Tuesday, 15 December 2015

15th December: Christmas Card Making


This year I set myself the challenge of making Christmas cards as opposed to buying them. I still had a few lying around from last year that I bought and so I've used them to save me having to make quite so many cards. I don't send all that many out anyway and hopefully family and friends will appreciate that I sat up until late last night gluing, cutting, measuring and cursing to make their festive cards!

I'm trying to use up old supplies of Christmas craft stuff that I've collected over the years; I used to have just one plastic under-bed box full of craft materials, which has become two, three, four, maybe five boxes! My friend used to work at a craft design company and so got the chance to buy lots of old stock which she'd then share with me too as I love crafting. I did however buy a paper craft pack recently called 'Folk Christmas' and I love the different papers and tags in there. Next year I'm going to have a go at making my own gift tags too (this year I've been using up old tags, ones I make from cutting up old Christmas cards and from ones I've bought in the January sales).

Here's a few photos of my favourite handmade cards, I love the folk and vintage style patterns! I seem to be finding lots of the little squares that come off the back of the foam squares used for decoupage, they fly everywhere!

 
 
 
 
Em x

14th December: Handmade Gifts No.3 - Mini Fruit Loaves, Cushions and Ipad Cases!

Just a few more handmade gift ideas for anyone who may be struggling for ideas. All of these were easy to make/bake/sew.

Mini Fruit Loaves
Jack bought me a lovely mini loaf pan from Lakeland a few years ago and I love it! It's heavy and they usefully have loose-bottoms. So far I've only done simple mini fruit loaves using the tray but I think some mini lemon drizzle loaves would be very good, that's going on one of my lists for a rainy day!

Please let me know if you'd like the recipe I use for making my boozy fruit loaves
 
I used some cellophane and ribbon to keep my mini fruit loaves fresh
 
 

Cushions
I made some cushions for my parents' house in France a few years ago. I opted for feather-filled cushions from John Lewis, but Dunelm also have a great range with lots of different shapes and sizes. I bought some fabric from Ebay in two varying colours and I sewed a nice piping around the edge of the cushions too. This was a cheap gift idea and I loved spending the evenings doing some sewing - this year crochet has definitely replaced my sewing obsession, who knows what it will be next year!

 
 
Ipad Sleeve/Case
I made this for my Mum's friend and was so pleased with how it turned out that I also made myself one. It doesn't require a lot of fabric - I made this with a fat quarter, some wadding, a few beads and some ribbon for edging. Again, this was a very simple sewing project; I used my sewing machine to make the main sleeve and then everything else was hand-sewn. I used a bit of elastic and a button to stop the ipad sliding back out.
 
 
 
 
Have a good day!
 
Em x

Monday, 14 December 2015

13th December: Snoozing Sundays

Barry is in love with our new living room rug, it's super cosy!


With Christmas not too far away it was nice to have a quiet day on Sunday to catch up on some housework and paperwork sorting. Jack had to work so it was just Barry and I for most of the day. We went for a nice walk around lunchtime in the thick fog; it was quite muddy and slippery and I fell over! Managed to sort of do the splits down a steep hill and Barry jumped on me as if to say "what are you doing down there?!" Needless to say I felt stupid (luckily no-one saw!) and had to strip muddy clothes off when I got inside and sponge Barry's muddy paw prints off of my coat! It was funny though, can't remember the last time I fell over!


I popped to Millets Farm Shop first thing on Sunday to get some veg for our dinner; came home with some lovely big parsnips (along with other veg), Duck eggs and walnuts. I had a wander around the garden centre there; their Christmas displays are impressive and I did make one purchase, a cute little Jack Russell tree decoration!


The house is feeling very festive now and Christmas is fast approaching. I've been busy prepping a few things nice and early to save me some time, my pigs in blankets are made and I've popped them into the freezer ready to get out for Christmas dinner. I'm not a huge fan of pigs in blankets, not sure why when bacon and sausages are two of my favourite things, I think its because I love turkey so much that I'm more interested in that! We've ordered our Turkey crown from a local butchers; the turkeys come from a farm just down the road from us, Walter's Turkeys. It's nice to buy local and I try to as often as I can.

I wonder what this week will bring.... hope you all have a good one!

Em x

12th December: Surprise Birthday Meal Out For My Brother

We had a trip out today to Harpenden, Hertfordshire where my brother and girlfriend live. Jenna had planned a surprise birthday lunch out for Simon and it was great that he didn't suspect a thing as he came in the restaurant with Jenna to find Jack and I, Mum and Dad sat there waiting! We had a lovely lunch and catch up, went back to theirs for a while before Jack and I headed home again.

I also did some super-speedy Christmas wrapping on Saturday morning and we took Barry for an energetic run around the field!

Just one photo to add for Saturday :-)



 

Friday, 11 December 2015

11th December: Handmade Gifts No.2 - Candle Decorating

Next in my handmade gift blog posts is candles. I love candles! A couple of years ago I made these candles for friends. I'm afraid I didn't make the actual candles - something I want to have a go at one day. I just bought some plain pillar candles from Wilko and decorated them myself to make them look extra festive and just as a nice extra in the Christmas goody boxes I made for friends that was cheap and cheerful.


This post isn't so much instructions, but more to just share my creativities hopefully to provide a bit of inspiration. As I said above, they were just plain pillar candles that I decorated using some gems which I glued on, wrapped around some ribbon and then presented them in cellophane to keep them protected in the goody box.

 
I made it easy for my friends to remove the ribbon before lighting the candles and they all said they burned really well which is good. I even included a little gift tag and poem, just to make them a little more quirky, but you don't have to be as cheesy as me :-)
 
 
It shows just how easy it can be to jazz something up a little to give someone as a gift. It would be even better to say I made the candle too but sadly I'm not quite that clever! I was really pleased with my handmade gifts that year. For each of my close friends (the girls), I gave them a goody box containing the following; a handmade candle, homemade freshly baked fruit cake, handmade bracelets and a personal present for each of them. I had a lot of time that year which I don't seem to have this year so I'm really slacking on the handmade front. I have however made some handmade Christmas decorations, made a scarf for my best friend and done lots of baking so I suppose that's still good :-)
 
Have a good weekend!

Friday's Photo - Christmas Wreath Sitting Pretty



The wreath is now in position on our front door, it looks lovely at night when the outdoor light glows, but I quickly took this photo this morning before I left for work. I've already had family asking me to make them one next year, so I look forward to making a few different ones next year.

Have a lovely weekend!

Em x

Thursday, 10 December 2015

10th December: Mini Christmas Sewing Project

Here are a couple of photos of some simple felt Christmas trees I made to hang on our tree. It was an easy hand-sewing project and I decided to accessorise my trees with sequins and beads, but you could also do mini patchwork trees, use ribbon or whatever you have handy.

 
Making a start...
 
Beads now sewn on and ready to sew around the edges and stuff with a bit of wadding
 
Finished little tree!
 
And here's my little sequin one too!