A Small Christmas Gift for Friends.....

A few days back I went out for dinner with some friends.  We all used to work together many years ago at an insurance company and we try to meet up for dinner whenever we can.  We call it our Supper Club!  We like to try a different restaurant each time and this time we went to Turtle Bay - a newish Caribbean restaurant in the centre of town.  I've actually been there before for lunch and an afternoon of cocktails!!  I really enjoyed it the last time I went and I was keen to try it on an evening.

Anyway - I wanted to take a small handcrafted gift along for my friends.  I decided to give each of them one of my handcrafted felt Christmas Pudding tree decorations and I also made them a tiny little felt gingerbread man brooch.

I've put a 1p coin next to them to show just how small they are!!

Next for the packaging.  I've recently taken delivery of my new We R Memory Keeper Gift Box Punchboard.  These are a fantastic invention and you can create lovely neat boxes in no time at all!  Here are the ones I made using Kraft card, I used the backside of one sheet and it is a different shade!

I wrapped the pudding and the gingerbread man in some tissue paper.  I love this paper, it is from Ikea, nice and bright!!

Now to decorate the outside of the box!  I recently dried some orange slices.  I think they look gorgeous dried and can be used for all diferent things.  I have put some on my door wreath this year as well!!  They are perfect for decorating my boxes!  I used a glue gun and stuck a Star Anise to the top of each one - mmm Star Anise smells lovely!!

I wrapped a small paper doily over the top of the box and stuck it down.  I then used my glue gun to stick the orange slice ornament on the top of it.

Cute aren't they!!

I popped them into a kraft paper bag with a stamped sentiment on.

and then made a quick stamped tag to finish it off!

My friends were delighted with their little package and actually thought the decorated box was the gift!  They were reluctant to unwrap it as they didn't want to spoil the decoration!!

Thanks for stopping by today x

My New Cake Pop Maker!

I'm sure many people already have one of these handy little machines!  I've been toying with the idea of getting a Cake Pop Maker for quite some time now but the prices seemed alittle high and I wasn't sure if I would use it enough to justify spending too much!  Well - last week I saw that Home Bargains had one on their website for just £10.99 and it was a 12 hole one!!  So I thought at that price it would be silly not to grab one!  If you'd like one as well you can find it here

It also comes with 2 packs of different sized sticks, a cooling tray and a pronged tool to make lifting the cake pops out easy.

Today I tested it out with an easy donut recipe that I found on Gourmet Gadgetry.  It was very easy to use.  The recipe has a slight error though as they mention putting salt in but don't include it on the list of ingredients so I had to guess!!  Anyway - I put in half a teaspoon of salt and it was just right.

 Before using the machine, the instructions for it advised that you rub alittle vegetable oil on the cooking plates.  I decided to use some Wiltons Cake Release instead of oil - just a tiny bit.

I used a teaspoon of the dough mix for each and it took approx 5 mins to cook them nicely.  I used the pronged tool to check if they were cooked inside and then removed them from the machine and rolled them around in a castor sugar and cinnamon powder mix.

They do taste very nice whilst still warm but I cooled the rest and then put the next lot in to cook!

I want to try a savoury recipe next, maybe onion bhaji!  There is one on the Gourmet Gadgetry blog here.  If anyone has any other nice savoury pop recipes for these machines please share!!



                                                               Thanks for stopping by!

Felt Christmas Tags

Well it won't be long now until Christmas.  I am not at all prepared this year as my dad has been unwell and is in hospital at the moment so I have been abit tied up with that.  Luckily, I don't have to many gifts to buy!

I helped to organise a 'Handmade Christmas Market last Saturday.  It was a big success and the people in my area really embraced 'Handmade' and came out in their droves to support it.  We had some fantastic feedback and I think we may do it annually now! 

Each year, I find there is one particular item that I make that proves to be really popular.  The year before last, it was some mini gingerbread bunting, last year it was felt Santas with keys attached.  This year it has been my personalised felt tags.

I am busy making more of these this week as I have quite a few ordered.  So far, all of the names have been different.  It's quite surprising really as you usually get a few people with the same name, especially with children as people seem to name their kids with whatever names are trendy at the time!

Handmade Christmas Market

This coming Saturday 30 November, we are holding a Handmade Christmas Market in a hall local to where I live.  We have got together local people that craft or bake and are holding a Market.  If you are in North Bristol and looking for something to do on Saturday, pop on by and do some Christmas shopping!!

NEC Hobbycrafts Show (November 2013)

Brrrr it is getting very cold.  I've recently bought a pair of those thick thermal socks with a 2.3 tog rating!!  They are lovely and warm and I think I will be investing in a few more pairs for the winter especially with the rise in prices that the power companies have just announced!!

Last Saturday I caught the train up to Birmingham for the Hobbycrafts Show at the NEC.  I went to this show earlier in the year and had a great time.  This time although I enjoyed it, I did feel that there were nowhere near as many demos going on and all the stalls were abit samey.  I particularily wanted some nice Christmas stamps but didn't see any that I liked.  I picked up a few things that I saw bring demo'd.  The first was a Personal Touch Shredder.  This was demo'd by the fabulous Roy who did a great job and made a beautiful flower out of floristry ribbon for me!

This is the shredder device (pic from Create With Ribbon website)

You can buy a cd with lots of different flowers to make but I just bought the shredder for now as I didn't have the money to spend on the cd as well!!  You can buy the shredder here and there are a few videos showing you how to make the flower above and also daisy's.  There is also a fab video showing you how to make beautiful roses from floristry ribbon - you don't need the shredder for that one!  It's worth checking to see what shows Roy will be attending as he demonstrates the shredder very well.  I'm going to make some flowwers to decorate presents with!!

The other thing I saw being demo'd was using the Wow Embossing glitter powders and Wow Melt It as resin in a silicone mould.  I already had a shabby rose mould with 4 different sizes so picked up some powders to try it out.  You can make rings, brooches etc in minutes and the results were really nice.

I found the crowds were alittle too much for me at this show and I don't think I would go to this Christmas show again if I am honest!  I will go to the one earlier in the year though as there was a much better choice of products and some great things demo'd.

Anyway - wrap up warm and invest in some thermal socks!!

Sentiment Hearts

Good morning - well it's morning here in the UK!!!  Surprisingly the sun is out today after several days of wet and windy weather so I may even venture out later!  I really don't like it when the weather starts to get cold, Winter is my least favourite season!  I am dreading the snow and ice, I tend to stay at home when that comes as I'm always worried about falling over.  Good thing that I can always find plenty to keep me occupied!

I've been making some more of my sentiment hearts - not sure if I've posted about these before but they are quite popular!

Here are the latest ones

All available to buy for £4.00 each plus postage over on my Bumble Bee's Craft Den Facebook page.  Pop on over and have a look, you will find them in the album entitled 'Hearts'.  Lots of other different ones there too that can be made up to order.  As well as UK addresses, I can also post to the US and Canada.

Thanks for stopping by!

Yo Yo Christmas Trees

I saw these cute little fabric Christmas trees over on Pinterest and thought I'd make a few to take to the Christmas Market with me!!  They are made from fabric yo yos.  I used this tutorial to make mine, it's very easy to follow!

I used a broomstick cut up for the base instead of cotton reels - I could not bear to part with any of my wooden cotton reels I'm afraid!!!

Flannel Reindeers Christmas 2013

Brrr the weather is really turning chilly in the UK.  Winter is definitely on it's way!! 

Well the flannels reindeers are still very popular and have been featured in lots of places.  I have made a batch of them for a local Christmas market that I will be doing at the end of November.  Luckily, I still had some brown flannels (face cloths) as they are not in Wilkinsons this year!  I used red pipe cleaners as I already had some of these in my stash as well!

Here is this year's reindeer

I made some cute labels using kraft card and I used my reindeer quick kutz die to make some little reindeer heads to stick onto the labels.

I only made 9 reindeers as I didn't have anymore of the cloths in brown but it is enough to take to the Christmas market!!

Don't forget if you would like to have a go at making these yourself, there is a tutorial on my blog to show you how!

Christmas is Coming........

Oooh Summer is finally going away here in the UK.  Feel sad to see it go to be honest as I hate the cold weather!!

Anyway - with summer going, the next thing to prepare for is Christmas!!  Can't believe I am saying the 'C' word in September!!!!

I am helping to organise a Handmade Christmas Market this year for my local area as we have alot of talented crafters!  I will be having a stall there so have been making felt Christmas tree decorations ready to take along.

I wanted to do a few different ones from last years - I get bored of making the same things over and over!!   These are what I have made so far

A gingerbread house

Christmas tree

Gingerbread man

Christmas pudding

Elf

I used a pattern from Auntie Pitty Pat's for the elf and altered it alittle to my own requirements.  I love this little elf!!

For the last few years I have been wanting to make cinnamon dough tree decorations but all the recipes are American and use an apple sauce mix usually a brand called Motts?  I am wondering if I could use the British apple sauce that you get in jars in the UK instead - does anyone know if it's the same?  Have any of you in the UK tried to make them using this as a substitute and if so were the results good?  I love the smell of cinnamon especially at Christmas!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Felt Gingerbread House

Oooh where does the time go!!  It's ages since I last blogged!  I've been fiddling around with felt and have made a start on Christmas decorations.  Of course as usual, I got sidetracked and end up making a little 3D gingerbread house for myself!!  I searched online and found several different ideas and then made a pattern and had a play.  It was abit fiddly and required some thought - I used cardboard on the two ends of it to reinforce and to give the house a nicer shape.  I used double thickness felt on the roof as well as I felt it needed to be abit more rigid.

Hope you like it as much as I do!!