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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I’m not really sure how old this knitting bag is but I couldn’t resist its wooden handle or vintage fabric. I’m not a big knitter but it’s perfect for holding my latest sewing project. It’s currently holding my purchases from my rather extravagant trip to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally. It’s my favourite sewing event of the year and I had the joy of visiting last week without children (thanks hubby!). Anyway, I admit I was excessive but living in London I just find it impossible to go searching for lovely sewing supplies. Faced with 200 sellers…
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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…
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My toddler is Thomas the Tank Engine mad. He also likes making things so I thought we could combine the two. On a recent day out we saw the Troublesome Trucks and thought it would be fun to make them ourselves. We used some mini cereral boxes, which we painted grey. You can see I was really lazy and turned the boxes inside out as the paint wouldn’t stick to the shiny side of the cardboard. You could also cover boxes in grey paper, dependant on how impatient your toddler is. We then went through old issues of Thomas the…
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This week I have been on a bit of a roll, making home-made tomato soup as well as apple and blackberry crumble, thanks to our trip to the Pick Your Own farm at the weekend. A couple of weeks ago I picked up some Stork Easy to Mix Baking Liquid at the supermarket. I love trying new products but it has sat in the fridge for a good few weeks, with me lacking baking inspiration. This week is National Cupcake Week however, the perfect time to fill the cake tin, which everyone enjoys in our house! There are some handy…