• The Art of Stone Painting: 30 Designs to Spark Your Creativity
    book review - Craft book review - crafts - handmade - Painted rocks

    The Art of Stone Painting book review

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    We love crafting with stones. They are easy to get hold of, a very tactile material and pretty easy to re-use again and again. I was pretty excited when I heard about  a new book called The Art of Stone Painting. I’ve seen some lovely stone crafts on Pinterest and wanted to find out more about creating them myself. I kindly received a copy of The Art of Stone Painting: 30 Designs to Spark Your Creativity by F. Sehnaz Bac through NetGalley. This books aims to help you transform ordinary stones into colourful works of art with this easy-to-follow guide. The Art of Stone…

  • How to make a winter pomander
    Christmas - crafts - Handmade gifts - Winter

    How to make a winter pomander

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    I had forgotten how much I love January. We are still in deepest, darkest winter and we’ve had some beautiful blue skies recently. We’ve never made many Winter crafts but this year we are fully embracing it! So far we’ve made a really fun winter ice lamp, mistletoe and holly and berries sun catchers. Today we’re sharing how to make a winter pomander. We bought a large orange and used the ribbon and cloves which came in our recent hygge-in-a-box box. I also found a metal skewer which helped with the cloves. How to make a winter pomander A pomander…

  • Holly and berries winter sun catcher
    Christmas - crafts - Winter

    Holly and berries winter sun catcher

    January 17, 2017 - By 

    My 6 year old has been off school for the past few days with chicken pox. He’s been quite poorly and Minecraft has been the only thing to cheer him up. To scrape him away from it we re-used our cellophane sweet wrappers to make this fun holly and berries winter sun catcher. We used: white card, green and red cellophane pieces, contact paper, scissors Holly and berries winter sun catcher First I drew some holly leaves and berries on a sheet of card. Then I cut them out using my Swann-Morton scalpel. If I made this again I would only…

  • Hama bead holly and berries craft for kids
    Christmas - crafts - handmade - Winter

    Hama bead holly and berries

    January 13, 2017 - By 

    Today my 6 year old has been off school sick. He has chicken pox, even though I thought he had it when he was little. Apparently you can get it twice, just like his younger sister. Luckily I didn’t have any plans so today we have played Monopoly Token Madness (great for his maths skills!), I’ve watched him play Minecraft for too long and he has been busy creating with hama beads. He asked to get them out and was happy to sit and create. Hama beads are so tactile and we both enjoyed chatting about what we wanted to…

  • Mistletoe sun catcher against a blue sky
    Christmas - crafts - Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial

    Mistletoe sun catcher

    January 6, 2017 - By 

    Mistletoe is such a pretty plant. We usually buy a bunch in December to hang inside our home – the perfect thing to grab a Christmas kiss under! This year we couldn’t find any to bring indoors so we decided to make our own mistletoe sun catcher. Mistletoe sun catcher craft for kids We used: cellophane wrappers from sweets, contact paper and white card. First I drew a piece of mistletoe on a sheet of white card. I cut out the mistletoe using my scalpel and cutting mat but you could do this with scissors. I covered one side with…

  • EmbellishBox - monthly templates for paper cutting
    crafts - handmade - Paper craft - Paper cut art - subscription box

    EmbellishBox monthly templates for paper cutting {subscription box}

    January 4, 2017 - By 

    Last year I really embraced paper cutting. I love paper cutting. It requires few materials and seems to take up less room than my sewing stuff. It’s also easier to put down and pick up again which is why I have a folder full of paper cuts! Having worked my way through Cut It Out! by Poppy Chancellor I was looking for more designs to cut out. I bought a few books from Amazon and then heard about the Embellish Box. This is a monthly subscription box for paper cutters. It sounded great so I bought myself a box and…

  • Issue 74 Mollie Makes Dachshund Brooch Kit
    crafts - handmade - Mollie Makes crafts - sewing

    Mollie Makes Dachshund Brooch Kit

    January 3, 2017 - By 

    Every month I challenge myself to make the Mollie Makes magazine cover gift. I’ve subscribed since it first came out and have a drawer full of unopened kits – but no more! I’ve been making more time for grown up crafting and I love to make the kits and hopefully try something new. I’ve been terrible lately, the last few kits haven’t been very inspiring but I did want to make the latest one. Issue 74 Mollie Makes Dachshund Brooch Kit The Mollie Makes Dachshund Brooch Kit was designed by Alina Bunaciu of Hana Letters. The kit contained everything needed…

  • 9 New Year’s Eve Party Ideas For Kids
    crafts - handmade - New Year crafts

    9 New Year’s Eve Party Ideas For Kids

    December 31, 2016 - By 

    After the success of our Christmas Eve box I wanted to repeat the idea with a New Year’s Eve box! The children know that we are coming to the end of 2016. It’s been a long time since I went out on New Year’s Eve but there’s no reason not to celebrate at home with the children and make some special family memories. This year I’ll be recycling our Christmas Eve box but I’m going to try and buy another if my husband lets me visit Ikea anytime soon! My children love to party so I’ve come up with 9 New Year’s…

  • New Year recycled bells craft for New Year
    crafts - New Year crafts - Recycled crafts

    New Year bells craft for kids

    December 30, 2016 - By 

    I can’t mark the passing of an old year and the start of a new year without making something. Our recycling bin is full so I took the opportunity to rescue a couple of yoghurt pots and tin foil from it. I think it’s the perfect time of year to squeeze in a craft or two. I’ve added links to our other New Years crafts at the bottom of this post, just in case you are feeling inspired! New Year bells craft for kids A few years ago we made paper bells to mark the New Year. Our updated version…