DIY Father Christmas and Reindeer Treat Plate Tutorial

I have made some plates to put into Sophie's Christmas Eve box. One is for Father Christmas and the other one is for the reindeer. I can't wait to check if the food has gone on Christmas morning!

What you need:

Porcelain pens

An old kitchen tile/plate to practise on

A plate to decorate

Baby wipes in case you make a mistake!

What to do:

1.       Wash the plate so that it is free from dust and grease.

2.       Decorate the plate.

3.       Leave the plate to dry for 15 minutes.

4.       Heat the plate in the oven for 25 minutes at 160C

5.       Allow the plate to cool in the oven.

If you can't find porcelain pens, I believe you can also use Sharpie pens in a similar way. 

I hope you are convinced to have a go at making your own! 

DIY Cornflour Dough Recipe & Tutorial

Recently I made some decorations using salt dough. You can read about them in my post “Salt Dough Handprint Christmas Ornament Tutorial”. I ended up painting the salt dough white after they had been cooked.

 

Since making them I have discovered a recipe that makes a whiter dough. It is made from cornflour, bicarbonate of soda and water (all ingredients I had at home – yay!) When cooked it has a shimmer to it which looks quite Christmassy so I am going to leave these decorations unpainted.

 

Cornflour Dough Recipe:

1.5 cups of water

2 cups of bicarbonate of soda

1 cup of cornflour.

 

I have created a video tutorial to show how to make the dough.

This dough can be wrapped in a damp cloth and stored in the fridge in a ziplock bag. I am hoping to create some Christmas decorations and maybe some gift tags next week. I will write a blog post to show you what I end up making. 

Salt Dough Handprint Christmas Ornament Tutorial

Sophie has done her first craft (well kind of… she slept through it). We made salt dough handprint Christmas tree ornaments for her Grandparents. They were really cheap and fairly easy. I am also going to make some with her footprint. 

What you need:

·         2 cups of plain flour

·         2 cups of Salt

·         1 cup water

·         Bowl

·         Rolling pin

·         Cookie cutter

·         Greaseproof paper

·         Baking tray

·         Straw

·         Acrylic paint

·         Ribbon

·         Scissors

What to do:

1.    Mix the flour, salt and water in a bowl. If it is dry add a little more water. 

2.    Knead the mixture and form a ball.

3.    Roll the salt dough out so that it is about 1cm thick.

4.    Cut a circle of salt dough using a cookie cutter or cup. 

5. Place the salt dough circle on a baking tray. (I recommend placing them on greaseproof paper as mine were nearly impossible to get off the tray!)

6.   Help your child to press their hand into the salt dough. (I waited until Sophie was asleep as she grabbed the dough when she was awake! Make sure to wash your child’s hands afterwards because the salt can make their hands quite dry. If you have trouble getting the handprint in the middle do this before Step 2).   

7.    Use the straw to make two holes so that the decoration can be hung up.  

8.    Cook them on a low heat until they have dried (mine took 3 hours).

9.    Paint the decorations using acrylic paint. After you could paint them with PVA glue or a gloss spray to seal them. (If the edges are rough you can sand them gently using a fine sandpaper).

10.     Attach a ribbon so that they can be hung on the Christmas tree. 

DIY Moses Basket Covers

A few months ago my Mum dug this Moses basket out of her loft. It was mine when I was little and both of my younger sisters slept in it too. It is 30 years old and had no covers. We bought a new mattress for it but I was struggling to find anywhere that sold covers. I nearly gave up and just bought a completely new one. However, I liked the sentimental value of this one and also couldn’t justify the price of a new one! After a little advice from my mother in law I decided to have a go at making some covers. However, I kept putting the job off as I had no idea where to start.

I spent hours searching online for tutorials but didn’t come across anything that showed me exactly what to do. I bought a cheap pattern off Etsy and again dismissed it as it made no sense. I am a self-taught sewer and tend to make it up as I go along.

On Friday my husband came home and found me sat on the floor crying and surrounded by fabric! It was just too tricky! He was fantastic though and helped me work out how we could do it. I had found a quilted liner for £5.99 at Argos which is designed to sit under the lining to give it padding. I ended up covering this with fabric (which was an IKEA duvet cover that I cut up - bought in the Bargain Basement). I sewed along the lines in the pattern to hold the wadding in place and to give it a patchwork quilt type effect. It also helped the fabric to sit nicely around the curved edges. I couldn’t work out how to make the holes for the handles look neat so in the end I just removed the handles! I decided that they were 30 years old and looking pretty frayed and that we didn’t plan on picking the Moses basket up with them anyway.

So after a few tears and a sewing machine needle that snapped in half, here is our finished attempt…

I am planning on using the rest of the duvet cover to make a second cover. Then we will have a spare if the baby is sick or makes a mess on this one. If anyone would like me to try and do a tutorial when I make the spare cover please let me know in the comments below. 

Hot Air Balloon Cot Mobile Tutorial

What you need: 

1. Soft toy filling - I got mine from Hobbycraft

2. Felt - I got the brown and white from Hobbycraft and the other colours from ebay

3. Embroidery thread to match the felt - Hobbycraft

4. Embroidery hoop - Hobbycraft 

5. Selection of ribbon for hanging - Hobbycraft 

I also used templates (which can be downloaded at the end of the post), scissors, needles, pins, a pen, paperclips and a hot glue gun. 

What to do:

1. Cut out the pattern pieces using the templates (available to download at the end of this post). Make two sets of each - one will make the front of the balloon and the other set will make the back. 

2. Use a running stitch to sew the pieces together. Hold the pieces together with a pin to stop them moving and use a matching colour embroidery thread for each layer of the pattern. Repeat for the other balloon but do not sew the front and the back of the balloon together yet!

3. Draw around the basket template and cut out one for the front and one for the back. You can then sew a criss-cross pattern onto the basket to decorate it. 

Next, plait 3 lengths of embroidery thread to make the balloon string and sew them to the inside of one of the baskets. 

Pin the front and the back of the baskets together and sew around the edge using a running stitch. Make sure to leave a gap to fill the basket with toy stuffing before sewing it closed.  

4. Attach the plaited threads to the inside of the balloon. Pin the front and the back of the balloons together and begin to sew around the edge of the balloon until you reach about half way up. 

Tie a long piece of white string to a paper clip and sew it into the inside of the balloon making sure the white string comes straight out of the top of the balloon (You will need enough length to add clouds and tie it to the embroidery hoop). The paper clip will stop the balloon sliding up and down the string when you have finished. 

Continue to sew around the edge of the balloon leaving an opening so that you can stuff the balloon with the toy fillings. Then sew the balloon closed. 

5. Make 4 sets of balloons using whatever colours and designs you prefer. Make sure that each balloon has a basket and a long piece of white string attached (as shown in step 4). 

6. Choose a cloud pattern from the templates and cut out two cloud pieces. When you draw around the template reverse the pattern so that any pen/pencil marks will face each other and be on the inside when you sew the cloud together. 

Tie a paper clip to the white string coming out of the balloon where you would like the top of the cloud to sit. 

Pin the front and the back of the cloud together, sew around the edge and fill with toy stuffing. 

Repeat with all of the other balloons. 

6. Thread two pieces of string through a button to create an anchor point to help the mobile to sit evenly. 

Tie the 4 pieces of string that come out of the button to the inside ring of the embroidery hoop at four even points. Use the hot glue gun to secure them so they don't fall off.  

Thread another piece of string under the loops created on the button to create a hanging string (see the middle picture).

Then tie the clouds and balloons to the inside hoop, spacing each string out evenly between the pieces of string. Again secure using the hot glue gun.

Place the outside hoop around the inner hoop and tighten.

Use the hot glue gun to attach a pretty ribbon or trim to both the inside and outside of the embroidery hoop to cover the strings and glue. 

Finally, tie the hanging string to a hook or whatever you are hanging your mobile from. 




If you have a go at using this tutorial or at making your own cot mobile please leave a comment to let me know. 

Have fun crafting.