Posts about: christmas DIY
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19/12/2012
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so yesterdays agenda involved playing michael buble's christmas album and making christmas cards (yes a veritable festive cheese fest)
I love card making, I haven't bought xmas cards for years, handmade ones are always so well received and I get to have a little fun with the creative process to boot! I'm always collecting bits & bobs to make mine so these ones pictured are a mix of items I've purchased over the last few years.
you'll need some blank cards/envelopes in various colours, I get mine from hobbycraft, they have a pretty big selection! there are hundreds of decorations available in there too, picking what I put on the cards is the fun part for me! most of mine I simple glue on or use double sided foam pads to attach. I also secretly love buying the little fluffy balls which I use for hat poms poms or noses aha (childish)
some of the festive cartoon characters I've used on mine were from a paperchase card making kit that I picked up last year, paperchase is a great shop for cute little 3D foam stickers that I often use on birthday cards as well.
if you're tempted to make some of your own I'd recommend looking in both shops I've mentioned and/or your local craft shops (also etsy which is a great online craft supply destination but it may be a little too close to christmas for their shipping!)
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have you ever made your own christmas cards? are any of you tempted?
caroline x
10/12/2012
I have been slacking on the DIY front! you know I love to make things and christmas is the perfect time to experiment! from making cards to decorations I think there's a craft to suit everyone from beginner to pro this month!
like many I do most of my festive shopping online but but every year I like to add a handmade present to accompany the rest, this year I decided to make some soaps as little stocking fillers.
this is so fun and easy; if you've been considering making some little gifts for family and family this is a winner! you can make each soap personal by adding whatever you like, from dried fruit or flowers for the grown ups to small toys for the little rascals!
here's what I used in mine:
- 1kg soap base of your choice (I used an olive block which has a slightly cloudy finish)
- soap moulds, I used traditional tins and silicone cupcake moulds.
- fragrance & colours (optional)
- decoration: can use dried fruits, glitter, sequins anything you like!
making the soap is easy peasy! simply:
- cut enough from the block of soap base to fill your mould.
- cut the soap into little pieces and melt in the microwave in 15 second intervals in a microwaveable container (it's just like melting chocolate, I used an empty plastic chinese take away container to melt my soap in!)
- now while it's liquid add a few drops of your fragrance and/or colours. this is the soap mix finished!
- pour the liquid soap into your mould- only fill the mould half way for now!
- it begins to set quite quickly, after a minute or so add you decorations, you'll effectively be sandwiching them between two layers of soap!
- once the first layer begins to firm you'll pour on the remaining liquid soap mix trapping in your decorations (if the remaining mix has begun to set simply pop it back into the microwave!)
- they take about 30 mins to set depending on the size (you can pop them in the freezer for 15 mins before trying remove them from tin moulds, if they are hard to remove try running a knife around the edges to loosen them)
- if you've used silicone mould it's a breeze peeling them off! I made most of mine in them- highly recommend!
I used a few decorations in mine, dried oranges, rose buds, sequin stars, and also my favourite which was multi coloured confetti tissue paper squares!
wrap them and you have the cutest handmade present to give your family & friends!
all of the ingredients for soap making online at shops here or from local craft shops like hobbycraft
1kg of soap will make 10-15 bars a great budget DIY!
I hope you like them!
back soon
caroline x
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