Twinkly wintery table decoration and chrimbly counting 13

Eldest has a friend who's birthday is in early November and he used to, when much younger, choose to have his party Halloween themed. This particular year, all the party guests came home with a rather rich chocolate cupcake. Eldest, having partaken in lots of party food already, generously donated to Youngest who didn't need to be asked twice and scoffed it in an instant!

Simple and Easy Twinkly and Wintery Table Decoration

You will need ...

Dried twisty twigs

Battery operated twinkly lights

Glass vase

Assorted smaller sized cones
Mug of your favourite warm drink

1. Select your twigs to suit the shape of your vase

2. Place two or three cones at the base

3. Start draping in your lights

4. Arrange your twigs and add to the vase then build up your layers of cones around the stems

5. As you go along add your lights around the cones - a bit fiddly and I admit to pulling it apart and starting again twice, none of your perfect 'this is how it is done' tutorial here! Nope, I did rearrange and rearrange until I was happy (but probably will tinker with it later!)

6. There! It certainly comes into it's own once it is darker but even during daylight I had the lights on and it added a certain little magic sparkle - perfect for a dull overcast day!

If you have been inspired by my tutorial, 

please could you be so kind to link back to my blog

I would love to see your twinkly table arrangement :)

Linking with Julie's Advent

#hawthorn

#crafts  #christmascrafts  #handmadewithlove #handicraft #inspiredby #imadethis #livelovecraftme 

Noughts and Crosses (Tic tac toe) and chrimbly countdown 12

A small aluminium tag studded into the tar. We did a little research and came up with a blank.   ?Is it something to do with testing the road surface quality.    ?Is it marking a boundary - we have no idea. But, it does mean, that today - the 12th December, I have my number!

Noughts and Crosses or Tic tac toe

Tic tac toe, tic tac toe,

Give me an X

Give me an O!!

You will need:

A selection of small rounded pebbles - a minimum of nine preferably 12 per game

Pens - light coloured for dark pebbles, dark for light ones

Pencil

Ruler

Scissors

Small jewellery box, gift box or tin

Coloured Card

1. Choose small fairly rounded similarly sized pebbles - we'd been for a dog walk and as we always do, we had to stop by the river for Moss to play. While she splashed and dashed and generally had fun, I collected a small clutch of pebbles.

2. Choose the nicest ones and on one side of the pebble - mark an X, allow your marking to dry before turning over

3. On the other side, write an O, again, allow to dry

4. Selecting your tin or box, measure the inside of the lid

5. Using the card you selected, cut out the shape required to fit snugly in the lid

6. Draw a grid onto your card

7. Glue the card and stick into the lid, allow to dry

8. The card box already had a sponge base however the tin did not, so I lined it with a layer of soft card - to reduce any rattle noise.

There you have it!  

A quick and easy gift to make,

ideal to take camping,

light enough to take on picnics or walks

or to leave in the car.

If you have never played Noughts and Crosses, here goes ...

It is a two player game, decide who will be Noughts or Crosses and who will go first.

Each player takes a turn to place their pebble onto the grid, the target is to line up three pebbles before the other player blocks. The first person to make a line is the winner!

Ta da! 

This should take you less than an hour to make (as long as you have already collected your pebbles), unless you get distracted by the dog needing a walk!

If you have been inspired by my tutorial, 

please could you be so kind to link back to my blog

I would love to see your tic tac toe, give me an X give me an O!:)

Linking with Julie's Advent

#hawthorn

#crafts  #christmascrafts  #handmadewithlove #handicraft #inspiredby #imadethis #livelovecraftme 

Quick gift for for your favourite dog and chrimbly counting 11

A pile of logs loitering behind a visitor's centre in Skye - why - do you ask, was I there? Well, I was following a trail put out by the centre which meandered around the woods and parklands then for a short stretch, walked round the back of the building, next to the bins and staff parking - an otherwise lovely little walk spoilt by a necessary but ugly link up path. On the plus side - I found this '11' cut into the log pile by the tree surgeon. Hmmm - thanks (I think!)

Now for nicer things!

Quick and easy gift for your favourite dog or dogs (woof!)

You will need:

Suitable nibbly dog treats, bought or homemade

A selection of jars or bottles (depending on how many dogs you are sorting out)

Gift tags (I found some dog themed ones from the cards I'd already cut for tags) LINK HERE

Ribbons, pen, scissors

Recipient of the dog variety ....!

1. Select your jars - I have used three different varieties, one smaller screw top, one sanctuary jar and a plastic tubby one. 

2. Fill your containers with the nibbly dog treats and seal shut. 

3. Now decorate your gifts with ribbons and tags - this may sound obvious but do remember to remove the decorations afterwards. (Although the dog will not actually open the jar and help themselves, I thought I better just add that little proviso ... )

4. Ta da! A selection of doggy treats for a bit of seasonal silly fun :)

And of course there always has to be a little of this ...

If you have been inspired by my tutorial, 

please could you be so kind to link back to my blog

I would love to see your dog receiving their dog treats gift :)

Linking with Julie's Advent

#hawthorn
#crafts  #christmascrafts  #handmadewithlove #handicraft #inspiredby #imadethis #livelovecraftme

Super Quick and Easy Birds and chrimbly counting 10

Walking through a community run woodland we noticed evidence of their love and attention. Lots of bat and bird boxes as well as discreet bins and seating and even a lovely little wooden shelter with information posters and reclaimed church pews allowing you to hide from the inclement weather in warmth and safety.  All the boxes were numbered, not scrawled on by hand but with little metal tags all carefully placed - the community must really cherish their little wild space, it was was lovely being allowed to wander through.

Quick and easy paper birds

A very simple craft today - easy for all ages although if the crafty person is a young one, you might need to give a hand with using the scissors and tapestry needle - you will know their abilities :)

You will need:

Card in a number of colours

Pens, pencils, paints, crayons, glitter to decorate your birds

Scissors - plain and/or crafting

Embroidery thread

Tapestry needle

Chunky beads

Glue stick

Compass or lids to draw around

1. Select your card - decide which colour you want as the main part of the body and the wings.

2. Draw around your lids - the large for the body and the smaller to make the wings. Cut them out.

3. Once all your circles have been cut out, fold each on in half making a nice firm crease.

4. Now comes the fun! Decorate your birds - just remember not to completely decorate the body (large circle) as you will cover all your work when you add the wings.

5. When all your decorating has dried, glue the wings to the body - lining up the crease marks, then carefully place a weight (I used my painted fox stone) on the folded discs until the glue was dry.

6. Once your birds have dried, fold the embroidery thread in half and measure against the folded discs, you need enough length to make the 'legs' and the hanging loop. 

7. Tie a knot at the bottom end for the bead to rest on, leaving a little bit of thread as 'feet'.

8. Tie a second knot halfway up for the body of the bird to rest on and using your tapestry needle, push the remaining thread through to make the loop.

9. When piercing the card discs with the needle, if your crafty person has little fingers, please help them here. Make sure the hole is central to the disc to ensure the birds fly nicely in your tree :)

10. Using the scraps of card left from cutting the discs, you need to cut a long triangle for the tail and a shorter wider one for the beak. Fold these triangles in half and glue one at either end of your bird.

11. Then, step back and let your little crafty person (or you if you are like me!!) hang the birds up in your tree :)

These little birds can be as simple as I have made them, or really sparkly and glittery - either way - have super fun making them !!

If you have been inspired by my tutorial, 

please could you be so kind to link back to my blog

I would love to see how your little birds flew in your tree :)

Linking with Julie's Advent

#crafts  #christmascrafts  #handmadewithlove #handicraft #inspiredby #imadethis #livelovecraftme 

Mini wreath card holders and chrimbly counting 9

You just can not miss this set of steading signs :) You see these dotted all over the islands of Scotland, often with no houses in sight. I often wondered how far down the stony track you would have to venture to find who these signs belonged too.

Mini wreath place cards holders

You will need:

Ivy - approximately 30 - 40 cm lengths - 2 - 3 per place setting

Secateurs

Scissors

Paper, pens or computer 

An impending festive dinner for your favourite friends

1. Select your ivy - preferably small leafed varieties.

2. If the leaves are spaced far apart, clip two strands per wreath.

3. Gently twist your two ivy strands to form a thicker and more leafy line.

4. Remove any damaged leaves if you feel they spoil the appearance.

5. Twist your strand into a circle, wrapping any long leaves into the wreath.

6. Keep twisting and tucking in the ends until you are happy with the shape.

7. Continue making until you have sufficient mini wreaths for your dinner table.

8. Trim off any thicker stalks or strands that refuse to stay tucked into the wreath. 

9. In your 'bestest' hand writing (or cheat like me and print) a list of your guests' names.

10. Cut out ready for the next step.

Now the fun begins - your mini wreaths can be used in many different ways on your table setting.

11. Round the base of a glass 

12. Part of your cutlery setting or a simple wreath holding your guest's name card. 

Ta da! 

This should take you less than an hour to make, unless you get distracted by something boiling over in the kitchen! 

If you have been inspired by my tutorial, 

please could you be so kind to link back to my blog

I would love to see how you made your mini wreath place card holders :)

Linking with Julie's Advent

#crafts  #christmascrafts  #handmadewithlove #handicraft #inspiredby #imadethis #livelovecraftme 

Festive Jar of Fudge and chrimbly counting 8

I just love it when a house number is given the personal look and this one really appealed to me. Every time I see it, it makes me smile.

Festive jar filled with Extremely Yummy Fudge Squares **

You will need:

Yummy yummy yummy fudge recipe - HERE (I am not affiliated in anyway with the source however the recipe is fairly fail safe and rather delish)

Suitable container

Festive trimmings, tags, ribbons

Either a mixer or a teenager with strong arms (for the mixing the fudge stage)

1. Premake your fudge - not too long in advance as you might be lured into sampling and double checking your bake, then end up having to make another batch (I may or may not be speaking from experience ... erhem)

2. Once cool and still having sufficient quantity (see note above) cut into nice bite size squares. Any edges or corners that are a little too crumpled or less than perfect - save those as 'cooks perks'...

3. Layer up the now fully cooled, and surviving, pieces of fudge in your jar.

4. Decorate, write on and attach your tag - and no, not putting your own name on it is allowed ...!

Ta-da - another gift sorted. This took me an afternoon to do - the longest time being allocated to the fudge cooling. 

**I may have alluded to once or twice the sinful deliciousness of said fudge - this recipe should come with a health warning attached! It is, however, a simple and easy recipe and always well received.

If you have been inspired by my tutorial, 

please could you be so kind to link back to my blog

I would love to see your fudge squares in a jar :)

Linking with Julie's Advent

#crafts  #christmascrafts  #handmadewithlove #handicraft #inspiredby #imadethis #livelovecraftme

Pine cones with a pop of colour and chrimbly counting 7

It had been a cool dark day and we'd driven across the island down to the far end. Even a flat waterlogged slip of sand in the sea lost many men and boys during the wars and on a rare slope of land a proud and lonely cenotaph stood tall, facing the empty lands where once the men would have worked the fields. The silence was overwhelming. We sat briefly and felt the chill. At the base, tucked behind wire netting so they would not blow away, a row of poppy wreathes.

Pine cones of colour

You will need:

A selection of cones

Yarns, threads, wools - any colour, plain or sparkly 

Scissors

Suitable bowl

Optional - additional plain cones and/or decorations

1. Choose cones that have nice open scales, it makes it easier to wind the yarn around the spaces.

2. Start at the top, loosely wrap your yarn between the scales as you wind the cone in your fingers tucking in the beginning the yarn as you work your way down.

3. Keep wrapping, make sure you don't pull tight - this means you would need far more yarn to fill the spaces between the scales and the softer finish make the cone look more cosy and warm :) 

4. When you are satisfied with the depth of yarn wrapping around your cone - look at it from all angles, cut your yarn.

 

5. Tuck your cut end into the tighter scales at the base of the cone. This means you don't need to use any glue.

 6. Arrange your cones in your chosen bowl and place in a suitably obvious place to make sure every one sees your very simple and clever decorations (with the added advantage of using up old scraps of yarn !)

If you have been inspired by my tutorial,

could you be so kind to link back to my blog,

I would love to see how your pine cones of woolly goodness turned out :)

Linking with Julie's Advent

#crafts  #christmascrafts  #handmadewithlove #handicraft #inspiredby #imadethis #livelovecraftme