Tea cup candles

A lovely friend showed me how to make candles a few months ago At crafty spice (my craft club!) I made these scented candles in pretty vintage tea cups for friend's birthday.

Baubles

I have been using scraps of fabric and decopatch glue to collage over some really naff Christmas baubles I found cheap at the B&M store.

Wrapped soaps gift idea

I always love ideas that turn an ordinary gift into something special for friends. Wrapping a bar of soap in pretty paper, fastening with ribbon and attaching a parcel tag immediately elevates the aesthetic of a humble soap to something superior. I have wrapped up bars of the Body Shop's mango soap which smells gorgeous, it is important to use soap you would actually like to use! I decided to stamp the word 'soap' on the tag but you could also stamp a personal message, name or quote. Any fabric or paper could create the wrapper; I would like to try music manuscripts, maps and lace in the future.....I will have to get collecting!. The wrapped soap could be adorned with buttons, a brooch or even dried flowers for extra detail.

Pretty machine appliquéd hand towels

This is a really easy gift idea or quick way to jazz up your bathroom or kitchen. I used some plain hand towels and scraps of my favourite fabric to make pretty customised towels. I simply cut the fabric to size and machine stitched it onto the edge of the towel. I also added a hook with ribbon so the towel could be hung on a hook in our kitchen. You could also add buttons and decorative beads. For a wedding present how about embroidering or appliquéing the couples names or initials? I am going to make matching face cloths and hand towels as presents using my friends favourite fabric designs.

Christmas stocking

I know it's only October but all the lovely Christmas fabrics in the shops have inspired me. I found this Christmas Dove  fabric in Dunelm Mill (new to Cambridge) for just £3.99 a meter. The green fleece lining is a blanket I also found in Dunelm for £1.99. This is going to be Martha's stocking so I wanted it to be both cosy and practical and the fabrics really work for this purpose. I used the stocking tutorial on The Eternal Makers blog as a guide and it was really easy to follow(10 out of 10!). The stocking took well under an hour to make so i was able to make it during Martha's nap (and  still do the washing up!)- an important requirement! 

Cinnamon rolls

In Cambridge we have a cafe/cake shop called Cinnabon. You may have guessed from the name but It only sells variations of cinnamon rolls. Its delicious but sadly incredibly expensive. By that I mean crazy prices that just cannot be justified however yummy the produce. So today I thought I'd give baking my own cinnamon buns a try. I used the recipe in British Baking by Peyton and Byrne. It was easy to follow but rather time consuming because of the amount of time bread takes to rise and knead. You do get an impressive result and it is a calming and satisfying process (like with any bread making!). Overall the effort was definitely worth it!

My favourite lemon drizzle recipe

This lemon drizzle cake is from the Peyton and Byrne British Baking book. It works every time, is really easy and above all tastes delicious....what more could you want!

Birthday chocolate button jar

At the weekend I made a jar of chocolate buttons to take with me to a friends birthday celebrations. As in previous projects i used my lovely button mould and melted different types of chocolates to make the buttons both more interesting visually and to taste. I used one of my lovely cath kidston stickers for the label.
These would make lovely Christmas presents for both adults and children.

Yet more cards!

Amy butler fabric peg bag

Today I made myself a peg bag out of some lovely Amy Butler fabric. I have been saving this fabric for ages because i hadn't found a suitable project for it. I love the colours and bold print but It's quite a loud style and could easily overwhelm! I used a child's wooden coat hanger for the hook and drew round the shape of the hanger to make a template.