Project Make – Christmas Decorations

10th Dec 201812th Feb 2019 | Suzi Stamp

Today on the blog I’m going to share with you instructions on how to make some simple Christmas Decorations. These decorations can be made by adults or children and will add a fun element to your interior decor for the season!

The first decoration I am going to show you how to make is a 3D Snowflake

For this project you will need…

6 sheets of white paper (or any colour of your choice) I used white A4 printer paper
Scissors
Double sided tape or stapler
A hole punch
Cotton or string to hang

If you are starting with rectangular paper (like I am) the first step is to cut it into a square. To do this I folded the paper diagonally then used the straight edge as a guide and trimmed off the excess. You will need to do this to all 6 sheets of paper.

You can save the cut off piece and use it to make paper chains later!

The next step is to take your square of paper and fold it along the crease you initially made then fold the triangle in half again. Again, this needs to be done to all 6 pieces of paper.

Once you have done this you can now begin to make the cuts in the paper. Using the longest side as a guide, cut straight lines up the paper leaving about 1 cm uncut. I work from the double edge fold to the single edge fold but it doesn’t matter which way you cut the paper. Aim to make 5 or 6 cuts of equal width.

When all 6 pieces of paper have been cut in the same way you can then open the paper out.

Now we can start to construct the snowflake.

Place the paper as in the picture above (with the spine that is uncut running vertical), start in the middle and apply a piece of double-sided tape to one of the points of the triangle, roll it over and attach to the opposite side point so that it forms a tube.

Flip the paper over and then do the same to the next triangle point, then flip and repeat. Do this for all the triangle points.

You should end up with something looking like the above picture. Repeat for the other 5 pieces of paper.

Once all of the snowflake segments have been made lay them out. You will notice that one side has a bigger length than the other, make sure they all face the same way. You then want to attach them together using either double-sided tape or a stapler, big side on one to small side on the other, attach at the crossed part (like in the middle picture above). Once you have done this and attached all of them together you will then want to secure the centre points, I stapled 3 points together, then the other 3 then stapled the whole lot together (see the last picture above). Once you have done this you can then attach the last snowflake segment to the first, making the completed snowflake.

The last thing to do is punch a hole in one of the outer edges of the snowflake and add a piece of cotton or string so that it can be hung. You can make bigger or smaller versions of this by varying the size of the square of paper that you start with.

Using the same method as above you can create teardrop spinners to hang.

Just take one piece of paper, fold as above and trim excess (if starting with a rectangle), then cut the paper as before but aim to make the width between cuts around 0.5cm or narrower, open the paper out and, like before, start in the centre and attach point to point, flip and attach the next one, flip back and attach the next until you have attached all points, hole punch at one end and attach cotton or string and hang.

The next decoration I’m going to show you how to make is one that you can make with children and is really simple…

Toilet Roll Snowflakes

For this decoration you will need

empty toilet toll tubes
scissors
stapler
paint
glue (PVA works best)
glitter
hole punch
string or cotton to hang

(hover your mouse over the photos for the instructions!)

1. First you will need to get the scissors and a toilet roll tube

2. Squash the tube to make it easier to cut

3. Cut the tube into 6 or 8 equal sized pieces

4. Use glue dots, double sided tape or glue and place near the fold of the cut pieces

5. Attach to another piece of cut tube

6. Keep going until the shape is fully formed

7. I used white acrylic paint to paint my snowflake but you could use any paint and any colour

8. Make sure to cover the whole shape

9. Check for any missed parts

10. I used this glue

11. Squeese out glue into a flat dish

12. Lay the snowflake in it and wiggle it about to cover all of the edges touching the surface

13. Sprinkle your choice of glitter onto another flat surface

14. Press the snowflake, glue side down, into the glitter

15. Give the snowflake a wiggle in the glitter so it adheres to all the glue

16. Leave to dry then punch a hole and hang wherever you choose

What decorations do you make for the festive season?

My Christmas Decorations

7th Dec 201812th Feb 2019 | Suzi Stamp

My style can be described as being bright, fun, non-traditionalist, hippy and boho, and my Christmas decorations really embrace my style. I’m not a huge fan of tinsel or traditional Christmas decorations, though I do add elements of the traditional into my decor.

I have Christmas trees, fairy lights and stags,but not in traditional colourways, I prefer white or black trees, my stag decorations are bright pink and glittery, instead of tinsel I choose bead ropes, marabou feathers and pom-pom trim. I have really bright baubles on my black tree and have chosen little dinosaurs to hang from my other, scroll down to see the photos that I have taken of my non-traditionalist, seasonal decor!

I didn’t want to hang my wreath on the front door because, well, its Wales and it rains! Not just that but I really didn’t want to get him all dirty either. I hung my wreath on the next available door – the door to my downstairs living room.

Joy lights which I have placed on the shelving unit opposite the door to my living room. This is the first thing people see when coming into my home.

My small tree that I have decorated with multi-colour fairy lights, pom-pom trim, marabou feather trim and tiny plastic dinosaurs!

Here’s a close up of the dinosaurs!

My second tree which is decorated with beaded ropes and baubles.

A close up of one of the decorations on my black Christmas tree – my initial!

Pink stars, green stars and purple stars also adorn the tree.

Skull and Crossbone upcycled tree which I’m thinking of having as my table piece for Christmas dinner.

My pink glitter stags, my mini Christmas Tree and its pom-pom decorations (which are also lights!) on my back windowsill.

Here’s a close up of one of the stags! I’m really liking the effect the rain on the window has!

And lastly, my santa card peg fairy light garland.

How have you decorated your house for christmas? Do you have a theme or colour palette that you use?

Christmas Decorating Ideas

6th Dec 201812th Feb 2019 | Suzi Stamp

There are so many different Christmas decorations available now, from cute, retro funky baubles to minimalistic metallic ones. With the array that is on sale its easy to get overwhelmed so I’m here today to give you some ideas with your Christmas decorations!

I think the easiest thing to do when deciding which decorations to choose is to first come up with a theme and colour palette before actually purchasing any decorations. Here are a few that I really love….

Traditional – Green, red, gold.

most-beautiful-christmas-trees-12 — Image source https://christmas.365greetings.com/christmas-decoration/beautiful-christmas-trees.html

Minimalistic – Metallic silver and one colour.

Black-and-white-christmas-tree — Image from https://www.christmastreeworld.co.uk/blog/

Bright – Pink, blue, yellow, orange, lime green.

Pastel – Baby pink, baby blue, lemon and soft green.

glamorous-pastel-christmas-decor-ideas-1. — Image from http://godfatherstyle.com/22-pastel-christmas-decor-ideas-to-add-glamour-to-your-home-decorations/

Jewel – Red, gold, green, blue, purple.

Galaxy – Metallic blue, green, purple and pink.

black-xmas-tree-black-tree-with-style-black-xmas-tree-decoration-ideas — Image from https://secretgram.me/black-christmas-decorations-36-super-elegant-black-and-gold-christmas-decor-ideas/38-black-christmas-tree-decorations-ideas-decoration-love-black-christmas-decorations/

Retro – Bronze, gold and metallic brown.

jyu_tree — Image from https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/294634000619291224/

Elegant – Black, white and silver.

black-christmas-tree-decorating-ideas-3 — Image from https://www.lushome.com/black-white-christmas-tree-decorating-ideas/128351

Once you have chosen your theme and colour palette you can then choose the colour of your tree, and with so many different colours and styles to choose from sometimes it can be hard to know which colour to go for.

Once you have decided on the best tree for your theme the next thing to decide upon is the lights for your tree. There are 4 main ones to choose from – coloured, cool white, warm white and bright white. Coloured are the more traditional sort of fairy lights with bulb colours of red, green, blue and yellow, cool white give off a blue tinged light, warm white lights are yellow toned and bright white lights give off a brilliant white light.

I would choose Coloured lights for the Bright and Retro Theme

Cool White lights work well with the Pastel and Galaxy Theme

Warm White lights work well with the Traditional Theme

Bright White lights work well with the Minimalistic, Jewel and Elegant Themes.

Now that you have chosen your theme, tree and lights we can now look at the fun stuff – all the shiny baubles and other decorations to hang on the tree!!!! First though, you should decide whether you want tinsel on the tree or not? I personally dislike tinsel, having Aspergers means I can be hyper-sensitive to certain smells and tinsel is one of those things that I don’t do well with smell wise so I choose not to use it at all. However, there are alternatives to tinsel including beaded ropes which come in many different colours, marabou feather trim, ribbons and other haberdashery trims works well too and you can buy that in many fabric or craft shops. Whatever you decide on pick out one colour from your colour palette so as not to overwhelm the other decorations.

Choose big baubles in one colour from your palette and add smaller ones in either the same colour or another from your colour scheme, mix up finishes to add interest (choose shiny ones, matte ones, glitter finish, dimpled etc) and if you want, mix up the shapes of the baubles – tear drop ones work really well for the bottom of the tree where as I find round ones work well for the middle.

Select smaller baubles in differing colours (that match the colour palette of your chosen theme), again you can choose different finishes and textures. Smaller baubles work well for the middle of the tree and top. Most of the large and small baubles can be bought in multi packs and are fairly cheap to buy so you can add as many or as few as you wish to your tree!

Now for the extra fun bit, choosing the eye-catching elements! These elements are things like bows, shaped baubles, clear baubles, and baubles with special finishes. Most of this type of decoration are the ones that are sold as single decorations (and are a bit more expensive than the regular baubles) and are designed so that you only add one or 2 of the same one to the tree, this means that the eye will be drawn to them, add a fun element and are a way to really personalise your theme. Most places that sell trees will sell this type of decoration, I have found Asda and B&Q to be good places to have a look as they carry a good range! Whatever you choose, have fun with these decorations and add as many or as few as you wish!

What sort of theme are you choosing for your decorations?

Pantone Colour Of The Year 2019

6th Dec 201812th Feb 2019 | Suzi Stamp

Pantone have just released their colour for 2019…. Living Coral (16-1546)!

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Taken from the Pantone website…

“Vibrant, yet mellow PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment.

In reaction to the onslaught of digital technology and social media increasingly embedding into daily life, we are seeking authentic and immersive experiences that enable connection and intimacy. Sociable and spirited, the engaging nature of PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral welcomes and encourages lighthearted activity. Symbolizing our innate need for optimism and joyful pursuits, PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embodies our desire for playful expression.

Representing the fusion of modern life, PANTONE Living Coral is a nurturing color that appears in our natural surroundings and at the same time, displays a lively presence within social media.”

What this means for fashion, beauty, interior design, home furnishings, accessories….

Be prepared to see this shade incorporated into every day life, wether it be a splash of this colour gracing our sofa in the form of cushions or a blanket in this hue, in the kitchen with accessories matching the colour, in our outfits with patterns displaying the tone or in our make up with lip, cheek and eye colours matching the colour. This colour will add impact to anyones room that is already painted a trendy shade of grey, add a pop of colour to a workspace, add interest to an outfit and so much more! I’m really excited to see where people take this colour!

My thoughts on Living Coral – the Pantone Colour of the Year

As soon as I saw the colour, before even knowing what it was called I loved it. It is a colour that evokes happy memories from childhood, is comforting and warm, bright without being too loud or overpowering. I really love it and am already thinking of ways I can use the colour in my day-to-day life.

What are your thoughts on the Pantone Colour of the year?

An Alternative…Advent Calendar

4th Dec 201812th Feb 2019 | Suzi Stamp

I don’t generally buy advent calendars as, although I love the idea of them I always find the ones on offer either expensive for what you get or disappointing. I really wanted to get one for Sam as part of his Christmas gifts but decided to make one rather than buy anything.

I decided on creating a memories advent calendar, basically a note for each day of December contained in a numbered envelope that the recipient can open on each day of advent.

I bought cards from Tiger that came in a cute box, listed some memories that I wanted to share and started to write the cards. I labelled the envelopes from 1 to 24 then shuffled the cards and inserted them into the envelopes. I then used the box to put the cards back into so I could give them to Sam.

It was really nice to spend a day reminiscing about favorite memories and writing them down, the only problem I experienced was which memories to choose!!!!

I think this would be a perfect gift for anyone that means something to you whether it be a friend, family member, brother, sister or child.

Have you made an alternative advent calendar for someone? What did you make?

Mind Crafternoon

3rd Dec 201812th Dec 2025 | Suzi Stamp

On Saturday I held a Crafternoon – a crafting afternoon, in aid of Mind, the mental health charity. I chose to host the crafting event because Mind, while I have not used all of their services, have found their on-line resources to be really helpful and informative. 1 in 4 of us, in our lifetime will experience some kind of mental health problem and its charities such as Mind that can help when these problems arise. I believe that Mind do a really good job offering support, advice and campaigning to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding of mental health issues and wanted to support them to continue to carry out the work that they do.

My Mind Crafternoon started with signing up for the event via the Mind website which was a really simple process of form filling with your name, address, email and the date of your Crafternoon (if it is to be held on another day aside from 1st December – the official Crafternoon date). Once you have submitted your information Mind will then send out a kit that includes ideas of things to make including instructions, ways to raise money, bunting to cut out and make along with balloons and a money-box to keep the donations in. They also supply the paying in forms for you to use when banking the money raised. When I received my pack I was really amazed by how informative and helpful the pack was, there were so many tips and ideas so even the least crafty person would be able to hold an event like this!

I first set up a Facebook event and invited some friends and then bought some notecards and invites, wrote a bit about Mind and my Crafternoon in the cards and wrote out the details of the party onto the invites then sent them out to the attendees the week before the event.

The notecards and invites

I then put my Christmas decorations up, dug out all my craft things and set them up on the table. Sam and I baked a Vegan Devil’s Food chocolate cake and my friend Jez made some cakes and things for my event too. My lovely neighbour, Heather, made earrings and wine glass charms to sell and I had some sets of nails that I’d decorated to sell as well so we could raise extra money for Mind.

The Vegan Devil's Food Cake Sam and I made

I decided to have a raffle, originally I was going to buy a tub of chocolates to raffle but decided to make a Christmas Mulled Wine scented soy candle to raffle instead.

The Activities

Jez showed us how to decorate compact mirrors and I decorated a phone case. We used Mod Podge, glitter and 3d elements such as bows, flowers and pearl flat back beads to decorate them. I’d never done this before and it was really fun! Everyone got stuck in and it was really lovely to see how each persons style and taste came out when we all used similar elements in our work.

Everyone’s work looked really fab and I think everyone was really pleased with the outcome! I know I’m super happy with how my phone case turned out! Jez was a really good teacher to have!

I led a Snowflake Making Masterclass using white paper, double-sided sticky and scissors to make 3d snowflakes. It was fun to be able to share what I’d learned with my friends and see how happy they were to have been able to make something so lovely from simple sheets of paper.

I then showed my friends how to make paper Christmas flowers from folded paper, scissors, a stapler and cotton thread. They all agreed that it would be something fun that they could do with their children as a Christmas activity.

And finally I did a brief demonstration showing everyone how to make Christmas Snowflakes and trees from toilet roll tubes.

It was a really fun day, there was a lot of chat and getting to know each other, laughter and fun, cake eating and wine drinking! I think I will definitely be hosting another one in the future! In fact I’ve already started thinking of different Crafternoons I could hold and the sort of themes that I could base them on!

This Month On The Blog!

1st Dec 201812th Feb 2019 | Suzi Stamp

This month I have a bumper lot of Christmas posts to share with you! I have been busy making things, researching, writing, photographing and compiling ideas, hints and tips on all things Christmas related!

You can expect to see posts about

The Crafternoon event I held in aid of Mind

An Alternative Advent Calendar

Christmas Decoration Ideas – from making your own decorations, how to decorate your table and little touches to add to give an extra special touch.

I will be writing about food ideas to serve on the day, how I decorate my home for the Festive Season, DIY ideas for gifts, my own Christmas Wishlist, preparations for the day itself and ideas on how to relax.

After Christmas Day I will be sharing how I spent the day!

I hope you will enjoy reading the posts as much as I have in researching and writing them!!!

Mental Health And Me – An Update

30th Nov 201828th Mar 2023 | Suzi Stamp

This is the first update about my mental health since writing this post, and in the time between that post and this I’ve been to the doctors for a medicine review on the 22nd November. Thankfully some of the symptoms that I had when starting my medication (Sertraline 50mg) have subsided, the sick feeling still comes and goes but isn’t a persistent feature of day-to-day life, the hot and cold feelings have gone, and the dizzy spells are getting less and less which is good.

I’ve now developed insomnia, which I do get from time to time but never like this, over the space of a few weeks I have not been able to sleep for more than half an hour at a time if at all which is really starting to get me down. The flip side to this is that when I do sleep, I can sleep for the whole day which has happened a few times now (the latest being sleeping through the whole of sunday 25th November).

I have still been feeling anxious and still have these anxiety attacks along with panic attacks though I can not identify a reason why, perhaps if I could then I would be able to stop them?

I spoke with the dr about all of this, he said it may help to up my medication. I’m now taking 100mg of Sertraline each day. I still feel unable to go back to work, mostly because my concentration levels are still really low and I keep forgetting things (like when watching tv, the adverts will come on and I have no idea what I have been watching), I still can’t settle to read a book and I’m finding myself really tired even when I have had a good nights sleep. All of these things create a frustration in me and I know I would find it difficult in work with these symptoms, and I would end up being angry at myself for not being able to carry out the tasks I need to, taking too much time over completing tasks and generally struggling with the day-to-day things I need to do.

I’m finding it pretty hard to motivate myself to leave the house or even have conversations with people. I feel like I’ve become a bit of a hermit at the moment. I did manage to go food shopping at 12:30am on the 21st November…the Asda supermarket by me is open 24 hours and because I couldn’t sleep I decided to put that time to good use. The supermarket was really quiet with only myself and shelf stackers around. I got to walk around at my own pace and pay attention to what I was buying. Usually, if I go in the day time I run around like I’m on supermarket sweep, grabbing things and not thinking about what I need or want in order to get out as fast as I can. This time I only bought what I needed and didn’t forget anything.

I’ve been taking the higher dosage of medication for the last 3 days and so far have not got any more, or bought back any of the side effects I was experiencing. I just hope that these will help somewhat!

Project Make – Hallway Floor and Back Door Mat

27th Nov 201812th Feb 2019 | Suzi Stamp

The hallway in my house had laminate wood flooring which hadn’t been laid very well, was a bit battered and never seemed to look clean which always irked me somewhat. I really wanted to cover it with something as I was unable to remove it due to being rented accommodation.

I looked everywhere for a hall runner rug that would fit the 4 meter 10cm length and that would also fit width ways. The hallway starts off wide at the door and becomes narrow toward the foot of the stairs which made it awkward to find something suitable that would work well. The cost of the cheapest rug that I found was around £80 and came in really mundane solid colours – brown, grey and a golden colour, and most of the others I found I didn’t really like the pattern or colour of in a higher price bracket. There was nothing that I truly loved that fitted my style, that is until I started thinking about other types of flooring.

My first thought was carpet tiles as they were pretty cheap to buy and easy to fit too but, being a hallway I thought that might be a bit impractical with dirt being bought in from outside. I then thought about vinyl flooring as it is hard-wearing and can be cleaned really easily but the patterns that were available were not really anything that I liked. I wanted something bright, fun, easy to install, easy to keep clean, and even easier to replace if I needed to for whatever reason, it also needed to fit my budget. It was when I started to rethink over getting carpet tiles that a thought occurred to me… I knew what would fit my specifications perfectly and would be a pretty unique choice for flooring…kids soft foam play area tiles!

This is the outcome! I ordered these from here. When they arrived I opened up the packets and went about sorting them into colours before starting on laying them down.

I prepped the floor by sweeping and hoovering to get up every last bit of dust and dirt, I didn’t want to cause any further damage to the laminate underneath so this was a vital step.

I then chose the colour scheme I wanted, choosing to place the coloured tiles together to create a stripe effect and placed the first tile at the foot of the stairs and worked my way back towards the door. I then removed the first tile I had laid and cut one of the edge flat, removing the “teeth” before placing it back down and shuffling the tiles up so the cut edge butted up against the rise of the step.

The next cut I made was the tile to go against the door. Once I’d got this row in I was able to work my way back up towards the stairs and remove the teeth from the side closest to the wall and move the tiles into place. I then added the next row which just needed the teeth removing from both ends.

The third row was the trickiest as I needed to cut down some of the tiles to fit the shape of the wall so that the tiles fitted snugly without any room for movement. To do this I took each tile, laid it over the tiles that were there and made marks where the teeth and tile met. The tricky part to this is to remember to make the marks on the opposite side of the tile to where you are measuring otherwise you will end up with the cut going in the wrong direction… so mark the left side of the tile to be cut with the right side of the tile that is already in place. Be sure to put the tile fully against the wall before making the mark too!

Once all the tiles were in place the only thing I needed to do was to finish the edge near the doorway, this was fairly simple as I was working with a straight edge so only needed to take a measurement and cut a straight line. I did have to go around a pipe but that too proved to be fairly easy to navigate… once Id cut the tile to the right size I laid it down and made a mark where the cuts needed to be to fit the tile around the pipe, then using scissors I made a small cut to each mark, then refit the tile to see if the cuts were deep enough to accommodate the pipe before removing the tile and making the last cut. I then re-fitted the tile.