We thought we would try something a bit different. Our garden is beginning to look very bare, the leaves have fallen from the bushes and trees and what is left is looking very brown. There’s nothing to attract birds so we made some handmade bird feeders using cookie cutters. What you need: bird seed raisins pack of suet string scissors cookie cutters This is a really easy activity and there is plenty of scope for little fingers to get involved. Empty the pack of suet into a bowl and add the bird feed and raisins. Mix with your hands so…
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Over the past few evenings I’ve been busy making 12 festive decorations from Cath Kidston’s latest book – Make Your Own Christmas Decorations. Featuring 12 projects the book includes the patterns as well as the felt, thread, pompoms and cord so all you’ll need is a basic sewing kit and some toy stuffing! There are patterns for a Christmas Robin, Father Christmas, Striped Stocking, Gift-Wrapped Present, Christmas Tree, Frosty Snowman, Winter Reindeer, Holly & Berries, Christmas pudding, Snowy Cottage, Festive Stanley and Christmas Angel. Make your own Christmas decorations! Each project is well laid out and includes a large colour…
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We went to Westfield Stratford City yesterday. Most of the shops already had Christmas window displays, Boots was full of gift sets and I picked up a collection of gingerbread mixes, cutters and kits to try out and perfect over the coming weeks. When we got back we had a bit of a gingerbread making session, and every cutter we have was used by the children. I’ve tried to keep on top of Christmas planning so far. I’m a real list person so have lists of stocking fillers and Christmas presents, Christmas card list and a menu for Christmas Day.…
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In between my Christmas crafting I’ve been making the odd thing for myself. I’m terrible at buying fabric and all kinds of items which I just never get round to using. This is one of those projects. I bought all the equipment but took ages to actually get a needle out and start. I bought the cross stitch iPhone case so long ago I actually imported it as I couldn’t find any for sale in the UK! I love the idea of customising an iPhone case. It’s the one item I have near me all day (besides the children) so…
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I seem to have accumulated a lot of washi tape. It looks pretty but is useful too. We were invited to a birthday party today so I needed to wrap two little gifts but only had brown paper. I had pinned some pretty washi tape projects so I thought I would try them myself – perfect for the PinAddicts Pinterest Challenge. I really like the end result and am thinking this could be a great way to jazz up Christmas presents! If you fancy taking part in the PinAddicts Pinterest Challenge just choose something from your Pinterest boards to create…
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It’s been a while since I participated in Handmade Monday so I thought I would tell you about my latest pin cushion. I used a lovely pattern from Stitch at Home by Mandy Shaw, which is a great book full of inspiring patterns. I love cutwork (we have a great piece of art by Rob Ryan hanging in our bedroom) so it was obvious that I would make the adorable cutwork pin cushion. It’s a lovely little project for using up scraps and I have plenty of pieces of felt and vintage blankets! The pincushion only took an evening to…
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We’re not big on celebrating Halloween but I can’t resist making some Halloween treats. I received a box of Ghostbusters Stay Puft Quality Marshmallows from my favourite sweetshop Cybercandy and thought I would turn them into spooky marshmallows. The marshmallows were tightly squeezed in the box, so I emptied them out and let them breathe and regain their shape. I then sorted out the best, evenly shaped ones (size-ist, I know) and got to work with my edible marker pen. What do you think of my spooky Halloween marshmallows? A great quick craft for kids big and small! Ghostbusters Stay…
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I mentioned the other day how we were aiming for a handmade Christmas. The first step was to make a start on our kid-made Christmas cards. There’s so much inspiration on Pinterest but I narrowed it down to simple ideas I could do with the toddler. He absolutely loves finger painting at the moment so we got the paints out, covered the table in newspaper and got stuck in! Kid-made fingerprint Christmas cards Christmas finger print lights This was so much fun. I opened four pots of paint and let the toddler loose. He’s pretty good if I give him…
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I’m going to be brave and use the C word. There’s something about September that just gets me thinking about Christmas. I’ve written my Christmas wishlist (iPad mini please), been buying stocking fillers and joined in some swaps for Christmas crafting. Christmas doesn’t have to be all about the money. We’ll be keeping it simple. I’ve decided to buy and wrap 24 books to put under the Christmas tree. I love the idea of reading Christmas stories with the children during Advent so have been buying second hand festive books whenever I see them. We’ll also been starting early on…
