Pass the Crayon

"Make mine a jellyfish", I said to the waiter (in my imagination). 

"Which flavour?", asked the waiter.

"Rainbow", I replied.

"I'm sorry, we are out of rainbow jellyfish"

"Not to worry, I'LL MAKE YOU SOME MORE!"

Hi there, it's that time of the week again- and I'm not talking about made-up-cocktail-o'clock (although that would be great too). No, I'm talking craft-of-the-week-o'clock!

For those of you who haven't already guessed from my amazingly weird segue... we will be making Rainbow Jellyfish!

You will need:

• Different colored crepe paper

• A toilet roll

• Scissors

• Felt-tip pens/ or crayons

• A stapler

Method

1. Take your coloured paper, and cut into long thin strips (making SURE you don't cut all the way up, so that all the strips are still held together.)

2. Take your toilet roll and decorate with a nice smiley face

3. Next, gather up all your strands of tissue, and position them inside the toilet roll, so that they all flow out of the hole, like the t...

A: They are all refugees, and they were all present at 'Innovation Knows No Borders', a conference in celebration of refugee innovation, and the power it has to inspire social, political and digital change.

So who was there?

Innovation Knows No Borders, organised by Migration Hub Network in collaboration with Wikistage, featured ten internationally renowned speakers, who all shared inspiring stories of their work helping to connect, liberate and empower refugees. 'Innovation' was the USP of this event-- and it certainly lived up to its name. The selection of speakers was a great example of how diverse the spectrum of 'innovation' really is: we had talks from creative and social innovators, tech and finance entrepreneurs, a school founder, and the leader of a rescue ship.

As well as guest speakers, we also had the chance to interact with lots of different social innovators, artists, and of course, all of our colleagues at the Migration Hub office, including...

Now that we are well into September, the nights are getting longer, the winter woolies are emerging from wherever the hell we put them last year, and the leaves are falling from the trees.... Yes. Winter is coming.

BUT, we are going to squeeze in one more summery craft before we switch to dried leaf collages and stuff-made-with-pine-cones.

Our art idea this week is a sand collage. This is a fun one to make with younger children, but make sure you keep an eye on them with all that glue and sand- recipe for a sticky situation ;)

You will need:

• Sand

• Sea shells

• Craft Glue (not pritt stick!!)

• Paints & brushes

• Large piece of paper (A3)

• A knife for spreading the sand

Method:

1.  Draw a line across the page: this represents your sea/sand divide

2.  Paint your sea section. Get creative, paint groovy fish, floating jellyfish, maybe some sharks.... whatever floats your boat aha!

3.  Next for the fun part: cover the whole of your sand section with glue- spread eve...

How do you live off £36.95 per week? How does an 85-year-old apiarist with declining health manage to take care of his allotment and two bee hives? How can a dwindling Spanish village survive?

These are just a sample of questions implicitly raised, and answered by The New Arrivals, a fresh and thoughtful project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

So what is The New Arrivals?

The New Arrivals focuses on the daily lives of a selected group of refugees or 'new arrivals', in France, the UK, Spain and Germany, as they navigate through the complex immigration systems, adjust to their new living situations and try to forge a better life for themselves and their families.

This is a four-way initiative, combining the skills of The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, and El Pais, four of the most liberal and pro-refugee newspapers in Europe. The 18-month  project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who bequeathed a one million pound g...

"In zero gravity, I'm falling for you rapidly/ get a drip drift back through the galaxy/ then we dip, spaceship, hyper drivin speed/ gama ray, ultra violet it was you and me/ I think that we could save humanity/ just think, yeah we could form a colony/ On a planet where we f**k, drink and love and peace."

New York born, new-wave hip-hop legend Ojay Morgan, aka Zebra Katz, has recently dropped his new track, 'BLK & WHT'. And guess what? He has dedicated it to the refugee community, with a special mention to Pass the Crayon! We are huge fans of Zebra Katz and to have his endorsement is a massive deal for us. Let's take a closer look...

 'BLK & WHT', described by the New York Time as,

'sublimely sinister... one of the years most striking songs',

and cinematically likened to The Blair Witch Project by Now.com, certainly makes for an unnerving watch...

The music video, directed by Ada Bligaard Søby, was filmed over a two-day period in the forests surrounding Copenhagen, and featur...

So this week we will show you how to make a Button Tree Painting. This is a fun, simple art idea, with gorgeous end results- and it can be done in just tree easy steps! Was that pun oak-ay? No? Never mind.

You will need:

• Assorted buttons

• Paints

• Paint brush

• 1 piece of paper (A3 is preferable)

• Glue

• (extra decorations e.g sequins)

Method:

1. Paint your tree trunk-- this is the most important stage. It's easy to glue on buttons with gay abandon, but if you haven't got a good trunk, it won't look like a tree... it will look a mess.

2. Glue on your buttons-- pay attention to the spacing of the buttons, and where in relationt to the branches the buttons are placed. Have a think about what style of tree you would like--- weeping willow? Sturdy oak?

3. Once you are happy with your results, simply let the glue dry.

And... that's it! This is a tree-mendously easy craft to try; but the results are really cute, and it's a fun one do with the kids. This techni...