• 5 minute fortune cookie
    Chinese New Year crafts - crafts - Crafts for adults - handmade - sewing

    5 minute fortune cookie (for Chinese New Year)

    January 11, 2013 - By 

    It feels like the New Year has brought lots of crafting opportunities with it and the toddler and I have been busy. Chinese New Year will be celebrated on February 10th, so we’ve made some fabric fortune cookies that look good enough to eat. They were really quick to make, so perfect for a cold afternoon. Supplies needed to make 5 minute fortune cookies You will need: a 4 inch circle (we drew round a can from the kitchen cupboard on a piece of cardboard) a 5 inch square of felt a 5 inch square of fabric a different fortune,…

  • gingerbread - handmade - swap - vintage

    Christmas swapsies

    December 27, 2012 - By 

    I think I signed up for a record number of swaps over the festive period. I really enjoyed putting them together and it gave me the opportunity to make some lovely decorations. You may remember last year I signed up for an Advent Swap and I enjoyed it so much I did it again this year. The idea was to send 25 small items and I loved choosing the little items and wrapping them. Of course I was equally happy to open a small gift every day through Advent! I was paired with Melanie, aka The Patchwork Robin, who sent…

  • Christmas - crafts - handmade

    Christmas Eve traditions

    December 24, 2012 - By 

    I can’t quite believe it’s Christmas Eve. After months of planning I must admit the only thing I hadn’t really thought about was the food, resulting in a last minute dash around the supermarket at the weekend! We’re slowly starting our own family traditions. This year the children have lovely new pyjamas to go to bed in. We’ve got a selection of Christmas films to watch and books to read. We are looking forward to the minute my husband finishes work (luckily he works from home) so we can really start Christmas. Tonight we’ll be leaving out some treats for…

  • baking - Christmas - gingerbread - gingerbread house

    Our 2012 Gingerbread House

    December 22, 2012 - By 

    You can probably guess from the title of my blog that I love gingerbread houses! This year we made a kit from John Lewis over a couple of days. The toddler was really excited about it as he loves his “gin-gin” men! First of all he helped daddy put the kit together, then we left it to dry overnight. The next day we got out all our sweetie supplies which included icing pens, liquorice wheels, Necco wafers for roof tiles and gumdrops for the fence. We got to work, the toddler mainly ate the sweets whilst I iced and strategically…

  • Christmas - crafts - gingerbread house - handmade

    Christmas Card Craft Off

    December 19, 2012 - By 

    Do you make your own Christmas cards or do you prefer shop-bought ones? There’s so much choice out there but I love sending personalised cards to family and friends. This year we chose a photo of the children playing (happily for once!) in the park and everyone seems to love it. I’m feeling so organised that I thought I would make a Christmas card for my husband. Christmas Card Craft Off My card combines my favourite things – gingerbread houses and washi tape bunting! I really enjoyed making it and I thought I’d show you how. You will need: red…

  • toddler friendly tree
    Cath Kidston - Christmas - crafts - handmade

    Christmas tree for toddlers

    December 19, 2012 - By 

    It’s that time of the month, the PinAddicts Pinterest Challenge. The idea is to choose something from your Pinterest boards to create and link up each month. I saw a small felt Christmas tree which had been made for a toddler to play with. I thought I would adapt this for my own toddler so here is my Christmas tree for toddlers. You will need: a large gift bag a selection of felt ornaments velcro stick ons Christmas tree for toddlers I bought an extra large gift bag from Ikea which featured a plain Christmas tree. I hung it up using…

  • being green - Christmas - handmade

    Saving money at Christmas

    December 18, 2012 - By 

    We love to recycle and are always on the lookout for new ways to be green. It’s definitely more noticeable at this time of year just how easy it is to be excessive. There are only four of us so we’ve tried to put a limit on how much we spend and we’re definitely going to be careful with how much food we buy as I hate throwing away food. There are lots of ways to save money and have fun this Christmas: We’ve made our own decorations – hand print Christmas trees, yarn wreaths and Christmas cards Recycled last…

  • competition - crafts - handmade

    Make your own Christmas cards with Nick Jnr.

    December 17, 2012 - By 

    If your children are big fans of Nick Jnr. and love being crafty then I have a brilliant site to share with you. The Nick Jnr. Card-o-Matic is a free card creator that allows you to create free cards featuring the likes of Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly, Bubble Guppies and Dora the Explorer. You can try out the Card-o-Matic here. It’s quite simple to use: first you select your card type, then you select your card from three options – create a card, pre-made card or colour-in card. We tried each option and they are all quite similar: you…

  • Christmas - handmade

    Felt Mistletoe Kissing Ball

    December 15, 2012 - By 

    My project last weekend was cutting out felt mistletoe leaves to make a Mistletoe Kissing Ball. I love working with felt and couldn’t resist this adorable felt decoration to add to our collection. My mum always decorated the house with mistletoe by the front door and I thought I would recreate the tradition in my home, but with a modern twist. It was the perfect project for long periods spent in the car, and as we’d just returned from a 48 hours round trip to Devon (from London) you can imagine I had plenty of hours to craft! The pattern…