Christmas · Crafts

Quilling Homemade Christmas Cards

Quilling Homemade Christmas Cards - Finished CardGiven the fact that it’s been a REALLY sucky year for most of us, Christmas will be a nice distraction from everything else. This year, us and our extended family have decided to keep the gift giving to just the kids of the family, so that we can make it all the more special for them. However, that doesn’t stop me from creating extra special Christmas cards for everyone, and this year I’ve even learned a new skill to help me – quilling!

Click on the image to see the quilling in action!

When I was researching the type of card I wanted to make, I stumbled across some festive greetings using quilling. For those who don’t know, quilling is a paper craft with uses coiled strips of paper to create shapes and patterns. I had a quilling kit when I was a tween and I loved it then, but I’d basically forgotten everything I’d learned by the time I tried it again. I also planned to use a graffiti font on the card, but my printer went kaput, right at the most inconvenient moment. *eyeroll*

As well as quilling strips and some papercraft tools, I used an 8x8in blank greetings card, some tacky glue (it’s stickier and dries fast for crafting), a gold marker, some gold edging stickers, mini Christmas bells and some Christmas pompoms. I also used a compass, ruler and pencil for sketching out the rough shapes before I stuck anything on.

Quilling the TreeQuilling Homemade Christmas Cards - Creating the Tree

I started by making the quills for the tree by coiling a whole strip tightly, then allowing it to unfurl a little. I then glued the loose end in place with a tiny dot of glue, held it until dry and then pinched one end of the coil of paper to create the shape. To create the star and tree pot, I shaped them after coiling in a similar way, and then I used the gold marker to write the message on the front. Finally, I just stuck all of the other bits on in the right place!

Adding the Text

Quilling Homemade Christmas Cards - Gold WritingIt took me a little under half an hour, from sketching out the final design to everything being done, and I think the overall effect is well worth the effort! What’s more, I really enjoyed making the card and I can’t wait to make a whole load more to send to the special people in our lives. I’m thinking of making a different design on every card, but that might just be a stunning case of me biting off more than I can chew, as usual!

I absolutely love making handmade gifts and cards for people. Now that I have a new skill, I’ll definitely be doing more of it. Have you ever tried quilling? Are you making handmade cards or gifts this year? Leave me a comment below telling me all about it, especially if you have inspiration for my next design!

DIY · Garden · Home

Gardening and DIY with Kids This Spring

When it gets to this time of year, where the weather is a bit more clement, my mind is always full of all of the DIY and garden stuff that I’d like to do and now that the kids are older and a little more able to get involved (don’t worry, I won’t let Burrito Baby hold any power tools!) I’ve been thinking about things we can do together. Luckily, my friends from the blogging world are the BEST source of inspiration, so I thought I’d share some brilliant posts with you of my favourite projects that they’ve done.

How to Make a Tardis Wardrobe

I’ve you’ve got a gaggle of mini Whovians living in your house then this guide to making a tardis wardrobe is perfect for you. Husband and I really encourage the girls to have their interests and try to indulge them as far as possible so I absolutely love the fact that Penny at Parentshaped has nurtured her daughter’s love for all things Doctor Who with her bedroom furniture.

CD Fish Bird Scarers

CD fish bird scarers

I absolutely LOVE this idea for DIY bird-scarers that Liz over at Me and My Shadow made with her daughter to protect their home garden patch. As well as upcycling and making use of old CDs, thus keeping them out of landfill, they look really pretty too. Such a great project to do with kid as you can be as creative as you like with how you decorate them. This post is being brought to you in association with Rancho Cucamonga garden and tree care providers – they’re experts in tree care and can make any garden space look amazing!

DIY Matchbox Drawer Chest

Red Ted Art DIY matchbox drawers

Something that we ALWAYS need more of in our house is storage, so I love the idea of making ourselves some storage solutions out of other things. These cute little drawers from Red Ted Art are the perfect place to keep art supplies and school stuff, and I’ll definitely be making some of these with the girls.

Top Tips for Gardening With Children

At the risk of going a bit meta, Carolin at Mummy Alarm has put together another rundown post, sharing a whole load of other posts about gardening with kids. It’s a real wealth of information which will be useful in the months to come and I’m going to go through and read all of it with interest.

Bedroom in a Box

Dulux Bedroom in a BoxMaking design decisions can be really tricky, especially when you’re trying to stick to a theme, which is why Dulux decided to make the “Bedroom in a Box”, which Sian at Helpful Mum reviewed. She chose a jungle theme for her kids and takes us through exactly how she dealt with the makeover, as well as giving her opinion on the results.

Five Easy Foods to Grow with Kids

If you’re planning on growing veg this spring and summer with your kids, Emma at The Syders has got some excellent suggestions of what you can grow. When I was a kid, I loved nothing more than helping my grandad to pick the peas and runner beans he’d grown in the garden and I think it’s really important for kids to see where food comes from…plus, NOTHING tastes better than strawberries grown in your own garden!

Planting and Sowing

Emmy’s Mummy has got another great gardening post about how to get the kids involved with the planting and sowing stage of gardening, perfect for this time of year. They’re growing a whole variety of different fruit and veg which will be a fabulous crop once they’re all grown and ready for harvest.

Easy DIY Crepe Paper Tulips Craft Tutorial

Tulips are one of my favourite flowers (have you ever seen the black ones?!) and this tulip craft is absolutely perfect for this time of year when the flowers are starting to bloom. As Katie says, they’d be the perfect centrepiece for an Easter dinner, but I also think they’d be ideal for Mother’s Day too, especially if your Mum has allergies and can’t have real flowers.

Christmas

Gifts for Craft Lovers

With the pre-Christmas shopping season well and truly upon us, I’ve been gathering together ideas for all sorts of gifts, for the various different people in our lives and today I’ve been thinking about great gifts for craft lovers. Be they a knitter, sewing enthusiast, crochet queen or cross stitch maven, Deramores has the perfect gift for them and I’ve got my five favourites to show you:

Barima Scarf by We Are Knitters – £59.99

Merino wool is hot stuff right now (if you’ll pardon the pun!) and this kit will give your loved one everything they need to make a super on-trend scarf. An easy to intermediate crochet project, the Barima Scarf is a beautiful openwork shawl-like scarf with rock-star tassels. A gift that keeps on giving.

Hobby and Gift Filled Crochet Hook Set – 15cm (Set of 14) – £14.99

Every crochet enthusiast needs somewhere to keep their hooks, and with this kit you get not only a cute, sturdy case but also a set of 14 new hooks, too! The hooks come in a variety of sizes from 2mm right up to 10mm and will give your crochet fanatic a brilliant bit of kit to keep their hobby going.

Deramores Studio DK Corgi Olski – £9.99

You can never have too many four legged friends, and this cute and cuddly corgi would be perfect gift for family and friends.  This kit contains all of the wool needed to make this gorgeous little pooch and best of all, the pattern is sent via email upon purchase to cut down on paper waste. Cute AND conscientious!

Hobby and Gift Craft Bag – £29.99

The absolute beauty of crafts like knitting, crochet and sewing is that they can be done basically anywhere, which means that having a dedicated bag for all of your materials can be a great help. This craft bag is strong, sturdy and looks great and will allow you to take everything with you whilst remaining practical and stylish.

Crochet Roxy Rockhopper Kit by Twilleys – £14.90

This adorable little penguin is absolutely perfect for your quirky friend or relative who doesn’t only crochet blankets, or someone who loves to craft but has a baby or grandchild on the way. The end product is absolutely gorgeous and the kit contains everything they need to make it. It’s also a really good gift for beginners as everything is made from squares!

Do you have a crafty friend or relative? Do you like my list of suggestions? Do let me know if I’ve managed to inspire you!

Bostik Bloggers · Crafts

Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Craft #BostikBlogger

day-of-the-dead-sugar-skull-craftSo, a little while ago I was asked if I’d like to be a Bostik Blogger, which basically involves being sent a box of craft materials each month and coming up with something relevant. Seeing as we’re on the run-up to Halloween, and Halloween is basically Sausage’s favourite holiday, I thought we’d do something Day of the Dead related, which is the Mexican day to celebrate those who aren’t with us anymore and celebrated on the same day as Halloween.

Having “age-gap kids” as I do (there’s five and a half years between Sausage and BB) means that we need crafts which are engaging enough to keep Sausage interested whilst being simple enough for BB to get involved with, which is why this simple Day of the Dead mask is perfect for both of them – plenty of BLING for Sausage but lots of simple shapes and sticking-on for BB!

Here’s What You Need: img_20161122_114327_hdr

1 paper plate, Bostik White Glue, Bostik Glitter pens, scissors, A black felt tip or permanent marker, Various sequins and pom-poms for decoration, a lolly stick

Cut the plate into the desired skull shape

img_20161122_114430_hdrMark between and around the ‘teeth’ with your black marker and draw your eye and nose shapes with a pencil (I drew around something for the eyes because my freehand is rubbish!)

img_20161122_114724_hdrGo around the eyes and nose with your black pen and fill then completely

img_20161122_114948_hdrStick sequins around the eyes and in the nose using your Bostik white glue

img_20161122_120326_hdrOnce the glue has semi-dried, outline the eyes with whatever colour of glitter glue you like

img_20161122_120508_hdrStick the pom-poms along the top edge of the skull. Add decorations on the cheeks using more sequins and glitter glue to create patterns. Stick a stick to the back of the mask.

img_20161122_121046_hdr

And you’re done! It really is that simple. Given the small amount of effort it takes, I really think this is such a lovely craft and we’ll definitely be making a whole load of them to decorate the house with! You could even cut the eyes out and use them as masks with a little elastic stapled to the sides.

Do you love Halloween and Day of the Dead? I’d love to see your crafts so please do leave me a link below!

Review

Interplay BFF Tag Jewellery Review

BFF Tag JewelleryA little while ago, Sausage and I were sent the Interplay BFF Tag Jewellery kit to review, something which I thought would be perfect for my little crafter! The kit uses a special clay and various metallic powders to allow you to make unique and personalised jewellery for you and your BFF and we actually made two matching necklaces before Edith had a play-date with one of her BBF’s…although being useless and disorganised as I am, I completely forgot to take photos of the finished product, so here’s what they kind of looked like!

bbf_tag_necklace_03

The kit itself was definitely one where I’d suggest a bit of parental input – I can imagine that Sausage would have struggled slightly without my help despite the fact that she’s more than capable when it comes to these kinds of projects usually. The dough itself was a little tricky to knead at first and although she managed to shape it and stamp the letters on it herself, the metallic powder also required a bit of supervision. I also needed to be on hand for the tying-on of the fasteners.

Having said that, the result was really lovely. Sausage made 2 identical necklaces for her and her friend and they were really pleased with the results. Although it was one of the trickier craft kits we’ve used, it was well worth the effort. I’m always a bit scared of things which need to be baked because of various FIMO-related disasters in the past but I was pleasantly surprised with how good the necklaces looked once they came out of the oven. We’ve not been brave enough to try the stripey effect pictured above, opting to try all one colour for our first attempt, but I think we’d give this a go in the future as I think it’ll be easier than it looks but very effective and pretty once done.

This would make a great gift for kits who love crafting and making things and could even be bought as an activity to try with your BFF during a play date or sleepover. They can be bought direct from the Interplay site or through Amazon (affiliate link).