10 sleeps until advent

OMG its 10 sleeps until the 1st December!!!

The advent calendars were out in force at the end of October and there are so many everywhere! However i just don't like the chocolate! Also with Rocco now being dairy/gluten free if i didn't have one i would definitely make one this year!

This is ours from last year! I know its amazing! I'd love to say i made it but alas i would be lying!  This is actually made by Leeanne!!!! Yes she's a bit too clever!!! Each fabric pouch had some sweets or a kinder egg or a note telling Honey a special surprise like pantomime day or a day for ice skating.  I also didn't fill any of the other envelopes until the night before so it was as if Elvis (our elf) bought the treat if Honey was good! There were a couple of days where Elvis didn't bring a treat from Father Christmas but if she was good all day he would sneak one in before teeth brushing time!!! 

I've found some really good DIY advent calendars today - that you can make as surprises for your children or let them help you make 

This is just paper cups decorated as Reindeer - but you could do snowmen or penguins or father christmas themed ones too!!! on a piece of string with clothes pegs! Simples!!!!!! 

I love this one!!! And if your not a knitter why don't you collect some of the Innocent Smoothy knitted hats to make this!!! 

Love this!!!! So easy - toilet rolls, glue gun, brown paper, sharpie and some cardboard and bobs your uncle!!! Put the treat inside the toilet roll cover the front and back write the number on it!!!

I used these little bags as Honey and Roccos party bags last year - so sweet and they come in lots of colors! Perfect advent treat size! 

WOW!!!!! This is amazing!!! You can buy a framed canvas from Hobbycraft with some glitter card and foam numbers and make this easily! I love the idea of printing  a bible verse on a card inside each envelope with a chocolate coin! You could even add a clue and they have to find the treasure on certain days! 

A picture frame, some string, some clothes pegs and white card!!! Looks fab and is so simple!!!

I love this too!!! I don't think its christmassy enough for me haha! But i would buy christmas paper or card from Hobbycraft or Paperchase and make this with a christmas theme! Stickers are easy to buy and you can write the numbers on! 

These are just luggage tags with a number printed on - perfect for an advent calendar that is more about the true meaning of Christmas with a bible verse for each day and no chocolate.  My mum would love this as a gift.

So if you don't have much on in this next 10 days why not try your hand at a home made advent calendar!!!! 

DIY Fairy doors

Well i'm back again with another Fairy related post! This time its fairy doors! They are super cute and add a bit of magic to your little ones bedroom!

www.notonthehighstreet.com

Now to be honest i have found the fairy door to be somewhat of a life saver. Say what you like about 'bribery' as a parenting skill but in my house its under rule number 17 of 'how to survive everyday life with your toddler without loosing your mind' book (please note this book doesn't really exist so please don't check amazon as i have already looked high and low).

I put Sienna to bed at night and tell her if she doesn't go straight to sleep the fairies are going to come through the door to check on her and if she's not asleep they will go and tell santa and she wont get any christmas presents. This works a treat as she definitely doesn't want to be without presents and she goes straight to sleep!

It also works as an alternative reward chart.

If Sienna is a good girl or she doesn't exhibit any unacceptable behaviour (like hitting her brother) the Fairies will bring her a special treat over night. This is usually a chocolate coin or something similar and she is so happy to have had a treat from the fairies it really encourages her to continue with her good behaviour. I find it works best if you work on one issue at once!

So here is Siennas Fairy door its fixed to the wall resting on her skirting board in her bedroom.

This is actually really easy to make! Even if you're not very crafty you could easily make this. The actual door and frame are from a dolls house. So if you search on google or go to hobbycraft you will find a whole array of different dolls house doors that are unpainted so you can customise them as you like. I also bought a door knock and a door handle for Sienna's. All i did was paint the door and the frame in my choice of colour and then i spray painted the door knock and handle silver as it was brass and i preferred silver but you can do any colour you like. I then added Siennas name with some letter stickers i picked up in hobby craft and also added her age at the time as the door number. Then i just stuck it to the wall with my glue gun! 

Its so simple to do and it really looks so sweet in their room! 

Let us know if you plan to make a fairy door too or if you already have one!

Love 

L xx

Amazing Upcycling x

Upcycling!!!

Happy Monday

We love a good recycle and after seeing our friend Bex upcycling a few pieces I thought ooooh I want to try my hand at this.

Firstly our Ikea Table – what a nuisance sharpies are! A sharpie drawing marathon left the top stained and left me wanting to throw it in the skip and get a new one! Then I thought oooooh what about if I recover it with Oil Cloth – and taaaa daaaa

My mum had had an old pine dresser and small chest of drawers in the garage and I wondered what I could do with them! I didn’t really need any more furniture and none of my house is pine! So I decided to paint it Gloss black and bought new crystal knobs! I think it looks fabulous in my kitchen!!!

Leeanne has also been upcycling! All of Sienna’s dark wood nursery furniture she painted white for Tate’s arrival!

And Lee is planning to repaint her kitchen table and chairs like this ...... so watch this space for some more transformation pictures!!! 

We’ve seen some fabulous ideas like picture frames spray painted bright colours and chairs re-upholstered! Some ideas are super easy however so so effective!

Advice: The best advice I can give when it comes to sourcing materials is go to a shop and ask! A professional will know exactly what to use!

Have you got any fab before and after pictures of upcycling – or any fabulous ideas that are a must do?

Let us know!

Happy Upcycling Monday

Love

Jade & Leeanne

xxx

Cardboard Fun!

I'm always trying to find fun things to do to keep my little ones entertained! They are so easily bored of playing with the same toys and doing the same activities all the time.

I was browsing for Siennas 4th birthday party ideas when i came across this fab cardboard boat!

I thought wow that would be something fun to do with the kids over the weekend so off to the garage for the 1 million empty Amazon (you have got to love Amazon prime) and Zara boxes i go!

So its no where near as good as the original picture but this was to have fun with not to win a beauty contest! The kids loved it and when i say loved it i mean Sienna loved being a pirate and Tate loved to try and pull the sail out! 

It was pretty easy i just used the centre 4 sides of 2 cardboard boxes laid flat out for either side of the boat and the extra pieces i cut off to make the top. Then a cardboard tube and some tissue paper for the sail. Oh and stuck together with my hubby's carpet tape (shhh don't tell him)

There's heaps of fun things you could make with cardboard the possibilities are endless! This drive in movie theatre idea looks brilliant and so easy!!

Have you ever made anything for your little people with cardboard we would love to hear about it if you have!

Love 

L xx

Perfect DIY Gifts for a Perfect Day

Who doesn't love a wedding? Some Bride and Grooms are super easy to buy for or some might even have a gift list taking the stress of thinking of something away from you! But what if you don't fall into these categories and your thinking eeeek what do i get?

I love giving presents that people wont expect. Gifts that are sentimental and mean something or at least be something that i have had to put a little effort into!

An amazing present that will be treasured forever doesn't need to cost a fortune. There are tons of ideas that with a little time and maybe a trip to a craft store you can make yourself and and can look like you bought it! Plus when the Bride and Groom realised you took the time and effort to make it yourself they will be super touched. Or at least i know i would be!

Heres some of my fave DIY gifts for a wedding present:

This scrabble board in a frame is such a lovely gift! Jade and my lovely friends all made me one for my birthday this year and i love it! Its super easy to do. Just buy a game of scrabble and then hot glue the tiles to the board spelling out words that mean something to the couple your giving it too. Then get a RIBBA 50x50 frame from ikea and hot glue the board to the mount in the frame! The girls covered my mount in some lovely wallpaper but you can do whatever you like! If that sounds a bit much for you but you like the idea the board pictured is from Scrabble Frames by Roxy

I found this cute idea for champagne glasses over on the Something Turquoise blog and if you click here it will take you to the tutorial. You could make one each with the couples first name initial on it or you could buy some sticky letters from a craft store and spell out anything you like! Team this with a lovely bottle of Champagne (Laurent Perrier Rose is my fave choice) and you have a lovely gift! If you wanted to spend a little more too theres a fab wine box here that says open on your 1st anniversary or you could make a little tag saying something similar.

This is a lovely sentimental present! You could do one heart for where the bride and groom met, one for where they are getting married and one for where they live. Just buy a cheap map containing the places you want to use and then I would suggest finding something heart shaped and drawing round it to make them all the same size and cut them out. Then stick them to a piece of card and frame it! Easy peasy. If you dont want to do it yourself this picture is from Bombus.co.uk

I really love this old horseshoe i found on pinterest. The link to buy/make it is broken but i would suggest getting an old horseshoe (lots for sale on ebay for only a couple pounds) and then tying some lovely wide ribbon to it. I really love the little metal message on this one but that would be hard to do without spending lots of money on handstamping equipment so instead you could get a little luggage tag (attach to the top where the ribbon meets the horseshoe) and write a little message of love luck and happiness on it instead. 

Hope this has been of some use to you or inspired you to come up with something else! We would love to hear your ideas too, you can leave them in the comment box below.

Love 

L xx

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