My top Etsy picks

Here's my little Etsy pick of perfect Christmas gifts.. there is just so many beautiful handmade things, it's hard to pick!

Doctor Who Tardis Christmas ... sweetgeek $3.5	Rabbit Brooch ... Vintage Mi... SilkPurseSowsE... $5	Vintage Locket Necklace Alys... verabel $68	Fantastic Mr Fox Quote Pillo... WhileLokiDream... $30
Grumpy Cat Sleep Mask Animal... lovelyart $20	Tuxedo Cat outfit- cat cloth... Catclothing $21	Personalized Deer Antler Wed... BacktoZero $25	Faux Taxidermy Deer Head wal... mahzerandvee $92
Lionel Richie teapot hand dr... MrTeacup $58	Bay armchair - winter namedesignstud... $1500	Make Your Own Teacup Candle ... LavenderHouseD... $12	Modern Fawn Bamboo Wall Cloc... decoylab $74
Christmas Stocking Woodland ... echoshop $45	Nordic Boho Indie Pillow Cov... CoconutLime77 $18	USB Typewriter Conversion Ki... usbtypewriter $84	Hot Air Balloon Kit - Circus CraftSchmaft $65

I love everything here, I can't decide what I'd want most! The vintage locket (3) is so colourful, as is the motivational pillow (14). And yes, I am planning to dress up my cat in a tuxedo (6). Because that's what Christmas is for. 

The last 2 are specially for my lovely boyfriend, as I know he would certainly hate that amazing blue armchair and not let me near it :( I don't own a vintage typewriter (yet), but I'm pretty sure the novelty of attaching it to a tablet is the only thing that would ever convince him to let me buy one. And the last one.. he loves hot air balloons.. these would look super cute and colourful hanging from the ceiling! 

What are your Etsy recommendations? :)

Crafty Creatives and Christmas

So this week my Crafty Creatives Christmas box arrived.. and there was so much packed into this little box! 3 kits (to make fancy beaded baubles, honey lip scrub and felt tree decorations), as well as ribbon, wooden rings for wreaths, all sorts of different beads and decorations, gift boxes and craft papers and card blanks..

Some of my favourite things inside - wooden snowflakes (these just need a bit of thread on them and they can hang on the tree), tiny silver snowflake charms and JINGLE BELLS! There was also some cute chunky wooden tree beads, some of which I've already used to make...

... A Christmas wreath! Just a mini one so far, but it was fun to make and now I want to make a much bigger one for the front door. Ahh, so excited for putting the tree and decorations up!

I was very impressed with the special edition Crafty Creatives box, certainly worth the slightly higher price this time. I'm going to have a go making the lip scrubs next :)

Christmas Wreath DIYs

I really want to make a Christmas wreath for our front door this year, as there wasn't much festive decoration in our flat last year.. We had a tree with nothing on it! I'd like to do something a bit different though, so have been looking put for ideas. These are some of my favourites..

1. Christmas card wreath - tutorial

2. Paper doily wreath - tutorial

(These Paperchase pegs would be perfect for the first one..)

3. Ribbon bow wreath - tutorial

4. Scrap paper and button wreath - found here

5. Photo frame wreath - tutorial

I'll definitely do a variation on the first one, as it is a nice way to display Christmas cards too (although I'll have to wait until I receive any first!) I think a button wreath would be a great idea too, in red and gold colours, and as I haven't managed to find any like that from a quick look I'll hopefully give it a try and perhaps have a tutorial on it!

...any other great DIY Christmas wreath ideas?

Getting ready for Christmas

1. Felt Christmas decorations for the tree, as it was bare last year

2. Christmas light switch-on in Manchester

3. Early Secret Santa makes..

4. ..and one of the gifts inside, from this awesome Etsy seller - Silk Purse Sows Ear

My friend Lowri has her own Etsy shop, with some lovely Gingerbread man Christmas stockings at the moment (much better than my attempt above!), check them out right here. She also makes quilts - I'm very jealous, I've always wanted to make one but never have the time!

Once again I'm far behind with my PostCircle-ing, but I'm working on some other felt decorations that may be in the post soon!

Where have I been?! May and June

I haven't written a blog post for such a long time, the last few weeks have just been so busy. I've been working a lot for the extra money towards my University course in September, and I was also helping my boyfriend prepare for a 3 month trip to Germany - and 6 weeks after that, visiting him there.

Here's a quick look at what I've been up to..

* Saying goodbye - and hello - to my boyfriend. I made him this cross stitch plane card before he left to wish him luck, which took me about a MILLION years even though it's tiny! He left me these envelopes with messages and little gifts with different dates on to open when he had left. He's the best.

* Catching up with PostCircle. I'm SO behind with this, with everything that has been going on I've not been the best or fastest correspondent. A few scribbles have now been composed, so if you're waiting for a reply from me, it will be on the way soon, I promise!

* Painting birds. Lots and lots of birds. I haven't painted anything for years, but had an idea of putting a few different bird-themed pictures on the wall, and wanted to contribute one of my own. None are yet good enough for the wall, but it's fun trying.

* Receiving an extra beautiful gift. When I visited Lukas in Germany, he gave me this extra little surprise gift, picked because 'I know you like writing stuff'. Love it. 

* Making bunting. Whenever I'm feeling down, making bunting is the cure. I also received some from PostCircle buddies, so the house is becoming rather bunting-filled, which can NEVER be a bad thing. The idea for this heart bunting came from this blog.

That's it! I've got a few plans of DIYs for the house, in particular creating a nicer and more practical workspace, so I'll try to post updates on that a little more regularly! 

Craft Inspiration - Paper Doilies

This week, I saw some super cute lace envelopes made from paper doilies, so, with PostCircle in mind, I headed out to buy some to see if I could recreate my own. I wasn't sure if you could even buy these anymore, but there they were, bargain cheap for only 40p for a pack full of all shapes and sizes. Then I got to thinking - there must be lots of things you can do with these, right?! A quick search later and these are just a little of what I found:

 Put them on the wall. This might look nice with different colours and shapes too. Doily Wall Art Tutorial link.

 Use them to decorate gifts, parcels and tags. Found here.

 

Use them as stencils, for decorating things. I really like the notebooks! Doily Stencilling Tutorial link.

Make your own cupcake wraps - I've seen these to buy in a lot of places, but this is a much cheaper alternative, and super simple! Cupcake Wrap tutorial link.

  

Doily light string. This is so pretty and would be great decoration for a party. As would..

 

.. this garland! One of these is going straight up over my bookshelf ;) Found here.

 

These cones would be lovely filled with sweet treats for gifts or wedding favours. Doily Cone tutorial link.

 

Or, just go for the traditional method of using them as table decorations :) Found here.

And finally.. The envelopes which first inspired me..

 

 

Doily Envelope tutorial link.

My version:

I'd imagine if they were to be sent in the post, they would need some kind of paper lining, or they might not survive the trip! That would be a fairly easy addition though. 

What do you think of these ideas? 

This week..

..I've not had the time to do all the things I wanted. I've got a list of projects I want to do, I just need a few weeks off to do them all! I also just got a little promotion, so will be working a bit more. I think I'll be sticking to smaller projects for a while rather than larger ones, although the Great British Sewing Bee on BBC2 has made me want to have another try at making clothes!

 

I did buy a few cute flower stamps and some letters, which has resulted in many things around the house getting stamped... Just because. My boyfriend also seemed to enjoy stamping everything. I'm not sure how he is going to explain the butterflies stamped all over his revision notes though, if his friends should ask.

   

I attempted to make a card for the first time ever. After seeing so many beautiful efforts for PostCircle, I thought I'd have a go at creating something myself to send to those in my group. It isn't a brilliant effort, so I hope the person who receives this in the post isn't too disappointed! I'm really enjoying PostCircle so far, it is lovely to get to know people with shared interests, and beautiful post arriving always makes me happy. Although I haven't yet written to everyone in my group, so I really need to crack on with it! 

I've also made a couple of bookmarks, as I get frustrated that I'm always losing my page in books because there is never anything to hand to mark the page.

 

I made these cute little bow tie markers with some large paperclips, and some scraps of fabric. One large piece for the bow part, sewn down one side, turned inside out, ironed, and then the ends sewn up. Same again for the small part, which I then wrapped around large piece to make a bow, and around the clip to secure it. Really simple! The one on the left is the better of the two, as it is more of a sturdy fabric. Also, it reminds me of Dr Who's bow tie ;)