I have always loved boats as my grandparents had a lovely little sea boat when I was a child, one day I would love my children to have the same experiences as me. For now we have made a fun little boat wall hanging using papier mache and some other basic craft materials.

This is great to hang in the bathroom, once it has been protected with varnish, you can use it to store flannels, cotton pads, cotton buds, etc.

Begin by fully blowing up a balloon, it needs to be done fully to create a firm base for the papier mache. Then tear newspaper into strips around 2.5cm wide and soak them in a container of wallpaper paste. And then cover the lower two thirds of the balloon in five layers of papier mache and leave to dry thoroughly. This may take a couple of days depending on the temperature of the room.

Once the papier mache has dried, burst the balloon and remove it. Now, using some large strong scissors, trim the top of the bowl shape evenly, and cut it into half.

Next, use the marker pen to draw the mast, sails and cabin of the boat wall hanging on to the cardboard. Then place the half bowl shape papier mache piece into position to complete the full shape of the boat wall hanging.

Now, cut the boat shape out from the cardboard using the scissors. Then seal and protect the cardboard with a coating of diluted PVA glue. Then leave the whole thing to dry thoroughly.

For the next step, use the masking tape to attach the half bowl shape to the cardboard boat shape. Then cover the sails and the back of the boat in a few layers of papier mache, and another additional layer for the half bowl part. Then again leave your papier mache boat to dry completely.

Once completely dry, gently rub the whole boat down using fine grade sandpaper. And then prime the whole thing with two coatings of white emulsion paint. Again, allow to dry and paint your own design using acrylic paints in any colours that you like. Leave to dry.

Finally attach an eyelet to the top to allow the boat wall hanging to hang. Then coat the whole thing in some spray varnish to protect your work.