#craftblogclub

#craftblogclub Secret Santa 2016!

It’s that time of year again and we are SO excited here at @craftblogclub! This year marks our fourth Secret Santa, can you believe it?! I think it’s safe to say it’s our favourite #craftblogclub challenge of the year and we hope it is yours too. Here is how it works:

If you want to take part please email us at:

craftblogclub@gmail.com

Please include your name, twitter name, email address and postal address.

Please email us by 8pm on Tuesday 1st November. We will then email everyone back by Tuesday 8th November with the name and address of the person you are making a gift for.

You then make that person a Christmas gift – this can be anything you like and made from any craft. It would be lovely for everyone to receive their gift in time for Christmas, therefore we have set a deadline for posting the gift by Tuesday 20th December. Make sure you include a note revealing who you are.

Who you make for won’t necessarily be the person that makes for you. Sadly, last year a few people were never sent a gift, so please only sign up if you can make and send a gift by the deadline. As crafters we all know how much time and love goes into making something handmade so let’s make sure no one misses out this year please.

The real excitement then begins as we all receive a special handmade Christmas gift from our Secret Santa! We ask that you write a blog post about the wonderful gift you receive and about the gift you made. We suggest you do this after Christmas (so not to spoil any surprises) and by Tuesday 3rd Jan, which is our first #craftblogclub of 2017. It will make for a great first chat of the year to discuss our makes and gifts.

We hope you are all as excited about this challenge as we are. We love seeing all the amazing gifts you lovely lot make for one another.

Enjoy making and receiving your special #craftblogclub gift.

Love Katie and Fi x

#craftblogclub, Sewing

Happy New Year & #craftblogclub Secret Santa 2015

Happy 2016! Hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Most of you will know I co-host #craftblogclub and this Christmas was our third Secret Santa. This Christmas I was given the lovely Jenniffer Taylor @JenniBobTaylor. I wanted to make Jenni something she would really love and so I had to put my thinking cap on. I know Jenni loves an upcycle project and so I thought I could use this opportunity to make use of some fabric I had left over from a quilt I made. I decided I would make a fabric wreath. Fortunately the fabric was already cut into strips. I purchased the hoops for the wreath from Amazon. I finished off the wreath with a hessian bow. I was really pleased with how it looked and even more thrilled to hear from Jenni that it arrived in one piece and that she loved it too!

I was the lucky recipient of a gift from @IcySedgwick I received my secret santa gift on 21st December and was rather naughty as I couldn’t wait until Christmas day and open my present then! Icy made me some wonderful handmade items of which I love, particularly the crochet snowflakes to hang on my tree.

Thank you so much Icy and thank you to everyone that took part in this years Secret Santa. I cant wait to read everyone’s posts and see what wonderful gifts were exchanged. Remember to join us for #craftblogclub this Tuesday from 7pm when we will be sharing our Secret Santa makes and gifts. I can’t wait!

Uncategorized

Merry Christmas!

I can’t believe a week today will be Boxing Day? This year has certainly flown by and it is certainly one I will remember! It’s been a rather special year for me as I turned the big 30 and married my best friend. I would like to thank all my friends, family and readers for a fantastic 2015 and for your continued support. I have loved watching Katie Gets Crafty develop this year and #craftblogclub continue to grow.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas with your loved ones. Stay safe, be merry and here’s to a super duper 2016!

Inspiration, Sewing

Rocky the Reindeer!

I have never attempted a stuffed toy before, but when I saw ‘Roger the Reindeer’ in a Sew Home & Style issue last December I fell in love! A few of us at the sewing class I go to decided we would all have a go at making him. It was so lovely to work on a project together – we had a bit of a production line at the beginning for the cutting out which was a great help. I hate cutting out so to reduce the time spent on this was brilliant.

Cutting out!

I don’t know why I had been apprehensive in the past about making a stuffed toy – yes there were a few fiddly moments but nothing too stressful.

It was a great way to use up bits of fabric and some wooden buttons I have had lying around for a long time. For the eyes we used a fabric pen. I wasn’t sure about this at first but it actually works really well.

I am really pleased with him – I don’t think he is one for cuddling (for fear he will fall apart) but he will certainly brighten up a shelf or arm of the sofa at Christmas! Sew Home & Style called their reindeer Roger but we have christened ours Rocky; in memory of our amazing trip to the Rockies this year!

Little and Large!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

#craftblogclub, Inspiration

Mince Pie Challenge

By now I am sure you know I am co-host of #craftblogclub. Our latest challenge was set by my fellow co-host Fiona. I was really pleased when this challenge was set as I have been rather quiet on the blog this year (busy having a wedding, wedding party and honeymoon!) so what a great excuse to dust off my keyboard. The only requirement of the challenge was that the post was to be based on the theme of ‘firsts’. So, this got me thinking …first sewing project, first knitting project, first kiss…no, let’s not go there!

With the clocks turning back and thoughts turning to Christmas I thought I would set myself the challenge of making mince pies for the first time. My husband LOVES mince pies and I want to be the good wife (it is our first Christmas together as husband and wife after all) and supply him with scrummy homemade mince pies. Having never attempted them or pastry before, I thought I best get some practice in before the festive season really begins. I remembered seeing a Mary Berry Christmas special last year and I found two recipes, with slight variations, online. Armed with a shopping list I headed off to the shops at 7:45 am on a Saturday – far too early for the weekend.

Everything you need

Pastry – for my first attempt I was worried it was too sticky.

But after 10mins int eh fridge and a sprinkle of flour it rolled out fine

But after 10mins in the fridge and a sprinkle of flour it rolled out fine

ready for the mincemeat

star pastry and grated marizpan – ready for the oven. Fingers crossed!

ta-da!

So here are the recipes:

http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/recipes/mary-berrys-cranberry-mince-pieces

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mincemeat_and_orange_21941

I also found this youtube clip of Mary at what she does best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ne-TIqBmrU

The verdict – I found both recipes really easy to follow, especially having the video helped. More importantly my husband gave them the thumbs up! I will certainly be making plenty over Christmas; and maybe another batch before then just to make sure I perfect them!

#craftblogclub, Inspiration

#craftblogclub Secret Santa 2015

It’s that time of year again and we are SO excited here @craftblogclub! Can you believe this will be our third Secret Santa?! If you took part in previous years then we are certain you will want to be involved again. Here is how it works:

If you want to take part please email us at:

craftblogclub@gmail.com

include your name, twitter name, email address and postal address.

Please email us by 8pm on Thursday 5^th November. We will then email everyone back by Tuesday 10th November with the name and address of the person you are making a gift for.

You then make that person a Christmas gift – this can be anything you like and made from any craft. It would be lovely for everyone to receive their gift in time for Christmas, therefore we have set a deadline of 21st December. Make sure you include a note revealing who you are. Who you make for won’t necessarily be the person that makes for you.

Then the real excitement begins as we all receive a special handmade Christmas gift from our Secret Santa! You can then write a blog post about the wonderful gift you receive and about the gift you made. We suggest you do this by Tuesday 5th Jan, which is our first #craftblogclub of 2016. It will make for a great first chat of the year to discuss our makes and gifts.

I hope you are all as excited about this challenge as we are. We love seeing all the amazing gifts you lovely lot make for one another.

Enjoy making and receiving your special #craftblogclub gift.

Love Katie, Fi and Emma x

#craftblogclub

#Craftblogclub Secret Santa

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and super New Year. I was battling a terrible cough like many over the festive period, but still had a fab time with family and friends. Over at #craftblogclub we hosted a Secret Santa following it’s success in 2013. This Christmas I was given the lovely Zoe @oodlesofcraft. I made Zoe some Christmas bunting and her very own Christmas stocking. After reading Zoe’s blog post I think she liked her handmade gifts!

I was away for Christmas so wasn’t at home when my Secret Santa parcel arrived. I was pleased about this though as it prolonged the excitement of Christmas! I was the very lucky recipient of a beautifully hand made gift from @EmmaRuthJones. Emma had made me a notebook (which is the perfect size for jotting down crafty ideas) and a beautifully delicate bracelet. Thank you Emma, I love them!

A big thank you to everyone who took part in the #craftblogclub Secret Santa challenge. I am enjoying reading everyone’s posts. It really is so wonderful to make something handmade for a fellow crafter. I hope you can join us for the first #craftblogclub of 2015 on Tuesday 6^th Jan at 7pm. We will be sharing our Secret Santa posts. We have lots of exciting things planned for #craftblogclub in 2015 including guest hosts and more super challenges! Here’s to an amazing 2015 of crafts and fun

Inspiration, Knitting & Crochet, Sewing

#craftblogclub Secret Santa

The wonderful Emma from @livepeachy is the host of #craftblogclub and for Christmas Emma had the idea of setting up a secret santa for all #craftblogclub regulars. As Christmas has now come and gone the secret is out so I am able to talk about it!

I was given the lovely Sonia from @layoutlines to make a christmas gift for. I decided to make Sonia some personlised bunting. I was very relieved to read the following tweet that not only had Sonia received my secret santa, but that she liked it! ‘Feeling the #craftblogclub Christmas love, yay, big thank you to my #secretsanta’.

It was so great watching all the tweets come in with everyone sharing their lovely handmade secret santa gifts. I received my gift on 3^rd Jan and I can tell you everyone in the house knew about it! I was running around like a kid on Christmas morning. My parcel had come all the way from America from @teenagebabushka. I was very lucky to receive not one but two hand made gifts! Check out my headband hat and wrist warmers. I am still feeling the #craftblogclub Christmas love. A big thank you to @teenagebabushka for my secret santa and to all #craftblogclubers for taking part in a very special secret santa.

Knitting & Crochet, Sewing

More Christmas Crafts!

I have so enjoyed all my Christmas makes. I can’t share all of them yet as it will ruin the surprise on Christmas day! But I’m pleased that the Santa sacks for my fiancé and brother-in-law are now finished and hopefully they are excited to put them out for Santa on Christmas Eve.

I have also finished my Christmas bunting. They have been given out as early Christmas presents as I want the recipients to have them hanging up alongside their other decorations.

I have also been pom pom crazy after watching this fab tutorial. I will be wrapping my gifts this year with pom poms to make people smile!

Amongst all of this Christmas crafting I had a last minute addition to my list of makes. My fiancés mum had the task of making 6 choir surplice gowns for her schools Christmas carol concert. We had a rather late evening but we did it. I can’t take any credit for them really as my fiancés mum did most of the work, it was a real achievement. The yokes were so fiddly but we got there in the end. Needless to say when we finished we crashed on the sofa with a large glass of sherry! Sadly I was unable to make it to the concert but I am told they looked fabulous.

Inspiration, Sewing

Christmas Crafts, old and new

I had the most wonderful weekend of crafting! I completely took over the lounge and dining room to make a start on all my Christmas crafts. Firstly the new project; if you read my blog Stitch, Sew and Hobbycrafts you will have seen some wonderful fat quarters that I couldn’t resist. If I am honest I wasn’t sure what size a fat quarter was but I now know they are usually 18 inches by 22 inches. Fat quarters are fantastic for little projects and quilting. I decided to use my fat quarters to make Christmas bunting! I wanted to make sure I made the most of the fat quarters, therefore I spent a lot of time working out the best size for the flags. I went with 6 inches along the top by 6.5 inches from the point to top. This was the size when the flags were cut, so I did lose a little when sewing.

I am really pleased with my cute Christmas bunting. The fabric is just gorgeous with a traditional but very modern look. Once I have added the binding at the top I will post a picture and let you all know where you can buy them! If you can’t wait until then send me a tweet @katiegetscrafty or leave me a comment.

For my old (faithful) project I used a template for Christmas sacks that was passed onto me by my Aunty Karen. Karen is a wonderful crafter ,with my sister and I benefiting over the years. When we were little girls we would receive handmade dresses, whilst more recently we were made beautiful Christmas placemats and tablecloths. A firm favourite of both of ours has to be our Christmas sack. They play such a special part on Christmas morning. Three years ago Karen was kind enough to give me the template so I could make one for my goddaughter. It went down a treat and I hope it means as much to her in years to come as it has for my sister and I.

So this weekend I dug out the template and got making!

I am still to add the star to the tree and the name of the lucky recipients. I will post a picture once they are finished. I do hope you like the Christmas sacks and the festive bunting. What are you all making for Christmas? I would love to hear all about your Christmas crafts, old and new.

Katie Gets Crafty

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Tag Archives: Christmas