Start with the outline shape of your dream home.

This one is going to be a big mansion, divided into rooms. You will need: Paper Pens Paint or something else to colour with

To give the room some depth, draw another square or rectangle inside the room along the top line, and connect the bottom corners together.

Here's a big sweeping staircase and gallery landing.

Some big fancy windows with huge curtains.

In the bedroom, how about a four poster bed and some furniture?

Downstairs, if you make the back square smaller and join them up, it makes the room look bigger.

This one's getting a swimming pool. Just follow the lines of the wall so you get the perspective right.

Two lightly-drawn lines for water and wiggles for the reflection on the water, and some lines on the panes of glass in the conservatory at the back.

You could even draw the rooms on a different piece of paper that you cut to size, so that you can experiment with different designs before you stick them down.

When you're happy with the rough design of your dream home, it's ready to be decorated. Decide on a colour scheme and paint or colour it in.

This one has a games room in the attic!

Not only can you change your room whenever you like, you can even add extensions. How about this garage with two cars inside?

How about this for a simple novelty greeting card idea? You will need: card colours string scissors felt pen

Fold a piece of thick paper or thin card in half. On one half of the card, draw "me," or in other words, draw yourself, because you're the one who's going to send the card.

Then on the other side of the card draw "you". The picture has to be of the person you are sending the card to. From me, to you. Make the picture look like a cartoon.

Colour in the two pictures.

Then write your message in the card. Put "From Me" and "To You" along the bottom of the card, and in the middle, add a message, depending upon the purpose of the card.

Next, pop a hole where the hands are in the picture. The best way to do this is to place your card above some sticky tack, then push a pencil through the card.

Cut out a heart from thin coloured card. Alternatively, use white paper, and paint it red.

Cut a piece of string a bit longer than the width of your card.

Thread this string through the hole in the middle of your heart, then through the holes of card where the hands are, and tie a knot.

And when you've done that, you'll have a card that looks like this. There are plenty of other types you can make. How about a Happy Birthday card or even a Get Well Soon card?

It's good fun creating pictures by forcing yourself to only use one shape. Have a go! You will need: Paper Pencil Noticeboard pin Cardboard box card Coloured pens, or crayons

You could draw around plates, cups or reels of sticky tape to create circles. But here's how to make your own compass. Just cut a strip of cardboard box card and carefully push a noticeboard pin in through one end. Make sure your table is protected with cardboard or thick newspaper!

Make a few pencil holes along the strip at varying distances.

Place the compass in position by pushing the pin through the piece of paper, wherever you'd like the centre of your circle to be.

Then put your pencil through one of the holes, and drag it around so that you draw a circle!

Keep building your circles up, using different holes along the compass, so that they come out different sizes.

They can overlap as much as you like and you're left with a sort of manic bubble effect!

When you're happy you can colour your pattern in, using whatever you like. Do a section at a time, in different colours.

The idea is to build your picture up - but never do the same colour in adjoining sections!

When your picture is coloured in, it'll look a bit like this.

You can create all sorts of patterns going round in circles.

You could even try a minimalist one like this!

Or why not go really crazy and do a big mad one with lots of patterns within it!

You will need: a balloon some wool PVA glue

a cup or mug a ruler a pair of scissors a carrier bag or plastic bin liner some glitter

Start by blowing up a round balloon so that it fits roughly into the palm of your hand, like this. Dont make it too big!

Stand the balloon in an old cup or mug, so that it holds the balloon steady.

Now you need some wool. It doesnt matter what type or colour you choose any will do!

The idea is to cut about thirty strips of wool, roughly about the same length as a 30cm ruler. Then put some PVA glue into a bowl, and dip one piece of wool into the glue, pressing it in with a finger.

Pull off the excess glue like this.

Lay your wool pieces on a carrier bag or a plastic bin liner, and let it dry off a little but not too much, because you dont want it completely dry! It still needs to be sticky for the next step. And dont let the wool pieces touch, otherwise theyll stick together!

When youve done lots, youre ready to start wrapping the wool pieces around the top half of the balloon. Take one piece of the sticky wool string, and wrap it around the top of the balloon like this, curling it this way and that way.

Now take another length, and do exactly the same, just wrapping it around so that you get a criss-cross pattern with small gaps in between.

When youve finished the top, leave it to dry.

Then turn the balloon over and do exactly the same on the other half. Its very important that the new wool string you put on now touches the already dry string.

When youve wrapped all of the other side and left it to dry, youll have something that looks like this. It should only have a few gaps, and the glue will have dried solid.

Now, carefully pop the balloon with scissors!

Then remove the balloon from the inside very carefully. You'll now have something that looks like this.

Add some dabs of PVA glue all over the outside, and then roll it in glitter!

When its dry, youll have something that looks like this. And there you have it - a cheap but brilliant bauble! You'll need to tie on a loop of cotton so that you can hang it on your Christmas tree, of course. You can use lots of other types of wool to get different effects!

You will need: a pencil some cardboard box card a ruler

newspaper sticky tape scissors PVA glue tissue paper/kitchen roll paint glitter

First draw the letter U on to a piece of cardboard box card about 10cm tall and 10cm wide.

Then make it really fat and chunky. Go all around the outside of the U and make it 1cm wider. Then cut it out.

To fatten it up, and make it 3D-like, you need to pad it out. Take a double page spread of newspaper and close it.

Roll it into a sausage shape, fold it and scrunch it up.

Put it onto one side of your U and tape it into place using plenty of sticky tape. If there's any left over at the end, just trim it off carefully.

Roll and scrunch more paper, bending it all the way around your U, and taping it into place. Once its finished, youll have something that looks like this.

Now take some PVA glue and mix it with a little splash of water. Paste it onto your U, and then add on strips of kitchen roll or tissue paper. Cover the whole of your letter U in two layers of this kitchen roll and PVA glue papier-mch.

Leave it to dry. When done, itll look something like this.

Now decide what message you want to say. It could be a 'Kiss U' or a 'Miss U'. These instructions are for a 'Love U.' Draw a heart shape on another piece of cardboard box card. (To draw a heart, use a pencil to draw around a 2p. Move the coin to one side and draw it again so you have two circles touching. Draw a V underneath, joining the circles up, and use this as a guide to draw your heart shape.)

Carefully cut it out.

Decorate your U any way you like. You could draw stripes or polka dots, waves or zig-zags. Consider designing it on a piece of paper first before you actually draw on your model U.

Next, paint it using poster or acrylic paint. Try to use acrylic paint if you can, because it dries with a nice shiny finish.

Instead of painting the heart, you could try putting glitter on it, by pasting some glue all over one side and dipping the heart into the glitter.

Stick the heart onto your U, and there you have your 'Love U' to send to someone special!

You could do other designs: Once you've made the U, it's just a case of deciding what you want to say. For a 'Kiss U', draw and cut out a pair of card lips, stick the lips into place, and paint it however you want. To tell someone they're really special, how about making a star? Cut it out and stick it onto your U, decorate it, and put glitter on it. If you need to use other letters for your message, like, 'Miss U', then write little chunky letters on card. Cut them out, pad them out on the front with little sausages of newspaper and cover them in tissue and glue mixture. Then leave them to dry and stick them onto your U, to create a 'Miss U'. Cheer someone up and send a message from U!