• No sew Christmas pudding ornaments
    Christmas - crafts - tutorial

    No sew Christmas pudding ornament

    December 21, 2014 - By 

    Earlier this month I made some no sew Christmas pudding decorations to sell at the school Christmas Fayre. They were quick and easy to make and look great on a Christmas tree so I thought I’d share a little tutorial with you. Equipment needed to make no sew Christmas pudding ornament: ping pong balls silicone glue brown wool green and white felt red sequins scissors How to make no sew Christmas pudding ornament: Wrap your ping pong ball completely with brown wool, make sure there are no gaps. When you’ve finished leave a small loop to hang your ornament and…

  • clay gift tags
    crafts - handmade - Handmade gifts - tutorial

    Easy personalised clay tags

    December 21, 2014 - By 

    As we’re hosting a family Christmas I really wanted to add as many handmade touches as I could. This year I’ve made some super sweet clay tags to hang on everyone’s cracker. When they’ve finished with the cracker they can remove and keep their tag and hang it on the tree. Equipment needed to make easy personalised clay tags: Sculpey oven-bake clay Small cookie cutters Acrylic paint and brush Small letter stamps How to make easy personalised clay tags: Roll out your Sculpey clay until it is 2-3mm thick. I rolled it between two sheets of greaseproof paper so it…

  • crafts - gingerbread house - handmade - Patchwork & Quilting

    Gingerbread house quilt block

    December 20, 2014 - By 

    A couple of weeks ago I was asked to take part in a collaborative quilt with some other crafty bloggers. The idea was that we each made a quilt block which would get sent to the next blogger via InPost. They would then attach their block to the quilt and send it on to the next person. I made a couple of blocks as I couldn’t decide what to make. This morning I received a text message to say our #CraftTheParcel was waiting to be collected at the locker I designated. I scanned the QR code I had been sent…

  • Christmas - crafts - handmade - tutorial

    Brown paper packages tied up with string

    December 19, 2014 - By 

    This evening I’ve been playing around trying to pretty up some Christmas presents. I love wrapping my presents with simple brown paper but they are not always well received. I remember last year my father in law looking a little puzzled when I handed over our presents, he asked if we had run out of wrapping paper! This year I made sure to wrap his presents in the brightest Christmas paper I could find. I wanted to re-visit my idea of simple brown paper for some gifts but I thought I would embellish them to show I’d put some effort…

  • Liberty scrap baubles
    Christmas - crafts - handmade - tutorial

    Stash buster Liberty scrap baubles

    December 18, 2014 - By 

    I love crafting with styrofoam baubles. We’ve made a styrofoam snowman, styrfoam pumpkin, and even a styrofoam spider. I have lots of them so am always trying to think of different uses for them. Today I’m sharing my tutorial for stash buster Liberty scrap baubles. This is the perfect activity if you have any left over fabric scraps, but I think Liberty fabrics are exceptionally pretty. Equipment needed to make Liberty scrap baubles: scraps of Liberty fabrics PVA glue water bowl and brush styrofoam balls How to make Liberty scrap baubles: Cut the scraps into small pieces about 1cm square.…

  • crafts - gingerbread house - sewing

    Monthly Makes – November

    November 29, 2014 - By 

    You’re probably not surprised to hear that my Monthly Makes have had a decidedly festive feel this month. The union jack cot quilt didn’t get finished in time for Little Sis’s birthday (bad mummy). It’s made it to the top of my WIP list for 2015 and I’m going to blog about my progress every month until it’s bound and quilted. I have made some smaller projects. My favourite has to be the felt busy bag gingerbread house I made for my children. They absolutely love it and it’s really captured their imagination. I love it too but then I’m…

  • crafts - giveaway - Kids crafts

    Win 1 of 5 Spirograph Optical 3D Studio Sets (worth £24.99!)

    November 28, 2014 - By 

    I have a really fun giveaway for all my crafty readers today. Remember Spirograph? Well it’s back! Kids of all ages can draw cool, geometric creations in bright colour. The new 21st century Spirograph now comes with eye-popping 3D technology, so kids can watch the drawings jump out from the page in an amazing display. Sets are available from £4.99 to £24.99. I have a great giveaway where five readers of the gingerbread house have the chance to win a Spirograph Optical 3D Studio Set, worth £24.99. With it’s geometric and swirling patterns, Spirograph has helped kids big and small to…

  • crafts - gingerbread - handmade - Kids crafts - tutorial

    How to make a gingerbread men paper garland

    November 23, 2014 - By 

    I’m not going to apologise for another gingerbread-related craft 🙂 With only 5 weeks to go until Christmas we are enjoying our festive crafting. Today I wanted to share the sweet gingerbread men paper garland we made. Equipment needed to make a gingerbread men paper garland: Gingerbread men paper shapes brown acrylic paint and brush glue sticks stickers, pompoms and shiny things to decorate bakers twine How to make a gingerbread men paper garland: First paint your paper gingerbread men brown. You could cut out your shapes on brown paper or card to miss out this step. Set up an…

  • Vintage Scrabble tile decorations
    crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling - vintage

    Vintage Scrabble tile decorations

    November 13, 2014 - By 

    I picked up a couple of vintage Scrabble sets at the weekend and thought I would upcycle the tiles and stands into Christmas decorations. They are so simple to make and work out quite cheaply. I’ve signed up for a couple of Christmas swaps so have been making some as gifts too. Today I’m going to share my simple way of upcycling vintage Scrabble tile decorations. Equipment you will need to make vintage Scrabble tile decorations: Vintage Scrabble tiles Vintage Scrabble tile holders (the wooden ones work best) Glue gun How to make vintage Scrabble tile decorations: Lay out your…