• brown paper stitched heart - the gingerbread house
    Handmade gifts - Valentines Day crafts

    Brown paper stitched hearts

    February 10, 2015 - By 

    Today I’m sharing a DIY Valentine’s gift tutorial as part of the TSB Valentine’s Campaign. They offer  joint accounts  amongst other things, so why not make a sweet gift for your other half? These stitched hearts are perfect for hiding a note or Valentine treats. Here’s what I did. Materials needed for brown paper stitched hearts: brown paper, I used paper sandwich bags scissors heart shaped cookie cutter pink tic tac sweets or similar washi tape pinking shears letter stamps How to make brown paper stitched hearts: Take a large cookie cutter and draw around it on the brown paper…

  • crafts - gingerbread house - handmade - Handmade gifts - sewing

    Monthly Makes – December

    December 31, 2014 - By 

    I completely failed to make as many handmade gifts as I wanted too this year. As I got nearer and nearer to Christmas I persuaded myself to move items from my little handmade list into next year! Which means instead of rushing to make things I will be able to spend more time making handmade gifts in the New Year. There’s not much to report in my Monthly Makes. I made one wall hanging for my sister which I can finally share with you. I used a pattern from Home Quilt Home by Janet Clare, which is one of my…

  • Cooking - Family Life - Handmade gifts - Tech!

    Messy fun in the kitchen

    December 27, 2014 - By 

    I think one word can pretty much sum up our Christmas – food! After a lovely few days it’s quite nice to emerge out the other side from a family Christmas. We had a traditional family Christmas and the days passed in a blur of baking, crafting, eating, and playing with presents. I don’t think I’ve ever made so many Lego sets in 48 hours! As I said we’re always follow the same Christmas traditions. Every year we enjoy the same meals through Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We even make the same snacks too, such as homemade…

  • 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…

  • Christmas - Handmade gifts

    Personalised Christmas Treats

    December 6, 2014 - By 

    As well as the handmade gifts I’ve already told you about, I’ve also made a few personalised gifts this year. I can’t reveal too much as my family read my blog, but I really enjoyed designing a calendar with a different photo for each month. Stuck for stocking inspiration? I made some personalised keyrings and mugs too using my favourite photos. I made all these products using Snapfish, an online digital printing service. You can even personalise your baubles which would make a great keepsake which you could add to every year. I was thinking of starting an annual Christmas…

  • felt busy bag gingerbread house
    Christmas - gingerbread house - Handmade gifts - Kids crafts

    Felt busy bag gingerbread house

    November 20, 2014 - By 

    I’m sure you’ve noticed my obsession with gingerbread house but it really comes to life at this time of year. In the last week we’ve made a gingerbread tree, gingerbread biscuits, the gingerbread man story stones and today I wanted to share our felt busy bag gingerbread house. The gingerbread house appears in the well-known fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Gretel are a young brother and sister threatened by a witch living in the deep dark forest in a house constructed of gingerbread and sweets. The two children survive by outwitting her. Aspects of the story are a…

  • competition - Handmade gifts - homestyle

    Win a Canvas print from Wall Create

    November 19, 2014 - By 

    We were recently offered the chance to make a canvas by Wall Create. You know I love filling my house with paintings, posters and photographs but I’ve never made a canvas before. Instead of reproducing a photograph I thought it would be fun to use one of my sons’ recent drawings. He drew a picture for his nanny which I loved, so I Photoshopped out his writing (which said Happy Birthday!) and sent off his drawing. My 4 year loves to draw and write – in case you can’t tell, this is our family 🙂 A lovely canvas arrived a…

  • crafts - handmade - Handmade gifts

    Personalised drawing tiles from Live, Love and Create

    November 8, 2014 - By 

    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…

  • Christmas - gingerbread - handmade - Handmade gifts - sewing

    Monthly makes – October

    October 30, 2014 - By 

    This has been a great month for some grown up crafting. I’ve cut back on my blogging which means lots more time for making the things that make me happy rather than hours spent staring at my laptop. I completed Wild Olive’s Winter Stitching Club pattern which made a really lovely table mat or wall hanging. I loved stitching each hexagon and making them into puffy hexies. I think my favourites are the embroidered Christmas jumper and quilt. Wild Olive’s Winter Stitching Club I’ve completed some smaller projects too, such as a cute little gingerbread man I bought from Asking…