Hanging Snowflakes

You may have seen that we have been making alot of our own Christmas decorations this year including a toilet roll Christmas tree. Today I am going to show you how to make hanging snowflakes, perfect for adding a touch of Christmas to your windows.

You will need :

* plain white paper
* coloured wool
* pen
* scissors
* sewing needle

1. Take one corner of your paper and fold it over until it reaches the other side of the paper as shown below :

2. Cut along the verticle line you have created and you will be left with what looks like a triangle. Then take your pen and draw whatver shapes you like around the triangle.

3. Open out your triangle to reveal your snowflake. Repeat these steps to create as many snowflakes as you would like, for the purpose of this post I have made three snowflakes.

4. You will now need the wool you have picked out, I suggest the length you need is 1 and a half times the length of the snowflakes when all put together in a row. Tie a not at one end of the wool and then using a large sewing needle, thread the wool through one corner of the first snowflake.

5. Continue to thread the wool through the bottom and top of each subsequent snowflake, making sure to double sew on each corner so that the snowflake won't slip down the wool. You can then tie a loop at the top of the final snowflake for hanging.

6. Hang your snowflakes up and show them off.

To make your hanging snowflakes really stick out you can use different coloured papers or even create your own designs on them.

xxxx

Toilet Roll Christmas Tree

I recently guest posted over on BusyBeeMummyBex showing how we were making some homemade Christmas decorations, we started with paper chains. Well over the past few weeks we have been saving up the empty toilet rolls, what could we possibly make with these, well a Christmas tree of course.

You will need :

* 16 toilets rolls

* double sided sticky tape

* glue stick

* paint brush

* green paint to paint the tree

* decorations to stick on

* other colour paints 

The first thing you need to do is stick all the toilet rolls together. I used double sided sticky tape to stick each of them to one another. I then stuck the tree to a cardboard base.

You then need to paint all of the toilet rolls green, making sure to paint in all the little gaps and any showing sticky tape too.

Once the paint has dried it is time to stick on all of the sparkly decorations on to the tree.

Finally paint present boxes on the cardboard base because no Christmas tree is complete without presents underneath it.

Have you made any homemade decorations this year?

xxxx

Funky Giraffe Christmas Stocking Review

One of my favourite parts of Christmas day is sitting on my bed first thing in the morning with all my girls, rummaging through our stockings, finding lots of lovely goodies from Santa.

This year I needed to get a new stocking for Layla because last years one said first Christmas on it, seen as it is now her second, I didn't think it worked for this year :)

You may remember a while back, I reviewed some gorgeous bandana bibs from the lovely people at Funky Giraffe. Luckily for me, I have been given the opportunity to review one of their new Christmas stockings.

When it arrived I couldn't believe just how soft it was, it was lovely and thick, very quilted. In stunning bright red and green colours, just perfect for Christmas.

Ours came with a Christmas Tree motif designed on it and the added pom poms and tassels around the top of the stocking and the added patch details at the toes and heel were a really nice touch.

There are two other designs which you can choose from, a snowflake or a 1st Christmas one. Each one just as stunning as the one above.

What I really love the most about this stocking is that it is made to last. Other stockings that I have had in the past have been made of very thin material and if you put anything too heavy in them, then they end up ripping. 

I can see the Funky Giraffe Christmas stocking being used year after year. You can fill it from the tips of it toes, right up to the top, plenty of room for whatever stocking fillers you choose.

With a loop of ribbon already attached, it is ready to be hung wherever you choose, really wish I had a fireplace to hang ours above!!

This stocking costs just £8 with free postage, a bargain in my eyes for something that will be used for many Christmases to come. And for just £2 extra you can even have it personalised.

I honestly can't find anything negative to say about this stocking, I am now going to have to get one for each of my other girls now because I think it will be nice to have them all matching :)

Whilst on the topic of stockings, what do you fill your childrens stockings with??

xxxx

Disclaimer : This stocking was sent to me free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Handmade by Hayley - Christmas Decoration Review

I love buying gifts for people, I especially buying personalised gifts, something a bit more unique for the recipient of the present.

With Christmas coming up I am on the look out for new present ideas, ideally ones that don't cost too much as my present list seems to have doubled since last year.

I was recently asked by the love Hayley from Handmade by Hayley to review one of the items from her new and growing range.

Hayley makes beautiful personalised items, including door plaques, fairy doors, echanted toadstools and christmas decorations.

Each item can be personalised with any name or of course you can choose to not have the item personalised.

I decided on a lovely wooden stocking which is an ideal size as a Christmas decoration. Hayley was kind enough to make a stocking for each of my daughters. 

You can choose to have either a pink, blue or red stocking, having all girls I opted to get the stockings all in pink, best to have the same, minimises the arguing!!

I was so pleased when the arrived. With the string already added, they are ready to be hung on the tree, it has made me even more excited about putting my Christmas decorations up. And with no sharp edges in sight, they are completely suitable for your little ones to hang up themselves.

With glitter sprinkled over to them to give them the magical element, they really are perfect, a lovely keepsake. I had the girls names written in white but you can always discuss having a different colour.

Priced at £2.50 each or £5.00 for 3 I really can't recommend them enough. I am planning to surprise my girls with theirs on the day we put our decorations up (December 1st!!).

Why not pop over to Hayley's facebook page and have a look for yourself.

xxxx

Disclaimer : I was sent these items free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.