ribbon chain tutorial

 

Ribbon chains are just like the old fashioned

paper chains but made with ribbon.

These are so easy to make and the kids can help too. 

 

 

Grab some ribbon in at least two colours but of

course you can have as many colours as you like.

 

 

Cut them with pinking shears so

they don't fray, to the same length.

Then just loop them and secure them by stapling them.

 

Hang them on your tree

or drape them around the room.

 

The easiest but prettiest decorations ever!

 

I think I'll pop these Under the Christmas Tree

on Sunday , will you be joining in?

just a quickie

 

Things have been a little frantic around here lately

so I thought I'd pop in and say hi and show you

a very quick and easy decoration that you can do for Christmas.

 

Simply wrap some coloured thread around jars

 and drop in a tealight.

I used baby food jars and battery operated tealights

because I don't like/won't use candles of any sort.

 

I have found a stash of baby food jars that I will be using

for Christmas crafts so I will show you more in a

couple of days , I hope you can come back then.

 

 

we all fall down

 

My favourite part of Christmas is the decorating.

 

These old, old Christmas trees of mine have seen better days.

Each year I drag them out and each year when they're not falling

over they just look very uninspiring.

I have had these daggy trees since I was a tiny thing

so I couldn't really get rid of them and I could have

sprayed them but then they wouldn't be the same.

 

I just gave them a very good dust and popped them into

some jars I had and poured some rock salt in the base.

This has kept them the same and stopped them falling over

but now they look really pretty sitting on a mirror.

 

I can't wait till I can start decorating for real!

When do you start?

knock knock

 

I had the morning off .

 

 

I knew that I had to do some housework but

really I couldn't be bothered.

 

So I combined cleaning and craft and

covered the dirty door with paper doilies ..

win , win !

 

Even the cat was impressed .

 

I just used paper doilies and double sided sticky tape .

The trick is to use small pieces of tape and secure it on the frilly

edges so you really can't see it even from the outside .

testing out Christmas

 

I've been doing a few Christmas gift try outs.

This one is so very easy .

 

All I did was melt some really nice chocolate in the microwave.

Then I dipped in some beautiful old teaspoons I found at Vinnies.

Pop them onto some baking paper to set in the fridge and

when they are nice and firm wrap some cellophane around them.

Decorate with a pretty piece of festive ribbon .

 

I thought the dipped spoons would go really well with

some Christmassy cups with marshmallows.

They would also be good with homemade bickies or special coffee.

 

The chocolate spoons can be swirled through hot milk or coffee

and then your friend gets to keep the spoon and the cup .

 

 

The whole thing only costs a few dollars so you could

make a few for teachers , neighbours or

for the unexpected Christmas guest .

 

Or your kids could just pinch them and suck the chocolate

off like my kids are sure to do !

 

What do you think ?

Do you have any cheap and cheerful Christmas ideas ?

 

lolly wreath ~ anyone know a good dentist ?

 

I wanted to try making a lolly wreath so I got myself

some very willing helpers , lots of wrapped lollies,

 a wooden ring and some string .

I then just tied those little lollies to the wooden ring .

 

 

I kept tying and then I did some more tying .

 

These are going to be sweet  Christmas decorations !

 

 

See you on Sunday for the Christmas linky !

let's make up

 

I've seen various tutorials around using felt circles and thought

how great they were but because I don't have a circle

cutter thingy there is no way I would be cutting 100 plus circles by hand.

So I thought I would give these cheap make up pads a go .

 

All I did was fold them in half and scrunch the bottom to form a point

and then hot glued the point to a styrofoam ball .

I used a knitting needle to pierce a hole all the way through

the ball first and threaded some cord through for hanging.

 

Then I glued and glued and glued and glued and

 

I ended up with this !

The photo doesn't do it justice it really is the softest

and prettiest thing and really beautiful !

Well worth all the gluing .

 

Don't forget if you have some Christmas craft even if

it is from last year come and link up here on Sunday to show us .

under the christmas tree

 

Yes , yes I know I'm a bit early but if I don't

get organised now I won't be organised again this year .

 

So because I am such a big thinker I thought maybe

I'm not the only one who wants to be organised this year.

I have also noticed that pinners are pinning a lot of Christmas stuff already.

 

So I thought what if I had a linky thingy here and you

could show what you are making to put under the tree.

You could link your sewing , recipes , decorations anything !

 

What do you think ?

Would you like to join in ?

What if I made a special button and you could tell

your friends what you have left under the tree ?

What if you could find all the links to the best Christmas stuff here ?

 

What if you found out it starts on Sunday ?

What about it ?

 

 

it's in the bag

Those little gift bags that are made in China at the $2 shops

are getting dearer and tackier so I thought I'd make my own .

I do hope you want to make some too because I took lots

of pictures to show you how .

The one I'm showing you here is about 4' high when finished

but once you get the hang of making these you can

change the measurements to make any size .

Righto the template I have been using is the inside of a cereal

box but so you could see the measurements I used A4 white paper.

Rule your lines as shown above , the middle panels are 4' high.

Fold and finger press all lines.

Fold down and glue the top of bag.

Cut the base flaps as shown below.

Use paper glue on the small side flap and attach

 it to the opposite side forming the bag .

Fold in the base square flaps and then fold over the cut flaps .

Glue all together to form the base .

If you would like a firmer base cut some cardboard

and place it in the bottom of the bag .

This size bag uses a base 3.5" x 2".

I have been recycling paper to make mine for kids parties

from old story books....

Christmas ones from gift wrap ......

teenage party ones from fashion magazines....

but my favourite ones have been made from old

knitting books for wooly friends !

I love recycling , do you ?

What do you recycle ?

love in a jar

In an effort to become a little more organised this Christmas

I've been trying out some jar gifts .

Of course I have to test that they all work out and

my family think it's wonderful !

Anyway in case you would like to try some of these I'm putting

all the recipes here so I can find them again .

What you will need is a glass jar equivalent to about 4 cups.

All ingredients will vary from jar to jar .

Chocolate Bars.

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cocoa

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 choc bits

1 and 3/4 cup of plain flour

1 tsp baking powder.

Layer all your ingredients in this order in your jar.

Decorate the jar with a piece of ribbon .

Now you will need to make a little card to go with your gift

and listing the remaining ingredients and instructions .

Chocolate Bars .

1 jar Chocolate Bar Mix

3/4 cup melted butter

3 eggs lightly beaten

tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients and blend well.

Spread mix into slice tin and bake at 180c about 30 mins.

Cool in pan before cutting into squares .

Enjoy !

Mix will keep in this jar for about 3 months.

As you can see this slice has been tested and passed by my family .

It was rated as ~ delicious !

jingle wreath

It's not too early to start making Christmas decorations and gifts , is it ?

These ones are quick , easy and gorgeous !

All you need for these are some curtain rings (or small childrens bangles)

ribbon , thin gold cord and the most important thing some jingly bells !

Simply wrap the ribbon around the rings very tightly and secure them .

Decorate them them with the gold cord and bells .

Add some more cord for hanging .

Hang and admire !

What do you think ?

Would you like more easy Christmas decorations or gifts ?

fabric bowl covers

Can you believe I'm starting on a little Christmas gift stash already !

I've been whipping up some fabric bowl covers so we can use less plastic wrap.

I have seen people use shower caps as bowl covers

but they are still plastic and they look ugly !

These pretty fabric ones won't really keep your food fresh

but they will keep the flys off your food at parties . 

They'd be great if you were having a themed party

as you could make these to match.

There are some covers around that require you to zig zag over elastic

and stretch and juggle as you go but that seemed a bit hard for me .

This is how I did mine ~

Cut a circle of fabric about 2" larger than your chosen bowl.

Bind all around the raw edge. Make your own or buy binding

but it needs to be wide enough to thread your elastic through .

On the underside of your bound cover in the binding make a small slit.

Use a small safety pin or bodkin and hat elastic and

 thread the elastic through .

Check that it fits your bowl before tieing the elastic ends together.

Tuck the elastic knot inside the binding .

That's it , so easy !

These can be made for any size bowl and I think they're gorgeous!

Much nicer than shower caps , don't you think ?

If you make some please let me know , I'd love to see .