A Handmade Christmas

Apologies if this post is a little early for some of you, but I have been thinking about Christmas for a good few weeks now. I'm well on the way with my shopping (about halfway done!) and have been playing Michael Bublé's Christmas album non-stop (even, quite shamefully, on my iPhone in the gym).

I do love a good crafty project and I really love handmade gifts - they're so much more personal and I think people appreciate them that little bit more. Pinterest is a great source for creative ideas, and I thought I would share a few of my favourites which I have come across so far.



DIY Snow Globes
Such a sweet idea. And they seem very easy to make too! I really want to make some to dot around the house. We are quite big for decorating when it comes to Christmas - my Mum goes a bit mad!



Chocolate 'Dipping' Spoons
These looks super easy, and who doesn't love cosying up with a cup of hot chocolate? I love the fact you can customise them so much - marshmallows, sprinkles, chocolate drops (if you can't get enough), nuts, coconut etc. These would look lovely wrapped in cellophane bags and tied with baker's twine. A little token attached to a gift perhaps?



Glitter Candles
I love making candles, and the idea of adding glitter makes it even more appealing! Gotta love a bit of sparkle at Christmas. This step by step DIY makes it super easy.



Filled Mason Jars
I love the idea of filling mason jars with sweet treats. The possibilities are pretty much endless - hot chocolate, peppermint bark (recipe here), sweets (Ben's personal favourite), cookies, brownies, fudge...or you could create a kit depending on the person's interest. Craft kits full of mini craft kits, nail kits full of nail polish, nail files, decals etc. Decorate the jar as you wish, complete with a pretty ribbon, and you have a lovely personal gift!



Gold Dipped Cups
These cups look so lovely and classic. Very simple and effective. I think I would be very happy if I received something like this as a gift!

I'm looking forward to trying some of these in the lead up to Christmas. I'm also excited (moreso than I should be) about wrapping. I have some ideas up my sleeve and I can't wait to get started. I doubt I'll be able to wait much longer!

Will you be doing anything creative for Christmas?

DIY Gold Edged Agate Coaster

You will need:
A large slice of Agate - I found mine on ebay
Liquid Leaf
A thin paintbrush





The photos speak for themselves. Dip your paintbrush into the gorgeous metallic paint, and carefully apply it around the edge of the Agate. If you like, you can use tape to cover the top, but I was just very careful. Wait an hour before applying a second coat.

This looks pretty on my bedside table, alongside my gold leaf bowl (DIY HERE).



This makes for a lovely DIY for one, but you could buy a set of Agate coasters and pretty-fy them up for someone as a gift. Great handmade Christmas idea!?

DIY Polaroid Heart Collage

This DIY had been on my 'to do' list for months - I just didn't have all the photos to do it with! But that changed when I received my Instagram prints. I got the inspiration for this from Pinterest ages ago. I'm sure there are different ways of doing it - such as simply tacking the photos straight onto the wall - but here's how I created mine.

Gather all the photos you plan to use. You can make your heart as big as like, but for mine I used 33 photos.



Place them down on a piece of card, sorting them into a heart shape - I started with two at the top, then three either side, then two rows of seven, a row of five, then three and then finished with one at the bottom. I had to overlap them slightly to make them all fit.



Stick the polaroids down. I just used a normal gluestick.



Cut around the polaroids, so all you are left with is the heart...



Stick a length of string onto the back of the heart and hang on the wall.




Have you done anything creative like this with polaroids? I would love to see :)

DIY Cinnamon sticks candle holder.

I received some cinnamon sticks in November's Crafty Creatives box. Cinnamon is one of my favourite scents, but I was unsure about what to do with them until I came across these on Pinterest. I love candles and I thought one of these would look great this time of year.



I bought a couple of glass tealight holders from Primark [£1 each] and used my glue gun to stick the cinnamon sticks around the holder. Unfortunately I didn't have quite enough sticks to go all around the holder but I don't think that matters too much. I finished my holder by tying ribbon around it and popped a tealight in.



This looks super pretty on my window sill...I love the way the light shines through the cracks. Smells lovely too!

DIY kitty flats

Here is a DIY that I had on my 'to do list' for quite a while. Somehow I just never got round to it before!



You may well have seen the Charlotte Olympia kitty flats - now, I love cats, but I certainly don't have £465 laying around for me to splurge on shoes. So a DIY was in order.

I've seen a couple of similar DIYs - here and here - which gave me a bit of inspiration. These were pretty easy to do - all you need is a pair of flats [I got some cheapies off everything5pounds], a pencil, paper, tracing paper and a needle and thread! Oh and a lot of patience...

I started by tracing round the front of my shoe and drawing a simple cat face on paper. I then traced over it onto the tracing paper using a white pencil. I placed the tracing paper onto my shoe and rubbed the cat face on, to give me a bit of a guideline when sewing - it did rub off after a while but once I had started I kinda knew where abouts to sew the kitty features.




Get a good, strong needle as you'll need it. Sew along the cat face, starting from the bottom. Mine actually ended up smaller, and looking a little different from my original drawing, but it did help to have the guide there. I also added some ears in the end!



My shoes may not be perfect, with the sewing being a little shakey and the eyes not the exact same size [trust me, I tried to be a perfectionist, and get them exactly the same, but it just wasn't happening] but I'm pretty pleased with them! Not bad for a fiver :)

Craft project - wooden floral bunting.

Here's my latest craft project! I made use of the wooden bunting I got in my August Crafty Creatives box, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.



I decided to paint a design on my bunting, and went for roses - I love them, and I have a lot of floral things in my room so I figured it'd match well!

I got some acrylic paint and paintbrushes from Hobbycraft [cost me less than a tenner so not too bad!] and got to work. I hadn't really planned exactly what colour combinations I was going to do - I just went with the flow and mixed colours as I went along!







I used the yellow paper string which came in my Crafty Creatives box to hang the bunting. I really like it. It might not be perfect, but that's the charm of handmade. It looks so pretty hung in my room :)

Did you get the August Crafty Creatives box? What have you made so far?