Apologies to all those readers who come back regularly for the Monday Crafts post, but our summer calendar has changed so much that we don’t have the continuity of winter when a good part of the weekend is dedicated to crafts. With summer camp drops, trying to fit work in the morning hours, making sure we have a decent lunch by half past one and hundred and one million things to do we fit in crafts whenever we can so please bear with us if we don’t have a crafty post on Mondays, we’ll have one on Tuesdays or any other day of the week. Summer is here so we are often busy with outdoor activities and as we live by the seaside we tend to enjoy the sunshine and time at the beach. From September everything will be back to normal, or at least that is what I keep telling myself!

Our craft this week is a money box shaped like the traditional post box in England. We had the idea when we were in London last month and my son wanted to buy a souvenir for his friend who was looking after his two goldfish back home. We opted to make something London inspired instead, but we have only just got round it. It was worth the wait because the money box came out really nice if I may say so myself.

All you need to make your own post box is a toilet roll or even better the tube from a kitchen roll so you can cut it slightly taller than a loo roll, air dry clay and paint. Cut the letter hole and make a flat sheet of clay ready to cover the loo roll. After you covered the whole surface make the round top and lay it on top. Dip your hands in water every now and then to help you shape the clay.

When the sculpture looks finished leave it to dry. Then paint and varnish and the money box is done.

To close the whole at the bottom use a plastic cap, the loo roll is the standard size for the caps used to close postal tubes so it won’t be difficult to get hold of one.