• Christmas - gingerbread - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Christmas chocolate bars

    I wanted to tell you about the Christmas chocolate bars my children made over the weekend. We re-wrapped shop bought chocolate bars and decorated them to give out at Christmas. I think they are really fun and make sweet gifts for children to make and give. Equipment needed to make Christmas chocolate bars: foil bars of chocolate coloured paper colouring pens ribbon googly eyes glue stick How to make Christmas chocolate bars : First wrap your chocolate bar in foil. Then wrap in a layer of paper – white for a snowman, brown for a gingerbread man or red for Father…

  • baking - Christmas - Kids crafts - tutorial - Twitter party

    Melted snowman biscuits

    On Monday I will be co-hosting a fun-filled Nick Jr Craftmas Twitter Party. I was sent a box full of craft supplies and activities to tell you about and I thought it would be fun to make one of them beforehand. Today I am going to share how to make easy melted snowman biscuits. Ingredients needed to make melted snowman biscuits: Gingerbread biscuits Ready made icing Silver balls Marshmallows How to make melted snowman biscuits: Take your biscuit and add a generous dollop of icing. Roughly smooth it over the surface of the biscuit. Cut a marshmallow in half and…

  • Advent crafts - Christmas - Lego

    Our Advent Box

    I’m really looking forward to December 1st as for me, that’s when Christmas really starts. The Christmas shopping is done, food ordered and planned which means we can look forward to the children’s Christmas concerts, making some lovely decorations and visiting Father Christmas in his grotto. Every year we celebrate Advent with Advent calendars and a book Advent. This year I have introduced an Advent Box Crate to open on December 1st. It’s packed full of goodies for us all to enjoy in the run up to Christmas Day. Most importantly it contains our Elf on the Shelf who will…

  • Christmas - competition - gingerbread house - Kids crafts - tutorial

    15 gingerbread house ideas for kids + a $500 giveaway

    My Pinterest feed is bulging at the seams with Christmas ideas and inspiration so I thought it would be fun to produce a round up of some fun gingerbread house ideas for kids. Once again I’ve teamed up with the Kids Blogger Network to bring you an amazing giveaway. Don’t forget to read to the bottom of this post for your chance to win one of FOUR $500 cash prizes. Forget baking a gingerbread house from scratch this Christmas! Here are 15 gingerbread house ideas for kids and none of them involve baking. Cardboard seems to be a popular building…

  • Christmas - gingerbread house - Handmade gifts - Kids crafts

    Felt busy bag gingerbread house

    I’m sure you’ve noticed my obsession with gingerbread house but it really comes to life at this time of year. In the last week we’ve made a gingerbread tree, gingerbread biscuits, the gingerbread man story stones and today I wanted to share our felt busy bag gingerbread house. The gingerbread house appears in the well-known fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a witch living in the deep dark forest in a house constructed of gingerbread and sweets. The two children survive by outwitting her. Aspects of the story are a…

  • book review - Christmas - Kids crafts - What I'm reading

    What I’m reading – A Year in Crafts by Clare Youngs

    Top of my crafty pile of books is A Year in Crafts by Clare Youngs which contains 52 seasonal projects to make and give. This is a gorgeous book, not only are the projects fun, well laid out and illustrated, but the book itself is a thing of beauty. It’s hard-backed but conceals wire binding so you can actually keep it open whilst crafting. The projects haven’t quite been divided by the seasons but there are 4 handy dividers throughout the book where you can keep your templates, notes or scraps of fabric. There’s also an elastic bookmark to help…

  • Christmas - Christmas - Crafts for adults - tutorial

    How to bleach bottle brush trees

    This year’s obsession is house-shaped tea light holders. We recently put up two long shelves in our living room. They’re really long and high up enough so they can’t be taken over by my 4 year old and his obsession with making displays of his toys. I’ve accumulated a small collection of tea light holders and I’ve made them into a little village, complete with sweet little bottle brush trees. I was aiming for a green and white theme but a few red houses have slipped in so I thought I would mix up the colour even more by bleaching…

  • book review - Christmas - competition

    Miffy the Fairy and a Christmas with Miffy Activity Book giveaway

    The John Lewis Christmas advert has been aired for the first time which means the countdown to Christmas has begun. Miffy, created by Dutch illustrator Dick Bruna, nearly 60 years ago, is a firm favourite in our house. We were excited to hear that new books and an activity book have been released in time for Christmas. The titles are Miffy in the Snow, Miffy’s Dream and Miffy the Fairy. There is also a Christmas with Miffy Activity book! Activity books are great, my 2 year old practically eats them! Miffy is a lovable little bunny who likes to find…

  • Christmas - handmade

    Our new Christmas tradition – Christmas plate

    Is it too early to be talking about Christmas? I don’t think so! Now the weather has turned colder my thoughts have turned to Christmas and the pile of presents I’m trying to hide from my children is growing. One thing I can’t hide away is this wonderful plate from Bluebelle Create which we were sent. I shared it on my Instagram feed when I un-wrapped it and it got lots of Instagram-love. Isn’t it lovely? Bluebelle Create is a lovely handmade business, which you know is right up my street, making personalised and handmade gifts, from signature plates to…