• Layered swan papercut for Valentine's Day
    crafts - handmade - Paper craft - Paper cut art

    Layered swan papercut for Valentine’s Day

    January 31, 2017 - By 

    I wasn’t very impressed with the art of macrame from the latest issue of Mollie Makes but I quickly fell in love with the layered swan papercut from the same issue. I love paper cutting and have been working my way through Cut It Out! book and my monthly Embellish Box. Issue 75 of Mollie Makes had a gorgeous pattern for the perfect handmade Valentine gift. The papercut was by Sarah Louise Matthews and consisted of 6 pieces of coloured card with various chunks cut out. I’m really enjoying trying new things and this was only my second layered papercut. I…

  • Mollie Makes Jersey Yarn Macrame Wall Art
    crafts - handmade - Mollie Makes crafts

    Mollie Makes Jersey Yarn Macrame Wall Art

    January 29, 2017 - By 

    Every month I challenge myself to make the Mollie Makes magazine cover gift. I’ve subscribed since it first came out and have a drawer full of unopened kits – but no more! I’ve been making more time for grown up crafting and I love to make the kits and hopefully try something new. The last few kits haven’t been terribly inspiring and yet again my heart sank when I saw the latest kit – a Jersey Yarn Macrame Wall Art by Wool and the Gang. I know that macrame has made a bit of a come back but it’s not…

  • Upcycled Orla Kiely flower vase tutorial
    crafts - homestyle - Orla Kiely

    Upcycled Orla Kiely flower vase tutorial

    January 26, 2017 - By 

    I’m a bit of a hoarder and this applies to envelopes, boxes and tissue paper – pretty much any packaging which comes through my letter box. I  had some gorgeous Orla Kiely tissue paper in my stash and came up with the simplest upcycle. I used: Orla Kiely tissue paper Mod Podge Glass flower jar Upcycled Orla Kiely flower vase tutorial: I cut my tissue paper to fit around my glass jar. Then I used Mod Podge painted directly to the glass jar. I carefully applied my tissue paper and left it to dry. I’ve already filled my glass jar…

  • washi tape Valentine heart bookmark
    crafts - Crafts for kids - Handmade gifts - Valentines Day crafts

    Washi tape Valentine heart bookmarks

    January 20, 2017 - By 

    We love crafting with washi tape. A few years ago I went crazy buying it and we still have so much of it. The good thing is that it is still sticky and perfect for crafting with. It’s especially fun for the children as they can just tear the tape with their fingers, no need for scissors! With Valentine’s Day coming up it is a great time to start on handmade Valentine’s Day cards and gifts. We always make them for the family and this year have made simple washi tape Valentine hearts bookmarks. We used: Heart-shaped cookie cutter Washi…

  • The Art of Stone Painting: 30 Designs to Spark Your Creativity
    book review - Craft book review - crafts - handmade - Painted rocks

    The Art of Stone Painting book review

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    We love crafting with stones. They are easy to get hold of, a very tactile material and pretty easy to re-use again and again. I was pretty excited when I heard about  a new book called The Art of Stone Painting. I’ve seen some lovely stone crafts on Pinterest and wanted to find out more about creating them myself. I kindly received a copy of The Art of Stone Painting: 30 Designs to Spark Your Creativity by F. Sehnaz Bac through NetGalley. This books aims to help you transform ordinary stones into colourful works of art with this easy-to-follow guide. The Art of Stone…

  • How to make a winter pomander
    Christmas - crafts - Handmade gifts - Winter

    How to make a winter pomander

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    I had forgotten how much I love January. We are still in deepest, darkest winter and we’ve had some beautiful blue skies recently. We’ve never made many Winter crafts but this year we are fully embracing it! So far we’ve made a really fun winter ice lamp, mistletoe and holly and berries sun catchers. Today we’re sharing how to make a winter pomander. We bought a large orange and used the ribbon and cloves which came in our recent hygge-in-a-box box. I also found a metal skewer which helped with the cloves. How to make a winter pomander A pomander…

  • Holly and berries winter sun catcher
    Christmas - crafts - Winter

    Holly and berries winter sun catcher

    January 17, 2017 - By 

    My 6 year old has been off school for the past few days with chicken pox. He’s been quite poorly and Minecraft has been the only thing to cheer him up. To scrape him away from it we re-used our cellophane sweet wrappers to make this fun holly and berries winter sun catcher. We used: white card, green and red cellophane pieces, contact paper, scissors Holly and berries winter sun catcher First I drew some holly leaves and berries on a sheet of card. Then I cut them out using my Swann-Morton scalpel. If I made this again I would only…

  • Hama bead holly and berries craft for kids
    Christmas - crafts - handmade - Winter

    Hama bead holly and berries

    January 13, 2017 - By 

    Today my 6 year old has been off school sick. He has chicken pox, even though I thought he had it when he was little. Apparently you can get it twice, just like his younger sister. Luckily I didn’t have any plans so today we have played Monopoly Token Madness (great for his maths skills!), I’ve watched him play Minecraft for too long and he has been busy creating with hama beads. He asked to get them out and was happy to sit and create. Hama beads are so tactile and we both enjoyed chatting about what we wanted to…

  • Mistletoe sun catcher against a blue sky
    Christmas - crafts - Kids crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial

    Mistletoe sun catcher

    January 6, 2017 - By 

    Mistletoe is such a pretty plant. We usually buy a bunch in December to hang inside our home – the perfect thing to grab a Christmas kiss under! This year we couldn’t find any to bring indoors so we decided to make our own mistletoe sun catcher. Mistletoe sun catcher craft for kids We used: cellophane wrappers from sweets, contact paper and white card. First I drew a piece of mistletoe on a sheet of white card. I cut out the mistletoe using my scalpel and cutting mat but you could do this with scissors. I covered one side with…