• Twelfth Night biscuits for Three Kings Day
    baking - Crafts for adults - gingerbread - Winter crafts

    Gingerbread crowns for Three Kings Day

    January 6, 2015 - By 

    You know that I love to celebrate the seasons which is why I had to mark Twelfth Night in some way. We took the Christmas decorations down over the weekend (not a job I wanted to do on my own) so the house has been looking a little empty. With everyone back at work and school I made some yummy gingerbread crowns for Three Kings Day, also known as Twelfth Night. So I made a large batch of yummy gingerbread dough. I rolled it out and cut out my shapes – three Russian-inspired crowns for the Three Kings. I used…

  • clothes peg snowflake ornament
    Christmas - Crafts for adults - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    Simple clothes peg snowflake ornament tutorial

    December 9, 2014 - By 

    I have a really simple project to show you today – how to make a snowflake ornament from wooden clothes pegs. they are super sweet and make great decorations for indoors or outside. How to make a simple clothes peg snowflake ornament: You will need 8 wooden clothes pegs, a glue gun and silver paint. The first step is to remove the metal spring from each clothes peg. When you have done that paint them, I chose silver and gave them two coats as my clothes pegs were a bit tatty. Take the two pieces of a clothes peg and…

  • Upcycled ruler Christmas tree
    Christmas - Crafts for adults - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    How to make an upcycled ruler Christmas tree

    December 4, 2014 - By 

    A while ago I saw a brilliant image on Pinterest of a Christmas tree made of vintage rulers. I thought I would attempt it this year and have been buying up old wooden rulers and cribbage boards whenever I see them. Thankfully you can get them for a few pounds and I seem to have amassed a lot! Equipment needed to make an upcycled ruler Christmas tree: collection of vintage wooden rulers mitre block PVA glue clamp How to make an upcycled ruler Christmas tree: I traced a rough shape on a piece of paper of the shape I wanted…

  • How to bleach bottle brush trees
    Christmas - Christmas - Crafts for adults - tutorial

    How to bleach bottle brush trees

    November 11, 2014 - By 

    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…

  • Experimenting with fabric dye
    crafts - Crafts for adults - Dunelm Mill Blogger

    Experimenting with fabric dye

    August 29, 2014 - By 

    One of my Summer projects was to have some fun with DYLON dye. Dyeing is a great way to give your textiles a new lease of life, especially if you want to be on trend with the latest colours. These days it couldn’t be easier, all you need is some packets of fabric dye, salt, a bucket and your fabric. Experimenting with fabric dye I was looking back through my archives and it’s been a while since I dyed anything. Some of my favourite projects include dyeing a blanket for Little Sis and dyeing vintage wool blankets. I’ve used the…

  • upcycled ruler tray - the gingerbread house
    Crafts for adults - Handmade gifts - Recycled crafts

    Upcycled folding ruler tray

    July 4, 2014 - By 

    Last Christmas I made a fun Christmas tree from vintage folding rulers. I’m not sure I ever blogged about it but it left me with quite a few pieces of vintage rulers to play with. I thought a little tray would be a good use of some of the pieces. There are always bunches of keys and receipts lying around so I thought a tray would be useful to tidy up our hall. Upcycled folding ruler tray materials: Hardboard Vintage folding ruler PVA wood glue Sand paper How to make an upcycled folding ruler tray: I re-used a folding ruler…

  • how to make an easy ladybird cape
    crafts - Crafts for adults - nursery - sewing - tutorial

    How to make a minibeast costume

    May 30, 2014 - By 

    A couple of weeks ago I read those words that strike fear into a parents heart. My 4 year old was taking part in a Minibeast concert at nursery and needed to dress up as a minibeast. I pride myself on being an organised parent but I only found out about the dress up a week before the event! When I asked my son what he wanted to wear he said a worm, a snail and also a butterfly. We had a chat and compromised on a ladybird cape that could be worn with black trousers and a black long-sleeved…

  • how to make a vintage board game display
    crafts - Crafts for adults - decorating - interiors - tutorial - upcycling - vintage

    How to make a vintage board game display

    May 11, 2014 - By 

    A couple of days ago I wrote about my collection of vintage board games, all picked up at local charity shops for a few pounds. The game tokens will go into my Etsy shop as soon as I have time to list them and this weekend I finally persuaded my husband to let me hang them on the wall. Last weekend was spent painting and decorating our bedroom and we just have a few final touches to make. We obviously got bitten by the bug as we also went out and bought the things needed to decorate my daughter’s room…

  • homemade slippers
    crafts - Crafts for adults - handmade

    Handmade slippers

    November 24, 2013 - By 

    You all know how much I love making things for the children or our home but it’s not often I make any thing for myself. I was contacted by Amanda who owns Joe’s Toes, selling felt slipper kits, slippers and felt accessories, and asked if I would like to try a kit out. I chose a gorgeous slipper kit in seasonal red. I’d love to say I slaved over the slippers but I really didn’t. The kit contained everything I needed to make a pair of slippers – outsole, midsole, insole, upper, wool and needle. Last night I sat down…