Theme Thursday! Ladybird

Hello and welcome to my first Theme Thursday! Planning a baby shower can be very overwhelming, so every Thursday I am going to take a theme and suggest ways to use implement the theme in decorations, food, invitations etc. This weeks theme is suitable for boys and girls, so it is perfect if you don't know what gender the baby will be! The theme is Ladybirds =)

Invitations

Invitations for this theme can be made easily and cheaply using a computer and printer. A red background with black spots is perfect! If you would rather buy ready made invites check out these cuties from Tweet Prints pictured below. These invites are personalized and downloaded for you to print off yourself. What a cute design!

Decorations

For really easy decorations, take a pack of red balloons and draw or stick on black spots. You could also make bunting or paper-chains using black and red paper. Or how about these hanging ladybird decorations for only £1.19?

Food

A buffet or finger foods work best. If you want the food to tie in with the ladybird theme, check out these fab ideas. They all look too cute to eat! 

Ladybird themed nibbles from Yellow Bliss Road

Adorable cheese ladybirds! Instructions here

Strawberry ladybirds recipe here

Games

How about a ladybird version of pin the tail on the donkey? Below are some photos of the game I made, it only took me 10 minutes! The antenna has a sticky pad on the back, the person who gets it closest to the top of the ladybirds head wins!

 Spot on!

Not quite...

Party Favours

How sweet are these ladybird bags?! Made by the aptly named Everything-Ladybug. Perfect to fill with thank you notes and small treats!

Hope this has been helpful. If you have a ladybird themed baby shower, be sure to let me know how you get on! Also please leave a comment if you have any suggestions for future Theme Thursdays!

Bye for now,

Hayley x

Craft Blog Club Halloween challenge: Part 2

If you haven't read part 1 of the challenge it is here

In part 1, I chose to do paper cutting and had a go at making a spooky Halloween scene, set in a graveyard naturally ;) Here is a reminder:

I decided to stick my paper cutting onto a jam jar, so that I could put a candle inside to light it up. I painted the jar with some fab metallic purple paint I found in The Works. I then attached my cutting with double sided tape. For safety I used a LED tea light rather than a candle, I really like the effect.

My tree looks extra spooky with the light shining through!

The witch and pumpkin

 The graveyard scene

You might have noticed that my ghost/pacman monster is missing. He was quite big and I ran out of room. But if you look on the above photo, you can see what I substituted him for... A bat! I'm keeping the ghost for now though, as I'm not done with the challenge yet! I've decided that one jar isn't very impressive and its only 8 days into October, so I'm going to do some more paper cutting. I haven't decided yet whether to make more jars or try something different... I'll keep you posted =)

Bye for now,

Hayley x 

Craft Blog Club Halloween challenge: Part 1

I am a member of the twitter based #craftblogclub. Craft Blog Club is for anyone who is interested in crafting or runs a craft blog. Ran by the lovely Emma at Life is Peachy it takes place every Tuesday from 7-8pm. Just use #craftblogclub to join in! =)

The Craft Blog Club challenge for October is to make a Halloween decoration using a craft you haven't used before! I was very excited about this one... So much that I had to get started straight away! I have always wanted to try paper cutting, the art of creating silhouettes or pictures using a piece of paper and a scalpel. So I bought a scalpel from The Works for £1.99 and a pack of black paper (also £1.99 if anyones interested) and started experimenting!

I wanted to create a Halloween scene, which I am going to use to decorate something later in the week. I am keeping my cards close to my chest at the moment lol. So on the back of my black paper, which luckily is white, I drew an outline of a graveyard, complete with crow and creepy tree and started to cut it out.

 I have placed it on a sheet of white paper so that you can see it clearly. The witch and ghost were cut out separately so that I can move them around before I stick them down.

Here's a close up of the "ground scene". Its one continuous piece. I'm proud of my spooky tree, I didn't think I would be able to draw a convincing tree but I managed =)

Here is my witch. I copied the outline from a picture and I'm pleased with how she turned out. Below is my ghost... I drew him freehand and can't help but think that he looks like one of the little monsters that chase Pacman haha! Oh well, never mind.

  

I'm going to continue with this project later in the week. I've really enjoyed paper cutting, although I have had to do it in short bursts. Firstly because it makes my shoulders ache like mad. Secondly because as you may already know, I am very clumsy so using a sharp scalpel for long periods of time isn't recommended... I would like to end October with all of my fingers attached! 

Here's hoping ;)

Hayley x

Funny Friday!

I bet a lot of parents can identify with this!

Have a great weekend! =)
Hayley x

Hello October!

I'm a couple of days late with this but never mind... It's now October (yikes hasn't this year gone fast?!) so I've decided to list a few things that I will do this month, or at least hope to do =)

• Complete the #craftblogclub October challenge! This month it is "Create a Halloween decoration using a craft/skill you haven't tried before". I am very excited about this and have all my supplies ready. I'm starting over the weekend =)
• Unveil my secret commission. I can't upload pics here or on Facebook until I secure permission from the customer. Hoping to unveil in the next couple of weeks. I'm very proud of it!
• Sign up for more craft fairs in time for Christmas! I have two in the pipeline but would like to sign up for more as the festive season approaches!
• Get 1000 page views! Might be a big ask but I enjoy a challenge! I got 641 pageviews in September.
• Start a feature called "Theme Thursday". This will start next week. Basically I will suggest themes for a baby shower and how to organize the decorations, food, games etc. Hopefully this will be helpful to anyone planning a baby shower!

Well there we go! Hopefully I will be able to tick all of these off as the month passes =)

Heres hoping!
Hayley x     

Belated September round up

September is my first whole month on this blog, so even though its a little late I've decided to write a round up! Then tomorrow I'm whole to post my aims for October =)

So in September I opened a Twitter account and came across the fab #craftblogclub! Ran by the lovely Emma from Life is Peachy Craft Blog Club runs every Tuesday 7-8pm. Just use #craftblogclub to join in! September also saw the first ever Craft Blog Club challenge, which was to cover a notebook! Now anyone who has read my blog in the last couple of weeks will know I had a couple of problems with this challenge...

You can read about it here:

• Notebook disaster
• Second attempt
• Finished notebook

So what else have I been up to? Heres the full list including the points above.

 

In September I have:

• Opened a Twitter account
• Joined #craftblogclub
• Completed my notebook
• Made a lion, butterfly and a pirate ship
• Wrote my first tutorial on how to make your own butterfly
• Had a rant about ridiculous magazine projects
• Asked the questions Why do you craft? and also When did you "officially" become a crafter?

Not bad for my first proper month =)

I'm going to post my goals for October shortly,

Bye for now,

Hayley x

Pirate ship nappy cake

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about a challenge I had set myself on Facebook (with the help of my lovely likers!) Basically I asked people to suggest objects for me to make a nappy cake of.

I have already made a lion and a butterfly: 

 Today I picked another suggestion, a pirate ship! I will hold my hands up right now and say that it looks more like a sailing boat... but I'm still pretty pleased with it =)

Bye for now,
Hayley x