Creativity 521 #1 - Bake a rainbow fruit bowl

Posted by ~Summer~ on July 05, 2012
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It's not always easy to come up with creative ideas.

Sometimes you go into a mental block and your imagination forgets it has legs that can run or wings that can soar.

Here are some things you can do to get the creative juice flowing:

1) Go window shopping. Visit the stationery store, toy store, craft shop or even the supermarket.
2) Browse through craft websites or blogs for some inspiration.
3) Gather some friends, talk to them and draw ideas from everyday topics.
4) Rummage through the house and find materials that might fuel your creativity.

I love 1) because it's a great motivation to dress up and hit the streets and 4) because it's a brilliant way to save on money.

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Remember Angel and I did a butterfly craft with Hama beads some time ago?

I had bought two big packets of the Hama Maxi beads and was looking for a chance to use them up. So today, we decided to make a Rainbow Fruit Bowl!

What you need:

1) A bowl of your desired size (It must have a smooth surface and is safe for use in the oven)
2) One teaspoon of cooking oil and a brush
3) Assorted Hama beads (I used the Maxi ones but you can also use the smaller sizes)
4) Oven

Firstly, brush a layer of oil onto the inside of the bowl.

Next, arrange the beads in your desired pattern starting from the bottom.


It is a great opportunity to let your child practise her finger dexterity and you can also task her to pick out the colours.

Work your way up, ensuring that there is as little space as possible in between the beads.

Beware! This craft might take longer than half an hour and if your child has an attention span like my girl, chances are she'll run off halfway and leave you to finish up the job. Angel decided to become the photographer and started taking pictures of her unfinished craft and her mummy who was still in her PJs.



Once you are satisfied with the final arrangement, put the bowl in a preheated oven at 200°C for 8-10 minutes. Since different ovens work differently, the trick is to constantly keep an eye on it and once the beads start to melt and have fused together, you can remove it from the oven.

Tip: For mine, the top part of the bowl started to melt faster than the rest so I switched my oven from top and bottom heat to bottom heat only.

Allow the bowl to cool. Once so, it should be easily removed by just tipping over. Wipe away any remaining oil from the underside and ta-dah, we are done! Easy, isn't it?

For the more creative ones or those with more time to spare, you can come up with designs like making floral patterns with the beads (1 in the middle, 6 around it). As for us, we were contented to stick with just a rainbow one for our first attempt.

So, how do you like our new fruit bowl? You can also use it to contain items like mobile phones, keys, coins, small toys or any spare items. Our table definitely looks more vibrant and colourful now!

At least I think Angel was thrilled to see the final product because she proudly exclaimed "See? I help Mummy to make this!"

Yes baby, Mummy probably couldn't have done a better job without you.

For more craft ideas and DIY tutorials, visit my gallery here.

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To fellow bloggers who wish to share a craft session, DIY tips or any creative idea, come join in the fun! Simply grab my button above, include it in your post/sidebar or text link back to my party and add your link below! Do also visit other participants' blogs for more inspiration!

I will be hosting Creativity 521 every fortnightly and I hope you can join me on the 5th and 21st of every month! Remember: The sky's the limit when it comes to creativity!


27 comments:

  1. Oh i love this idea!!! Creative and yet simple enough even for me!

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    1. Hihi, yeah I love simple crafts most of the time. Hehe. Fun and easy! =p Glad you like it too!

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  2. Beautiful fruit bowl and how creative it is! I have some maxi hama beads lying around and will find time to bake with my daughter too! Thanks for sharing :)

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    1. Cool! Remember not to let the beads over melt! I hope you and your girl will have as much fun as we did! You are most welcome!

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  3. Very beautifully done. Thanks for the idea and looking forwad to more creative craft ideas.

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    1. Thanks Susan! Love your fishing idea too! Yes, sure hope we can exchange more creative craft ideas again soon! =) It's good to have more inspiration!

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  4. Very nice idea! Will link up when I have my craft posts up cos they are nothing more than ideas in my head at the moment haha =)

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    1. Thanks Madeline! Looking forward to your next craft post then! Ideas are a great start, it's cool that you have them already!

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  5. Such a wonderful craft, and easy to make!!

    Now to try it :)

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    1. Yes Regina, easy easy easy. =p Hope you'll have fun if you do! =)

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  6. I must say, I saw the start of this and thought, baking plastic, this can't go well! But it went well indeed! Very sweet and creative little project and your wonderful helper seems quite rightly pleased with the result.

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    1. Haha Lisa, glad you think it went well! Since the beads are supposed to be ironed on to fuse together, I guess some heat in the oven will achieve the same effect too and let you play around with it in so many more ways. Thanks for the sweet comment and you bet my girl was happy! In fact, she wore it as a hat too! =p

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  7. very nice fruit bowl and looks easy (just tedious). Question about safety. That's plastic we are heating? Any thoughts of safety?

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    1. Hihi! As far as I understand, these beads are safe to be fused together by means of iron heating and previously I had checked with the craft experts at the store about putting it in the oven and they had done it before too. =) So, it seems fine so far the times we have done it. If you are worried about the fruits coming in touch, you can always layer the bowl or better still, use it as a decoration, ornament or contain other stuff that's non edible! =) It's the fun of making it that's more precious! Thanks for popping by!

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  8. this is really nice!!!! gosh... i have so many of these beads that i don't know what to do with them! now i know... thanks for sharing! :)

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    1. Welcome Ming! Hope you'll have fun too! Do link up some of your wonderful crafts too when you are free, it'll be so inspiring and fun to share! =)

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  9. I saw this on pinterest before and it's definitely on my to-do list! yours look so pretty... and seems pretty strong with so many fruits!

    Ai @ Sakura Haruka

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    1. Cool! I've seen how the craft experts at the shop here use these beads to make vases and even lamp shades, so a bowl was really the simplest one to make. =) Cool, have fun! Yes it turned out strong and hard indeed!

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  10. That looks awesome, and I bet your little one was kept busy for quite a while making it too! I'm a new follower from MBC - I love your blog and will be visiting often! :)

    maker-land.blogspot.com.au

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  11. Very cool, I love how she picked out the beautiful greens. I am stopping by from MBC and am a new follower. I would be so grateful if you would link up at Mom's Library! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks for popping by! Green is my favourite colour! =)

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  12. Hi Summer just checking for the oven is it those we bake type of convention oven? Likes the end result,

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    1. Hihi, yes it's the oven i normally use to bake cakes and chicken wings. Keke. Hope you succeed and have fun in the process! =)

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  13. Hi thanks Summer. Talking about bakes, i rmmber reading a post of yours which you bakeD a heart-shaped Strawberry cake, looks so yummy with the crumbled biscuits as the base. You should post more of your yummilicious bakes next time :)

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    1. Haha yesh I did, for the hubby's birthday. But I'm not so much of a baker, would prefer to do crafts any time. So I only bake on special days like birthdays and anniversaries. =) Still, I bought a oven for my home in Singapore and hope I will continue to use it when I get back home! =) Thanks for the sweet advice though!

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  15. I don't have a metal bowl and was wondering if you thought an oven safe glass bowl would work. I love this idea!

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Yoohoo, thanks so much for reading my blog and leaving your comment! I am feeling the love! (^.^)