Handmade gifts are a great way to show someone special a little bit of love. These super cute snowman sweet jars were so easy make, I made these for the kids in our family and filled them full of their favorite sweets/chocolates for Christmas and they just LOVED them! These are also great as homemade hot choccy jars too!
Here’s what i used
Jars
Yarn
Pom pom maker
Scissors
Googly eyes
Coloured pom poms
Coloured felt
Pipecleaner
How to make a snowman sweet jar
Start by making a large pom pom roughly the same size as the lid of your jar. If you haven’t made a pom pom before you can find an easy guide to making one with and without a pom pom maker here.
Next we need to make the snowman’s cozy earmuffs. To do this take a small length of pipecleaner and glue a pom pom on both ends. Add any other optional decorations such as bows and the glue the ear muffs into place on the pom pom snowman.
Glue on two Googly eyes and a pom pom nose
Next cut out a long strip of coloured felt to make the scarf. Make several snips in each end and then use your glue gun to attach the scarf onto the jar lid as above.
Glue the pom pom head onto the scarf and jar lid and once dry your snowman sweet jars are finished! These are great as homemade Christmas decor or for gifting to loved ones!
How cute are these yarn wrapped hearts – Perfect for gifting!
It’s a little bit late to be sharing these for valentines day but we made them a couple of days ago and I think they are just too cute not to share! These little hearts are so sweet and fun to craft and are fab as little handmade gifts for children to make and gift for valentines day, mothers day, fathers day, birthdays and much more. The best part is that they’re so simple and quick to make too!
Here’s what you’ll need
A piece of cardboard (an old box will do!)
Yarn
Stapler or tape
How to make these yarn wrapped hearts
Take a piece of old cardboard and cut out the base shape of your heart. Attach the end of the yarn onto the heart using either tape or staples.
Wrap the yarn around the heart several times until you get a nice thick and puffy heart shape. Don’t worry if the yarn slips during the first couple of rounds, it gets easier as the heart gets bigger and you have more yarn for it to catch on. Once you’re happy with the size of the heart, snip off the yarn and tie your loose end around one of the strands on the heart before gentle tucking the loose end into the heart.
To use the yarn heart as a hanging ornament simply cut out a length of yarn, thread it under the yarn at the top center of the heart and tie it into a knot.
When it comes to Christmas movies the fist one we usually watch as a family is home alone, the kids think it’s hilarious and we think it’s hilarious listening to them laughing at it! For me though I think the most cosy and nostalgic film to cuddle up with at Christmas is Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory. I’ve watched it every single year since I can remember. I love a good musical and something about it is just so magical and in my opinion Gene wilder is nothing short of enchanting. So after watching it together I thought it would be nice to follow on by making some sweet little Willy Wonka inspired Christmas decorations and after a while we came up with these adorable polymer clay lollipop ornaments. It took a little bit of practice but after a few tries my little boy was making them in minutes!
Here’s what we used
Polymer clay
Cocktail sticks
Bow
Glue
Eye pins (optional!)
Thread
How to make our polymer clay lollipop ornaments.
Take equal portions of your chosen colours and roll them into individual balls.
Roll your colours into sausages of equal length and thicknesses. Press the colours together, if you have multiple colours stack them in twos.
Squeeze the ends of the colors to secure them together and then twist the stick of colors round and round to give you this fun stripy pattern!
Take one end of your clay and begin twisting it around into a spiral lollipop shape. Insert a cocktail stick in to the bottom of the lollipop. you’ll also need to make a hole to thread the string through so that you can hang it. We used eyelet rings so we made a small hole in the top edge to place one in but if you don’t have these you can simply use a cocktail stick to pierce a hole in the front of the outer ring so that you can attach some string once baked. Place it in to the oven to bake, times will vary depending on the brand you use, for us it was 130 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Once baked place on the side to cool slowly.
Once cool Glue a bow onto the bottom of the spiral and then thread through the string to hang your ornament with. Your super sweet Lollipops are ready to hang on the tree!
After making our polymer clay lollipops I thought that I would upload these simple pipe cleaner lollipop ornaments too. Clay is fab and great for crafting but it’s something that until recently we never really kept in the house, plus it can be quite expensive if you buy the better brands. Pipe cleaners however are so cheap and easy to find (most pound shops sell them) so I thought they would make for a great alternative option. To be honest I’m not even sure which ones I prefer, they both look super sweet and perfect for a Willy Wonka themed Christmas! These little cuties only cost a few pence to make and once you get the hang of them they’re quick to make too, my 4 yo managed to master twisting and rolling them after a few tries!
Here’s what we used
Pipecleaners
Bows
Yarn
Scissors
Glue
How to make our pipe cleaner lollipop ornaments
Take your chosen pipe cleaners and twist them together at one end.
Twist the pipecleaners around each other all the way along to give this awesome stripy effect.
Take one end of your pipecleaner and begin rolling it around into a spiral, ensure that you pull it tight enough to hold position. Once you get to the end wrap the loose end around the previous ring which it is next to.
Add a small length of pipe cleaner to the back of the lollipop to make the stick. Finish off your sweet decoration by adding a bow to the bottom of your lollipop spiral.
If you would like to hang your lollipop on the tree, simply add some yarn to your decoration. We found that the easiest way was to glue a loop to the back but you could always thread it through the top ring of your spiral and then tie it into a knot! Aren’t these just the sweetest little sweets?
Living out in the countryside we see quite a lot of these little guys running around. When they’re out in force we have to drive around the roads at 5 mph because they’ll just appear out of nowhere! They drive my other half crazy. My son loves them though, he likes to see how many he can spot. He thinks they’re pretty and that they look a bit funny when they run. I think he’s right on both counts! My little guy suggested that we should buy one but seeing as I’m a little bit terrified of farm birds like chicken and pheasants we decided to make ourselves a Toilet roll pheasant craft pet instead!
You will need
1 Tp roll
Brown, green and white paint
Red and yellow paper
Feathers
Sticker eyes OR white paper and a black marker
Scissors
Glue
To start off you will need to paint your Toilet Paper roll in those gorgeous pheasant colours. Paint about half of it using your brown paint, then paint a small white band for the collar. Finish off by painting the remaining part of the tube with your green paint.
Cut out a peanut shaped piece from your red paper and glue it down in place on the green part of your tp roll – just like you can see above!
Now to give your pheasant two eyes. We used eye stickers but if you don’t have these you can simply cut out two white circles and draw the details on using your black marker. Once you’ve stuck down the eyes it’s time to make a beak. Fold a piece of paper in half and using the fold line as the base, cut out a triangle to give you a folded diamond shape. Glue one half of your diamond down on your pheasant and leave the other half free.
Glue a feather to each side of your pheasant’s face to make his wings.
To make your pheasant’s tail, cut out a long thin raindrop shape…
And cover it with feathers. Trim off some of the excess to try and keep the pointed shape.
Use a generous blob of glue to secure your pheasant’s tail to his body and put it aside to dry. Once dry your toilet paper roll pheasant craft is finished and ready for a play in the garden!
Did you like this Toilet paper roll bird craft? Why not check out this cute paper plate Robin?
