• Upcycled ruler Christmas tree
    Christmas - Crafts for adults - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    How to make an upcycled ruler Christmas tree

    December 4, 2014 - By 

    A while ago I saw a brilliant image on Pinterest of a Christmas tree made of vintage rulers. I thought I would attempt it this year and have been buying up old wooden rulers and cribbage boards whenever I see them. Thankfully you can get them for a few pounds and I seem to have amassed a lot! Equipment needed to make an upcycled ruler Christmas tree: collection of vintage wooden rulers mitre block PVA glue clamp How to make an upcycled ruler Christmas tree: I traced a rough shape on a piece of paper of the shape I wanted…

  • Christmas - homestyle - housekeeping

    Filling the house with seasonal scents

    December 3, 2014 - By 

    This time of year is perfect for lighting a candle or two. I love candles and find they really add ambience to a room as well as eliminating nasty smells. With Christmas round the corner I’ve been stocking up on some seasonal scents from Febreze to help set the mood this Christmas. Filling the house with seasonal scents I’m expecting a house full so I want to make sure my house smells fabulous. The new range, which includes yummy sounding Vanilla Latte, Apple & Spice, Warm Cedarwood, Winter Garden and Festive Sprite, are beautifully packaged in vintage-inspired wrapping so are…

  • Gingerbread cloud dough
    Christmas - gingerbread - Kids crafts

    How to make gingerbread cloud dough

    December 2, 2014 - By 

    In the quest to fill our house with lovely Christmas smells today we mixed up a batch of gingerbread cloud dough to play with. It’s simple to make, lasts for weeks and provides a fun sensory experience. Ingredients needed to make gingerbread cloud dough: Four cups of plain flour Half a cup of olive oil A few pinches of ginger or all spice brown food colouring How to make gingerbread cloud dough: Mix the ingredients in a mixing bowl. The ginger spice gave it a little bit of colour. I added a few drops of brown food colouring too but…

  • Christmas - gingerbread - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Christmas chocolate bars

    December 1, 2014 - By 

    I wanted to tell you about the Christmas chocolate bars my children made over the weekend. We re-wrapped shop bought chocolate bars and decorated them to give out at Christmas. I think they are really fun and make sweet gifts for children to make and give. Equipment needed to make Christmas chocolate bars: foil bars of chocolate coloured paper colouring pens ribbon googly eyes glue stick How to make Christmas chocolate bars : First wrap your chocolate bar in foil. Then wrap in a layer of paper – white for a snowman, brown for a gingerbread man or red for Father…

  • melted snowman biscuits - the gingerbread house
    baking - Christmas - Kids crafts - tutorial - Twitter party

    Melted snowman biscuits

    November 29, 2014 - By 

    On Monday I will be co-hosting a fun-filled Nick Jr Craftmas Twitter Party. I was sent a box full of craft supplies and activities to tell you about and I thought it would be fun to make one of them beforehand. Today I am going to share how to make easy melted snowman biscuits. Ingredients needed to make melted snowman biscuits: Gingerbread biscuits Ready made icing Silver balls Marshmallows How to make melted snowman biscuits: Take your biscuit and add a generous dollop of icing. Roughly smooth it over the surface of the biscuit. Cut a marshmallow in half and…

  • Advent crafts - Christmas - Lego

    Our Advent Box

    November 27, 2014 - By 

    I’m really looking forward to December 1st as for me, that’s when Christmas really starts. The Christmas shopping is done, food ordered and planned which means we can look forward to the children’s Christmas concerts, making some lovely decorations and visiting Father Christmas in his grotto. Every year we celebrate Advent with Advent calendars and a book Advent. This year I have introduced an Advent Box Crate to open on December 1st. It’s packed full of goodies for us all to enjoy in the run up to Christmas Day. Most importantly it contains our Elf on the Shelf who will…

  • Christmas - competition - gingerbread house - Kids crafts - tutorial

    15 gingerbread house ideas for kids + a $500 giveaway

    November 25, 2014 - By 

    My Pinterest feed is bulging at the seams with Christmas ideas and inspiration so I thought it would be fun to produce a round up of some fun gingerbread house ideas for kids. Once again I’ve teamed up with the Kids Blogger Network to bring you an amazing giveaway. Don’t forget to read to the bottom of this post for your chance to win one of FOUR $500 cash prizes. Forget baking a gingerbread house from scratch this Christmas! Here are 15 gingerbread house ideas for kids and none of them involve baking. Cardboard seems to be a popular building…

  • 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…

  • book review - Christmas - Kids crafts - What I'm reading

    What I’m reading – A Year in Crafts by Clare Youngs

    November 16, 2014 - By 

    Top of my crafty pile of books is A Year in Crafts by Clare Youngs which contains 52 seasonal projects to make and give. This is a gorgeous book, not only are the projects fun, well laid out and illustrated, but the book itself is a thing of beauty. It’s hard-backed but conceals wire binding so you can actually keep it open whilst crafting. The projects haven’t quite been divided by the seasons but there are 4 handy dividers throughout the book where you can keep your templates, notes or scraps of fabric. There’s also an elastic bookmark to help…