On the second day of Christmas ... the children made decorations

I am very pleased to tell you that it is not just me that likes crafting here at Jumbleberries HQ - both my Superhero and Princess like to 'make stuff' too.

When they were little I ran a messy-play group with my mum for a number of years, so they really started getting involved with arts and crafts at a young age. I'm really pleased though that their love of being creative has continued even as they have got older (my Superhero will be 11 in February - eek).

The benefits of encouraging pre-school children to be involved in messy-play are well known I think, but I'm not sure older children continue to be encouraged in the some way, the focus moving to more academic subjects.

Obviously encouraging your kids to get involved in craft projects helps build creativity and imagination and gives them experience of thinking 'out-side the box'. Painting, cutting, drawing, sewing and so on, all help with muscle development and dexterity, which in turn aids handwriting skills.

Arts and crafts also helps to build confidence. How many of us crafters have embarked upon a project only to discover that it wasn't really what we saw in our minds eye? So, back to the drawing board we go and perhaps, on occasion, the whole idea is scraped altogether. We learn though that it's not the end of the world - sometime stuff turns out as you expected and sometimes it doesn't - but thats ok.

So when we all needed a bit of quiet time on Saturday afternoon, after a morning of football matches and dance-show rehearsals, I was more than happy when the kids got the hama beads out rather than putting the tele on or playing on the computer.

And this is what they came up with:

Superhero made the Christmas Pudding:

and Princess made the Tree:

I think they are really good considering neither used a template or an example to copy.

What do you think?

Jumbleberries. xx

Christmas Wish-list Felt Envelope

Today I am joining in with the Bugs & Fishes Christmas Tutorial Link-up where lots of talented crafters are sharing their festive tutorials. Pop over to take a peek - Xmas inspiration a-plenty!

My contribution to the 'party' is my:

  

Felt Christmas Wish-list Envelope Tutorial

 

Fill it with your letter to Santa and then hang it on the foot of your bed.

To make your own version, you will need:

* 3 sheets of felt - one white, one red & one green

* a piece of fabric (I used a red and white polka-dot tea-towel) about A4 size

* a sheet on bonda-web, again about A4 size

* a piece of ribbon

* a couple of buttons

* embroidery thread

* a sheet of paper

 

To start, fold your A4 sheet of paper into 3 equal parts. Measure a strip approx 5cms wide along the long edge of the paper, cut off and discard. Using the paper pattern, cut your sheet of white felt down to size. Fold the felt into 3 sections, as you did with the paper pattern - the middle section is where you are going to add your embellishments.

From the sheet of green felt, cut some lettering to spell out the word 'Santa'.

 

From the rest of your felt, cut out some mini motifs to embellish the front of your envelope. There are obviously lots of different Christmas themed motifs that you could choose but the ones I like are:

* a stamp shape (cut with pinking-shear) decorated with a Christmas bauble shape

* a Santa hat

* 2 holly leaves

* a poinsettia flower shape

 

Add your lettering to the middle section of the white felt, positioning the word in the lower half of the space. I used sticky-backed green felt for my lettering, purely because I had some. If I had used normal felt, I would have blanket-stitched the lettering using white embroidery thread.

Next sew your motifs into place. 

Sew the stamp shape in the top right hand corner of your envelope. You can decorated the middle of the bauble shape with a gold sequin to add some extra sparkle. 

Position the Santa hat above the last 'a', adding a mini pom-pom on the end. 

Create a poinsettia motif, using a 5 petal flower shape, gathering it slightly as you stitch it into place. Highlight the middle with a gold sequin.

Finally sew a loop of ribbon onto the top left corner of the envelope, securing it in place with the two holly leaves and a red button berry.

 

Once all of the embellishments have been stitched into place and the front of your envelope is complete, you can now line the envelope. 

Cut your piece of material to size, making sure that it is slightly larger than your envelope shape. 

Iron your piece of bonda-web to the back of your material. Peeling away the backing paper, iron your piece of material to the back of your envelope. Make sure you iron the material and not the felt or you will melt your envelope!  

 

Using your original paper pattern, cut the top of the template into a curved point. Add a shallow cut-away shape to the bottom of the template.

Pin the paper pattern onto your envelope and trim your felt and material to shape.

Once your envelope has been cut into shape, fold into three sections. Blanket stitch along the two short edges to create the 'pocket' between the middle and bottom sections. Leave the top section free to create the envelope 'flap'

Sew a button to the middle of the back section and cut a small slit in to the envelope 'flap' for a button-hole. You can strengthened the button hole by sewing on a square of green felt, cut with pinking-shears.

And there you have it. All you need to do now is write your Christmas Wish-list, hang your envelope up along-side your stocking on Christmas Eve and sit back and wait for Santa.

Please do let me know if you make your own Christmas Wish-list Envelope - I would love to see your version.

(Please note that this tutorial is for personal use only).

Happy Christmas Crafting!

Jumbleberries xx

Officially the best chocolate brownies in the world, ever!

Here at Jumbleberries HQ we love chocolate brownies. Our favourite recipe is from Hummingbird Barkey, because, quite frankly, they are the best chocolate brownies in the world - at least according to my son. But even though they are super-delish as they are, occasionally I like to add an extra little ingredient to give them a bit of a twist. I've made a Black Forest version (went down a treat at work) and a White Chocolate with Cranberry version (nice but a bit too sweet for me), but as this is part of my 12 Makes of Christmas Series, I thought I would share my Spiced Orange & Dark Chocolate version. Serve them warm with some extra thick double cream and your Christmas house-guests will love you forever!

Spiced Orange Chocolate Brownies

Over a gentle heat melt 175g of butter and 200g of dark chocolate. (I use Sainsburys Basic chocolate and it works a treat.) 

Add 6 cloves to the mixture whilst is it melting. 

Once it has all melted together, take it off the heat and fish out the cloves.

Mix in 325g of caster sugar until the mixture looks a bit like wet sand.

Now stir in 130g of plain flour and mix thoroughly.

Next add the zest of one orange, one teaspoon of dried cinnamon and one teaspoon of dried ginger. Your kitchen will already start to smell like Christmas.

Finally mix in 3 medium sized eggs.

Pour the mixture into a lined, greased cake tin and bake at 170 for around 30 mins.

Enjoy!

Jumbleberries  xx

It's beginning to look a lot like......

... OK perhaps not quite yet, but I've spent all summer dreaming of all the crafty-loveliness I could make for Xmas and then I've realised that it is actually only 12 weeks away - eek! So I am trying really hard to override my 'leave everything to the last-minute' default setting and actually crack on with some of my little ideas.

I'm sure you are very organised and your Xmas crafts are well under way, but I thought I would share my little designs over the coming weeks anyhow - kind-of-a 12 Makes of Christmas sot-of-a-thing - just in case you would like to make some of them too (I'm good like that).

So here is my first one:

Felt Lavender Pillows

This is a really quick & easy, but super cute little pressie idea, perfect for 'Gifts for Teacher' or a little treat for Grandma - or anyone who likes a bit of 'pretty' really.

You'll need some paper, 3 pieces of co-ordinating coloured felt, embroidery thread, some cushion stuffing and some lavender.

Cut yourself 2 heart shapes from the paper, one slightly smaller than the other. Mine measure 10 x 9.5 cm and 8 x 7.5 cm. You'll also need to draw yourself a 5 petal flower shape. Using your paper patterns, cut two of the larger heart shape from your darker coloured felt, one of the smaller heart shape from the lighter coloured felt and 3 of the flower shape from the co-ordinating coloured felt. I also cut a couple of mini leave shapes from a pale green colour.

With all your pieces cut out, you now need to start stitching the flowers and leaves onto the small heart. I stitch up throw the middle of the flower and back through the same hole beneath the flower shape in order to give the petals a slightly 3D effect. Do this for each of the five petals.   

Once all three flowers and the leaves are stitched to the small heart, you now need to blanket stitch this onto one of the larger heart shapes. When this is complete, you then need to blanket-stitch the second large heart onto the first, but leave yourself a little opening in order to stuff the pillow. I use a normal cushion stuffing, and then sprinkle in some dried lavender (home-grown) mixed with a bit of salt, which is supposed to stop the lavender from rotting. Once the pillow is stuffed, close up with gap by continuing to blanket-stitch all the way round.

And there you have it.

The design also works well as a hanging decoration made using Christmas colours. I added a small sequin to the centre of each flower as I think it makes them look like poinsettias. I thought they might look nice hanging on the back of each chair around the Xmas dining table.

What do you think?

Let me know if you have a go yourself, I'd love to see your version.

Happy Christmas Crafting.

Jumbleberries xx