I love sharing my finds with you so today I wanted to tell you about Live, Love and Create. They are a husband and wife team who operate a small family run pottery, craft studios, gift shop and tea room in a wonky old shop in rural North Lincolnshire. Recently they have launched one of their most popular products, personalised drawing tiles, to the wider world via their new online shop. They invited me to try out a personalised tie and I knew it would make the perfect birthday present for my mum. She loves receiving letters and drawings from…
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I am really looking forward to lots of crafting time over half term. My 4 year old has a long list of things to make, bake and craft which I couldn’t be happier about. Today we made a Chocolate House which was a choc on choc kit so everything was included – the chocolate beans, moulds, garden scene and chef’s hat. I melted the beans using a small silicone pot in the microwave which made pouring the melted chocolate really easy. I used the white chocolate for the four walls and the milk chocolate for the roof and trees. The…
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This has been quite a quiet week for us. We’ve stayed close to home, just trying to get through the days until half term. My 4 year old had a brilliant school report. I know I’m totally biased but it was great to hear how well he’s settled into Reception. I was able to look through his workbooks where he had written about why he was special (because he can ride a bike) and what he wants to be when he’s older (an artist). I baked some delicious lemon meringue cupcakes after finally getting my hands on a packet…
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Today I had a lovely day all to myself at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally. I’ve been for the last couple of years but this year, for the first time, I booked myself on a couple of the Learning Curves workshops. Boy, did that make the day go super fast! First thing in the morning I found myself making a hand painted tile pot stand. I went for a simple design, it just needs baking in the oven to seal it. After a short break it was off to learn how to recycle materials to make a…
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Every couple of weeks I receive a mystery parcel of craft supplies and the latest Bostik glue product. The idea is to make something fun with the children. Our latest box was full of amazing goodies in autumnal colours and we all enjoyed looking at the felt, wool, coloured paper and styrofoam balls and dreaming of what we could make. We thought we would make a styrofoam ball pet for Halloween and it was fun and easy to do. Equipment needed to make a stryofoam ball spider: styrofoam ball black tissue paper googly eyes pipe cleaners ric rac to hang How…
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Today I have a fun craft to share with you which combines my love of recycling and making handmade gifts. I’m getting a head start on my handmade Christmas gifts so if you’re my sister and you’re reading this please look away now! I really like making candles and thought I would use some vintage tins from my stash to make sweet tin candles with personalised photos. Equipment you will need to make a personalised tin candle: assortment of vintage tins soy candle wax candle dye candle wicks printer glossy premium photo paper How to make a personalised tin candle The first step is…
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I’ve been having so much fun looking for festive decorations to make and you all know that gingerbread men are my absolute favourite. Today I’ve put together a list of 15 felt gingerbread people to make and sew, have fun checking them out! 15 felt gingerbread people to make and sew You can’t beat a gingerbread man, they’re great for re-telling the story of the gingerbread boy but make a great decoration too. There are lots of patterns out there . I love Wild Olive’s gingerbread man although I’ve often just drawn around a cookie cutter to make my felt…
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I spotted pumpkins during the weekly shop and my children were really curious about them so we bought one. It has taken pride of place in the dining room and we’ve been inspired to craft our own pumpkins with buttons. Materials required for an easy button pumpkin craft: paper orange and black paint orange buttons glue stick How to make an easy button pumpkin: First draw a pumpkin shape on a piece of paper and paint. As you can see Little Sis went a little crazy with the paint on her first attempt. We set our pumpkin paintings aside and…
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September was a pretty busy month for making things. Aside from crafting with the children, which happens pretty much every day, there was also some baking with carrot cakes and a lovely Victoria sponge. There was the finishing off of WIPs and making a start on handmade gifts for Christmas so I thought I would write about my Monthly Makes. The month started with the London-themed ATC I made for a swap. I embroidered a London bus (from a pattern in Annela Hoey’s Little Stitches). I received a lovely ATC from my partner, she created a sandcastle and used a…
