Easter baskets upcycled

May 18, 2019May 18, 2019Leave a comment

Hi hope your having a lovely day, week, month, year.

I spotted some easter baskets in the sale bin at our local supermarket, I needed some baskets and these were 50p rather than like £8, so i though I would have a go at upcycling them up! It just goes to show that not everything has to cost a fortune and can always be made to suit your style.

before pic:

After pic:

I made two of these and they are now nestled on top of my unit, filled with candles and treats.

I used Annie Sloan chalk paint in the colour pure and some pretty ribbon and voila. My little girl loved it too and so she has her own mini one with clips in. You can get so creative and do whatever colour you like.

Hope it inspires you to create something wonderful for your home

Happy crafting love J x

Easter fun!

April 25, 2019April 25, 2019Leave a comment

Hi everyone! Hope you are looking forward to easter, here are some of my top DIY ideas to celebrate the easter time.

Make some rice crispie cakes! The children will LOVE this! After all making gorgeous memories is what easter is all about.

Create some gorgeous flower vases on your table, these will cheer everyone up! Splashes of colour all over your home, with jars, sparkly eggs and pretty napkins.

Create an easter hunt! This is a lovely one available for free at https://happyhomefairy.com/christ-centered-easter-morning-scavenger-hunt-preschoolers-free-printable/

Make easter bonnets, this is so fun! I find a glue gun keeps the bunnies stuck where they should be instead of falling off.

Create some easter pom pom characters, so fun and something your little ones can keep forever.

Paint some eggs! This is so fun for the little ones and the grown ups too! 🙂

Make a display using things in your local park or garden. The hunting for things is as much fun as the making too.

Make a thankful tree – This year me friend said she was making one and it inspired me, we had great fun cutting out and mixing paints and thinking of things to be grateful for, give it a try. It will also give you quality time with your children over the easter time.

Happy easter everyone! God bless x

DIY lavender soap

January 1, 2019May 18, 2019Leave a comment

Hi all, this year I got a DIY kit for Christmas to make lavender soap. Perfect present for me! Couldn’t wait to make it!

It was a set from Marks and Spencers. It contains all that you need to make the soap, fragrance, dye, bamboo stirrers, soap melt, soap mould and instructions. It is super easy to do and so a perfect gift for anyone.

I used a pan to melt the soap and put the pan in a larger one and it worked fine. After making this you get so many creative ideas to make all sorts of fragrances and types. Definitely gives you the soap making bug!

Thanks M&S, a fun little pretty Christmas project. Hope if you got this gift for Christmas you enjoyed making it too.

Happy crafting x

Festive Wrapping

January 1, 20192 Comments

I love wrapping presents its so fun! This year I loved making these brown paper gifts.

This stamp on the manilla tags was from Not on the high street, great investment.

I loved these stickers that we got made, perfect vintage vibe.

I love how creative you can get when making gifts and make them look perfect under the tree. One of my great joys. You can get so creative and use up things in your Christmas craft and decorating boxes. Hope you had fun wrapping this year. Happy new year everyone.

Happy crafting!

Christmas stove top Potpourri

December 26, 2018December 26, 2018Leave a comment

Hi all hope you are having a super duper christmas! One of my fave things things to do at christmas is festive stove top pot pourri. It smells amazing as it simmers away in the kitchen. The smells and fragrances filling your home is gorgeous! Its super easy to do. Heres what I put in mine.

Ingredients

Fresh cranberries
Cuttings from your christmas tree
Star anise
3 cinnamon sticks
Whole cloves
Fresh oranges
A tiny bit of orange and cinnamon oil
Grated nutmeg
Water

Just put it on a low heat, let it simmer away and enjoy the gorgeous fragrances!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas – Embracing the Imperfection!

December 20, 2018December 20, 2018Leave a comment

I am so christmassy, literally I wait and wait for this time of year. My husband calls me Mrs Christmas and its true. I love my title 🙂

Do you ever feel though that the pressure of having the perfect Christmas hangs over you all December?

If so you are so not alone….

We see it on the adverts, the perfect meal, perfect table setting, gorgeous outfit, perfect children, nails manicured, perfectly tidy house and we love all that. What they fail to include though is the bugs the children and adults get, the financial stress that can be there, the house full of wrapping paper from all the wrapping and the hunt for the sellotape (again!), the late nights, washing baskets that are full, house a bit of a tip, the tiredness that might be there and the tears we cry over the sadness at those family members lost. I’ve learnt though these are all beautiful parts of it, its a jumbled mix.

In the same way, we can see the perfect nativity scene on the front of the Christmas cards. They are all sat in a circle looking fabulous! However as us ladies know childbirth is rarely straightforward and you don’t really want a photo of yourself afterwards! It is painful, feeding can be painful, they had no baby wipes, nappies, a washer or a dryer, no Tommie Tippee milk machines, bottles or dummies. Yikes! Although the nativity picture looks perfect it probably wasn’t. The perfection is that he came to an imperfect world to save us.

Don’t let the little things you see as an interruption this month rob you of the joy of this beautiful season. We can sometimes feel like we have failed if we haven’t delivered the perfect year, perfect presents, perfect schedule but its just not true! The perfection of Christmas is the story itself and the hope and joy it brings.

I hope you enjoy every minute of your festive season this year with all that it holds.

Its the moments you have right now, the love that is around you and the people to cherish. When we let go of the perfect Christmas which doesn’t really exist and enjoy just where we are and what we have, and do what we love to do for Christmas, that is beautiful! Don’t let pesky perfectionism rob any more precious moments.

Heres some of my lovely moments so far this year….

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I love when the baubles are all scattered on the table waiting to be put on the tree 🙂

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This was our little treat this year, its from Daisy nook garden centre, we added the lights.

This decoration always reminds me of our family in heaven, who are always in our thoughts at this time of year.

So cute!

My lovely angel I got this year.

My handmade orange decorations, yum!

The tree!

The rustic look, so need more of this look next year.

Glorious berries!

Santa!

Our front door.

JOY! YES!

Our cathedral tree.

Oh yes! Hot choc and marshmallows.

Pretty trees with huge decorations!

Merry Christmas everyone, have a wonderful time! x x x

Whats in our Christmas Eve Box..

November 15, 2018November 15, 2018Leave a comment

Hi everyone, hope your having a lovely day and hope the Christmas prep is going really well.

I had so much fun making our Christmas Eve box!! I had been wanting to do it for ages and it was super fun to do!!

I love Christmas Eve. I absolutely love it being a family day of doing fun things together and getting creative. Each family is different and thats the beauty of the boxes, what goes in your box is what suits your family.

I wrapped each present in a mix of brown paper and brown decorated paper to match the box, and put a clue on each tag so the children can take a guess at whats inside 🙂

As promised heres what I put inside…

Santa hats for everyone!
Santa headbands for the children (and possibly adults 🙂 – I think these will be good fun on Christmas day and great for photos)
Christmas eve crafty kit, with lots of things to colour and make for the big night 🙂

4. Christmas DVD – Not sure if its for the children or me.. 🙂

5. Treat plates for Santa, Rudolph and the Elves (this is essential unless you want to end up on the naughty list 😉

6. Home made reindeer food.

7. Christmas pyjamas, these go up to age 14 so it meant my girls could be matching which is lovely.

8. Snowman mallows.

9. Bedtime stories for the girls.

10. A gingerbread decorating kit, my girls love us all doing this together, this one is from ASDA, a lovely thing to do as a family.

11. Finally some hot chocolate and marshmallows to snuggle up with and watch the movie! Bliss.

I hope you have fun making yours, would love to hear what you put in yours and how it turns out.

You can check out how I made my christmas eve box here: Christmas Eve Box making!!