice and flat and secure with some glue or a length of double sided tape.
Wrap the multicoloured yarn around your hand (we found it easier to use a glass) to make the tail.
Remove the bundle from your hand (or glass) and cut it to make a bundle of yarn.
Tie it securely together with a short length of yarn.
Cut ears from white and coloured card. Glue the coloured inner ears onto the outer ear. Cut a horn shape from the glitter card. Attach the ears and horn to the inner edge of the pot.
Cut short (about 5 or 6cm) lengths of multicoloured yarn. Fold these in half and glue them to the top of your tin, just below the horn.
Draw on the eyes with the black marker. You can choose what kind of eyes your unicorn should have. Add a couple of rosy cheeks with the pink marker. Make sure you leave the pen pot to dry completely before adding your pens.
Dinosaur Pen Pot…
To make the dinosaur, you will need:
- an empty tin. We’ve used an empty baked beans can.
- Coloured card (green, yellow, black, white)
- scissors
- glue
- Googly eyes
As with the unicorn, you will need to start by covering your pen pot. Cut a piece of green paper or card to fit your tin. Wrap it around the tin smoothing it down as you go. Make sure that it is nice and flat and secure with some glue or a length of double sided tape.
From the same colour card, draw a tail shape.
Here is a template for ours. Print it to use as a guide if you wish, but make sure it is the correct size for your tin.
We drew ours along a fold line so that we could add spikes to the top of it. The spikes are simply triangles cut from the yellow card, which are then glued along the upper curved edge. When the tail is folded in half, it hides where the spikes are glued in.
Score along the dotted line, and fold towards to attach to your tin.
For the mouth, we cut an oval out of black card, and small triangles out of the white card. These were then glued together to create teeth. My son was very insistent the dinosaur should have a “ROAR” mouth!
You don’t need to be particularly neat with these. Trim the excess white card away along the edge of the oval. You can see i have trimmed the bottom row of teeth here.
Glue the mouth to the front of your tin. Add a couple of google eyes, and your done!
Send in your creations
Have a go at making your own unicorn and dinosaur pen pots. Let me know how you get on. Don’t forget to post your photos on my social media (facebook or instagram) with the hashtag #ihavecraftykids to enter our monthly competition.
Have a look at the unicorn products we have on offer…
Beading Brilliant 