gift

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.

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!

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!

This scarf is really quick to knit, I knitted it in a day, still time to knit one as a gift before Christmas.

I bought a lovely soft yarn called Ebba (70% merino 20% alpaca 10% silk) a bulky yarn 12ply, from Woolfish. I used 300 gms to knit the scarf.

Needle size should be 8.00 mm but to be honest I used the largest circular needles I had to hand, 6.5 mm, this gave me a close knit but because it's a scarf it didn't matter.

To get started you will need

If you haven't tried crochet but would like to, this is the perfect project to begin with, it only uses two basic crochet stitches.

Chain, ch - Wrap the yarn over the hook and draw the yarn through to form a new loop.

Double Crochet, dc (US single crochet, sc) - Insert the hook into the work, yarn over the hook and draw the yarn through the work only, yarn over hook draw the yarn through both loops on the hook.

There's still time to knit these 'Just Hatched' chicks for Easter. The pattern is so easy and takes about 30 minutes to an hour to produce a fluffy bird, to contain a Cadbury's creme egg. My free chick pattern is easy to follow, give it a go!

You will need: Facecloth, rubber band, ribbon, small amount of white wool and black embroidery thread.

This is a bit like origami with a facecloth. First fold the facecloth in half diagonally.

Tightly roll the facecloth triangle up, start with the pointy corner so that you end up with the long fold at the end of the roll.

Fold the cloth in half.

Fold in half again, this will form the head and ears. Place a rubber band tightly around the cloth about 2/3 of the way down.

Adjust and play with the cloth until you are happy it looks like a rabbit's head.

This is another idea for painting terracotta pots, Laine at Lanie J. and Co.  has cleverly painted the body of the terracotta pot with black paint. A greeting, in chalk, can be written on the pot, a perfect present for a favourite teacher, maybe.

This couldn't be easier, children can do it. Take a common or garden terracotta pot (I bought mine from Wilkinson's for 29p and 49p) The paint I used was household emulsion for the kitchen/bathroom (I bought tester pots from Wilkinson's). Apply the paint, by dabbing with a sponge, this doesn't leave brush marks. Let the paint dry. I chose to decorate my pots with spots, I applied white paint with the end of a piece of doweling to give me the polka dot effect. Children might want to paint a pot for grandma, let them do it in their own style, it adds to the charm!