• Handmade Christmas cards with Stampin' Up!
    Christmas - Crafts for adults - Paper craft

    Handmade Christmas cards with Stampin’ Up!

    December 12, 2018 - By 

    A few weeks I received a lovely bundle of craft supplies from Stampin’ Up!. You may remember I was first introduced to them back in 2012 when I attended a lovely craft event to learn more about them and their products. Stampin’ Up! are leaders in decorative stamps, handmade greeting cards, and papercrafting. They make products which inspire people to discover and share their creativity. Handmade Christmas cards with Stampin’ Up! I received Stampin’ Up’s! Christmas Card Kit which included the Making Christmas Bright Photopolymer Stamp Set, Clear Block D, All Is Bright A4 Cardstock Pack, Whisper White Thick A4 Cardstock, Call Me…

  • easy Chocolate Christmas pretzel tree recipe
    Christmas - Crafts for adults

    Chocolate Christmas tree pretzels recipe

    December 4, 2018 - By 

    December seems to be whizzing by just as quickly as November did. The children are so excited which is lovely to see. They love the excitement of seeing what’s inside their Advent calendars every day. We have some bigger Christmas treats lined up this weekend and I really hope we will get to make a start on building our annual gingerbread house too. I love making Christmas treats and my Chocolate Christmas tree pretzels are always a big hit. They are simple to make so I thought I would share them in case you are in need of a quick chocolate…

  • Gingerbread house painted rocks tutorial
    Christmas - Crafts for kids - gingerbread - Handmade gifts - Painted rocks

    Gingerbread house painted rocks

    November 17, 2018 - By 

    We love making and hiding painted rocks around the town where we live. It’s something we’ve done for a while and really enjoy. We didn’t find any painted rocks on our most recent rock hunting trip so we knew it was time to decorate some for others to find. With Christmas coming up we thought we would try decorating some seasonal gingerbread house painted rocks. Equipment to decorate your own painted rocks Bag of smooth pebbles or rocks (we like these – Amazon affiliate link) 8 pack of Uni Posca paint pens with Ultra fine 1mm nib (we like these…

  • Elf cupcake liner craft for kids to make from the gingerbread house blog
    Christmas - Crafts for kids - Elf on the Shelf

    Elf cupcake liner craft for kids to make

    November 15, 2018 - By 

    It’s nearly time to find our two elves and bring them out of their hiding place (at the bottom of my wardrobe). I love December 1st even though it means a pretty manic 24 days of elf antics. I can’t resist an elf craft and it’s definitely time to share our cute elf cupcake liner craft. Equipment to make our Elf cupcake liner craft White cupcake liners Tan craft paint Red, white and brown paper Blue and black marker Cotton balls Scissors Paint brush Elf cupcake liner craft 1. First flatten the cupcake liner, paint it with tan craft paint…

  • 24 new Elf on the Shelf ideas
    Christmas - Elf on the Shelf - Family Life

    24 new Elf on the Shelf ideas

    December 28, 2017 - By 

    December is such a busy month for any parent. Sometimes I wonder why I make life extra hard for myself but whilst the children are young we have an Elf on the Shelf. I bought our Elf on the Shelf from Amazon a few years ago. It was really expensive at the time but they are a lot more affordable now. It came in a presentation box with a story book.The idea of the Elf on a Shelf is that he keeps an eye on children during December, reporting good and bad behaviour back to Father Christmas. It’s definitely a…

  • How to make Gingerbread Rocky Road
    baking - Christmas - Crafts for adults - gingerbread - gingerbread house - Handmade gifts

    How to make Gingerbread Rocky Road

    December 21, 2017 - By 

    I have wanted to make Gingerbread Rocky Road for a long time. With things slowing down for Christmas I finally got round to it. I love Rocky Road anyway, it’s a kind of cake, containing a mixture of marshmallows, chocolate, and nuts. I’ve adapted my recipe from Nigella’s Christmas Rocky Road recipe. Ingredients to make Gingerbread Rocky Road 250 grams dark chocolate 150 grams milk chocolate 175 grams soft butter 4 tablespoons golden syrup 200 grams broken gingerbread house (I used part of a gingerbread house kit from Flying Tiger) 150 grams brazil nuts 150 grams red glace cherries 125…

  • DisneyStore magic
    Christmas - parenting

    Giving #GiftMagic this Christmas with the Disney Store

    December 5, 2017 - By 

    My children are so excited for Christmas. I feel a huge amount of responsibility to make it truly magical for them, without making them into spoilt children along the way. I thought this year might be the year that my son discovered that Father Christmas wasn’t real. Thankfully he is still a 100% believer and has been so excited to come downstairs every day, open his Advent calendars and see where our naughty Elf has moved to. Of course Christmas can be magical whether you believe in Father Christmas or not. Christmas is my most favourite time of the year,…

  • Advent Candle Suncatcher tutorial
    Advent crafts - Christmas - crafts - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Advent Candle Suncatcher

    December 5, 2017 - By 

    As well as all the chocolate and books, Advent is about something much simpler, which often gets overlooked. The word Advent loosely means “coming” and is the time of waiting and preparing for the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The first Sunday of Advent was actually Sunday 3rd December and we marked it with a lovely Advent Candle Suncatcher craft. We love making suncatchers throughout the year. I couldn’t find that we had ever made one for Advent so today we’re going to share the Advent candle suncatcher we made. Suncatchers are so simple to make, and lovely to look…

  • Preparing for the Elf on a Shelf
    Christmas - Elf on the Shelf - parenting

    Preparing for the Elf on a Shelf

    November 26, 2017 - By 

    A couple of years ago we started the Elf on a Shelf tradition in our house. I know not everyone likes the idea of Elf on a Shelf but I think it’s fun and so do my children. Last year was the first year I managed to move him every day of Advent and you can see a round up of what the Elf got up to in this post. As well as our Elf we have the book he came with, An Elf Story. I also bought a little elf door to explain how he arrived in our house.…