Valentine's craft

If you are in a couple or not you can't deny the fact that Valentine's day is very much upon its way. I used to hate the smooshy saga and would happily retreat to my living room with a lot of takeaway food and watch action films, this was until of course I discovered the joys of being in a relationship. For me Valentine's day is now all about the presents. I still stick with the mantra that you don't need one day to tell your person that you love them but I am a present addict, both the giving and receiving. Let's be honest, you can only give your friends so many valentine's gifts before they start to give you a wide berth!
So for this year, while I very much look forward to the surprise of my gift - nudge nudge other half- I've kind of ruined the present I made. I've gone back to string art which this time was much more successful as the shape was smaller and easier to work with. There's just one problem. It's very very girly, very suitable for the lovely lady in your life should you wish to purchase it from me (shameless plug I know). Oh and I've already rubbed my other half's face in it (metaphorically) like a small excited child which would very much ruin the surprise. Oh well, I guess it means I can go back to the drawing board and make something else!

Snowman soup

Ok. Hands up how many times you go to a craft fair and love what you see but think 'I can make that'? If it's not 50% of you at least I'm surprised that you are still reading this blog but I'm thankful that you are.
What follows is a story about how silly my husband and I can be, if you want to get to the craft part again I suggest you scroll down to 'we wandered the streets' be reassured it has a happy ending.
So just before Christmas my other half and me went to Lincoln to the infamous Christmas markets. We've been trying to go for years but it would seem it wasn't meant to be; the first year was food poisoning, the second was work, the third we were already on holiday, the fourth was bad weather but this year we managed to go.
Like children on an adventure we set out. We arrived in good time, drove down a one way street the wrong way, arrived at the same roundabout from three different directions until we finally found the park and ride. Upon entering the first marquee I was sure we woukd find all our Christmas presents except there was then an announcement. See the beauty of Lincoln's Christmas market is that 80% of the stalls are inside the castle grounds but the anonymous voice from the speakers told us that it was unsafe at this juncture to enter the castle grounds. We did what any couple would do - find shelter in a cafe and eat cake. The announcements kept coming. 'Unsafe'. To be honest the thing that was unsafe was leaving two men at the castle gates to ensure no one entered and as there was a gathering crowd of angry Brits the tutting these guys received was verging on aggressive!
We wandered the streets and came across a church that had a handmade wreath competition going on which was brilliant and then we found a village hall with a craft fair. Hallelujah! This village hall saved the day for me. It was packed with great ideas and several purchases were made for Christmas gifts. Yay!
But one thing I came away with was the snowman soup idea. It's essentially hot chocolate packaged up in a decorative way. Such a simple but perfect stocking filler idea. Finding the triangle bags was the hardest part but since getting those it was easy.
What is lovely about that idea is that it's childish enough that children will invest in the fairytale elements and childish enough that adults want them too.
Snowman soup went in nearly all my gift bags and I will be making them again this year. Just wish I could use them all year round. Any ideas how they could be modified?

Quick gift ideas part two

This is the follow up from my previous post but I've since realised to make this aspect you need a lot of time and ergo not exactly a 'quick gift idea'. Apologies if you have been offended by the misleading title. You can forward all complaints to:
12 never never street
Impossiville
Movingon
So for this side of the gift you are going to need to spend the day at home slowly cooking orange slices on a very low heat in your oven to help them dry out. I did a massive batch all at once and then stored them in a tupperware container so that should I want a quick gift I have them to hand. As my husband wasn't a fan of leaving the oven on all the time I was guilty of putting my oranges back into the oven after every cooked meal. Thankfully the orange smell beats other cooked food smells.
Once you have these you buy a soap base, there are loads of choices out there but I use Bee Beautiful from Amazon and it's always been delivered quickly and is easy to use.
You need to heat up the soap base - I use the microwave - and then add colours and flavours to your heart's desires layering them up as again you please depending on the look you want. These soaps are chocolate orange with a dried orange in the bottom so as you use the soap you will be exfoliating too. I also did a batch that had the orange on the top - much more striking aesthetically but not as practical so you can go for again whichever your giftee will appreciate the most.
For my Christmas gifts some people got a box of one massive soap, some a box of smaller varying soaps and the others a box with the candle and wash cloth. I will go back to being very British soon I promise.
These were all sent out in the boxes I made (there is another blog on here about that if you'd like a visual) and largely the gifts were well received. I'm curious to know what people think of the gifts after they have used them for a while, so feel free to comment below.
The varieties you could do with these are endless and you could brighten up the boxes to make them mother's day gifts or birthday gifts.

Spoilt for choice

I've been making loads just recently which is really handy because I'm going to have loads of blogging material for you lovely lot when my life gets too busy to make stuff. I hope this never happens but I have to be realistic exam season is upon us. As such I was spoilt for choice when choosing a make for this blog but I've gone for a commission I made recently.
The pooch attached to this blog is a bespoke draught excluder. It's not the first one I've ever made but I think it might be my favourite.
What I love about this project is that as long as you can straight stitch you can make this cutie. You need to cut in straight lines too - sometimes the harder aspect of making. As my very wise mamma once said - if you cut out the fabric incorrectly no amount of sewing is going to put it right. But those are the only skills you need.
I love getting commissions because it means people think my makes are worth paying for, so if you fancy boosting my ego ever so slightly have a look through my blogs and let me know which one you might like and I will let you know how many silver coins I'm going to ask you to cross my palm with.

Still no spoilers

It's Thursday. On Thursdays I write my blog. Unfortunately I still haven't seen all of my friends to give them their gifts so there are somethings I just can't talk about yet. However, my husband has opened all his gifts and as he isn't immune to the odd handmade gift I can safely share with you one gift he received.
Along with having the unusual name, unusual hobbies and an unusually accepting nature - comes in handy when I want yet another craft machine- my other half is unusually difficult to buy for. I know men can be difficult to buy for but this guy tops the charts.
He treats himself as and when he likes, he doesn't covet things of others', except the PS4 pretty sure he covets that and he prefers to buy his own clothes. He has expensive taste: he fell for me after all and his collections require detailed research.
That leaves me with buying him the obligatory socks, dvds that he hasn't already bought and the necessary onesie or I break into a bank and get the money for the PS4.
I went for a more original idea. Toiletries. Boring I know. However, this set had a special coupon inside. It was a kind of voucher/I.O.U that he is allowed to redeem throughout the next year. I've done him a book of vouchers before and as they were so successful I decided to keep up the tradition as it allows him to get a present he wants, me to spread the cost and Christmas to last all year. That's a hat trick folks.