• DUCK TAPE VALENTINE ENVELOPES from the gingerbread house blog
    crafts - Crafts for adults - Duck Tape crafts - Valentines Day crafts

    Duck Tape Valentine envelopes

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    The other day I made a super sweet fabric envelope for my daughter. Yesterday I made something for my son from Duck Tape! As much as I loved the Liberty envelope I knew he would like something a little more robust so crafted an envelope from Duck Tape. Duck Tape Valentine envelope craft I love crafting with Duck Tape and they have a great range of colours for this time of year. Envelopes are pretty simple to make and you an make them any size, perfect for a chocolate heart or little card. First I made a Duck Tape sheet…

  • competition - crafts - handmade - Handmade gifts - sewing - Valentines Day crafts

    Win 1 of 2 Sew Your Own craft kits

    February 11, 2015 - By 

    I have been enjoying all the heart themed crafts over the last few weeks. There’s just something about the bright colours at this generally gloomy time of year. Our house is filled with hand made cards, decorations and a few sweet treats too. My children are a lovely age for this little celebration and they’ve really enjoyed making cards for everyone. With two young children much of my crafting is now aimed at them. They love to craft more than anything and our house is filled with their work. I figure I have plenty of time to craft when they…

  • How to bleach bottle brush trees
    Christmas - Christmas - Crafts for adults - tutorial

    How to bleach bottle brush trees

    November 11, 2014 - By 

    This year’s obsession is house-shaped tea light holders. We recently put up two long shelves in our living room. They’re really long and high up enough so they can’t be taken over by my 4 year old and his obsession with making displays of his toys. I’ve accumulated a small collection of tea light holders and I’ve made them into a little village, complete with sweet little bottle brush trees. I was aiming for a green and white theme but a few red houses have slipped in so I thought I would mix up the colour even more by bleaching…

  • 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…

  • Easy button pumpkin craft - the gingerbread house
    crafts - Crafts for kids - Halloween crafts - tutorial

    Easy button pumpkin craft

    October 4, 2014 - By 

    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…

  • crafts - Kids crafts - Lego - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling

    How to transform an Ikea table into a Lego Duplo table

    June 12, 2014 - By 

    One of my favourite upcycled crafts has been transforming our old Ikea coffee table into a Lego Duplo table for the children. It’s probably the piece of furniture we’ve had the longest as I think we bought it 8 years ago when we first moved in together. It’s served us well. A couple of years ago it got its first transformation. It was given a coat or two of blackboard paint so the toddler could do his mark making on it. He quickly got bored of that idea (walls were much more appealing) so it was pretty un-used and even…

  • red wool wrapped heart in window
    crafts - handmade - toddler

    Toddler-friendly Valentine craft

    January 19, 2014 - By 

    A while ago I pinned a pretty picture of wool hearts. I wanted to try them with my son but the metal heart (made from floral wire) was too fiddly for him to hold and wrap at the same time. Instead we tried using some chunky heart-shaped cookie cutters which were much easier for him to hold. Toddler-friendly Valentine craft – wrapped wool hearts I covered the outside of the cookie cutter in double-sided sticky tape, then he had fun wrapping each one with red wool. When he had finished I tied a knot in the wool at the top…

  • crafts - Kids crafts - nursery - tutorial

    Hickory Dickory Dock craft

    January 17, 2014 - By 

    My son is really enjoying being a part of his new nursery. I’m enjoying the routine (and a 3 hour break from my son every day, what’s not to love?) and he’s learning more than I could have imagined. This term has been all about nursery rhymes and he came home with a booklet for me which listed all the nursery rhymes they would be learning and some home learning suggestions. I was more than happy to receive the suggestions as, despite my Pinterest addiction, I do occasionally run short on ideas. He’s a busy little soul who’s constantly asking…

  • Chinese new year tea light
    Chinese New Year crafts - crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - tutorial

    Chinese New Year tea light holder

    January 9, 2014 - By 

    We’ve been thinking about Chinese New Year lately. 2014 is all about the Chinese New Year of the Horse but animal crafts don’t seem to be our speciality, so far. Instead we opted for some simple Chinese New Year tea light holders. We collected some old (clean!) glass jars from the recycling bin, a bottle of PVA glue, paint brush and red tissue paper which I cut into small squares. I had to google why red is associated with Chinese New Year, apparently the colour red, which corresponds with fire, symbolizes good fortune and joy. Then my son got to…