Category: Top Gift Tips and Ideas

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Handmade gift of the week: How to use old handkerchiefs

I recently found my stash of hankies I had as a child. I probably would have thrown them out, had they not been in such good condition and had such gorgeous vintage-style children’s prints on them. I have been racking my brains as to what I can do with them…a child’s quilt perhaps, or maybe some patchwork scatter cushions? The fabric of some of them is pretty fine now, so I’m not sure if they’d stand the wear-and-tear of being re-purposed in a quilt of cushion. Then I saw this gorgeous vintage hankie bunting idea and I can’t wait to try it!

Image from www.pinterest.com

Why we love it:
  • This is super easy to make – you can simply tie the corners together, so I don’t need to cut up my precious hankies
  • You can make it as long as you want, depending on how many hankies you have
  • This is a gorgeous way of decorating a child’s bedroom or casual living area. Simply select patterns that suit the room you intend to use it in i.e. children’s prints for a child’s room, or pretty florals for an adult bedroom. 
  • It’s colourful, fun and would look great in any interior – contemporary or traditional. 
  • Bunting has been around forever and is a classic decorating accessory, but it’s massively on-trend at the moment. 



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Handmade card of the week: Confetti cards

Colourful confetti spots have a celebratory feel about them and are an easy way to create a fun handmade card…  


Why we love them:
  • You can easily make these types of spots yourself with different coloured paper and a hole punch. Tip: Fold the paper and punch it in several layers to create more spots. 
  • You could experiment with metallic or printed paper for different looks. Tonal colours work well for adults, and bright contrasting colours are fun for kids. 
  • You don’t have to be too precise and glue each spot – spread some glue (Pritt Stick type glue works best) on your card and sprinkle spots for a more random effect. 
  • You can add other ‘accessories’ to your card for the spots to appear from – we love the envelope used on the card above. 

Check out our other handmade cards here…

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Cake of the week: Sprinkle number birthday cake

There’s an infectious fun associated with sprinkles. Maybe it’s the pleasant memories of childhood birthday parties, or just the rainbow of cheerful colours. These sprinkle birthday cakes are super simple to make and would make an awesome cake for anyone, of any age. 

Image from www.buzzfeed.com

Why we love them:
  • Each of these cakes demonstrate an ’embossed’ or ‘debossed’ way of using sprinkles. The first image shows how you can ‘block out’ the area you don’t want covered with a template. The second image uses a number 2 stencil to pop sprinkles in. 
  • These colours would work well for children and adults of any age, male or female. 
  • You could experiment with the colour of the base icing. White will of course make the sprinkles stand out, but pale pink, yellow, or blue would also look good too. 
  • You can apply this decorating technique to a cake of any size or shape. 
Who would you make this cake for? 
We’d love your thoughts, please comment below…
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Gift wrapping idea of the week: How to wrap a pot plant

Pot plants make gorgeous gifts, even for people who wouldn’t call themselves ‘gardeners’. I don’t know many people who wouldn’t appreciate a pot of herbs to sit on their windowsill to use for cooking, or even just a lovely pot of colour to enjoy (instead of a bunch of flowers). A potted flowering plant is also usually cheaper than a bunch of flowers too! The only problems with pot plants is that they can be tricky to wrap…until now! Check out this simple way of wrapping a pot plant…


Image from www.buzzfeed.com

Why we love it:
  • We love the simple printed wrapping paper used to wrap these plants – the grey colour also looks great against the green and doesn’t detract from the plant. 
  • Whilst you could use ribbon to wrap around your plant, natural twine has a lovely organic look when paired with a simple kraft gift tag. 

What sort of plant would you love to give or receive as a gift? We’d love your thoughts – please comment below…

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Handmade card of the week: Button cards

Apart from fastening clothing, there are many great ways that buttons can be used to add a little fun and colour into our lives…




Why we love them:
  • Most people have a box a random buttons at home. This is a great way to turn them into something fun that will put a smile on someone’s face. 
  • These card ideas are inexpensive – you can you a plain piece of card and write/draw your message by hand. 
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How to store your Christmas Decorations

Have you taken down your Christmas tree and decorations yet? 

I’m ashamed to say that our Christmas tree still has pride of place in our living room. I really admire my mother-in-law’s diligence of taking down her Christmas tree and decorations every year on New Year’s Day. Sadly, I don’t know if this is a ritual I could commit to. Firstly because I’m not usually feeling my brightest on New Year’s Day after a late night, and secondly because my brain can’t cope with finding a home for all our Christmas decorations. 

This is only the second year that we’ve had a “proper Christmas tree” and collection of decorations that need to be packed away, so I’m going to cut myself some slack as I’m still finding my feet. Rather than shoving everything in a box and hiding it in the cupboard, this year I’ve vowed to be more organised and find a “home” for everything so it’s not such a daunting task next year. Here are some of my favourite Christmas decoration storage ideas that I’m going to try out…


Baubles
These little devils will happily roll away in any direction if you let them. The glass ones are also pretty dangerous if they break with small children around. 

Egg cartons are a cheap and effective way of storing baubles so they don’t roll around and rub together 
Image from www.bobvila.com

You can use smaller egg cartons and store baubles by colour:



Zip lock bags are a great way of keeping different coloured baubles separated and organised. Large clear zip lock bags are also good for storing tinsel. 



If your baubles are too big to store in egg cartons, stash them in plastic cups, which are available in a variety of sizes. 


Wrapping tissue around really fragile ornaments will protect them by preventing them from moving around in their box. 

These metallic beads make lovely Christmas decorations, but get tangled easily and are hard to repair when they break. Storing them in plastic bottles will keep them untangled and easy to find. 


Plastic boxes are a great way of storing all your Christmas decorations as you can see exactly what’s in each box. They’re also pretty cheap to pick up these days, and are available in a variety of shapes and sizes. 


Christmas Tree
I love this idea of ‘shrink wrapping’ your tree with cling wrap. Not only does it protect the tree from dust and dirt, but it also dramatically reduces its size, giving you more options to store under a bed, etc. To release the tree, simply slice up the side of the plastic with sharp scissors. 


Wrapping paper
This padded wrapping paper case is the ultimate way to store your paper, ribbon, bows, etc. which could be used for birthdays, etc. all year round and not jut for Christmas. 


What’s your top tip on storing your Christmas decorations? We’d love your thoughts, please comment below…
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Handmade gift of the week: Plastic animal fridge magnets

Do you have at your house:

  • Too many plastic animals
  • Broken plastic animals
  • Kids who have outgrown plastic animals?

Yes to any of the above? Then check out this fun way of re-purposing them…


Why we love them:

  • This is one of the cutest handmade fridge magnets we’ve seen. Spray-painting them with metallic paint is a great way to make them stand out and look less like you’ve pinched them from the kids’ toy box;-)
  • Create a collection of a few different animals – kids will love looking at the ‘zoo’ on their fridge!
  • They would make great gifts for birthday party bags. 
  • Experiment painting them different colours to match your decor, or on-trend colours, such as pastels.