Simple Kitchen Decorations (& a tutorial)

Pinterest is a wealth of inspiration, so when I saw a pin of decorated kitchen cupboards I knew I wanted to try & do my own.

I bought some wired ribbon, and raided my box of spare christmas decorations.

 So I can use them easily year after year I attached the ribbon together on the back of the door with a pin

I then set about making the decoration for the front, 2 plastic candy canes glued together using a heat gun, 2 bells, threaded with bakers twine & then hung over the candy canes & finally a bow glued to the front. All this was then glued onto the ribbon on the cupboard door. This was repeated for all of the cupboards that hang on the kitchen wall.

A simple decoration that was quick to make but looks great.

A Yule Wreath

I currently really like Wreaths, I have one on every door downstairs. Some of these are card Wreaths (Check them out HERE), some made with tinsel, others sticks, the rag wreath you saw yesterday & the latest additions, 2 Wreaths made from evergreens.

It all started at the end of November (cue wavy, wobbly lines going down the screen as we go back in time)...
Our local town park holds the odd free workshop advertised online, this time they advertised a wreath making workshop for children aged 7 and above. Having been to a few of the workshops I got in contact with the organiser & asked (very nicely) if she'd let Kai attend (him being 6, but very well behaved). she remembered us and said he'd be fine to attend :)

On the day a lovely woman & her friend showed us how to make wreaths out of evergreens they'd found in the park (plus a couple of decorative pieces from her own garden). Zack & Kai were allowed to make one each which I really appreciated as they have very individual ideas - & I got to help Kai out :)

Kai's wreath was hung outside the front door & Zacks on the shed door which faces our lounge windows.

I learnt a few things about these natural wreaths rather quickly. If they are hung in a position where rain cant get to them then they need watering every 2 days which can be rather awkward, if they are in a position to be rained on then they are likely to be open to the other elements as well, including wind which can damage the foliage (aka blow it in weird positions & make them fall out); the berries die rather quickly, and a door frequently closed will shake items loose.

They lasted well for almost a month, by which time they need a bit of tarting up. So on our annual Yule walk Kai & I went foraging for evergreens. We only took a small amount from a number of areas but ended up with plenty. So we tarted up the wreaths. Though not as colourful as our previous ones, it was fun to create a new design.

Rag Wreath tutorial

Before Christmas is totally over I'd like to share with you a few of my christmassy makes, starting with a rag wreath.

So how to make it....
Start with some material, these can be scraps, ribbon - I mainly used a christmassy tea towel, tartan table cloth & an old pair of black trousers - a wire ring (or 2, 3 etc attached together), and some decorations.

Cut the material to strips of about 1" by 6", then knot them to the wire ring

Keep going until the ring is full.

At this stage it'll look rather flat, all you need to do is turn a few of the pieces of cloth so they stick out at odd angles.

Finally add your decorations, you can glue them on (glue gun works well) wire, or tie them on. I wired on a "I believe in Santa" & tied on a Santa ornament.

Finally add ribbon to hang it up by.

EDIT: I've been asked where/how I got the wire ring, I got mine from a florists though I have seen them on markets & I'm sure craft shops which have flower arranging items would also have them.
Of course you might be clever enough to make your own with some thick wire & some soldering.

My Secret Santa

For the past couple of years I've joined in Whoopidooings Secret Santa, its always great fun with lovely people

This years was no exception. Christmas day I opened a nice pile of presents from my Secret Santa..

All individually wrapped & gorgeous! Santa must have done some pretty good stalking as they were spot on with these gifts. This photo doesnt show my most wonderful & magical gift though, handmade to such a high quality by my Secret Santa.

A Christmas album. Please click on the pictures so you can get a closer look.

 Flaps to lift up,

 Each of these star punched borders pull out a hidden page from a pocket.

Isnt it wonderful!? I'm a little scared to fill it in-case I mess it up, but it would be a waste not to fill it up, so in the future I shall show you it filled with family traditions, recipes & photos - I dont want to tie it down to a certain year as its something I'd like to be looked at far more often than that.

Finally I opened my card, which included the big reveal of who my Secret Santa is..

A gorgeous, modern day christmas card made with lovely inky techniques.
And who was my secret santa? The lovely Virginia from Celtic House.
Thank you so much Virginia, you have spoilt me & I am in awe of your album making skills.

Merry Christmas!

To all my followers & readers :)

Or, as I put in this years Christmas card, Mrry Xmas all & a Hppy Nw Yr!

A fitting photo of my technology driven family :)

Scrapbooking: Meet My Mummy.

As many of you know, I love Halloween and have always helped my kids get dressed up ... of course that means I get to dress up as well without looking too much of a weirdo, ok, so it means I look less of a weirdo than usual ;)

I couldn't find any Egyptian scrapbook papers, or ones that showed a Mummy on it so I created my own..

Ripped white papers with the edges inked up, stuck onto black paper - I left a few gaps & glues on pairs of googly eyes in varying sizes. The photos are from Halloween night 13 years ago, a 2 year old Zack (almost 3) covered in bandages (sewn onto his clothes so he could put them on & off easily, even sewn onto a pair of pumps & hat) & plastic bugs.

The Journaling reads.....

With Zack in his Mummy costume, clothes with bandages sewn over them, plastic flies & snakes stuck all over, we returned from trick & treating in Duffryn, Hollinswood, the street I'd grown up in & knew the neighbours. Zack had a large bag full of treats & sweets

31st October 2001"

I'd like to enter this into the My Mums Craft Shop october challenge.

Scrapbooking: The greatest view....

...that is the challenge at Jot Magazine, to scrap our greatest view.

It didnt take me long to think of the photo I wanted to scrap, a photo that shows one of my greatest views & most certainly what Kai thinks we all what to see on a photo......

......himself. My lil photo bombing pain in the bum.

I  have started getting into hybrid scrapbook pages - the speech bubble, camera & journaling square are all printed off. It gives me a little more control over colour, style & direction of the item.

The journaling reads...
"Kai loves the camera & will photobomb as often as he can. At times its cute, other times its just plain annoying"

A special thank you to Ruths DD for taking this photo, & yes, that is me in the background :)