D.I.Y Christmas Decor

Hey Guys, its Alex!

I apologise the lateness of this post, been busy helping Santa in his workshop ;)

As you can see by the title this week i will be showing you quick and easy D.I.Y Christmas Decorations!!
As am slightly bankrupt with buying so many presents, the thought of having to buy christmas decorations on top of all the gift buying too was too much, hence the inspiration for this post, improvised christmas decor

Obviously Pinterest helped me along the way :)

Super glittery string baubles!
My inspiration;

Method

- In a bowl, plop out as much PVA glue as you desired, mix well with some water so it is slightly runny and then add glitter, the more glitter the better!!

- Use as much string as you like/ I used about 50cm-1m worth- colour is up to opinion :)

- Now mix the string in the glittery glue to make the string an explosion of glitter

- nows the tricky bit, (using a print out stencil) place your pins in its desired places, (like the above image of the star)

-fill in the entire area of the pin/stencil area and leave to dry, for fast results, dry via the freezer

My end result; a bit more of a rustic feel and the image doesn't show as much sparkle but trust me it is

The next D.I.Y is Cardboard stars!

These are great for name place tags, hang on the tree or even place around the house. This was pretty simple and uses up wasted cardboard from gift packaging or cereal boxes!! 

Once a star template is printed and cut out, place the star on cardboard and trace around. You also need to find the centre point but don't worry I'll show you.

Cut out 2 stars in cardboard and both need the centre marked. The first star you need to cut down the centre of one spike to the censer point and then the other war you need to cut up the centre point form between the middle of two spikes. Like this Image...

Then slot together

It should look like this…

You can then spray paint or decorate to your hearts content! for the girly girls out there, you could coat the whole thing in pva glue and cover entirely in glitter

Lastly~Lid decoration!


Inspiration;


So mine was much more "crafty" looking than above.


The best thing is to paint the Lid- mason jar lids are usually good starters. 

To start, paint the lid on the outside- hiding logos etc, then I covered the lid in glitter glue and confetti stars- very messy! I left it to dry with it resting on baking paper protecting the surface.

I then found a really cute santa sticker and placed it on top- I think it was from 99p store :) Then I used a dynamo embosser- as I didn't paint my lid the logo was appearing through the glitter so I made a label saying merry christmas one and all. So quick and really effective would be a cute xmas gift!

Here is the end Result!!

Please send in your crafty images via our twitter we'd love to see them!!

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year! from all Three of us! 

Have a few drinks on us! you deserve it!

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Ps here's a little Christmas treat to you!

"November-spiration"

Hey Internet! April here,

Yes, sorry, if you haven't already noticed from the title of the post,

 I said the 'C' word!! dun dun durr! 

Its ok though, the heart throbbing John Lewis & Coca Cola adverts have been on! so its time to stop procrastinating from gift buying, grab the mulled wine & be ready for the next month and a half of your life, flash before your very eyes! 

Or give it another 2 weeks before starting if you like, no ones judging! I'm not, i don't start shopping till the very last minute.... oops

    

Its mid-week, and for me, that means a whole lot of pinning has been done! So i would like to roundup this weeks most inspirational interior Christmas pins i have come across, so get those imagination juices flowing and have the Christmas boards ready for some re-pinning!...

~Its these types of pictures that make me so excited that one day i will have my own place, somewhere i have the freedom to be as creative as i like, without restrictions, like parents or money. Its so hard to get use to the lack of freedom you have when you move back home from university.

I feel this has gone off on a bit of a tangent... CHRISTMAS!

~When I think about Christmas, I think glitter, warmth, mulled wine, the fresh smell of Christmas trees and best of all, decorations! One of my favourite things to do is blitz through the Christmas baubles in shops like John Lewis. I turn in to an absolute crazy person, when i find myself getting overly excited, i call it bauble fever ~ does anyone else get like this... i hope so, otherwise, i probably need to see someone...

~VODKA~

A new thing this year I'm going to try, will do, is create flavoured vodkas. Every year my little old nanna creates the most amazing cranberry/raspberry infused vodka, that fuels the whole Christmas period, so my tasks is to get her to impart her wisdom/witchcraft in creating successful berry infused Christmas vodkas, i will let you know how i get on :P

                      

~Some example flavours that i want to try out!~

~DIY

Before the year is out, i have a few DIY projects in mind, including spiced fruit centre pieces, Cinnamon and vanilla candle decorations and mason jar snow globes!

                   

how cute are these DIYS! if you want to see blog posts of me attempting any of these, let me know, because such cuteness needs to be shared with the world!

~lastly! dun dun durrr!
Has everyone seen the awesome advent calendars this year! granted they are super expensive but i kinda want to splash out and just go for it? is that bad? Ive had my eye on getting the benefit advent calendar for the past few years and i think its time that i just go for it.

        

So yeah, this is basically a condensed version of my Christmas Pinterest odyssey from the other night, i hope i have got some creative juices flowing and inspired some christmasy purchases and DIYS! 

Little FWI; the images i will be including are not mine, if you want to find the original makers of the images i made a bored on Pinterest for you, check it out below xx

Toodlepip xx

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DIY Vanilla Body Cream

Winter is definitely creeping its way in and that means one thing...dry skin! I suffer from this a lot, especially now that i'm living back home in London my skin gets super dry with the hard water. Over the years i've tried many well known body creams but nothing seems to work as well as this! I can't even tell you how good this stuff is! It really moisturises like nothing i've ever used before. I would recommend using it at night and sparingly for that matter as it can tend to get a bit greasy.
As this is a all natural body cream I had to list just a couple of benefits of the ingredients :)

Coconut Oil

• Moisturisers
• Has anti ageing proporties  
• It can help treat skin infections such as eczema   

Almond Oil

• Moisturises
• Lightens dark circles 
• Can reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines

Vitamin E

• Moisturises
• Protects skin from UV rays
• Helps fade blemishes and marks 

You Will Need:

• 3/4 Cup Organic Coconut Oil
• 1/4 Cup Pure Almond Oil 
• 1 Tablespoon Organic Pure Vitamin E Oil
• 10 drops of Vanilla extract 
• Optional- 2 drops Pink food dye 

1) Combine the coconut oil and almond oil in a bowl using a hand blender or a mixer. Chill in the fridge until it has a creamy consistency. Then using the hand blender mix for 4 minutes. 

2) Add in the Vitamin E oil, Vanilla extract and food dye. 

3) Mix together until it becomes the consistency of angel delight or custard (yum angel delight!!) 

4) Transfer the cream into a air tight container and your done!

Disclaimer: Keep out of sunlight store in a dark place. This is my own home remedy perfect for dry skin but if you are allergic to any ingredients do not try this.  If you have any questions or queries please feel free to ask me. A little does go a long way, so its best to use small amounts at a time.

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Pumpkin Carving

Happy Halloween guys!

I've been contemplating buying a pumpkin to carve for about two weeks now and then yesterday I thought why the hell not and bought one. Its been a quite a while since i've actually carved a pumpkin, so I looked on Pinterest for some inspiration (as you do). I found this cool idea to use cookie cutters to cut neat shapes out, but it didn't go to plan! I tried to hammer the cookie cutter into the pumpkin, but it wouldn't go through. So instead I used it as a template, and it worked out well :)

You will need: 

• Pumpkin
• Cookie Cutter
• Knife
• Colander
• Big Serving Spoon 

1) Cut the lid out of the pumpkin. This involves a certain amount of wiggling.

2) Once the lid is cut out, you can scoop out the insides of the pumpkin using a big serving spoon. You can discard the seeds or wash and roast them (yummy!) 

3) Using the cookie cutter as template, imprint the cookie cutter shapes onto the pumpkin making a design of your choice. 

4) Carefully cut out the shapes. I suggest cutting out small bits at a time.

5) Once cut out, put a tealight inside the pumpkin sit back and admire your work :)

Hope you enjoy, if you guys carved pumpkins we would love to see them, so please tweet us a picture :)

Don't know what to do with the left over pumpkin seeds? Why not try out my recipe for sweet baked pumpkin seeds.

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D.I.Y~ Halloween mini Pumkin Candles

Hello Internet, April here,

This week I'm going to be showing you how to jazz up your Halloween displays with super cute, munchkin pumpkin candles!
(mouth full)

After pottering about many, many, supermarkets in my local area, hunting high and low for the perfect pumpkin, i finally found these babies,

Munchkin Pumpkins!  Look how adorable!

These little cuties were bought from Waitrose £1 each!

So, after my last candle escapade -Here- i had loads of wax bars left, begging to be used!
and after finding an awesome pin on Pinterest, which for the life of me, i cannot re find, to link,-sorry, i felt totally inspired to create something similar. This is a really unique and simple yet effective decoration for all your halloweeny needs!

This DIY has a make time of half an hour; 

-In depth instructions for candle making can be found here-

• Melt wax via a double boiler,
• Whilst the wax is melting, hollow out your pumpkins,
• Use some sort of Vaseline or petroleum jelly to layer the entire inside of the pumpkin. This aids in keeping the pumpkin fresher for longer,
• Dunk the metal end of the wick in to the melted wax pan then press till set in the bottom of the pumpkin,
• Using a jug, pore in the melted wax till full,
• As wax starts to set, tape the wick in place,
• Place pumpkin in fridge till fully set

And that's munchkin pumpkin candles sorted!

I hope you love this DIY as much as i do, and i cannot even describe the beautiful mixture of vanilla wax with a hint of pumpkin, its delicious!

Toodlepip xx

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D.I.Y- Mason Jar Candle

Hey Guys, 

April here, and i may have gone mental with candles this week!

(My whole window sill may or may not be literally full of candles, much to the despair of my fighter fighting father)

Since i mentioned "twinkling Yankee candle's" in my previous post, its inspired me to try and make my own candles since its cheaper, and lets not forget, more fun. 

This is how i got on, and how to make your own...

I went online and ordered one mason jar, extra long candle wicks and a few blocks of wax, granted the wax colours weren't what i ordered, but i was too excited to giving candle making a go, that i didn't bother going through the hassle of returning it all back to amazon etc.

For this D.I.Y you will need;

• 1x mason Jar
• 1x extra long wick
• 2x blocks of wax
• A non stick, cheap ass sauce pan that you don't mind messing up, and use it to create a Bain-marie/double boiler to melt the wax (click here to learn how to make a double boiler)
• Some sort of jug, to pore the melted wax in to the mason jar
• Some heavy objects to balance the jar against if you want to set your wax on angles

(you may need more double boiler set ups, depending on your pattern you wish to produce and/or colours you want to use)

 [I used 2 double boiler set ups, so i could alternate the colours to make a zig-zag pattern]

(heavy objects)                                                (double boiler)

Instructions for my specific pattern;

• Melt your first whole wax block down (10 mins to fully melt)
• Dunk the end of the candle wick (metal bit) in to the melted wax then place in the bottom of your mason jar, give this 5 mins to set.
• Carefully pore 1/3 of the melted wax in to your mason jar, via a jug (you need to make sure the wax sets at the same angle when using both colours, or the pattern will not look right)
• You can now turn the cooker that's fuelling your double burner off 

(don't worry about the melted wax, it will set in the pan, but can be easily re melted when next needed)

• You must allow plenty of time for each layer to set. I left each layer balanced between my heavy objects for half an hour then gave it a quick session in the freezer (10 mins) to make sure the layer is solid, this is so it can stand the heat of the next layer.
• I then repeated this process 6 times over  until the jar was full to create the middle zig zag effect,.
• Leave the full candle in the freezer for an extra half an hour to fully cool down
• During the setting process, sometime the wax sinks in the middle, if this happens you can fill the hole up with some more melted wax, or ignore it, and once the candles been lit, and melted down a little, the problem solves its self.

 Here's a little time-lapse of the candle!

There we have it, a super cute, inexpensive alternative to a +Yankee Candle , I hope you enjoyed this D.I.Y - AND spoiler, i have something related to this for a Halloween special, stay tuned to find out ;)

Toodlepip xx

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