• Gingerbread house painted rocks tutorial
    Christmas - Crafts for kids - gingerbread - Handmade gifts - Painted rocks

    Gingerbread house painted rocks

    November 17, 2018 - By 

    We love making and hiding painted rocks around the town where we live. It’s something we’ve done for a while and really enjoy. We didn’t find any painted rocks on our most recent rock hunting trip so we knew it was time to decorate some for others to find. With Christmas coming up we thought we would try decorating some seasonal gingerbread house painted rocks. Equipment to decorate your own painted rocks Bag of smooth pebbles or rocks (we like these – Amazon affiliate link) 8 pack of Uni Posca paint pens with Ultra fine 1mm nib (we like these…

  • how to make candles
    Crafts for adults - Handmade gifts

    How to make your own candles

    March 28, 2018 - By 

    As you all know, 2018 is my Year of Craft. I’m trying to work my way through my craft stash, my wall of craft books and piles of fabric. The idea is to make the craft kits, weed out some of the unwanted books, and use up the fabric before I buy anymore. I have to admit that the last few weeks have been so busy I haven’t had time to make much. I’ve done a small amount of paper cutting and a stash of projects to make over Easter. With guests coming for Easter I wanted to up my…

  • Minecraft inspired wall art
    Crafts for adults - Handmade gifts - Minecraft crafts

    Minecraft inspired wall art

    March 17, 2018 - By 

    My lovely 7 year old will be turning 8 tomorrow. It’s such a cliche but time is going far too quickly and he is growing up and becoming such a lovely independent young person. He adores Minecraft so I made him some Minecraft inspired wall art as a handmade birthday gift. Minecraft inspired wall art supplies Deep box frame Minecraft paper Scrabble tiles Hot glue gun Bostik Blu Tak Fast Tak Repositionable Spray Glue How to make Minecraft inspired wall art I decided which words I wanted to frame and opted for Eat, Sleep, Mine. I have a huge stash of…

  • easy Mother's Day crafts for kids
    Crafts for kids - Handmade gifts - Mother's Day crafts

    10 easy Mother’s Day crafts for kids to make

    March 4, 2018 - By 

    Can you believe this time next week we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day? Now that the snow has melted my thoughts have been turning to Mother’s Day. It’s a fun day to honour the women in our lives. I can’t resist making a handmade card with the kids and I have to admit that we made ours last week when we were stuck indoors due to the snow. The weather gave me plenty of time to look for ideas for handmade cards and gifts to make this Mother’s Day. Mother”s Day falls on Sunday  11th March here in the UK but…

  • Mothers Day craft for kids
    Crafts for kids - Handmade gifts - Mother's Day crafts

    Fingerprint flower bag for a kid-made Mother’s Day gift

    February 27, 2018 - By 

    This is a busy time of year. Following a long Winter we now seem to have lots of special days to enjoy. We’ve already made a start on our handmade Mother’s Day cards and after school today we had fun with a fingerprint craft for a kid-made Mother’s Day gift. Let me tell you more about it. You will need: blank canvas bag Selection of paints Fingerprint flower bag for a kid-made Mother’s Day gift We have been having a lot of fun with fingerprint crafts lately. We’ve made fingerprint heart keepsakes for Valentine’s Day and fingerprint St Patrick’s Day…

  • Valentine’s clay handprint keepsake
    Crafts for kids - Handmade gifts - Handprint art - Valentines Day crafts

    Valentine’s clay handprint keepsake

    February 8, 2018 - By 

    A few weeks ago my daughter and I were shopping in Hobbycraft where we found a huge display of air drying clay alongside some inspiration of things to make. My daughter wanted to try making something at home so we bought a huge pack of white air drying clay and went home. How to make a Valentine’s clay handprint keepsake We cut the block of clay in half and rolled out one half until it was large enough to place both her hands on it. She pressed both her hands into the clay and I drew around them with a…

  • kid-made Fingerprint heart keepsake
    Crafts for kids - Handmade gifts - Kids crafts - Valentines Day crafts

    Fingerprint heart keepsake for Valentine’s Day

    January 21, 2018 - By 

    We’ve had the most miserable weather all weekend. Days can be very long when you have two kids at home. To bring some colour and joy into our day we decided to make a head start on our Valentine’s Day crafts with some a fingerprint heart keepsake. We love giving handmade gifts. I think I’ve kept almost everything the children have ever made. I want them to understand that the best things are those that have been given a little thought. It doesn’t matter how much they cost but that they have spent their time and energy of giving something…

  • How to make Gingerbread Rocky Road
    baking - Christmas - Crafts for adults - gingerbread - gingerbread house - Handmade gifts

    How to make Gingerbread Rocky Road

    December 21, 2017 - By 

    I have wanted to make Gingerbread Rocky Road for a long time. With things slowing down for Christmas I finally got round to it. I love Rocky Road anyway, it’s a kind of cake, containing a mixture of marshmallows, chocolate, and nuts. I’ve adapted my recipe from Nigella’s Christmas Rocky Road recipe. Ingredients to make Gingerbread Rocky Road 250 grams dark chocolate 150 grams milk chocolate 175 grams soft butter 4 tablespoons golden syrup 200 grams broken gingerbread house (I used part of a gingerbread house kit from Flying Tiger) 150 grams brazil nuts 150 grams red glace cherries 125…

  • 10 Homemade gifts to give teachers
    crafts - Handmade gifts - Kids crafts - tutorial

    10 Homemade gifts to give teachers

    December 7, 2017 - By 

    Ah, that time of year when we have to give grateful thanks to teachers, Teaching Assistants, karate teachers, Beaver Scout leaders and every other adult who comes into contact with your child. I’m not a huge fan of donating money to every Christmas present fund doing the rounds at Christmas. In fact this year our emphasis is on giving handmade gifts. I’m not sure how teachers feel about receiving gift vouchers or boxes of chocolate at this time of the year. My mum was a teacher and I remember her coming home with a stack of gift-wrapped soaps and chocolates…