Easy Halloween Lantern

This lantern is super quick and easy to do
Perfect for those who need some last minute Halloween decorations

I opened my Cricut Craft Room today to find I had a new free cartridge - 3D lanterns and I love to try out anything new so I set to work straight away

Now I think this is how you are mean to use these images but my way is even quicker and lets you use real candles, rather than fake ones

Taken from Becky Baugh on Pinterest

What you will need:

Jam Jar

Black Card

Tissue Paper

Sellotape or Glue

Cricut with 3D lantern cartridge

Step 1:

Measure the circumference & height of your jam jar. Then take one of the lantern images and expand it in Cricut Craft Room until it is slightly larger than your jar (as you want it to overlap a little)

Step 2:

Take your black card and cut out the lantern image using your Cricut

Step 3:

Cut out a piece of tissue paper that is slightly smaller than the size of your cut of black card and stick it to the back so the tissue shines through

Step 4:

Wrap the card round the jar so the black card is on the outside and the tissue is against the jar, then tape the overlapping edges of black card together so that it forms a cylinder around the jar.

Step 5:

Drop your tea light inside and light it - making sure you keep the flame away from the paper!!!!

Easy peasy and super effective for any Halloween household!

I'll be back,

How to throw a Tiki wedding in VEGAS!!!

I was over the moon for my little brother Sam when he announced he was marrying the amazing Zara and the fact that they wanted to do it in Vegas was the icing on the cake!

Of course I offered to help in any way I could, especially when it came to the wedding decorations and I'm going to share with you my 5 simple steps to turning any party into a Tiki celebration to remember!

1. Burlap Bunting

I love burlap material as I think it gives a really vintage feel to your decorations, however this time I was looking for a distressed look so made sure I left it a little rough around the edges.

I tried out 2 new styles inspired by my travels to Hawaii (but mostly Pinterest)

White Distressed

Cutting out triangles from my burlap material, I made sure I had enough for the words "Just Married" and made a few extra to split up the words.

I used my Cricut to cut out letters/images on vinyl and stuck them onto the triangles but if you don't have a Cricut you could cut the vinyl with a craft knife or just cut up masking tape.

Then I coated the top of the bunting in white fabric paint. Don't worry about being to precise with this step as you want it to look a little distressed but make sure you go up to the edges so it doesn't fray too much.

Once dried, just peel back the letters and then stitch some  twine to the back of your triangles so you can string up your bunting

Personalised Screen Printing

Again I cracked out my Cricut and designed 3 bunting images. This time I personalised them for my brother's wedding by making a Z & S monogram for them both.

Instead of triangles for this one, I cut out large rectangles and then frayed round the edges. To make sure it didn't come apart completely I used some fray stopper which once dried, I was ready to go.

This time when I cut my designs out I had to remember to flip them backwards first as I wanted to practice my screen printing skills.

Taking the cut out vinyl, I stuck it to the outside of my screen and covered any gaps round the edge with masking tape.

Then I put a rectangle under my screen, positioning it toward the bottom of the screen and then pulled the ink over the top until I felt the image was fully covered. Lifting the screen up it relieved the image on the rectangle with a large gap up at the top - NOT TO FEAR there is method behind my madness. The reason for this is so that I can fold it over the twine and then sew on with my sewing machine. Of course remember to leave your bunting flags to dry before stitching them all together

2. Tiki Photo booth

Every wedding should have a photo booth. They are my favourite part about a wedding and a brilliant wedding favour for your friends and family to take away.

This is such a simple way of creating a bit of a buzz at your party.

I made the background by buying lots of 2m pieces of ribbon from Ebay, which were all different widths, and then sewing them all to a 2m piece of ribbon along the top - SIMPLE

Then I made a tiki blackboard with a piece of MDF covered in blackboard vinyl and then glued bamboo round the edges, before sticking a paper flower at the top. This allowed the guest to write their own special message to the happy couple or just something really funny

To finish it all off I bought lots of tiki tat as everyone loves a bit of cheesiness and dressing up for a photo. Stanley the Flamingo was a definite hit of the night

Now you can just let your guests take their own photos but I have my own digital polaroid where you can take picture but choose which ones you want to print out instantly. People love to get their polariod to take home and I've used it for so many parties now that it's definitely been worth it's money

3. Pompom Bunting

It took me a long time to come up with a colourful way to do some tiki bunting but when i saw this pompom tutorial inspiration smacked me in the face

Mini Pompoms - Vivid Please

I bought 5 different coloured balls of £1 wool from poundland and made 15 pompoms in each colours. Then i got a large sewing needle and threaded a long piece of wool through each of the pompoms to make a string of bunting.

Once finished I wrapped it round a piece of cardboard so that it didn't get tangled up when packed in my suitcase, then on the day all i had to do was slowly unravel whilst stringing it up on tress and the outdoor bar

4. Beer Koozies

Our wedding guests had their party Polaroids to take home but I also wanted to create something that people could use on the day - hence the beer koozies.

Now at the time, I knew exactly what I wanted to make but had no idea what it was called so after lots of Googling I found out it was a Koozie I was after, also known as a beer/stubbie holder.

I used my Cricut to cut out the template on foam and then stencilled the personalised wedding design on the front of the koozie, before stitching up both sides. I'll put up my templates on this blog in the coming weeks so that you can make them as well

5. Pool Lights

I did lots of research on floating candle holders but the cost of them didn't really stand up to the fact that we would only be using them for one night as I don't have the luxury of a pool at home so I came up with the idea of using glow sticks.

Originally we had planned to put the glow sticks in balloons and have them floating on the pool, which worked really great in my bath where I could turn off all the lights but because there were other lights outdoors they didn't really shine through the balloons. Instead we ending up putting the glow sticks in the bottom of the pool and leaving the balloons to float on the top. The pack of glow sticks I bought also had connectors to make a glow stick ball which was lots of fun

Just remember to take everything out the pool before you get out so it doesn't get stuck in the filter!

I hope these ideas have sparked your creative streak and if you decide to throw a tiki party of your own, then you have as much fun as we did!

Sam & Zara - I am so proud of you both. 

You have grown up to be amazing people and you are both so brave to carry on your life together over the other side of the world, even though I selfishly want you back home with us. I wish you all the happiness for the future & hope every day is better than the last.

I'll be back,

Cutest Baby Costumes EVER!!!

Today I am looking for inspiration before I immerse myself into the world of costume making for kids. I've scoured Pinterest and I thought I would share my favourites with you!

Queue the "AWWWWWWWS" - there are no more words

Duck Costume from Costume Works

If you can find a baby grow with a hood then this is an easy costume to get started with - remember Barney was purple so think colourful :)

Dinosaur Costume from Hello Bee

I love this Kermit costume, pretty simple but sooo effective and it's an easy one for your little one to move around in as well

Kermit the Frog from Costume Works

In contrast this one isn't as easy to move in but gosh isn't it gorgeous...and if you baby is too young to move anyway then don't let that put you off!! I love the colours in the wing and guess this could be adapted into an owl as well

Flamingo Costume from Elise Blaha Cripe

Every time I see this costume I just start singing "Because I'm happy..." and isn't that just what your little one should make you want to sing

Minion Costume from PDS113

If I ever get pregnant I'll be suffering from withdrawal symptoms from sushi - so much so I might end up making this costume whist pregnant!

Sushi Costume from She Knows

This costume is too cute but I can see it being a bit frustrating for your little one when they can't move any more

Shark Costume from Dear Goodness

Gizmo is the perfect choice for all those who get geeky over movies. This costume is super cute and will keep your baby cosy in the cold autumn weather (or at least it is cold for us Scottish folk!!)

Gizmo Costume from Costume Works

and I couldn't show Gizmo without sharing this cutie! Marshmallow man is one of the more difficult costumes on my list but I think you'll agree the results are worth it

Marshmallow Man Costume from Brit + Co

Have another bun in the oven? Well this is a cute way to match yourself to your wee one so that both kids can take part in the fun

Skeleton Bump Costume from Little Us

And if you want to go all out then start sourcing those feathers and get crafting to make this piece of art. 

You're baby would definitely be belle of the ball!!

Big Bird from Dollar Store Crafts

I'll be back,

Ding Dong the Bells are going to Chime - Home Made Dress for a Wedding

My little brother got married a couple of weeks ago in VEGAS! We all had the most amazing holiday and I couldn't be happier for them but before I write my post with all the crafty things I made for their wedding I wanted to ease myself back in with a simple post about the dress I made myself for their big day

note: the back picture was taking before I painted the diamonds on the dress

So the pattern I used is a Vogue Pattern and I picked mine up at Remnant Kings but you can get yours on sites like Ebay if you don't have the same store near by

I also bought my material at remnant kings - 5 meters of this Light Mint Cotton (although think I only used about 4 meters for the dress). This pattern isn't easy peasy but I have very limited sewing machine skills and managed to knock it up in a day so it can't be too bad!

Once I finished the dress, I made a diamond shape with my Cricut software (check out my cricut projcets page for the diamond template) and then I printed out 3 different sizes of the diamond on vinyl and laid it onto lino blocks to make a stamp like this tutorial

I then used my white fabric paint on the lino block and then printed diamonds in a triangle formation at the bottom of the dress, largest at bottom getting smaller as they go up. In retrospect the white paint didn't work very well with the lino block and I had to go over a lot of it with a paint brush - so I'd probably use proper lino paint if you have time to buy some. I also took the smallest diamond and placed one near the top of my dress, painting two lines out of it so it looked like a diamond necklace.


To finish of the dress, I look a piece of lace and hand-sewed it round the middle of the dress.



I love the final result and I hope you do to - it just shows that you should judge a pattern based on the image you see on the front, there is so much you can do to it if you use a little imagination!!!

I'll be back,