craft

This is a homemade gift that ticks all the boxes, charming, useful, quick, easy, low skill level and you don't need expensive equipment. The creative bit is to find a receptacles for your candles, look for vintage teacups, jugs, small bowls etc. in charity shops, have a rummage! They would not only make a lovely gift but also perfect for a vintage style wedding reception or decorate a party table. For my candles I chose little teacups, a small jug and a tumbler made from thick red glass.

This is such an easy make no artistic ability required!

You will need

-Beer bottle caps

-Tiling grout

-Magnets

Mix up a small amount of grout as per instructions on packet or you can buy ready mixed.

Carefully fill a cap with grout.

Place a magnet in the centre and gently push it into the grout.

Leave it to set hard for a couple of days.
If the grout is a little proud of the magnet smooth it down with fine sand paper

I have been itching to do some mosaic but I needed a few sunny days. Doing mosaic can be a bit hazardous when cutting and breaking tiles or plates, shards of sharp tiles can fly every where not to mention tile adhesive and grout. With a window of fine weather forecast, I rang my friend Sue to say "come and spend a few days in my garden, I will show you how to mosaic!"

When I saw a tutorial for a bride and groom cake topper, made from a clothespin, on the website Brooklyn Bride , it was so cute I had to give it a go and make some! I have designed and made my own pom pom fairies , but they were made from the one piece wooden pegs now I have to try a two piece!

In the 99pShop, in the garden section, I spotted some tin lizards all brightly painted in vibrant colours. I liked the size and shape of the decorative reptiles, but the colours were too bright for what I wanted. I thought it would be worth buying the cut and pressed tin lizards, they would be easy to repaint. I already had some pots of Hammerite paint and decided red would be a good colour for where I wanted to put them. First I lightly rubbed down the gecko with sandpaper, to give adhesion to the paint.

I knitted some socks at the end of last year, the pattern by Donna Druchunas, I found in a book I bought "Vogue Knitting, Socks Two" 

This is a quick and easy gift idea to make, well put together! All you need is a beer glass and two pairs of socks, a black pair and a white pair. For the white pair I bought sports socks, turned inside out, the texture resembles bubbles perfect for the beer's frothy head. Now all you do is roll and manipulate the socks into the glass until you are happy they look like a pint of Guinness.

*To avoid disappointment, for the recipient, include a bottle of beer as part of the gift too!

What you will need to make a lantern

Recently I bought some standup teapot shapes made from MDF. I was thinking how I could decorate them when I came up with the bright idea of making one side a blackboard. Once I had bought the blackboard paint I was contemplating what else I could paint with it. Well on Wednesday Alice and I were in the market and saw cherries being sold from little wooden boxes, they were so cute. We asked the stall holder if we could have the boxes he said yes, take whatever you want. Alice liked her boxes with the cherries on but I had blackboard paint and I was going to use it!