MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas!!! Hello everyone! Here is my Christmas post special along side a five of my own Christmas crafts and DIYs that have been made over the years!

Firstly this plain,wooden 'Noel' sign was cheaply purchased and then decopatched in lovely Christmas paper- it looks great and rivals some signs you may find in some shops.

Next, this groovy tree was handmade by my lovely nan. The base is firm in order to weigh the tree down and the tree itself was sewn and then stuffing was used in order to 'plump it up'

These jolly snowmen were also decopatched, after picking up the paper mâché plain version from hobby craft a few years ago (I think they still do them around this time of year). I must admit they look quite scary in this image!

This 'Let it Snow' sign was anoth decopatch project and is simply positioned onto the wall using blue-tack.

Finally, my festive cushions! These were sewn using Christmassy fat-quarters and then also stuffed. They look fabulous under the tree and fill up any space that has not be used by presents!

Hope you enjoyed this quick post on Christmas Eve!! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and new year! Keep the Creative Juices Flowing! :) x

Last Minute Christmas Crafty Ideas

Hi Everyone! I'm here to help with some last-minute, forgotten DIY present and decoration ideas. In total, after rummaging through Pinterest I found 8 really neat crafty ideas for this winter holiday. So, let's begin...

Firstly, DIY lippy (Lip Balm), I'm in love with the idea of making your own cosmetics, and making them look stunning with personalised labels and would be really nice to give away as a homemade Christmas gift! They're so cute! Might have to make some myself! They're especially great in these winter months when everyone's lips start cracking and really are an essential.

Next, here is another DIY gift idea. Why not take a plain white mug and personalise it using either a marker pen or a sharpie. The great thing about sharpies, is that they come in an array of colours- so get experimenting, then give them as a loving present.

Thirdly, I have found some paper craft ideas. These cards are absolutely adorable and would look stunning on a fireplace next to some Christmas stockings! They are also relatively easy, and could again be personalised. The name tags could be made from bits and bobs lying around the house- yet they still look really beautiful!

I am in love with the next two decorative ideas; a hot chocolate bauble and Christmas tree shelves. To create the bauble, simply fill a clear bauble with coca powder, marshmallows and other deliciousness and replace the top. Hang on your tree and enjoy whenever you wish! The Christmas tree may not be as easy to recreate- however it does give you some inspiration and ideas for decorations.

Finally, no Christmas is complete without a DIY snow globe- maybe place in a tree, snowman or reindeer into an old jar? Another warming gift idea; crochet infinity scarf! They're all in fashion and are great to create yourself!

And there we go! 8 Christmassy DIY ideas! Merry Christmas or as they say in the USA: Happy Holidays! Remember to comment, share and follow this blog on all of my social media, it really is appreciated! Keep the Creative Juices Flowing! :)x

Disclaimer: Please note that the ideas featured in this post were all found on Pinterest- however I am in no way affiliated with the site and or other similar corporations. These were all crafts in which I wished to share, as I felt they were good inspiration and ideas.

DIY Dream Catcher Necklace

Hi internet lovelies! Me again! Recently I've been inspired by my love for dream catchers- I have no idea why, but they're just so beautiful! So to start making a Dream Catcher necklace you will need a number of things;

~A hoop or ring of some kind; If you can't find one, make one out of wire like me!

~Embroidery thread, if you have none normal thread and string work just as well.

~A needle,

~Decorative items like beads and feathers come in handy!

If, like me, you are using wire instead of a hoop; take your wire and bend it around an everyday object (hairspray bottle, makeup bottle...etc). Use round nose pliers to slightly bend both ends into a half circle and interlock together (like a chain). Crimp, using the same pliers for strength.

To begin take your embroidery thread, and thread through your needle.

Next loop the thread over and under the circumference of your hoop. Bring the needle back through the thread that makes the first part of your dream catcher (pictured below), and pull to tighten the loop.

Continue to to this all the way around the circumference of your hoop, making the distance between each loop as even as you can.

Once you have gone all the way around, continue to do the same thing, but using the lines created just. Try to position these next loops in the centre of each of the thread lines.

After that simply continue again, until you reach the centre.

At this point you could add a bead or charm. I decided to add a pearl. Thread the bead onto your needle and secure it into place using a double knot on the back side of your dream catcher.

Your dream catcher is nearly finished! Simply add embellishments to the bottom and add jewellery components, to create your finished necklace! 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please comment, share and subscribe it's greatly appreciated! Sorry that there wasn't a post last weekend as I was at the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour, and pictures should be up shortly! Keep the Creative Juices Flowing! Enjoy! ;) x

Autumn/Winter DIY Ideas

Hello internet lovelies! I'm here to share some practical, yet useful DIY ideas for Autumn and Winter, as the cold days and dark nights draw in. So I took to Pinterest and found a range of really creative ideas and DIYs. 

Firstly for any Starbucks enthusiast a crochet cup cosy (pictured to the left of the above image) is a must have. Not only is it easy to make through knitting, there are so many ways in which you can make it look more creative and interesting... Why not crochet it into an animal or shape, like the ones below?

Secondly, DIY Hand Warmers. These are great to heat up in a morning and grab just before you run out of the house. They keep your hands warm in the cold mornings and are really simple to create. Simply sew two squares of fabric together and fill with rice, heat up in the microwave for 1 minute and voila!! They also look fantastic customised;

Finally, it's candle time of the year! Light those sweet smelling waxy things and place them in a glass jar. The first image show some decopaged leaves, however there is much more that you can do with them! Maybe dunk half of the jar in coloured paint and leave to dry, or decopage lace on to the outside instead of leaves??

Hope you enjoyed this collection of Autumn/Winter craft ideas, there are loads more ideas and tutorials and ideas on google alone! See you soon! Keep the Creative Juices Flowing! :)

(These ideas were all found on Pinterest, however I am in no way affiliated with the site and/or sponsored. They are ideas which, in my opinion are really creative and I may have a go at my self!)

Harry Potter Polymer Clay Tutorial

 

Hello internet lovelies! Today I'm posting a new Polymer Clay tutorial- now I know its not a weekend, but I really wanted to post this as soon as possible. So lets get started...

 

There are a few things that you will need however, before we begin:

~Polymer Clay (Fimo or Sculpey will do) in Translucent, pale peach, black, grey, brown, white and any other colours you may need if your adding other details,

~Tools, in order to help you model and cut the clay,

~Wire (any colour will do),

~Eyepin and other jewellery components.



 

To start take your peach and translucent clay and mix into quite a large ball. Try not to get many dust fibres on the clay, as they are easily noticeable. This ball will be Harry's head.



 

Next take your grey clay and mix with a SMALL amount of the black clay (if too much is added the grey will also become black), in order to slightly darken it. Roll the new colour into a thick, short sausage with flat ends and attach to the head.

 



 

After that add legs using the same grey colour, by rolling into smaller, thinner sausages. Attach these to the bottom of the body, and make sure that they're in proportion!

 



 

Time to make the robe... Take the black clay and flatten into a pancake. Cut a sort of trapezium shape as pictured above, with the bottom being longer than the top.

 



 

Then position onto Harry's body. Add arms to the robe, also using black clay and roll small peach balls as the hands. The body now has its shape.

 

Before you bake, add details such as brown shoes and a Gryffindor tie (Mine wasn't really a success!), glasses (bent wire), a collar out of white clay, and also the hair. When doing the hair its a good idea to look at an image; this ensures that the direction is as accurate as possible.

 



 

 

Once your character has baked add eyes, a mouth and Harry's scar using black and white acrylic paint. I also added small wands and harry potter books using this post here.

 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I also did a Ron and Hermione, pictured below. Please share and comment if you enjoyed, its greatly appreciated. Keep the Creative Juices Flowing! See you very soon! :)

DIY Notebook

Hello internet lovelies!! I've got another tutorial this week- DIY notebook, with an idea to "cheat" book binding without thread!

Before we start you will need a few things that you will probably find around the house in your craft supplies;

~Hot Glue Gun,

~Glue Sticks,

~A wad of paper (whatever size you would like I use A4),

~Cardboard (any thickness will do),

~Fabric of your choice (this will be the cover so choose wisely!)

~Embelishments of your choice,

~Large paper clip (not completely necessary but it helps).

So to begin take your wad of paper, this can be as many or as little as you want, and begin to fold in half. I used A4 sheets so my final notebook is aproxiamately A5 size- keep this in mind when choosing your paper size.

After that group the folded edges together and use the paper clip to keep all of the sheets in position. Make sure that you don't push the paper clip all of the way down, else the paper will scratch when it is removed.

After that take your glue gun and melt glue over the folded edges. This can be done by applying in a zigzag motion and then spreading out over all pages. Make sure that you hold the edges close as you do this to ensure the best final result.

If you would like a bookmark/page marker, glue a ribbon onto the spine. Make sure that the ribbon is quite long (at least double the length of the spine) to ensure that the bookmark reaches the ends of the pages.

Next measure your paper pages and cut out 2x cardboard rectangles. These should be approx 5mm bigger than the sheets as these will be your outer covers. Also cut a cardboard spine, about the same size as the glued one. Cut your fabric to an appropriate size leaving a large border around the edge.

After than lay them out, as pictured below over your fabric and glue into position. Fold the border of the fabric and glue to the cardboard rectangles.

Then glue your paper pages onto place by glueing both the paper and cardboard spines together, hold into place until dry and secure. This step may take quite a bit of glue and patience in order to keep in position, however the results are impressive.

Once you have finished the main body of your notebook, take some spare scrapbooking paper, cut to size and glue over the rough edges of the fabric boarder, and the first page. This just adds a more professional look the the final product, and also adds some strength. However it is optional.

Finally add your chosen embellishments onto the front cover and fill with all sorts of ideas and jottings! Enjoy! Hopefully you enjoyed this tutorial, if so please share and comment, it's really appreciated. Also tweet me some of your notebooks via my social media to the top left colomn of my blog, I would love to see some! Keep the creative juices flowing! :) 

DIY Polymer Clay Unicorn

Hello everyone!! I'm here with a new tutorial- make your own polymer clay unicorn! 

Before we start there are a few things you'll need;

~White Polymer Clay (Fimo or Sculpey either will do),

~Pink, Blue and purple polymer clay (these three colours can be any really, these are just the ones that I used in this tutorial),

~Acrylic paint white and black,

~Tools (eg. Exacto knife, rolling pin etc...).

Roll out a large ball of white clay- as this will be your main unicorn body. Also roll out three smaller balls from the other colours of clay that you chose.

Mix pink clay and white together in order to lighten the colour. Then cut another smaller piece of white clay and roll both out Ito a sausage shape. Twist them together like in the image above (this will be the unicorn horn) and cut at a point where the horn will look like a cone shape.

 

Next take about just under half of your white clay, roll into a ball and sculpt so that one end is thinner and more pointed than the other. Add your unicorn horn on top by pressing firmly (make sure you don't squash your creation at this stage).

After that start on the body. Take most of your remaining clay (leave enough for arms and legs) and shape so that, like the head, one end is thinner than the other - make sure that both ends are flat. Add the head to the top of the thinnest side.

Roll out the remaining white clay into a sausage and cut into 4 appropriate lengths. Position them onto the body as shown above.

Once you have done that begin to add hair strands of rolled up clay onto the head and gently curve round to give the impression of waves in the hair. Use your coloured clay to do so.

Once you have completed the hair your unicorn is ready to go in the oven and bake! Make sure your happy with it and follow the instructions on your packaging. Add eyes using acrylic paint and voila!! 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, it's been a while since I uploaded a polymer clay tutorial! Sorry about the dust on the white clay on the pictures, it can't really be helped. See you next time, keep the creative juices flowing! ;)