Paper pom-poms - 50 makes for Christmas 19/50

I have a small stack of paper cake cases that have "spread" as I didn't store them in the box they came in, I can't even remember why they were taken out in the first place!   They have been knocking round one of the kitchen cupboards for a while and I didn't want to throw them away as I was sure that they could be re-purposed.

I was inspired by this giant pom pom made with coffee filters, I think they are the same shape so I guessed that they would work in a similar way.

They were pretty easy to make, I just folded/pinched the centre and put in a couple of stitches to hold, the second one was attached to the first and then I just continued adding on until I felt that it was "full".  

I tied off the the thread and will use this to hang it up.

These are going to be used at a baby shower that my daughters friends have organised for her so I introduced a few pink cake cases into one of the pom poms but I don't feel that this has worked very well as the pink cases are larger than the white ones and I am  not entirely happy with the end product.

I think the white ones look like paper snowballs and will be a great addition to my Christmas decorating stash.  I think they would look good strung together to make a garland or a few hang in the window would be quite cute.

I am pleased that I have been able to find a use for some of the squashed cake cases and I will have to try and think of some other uses for the remaining ones.  I could of course make a huge stash and start a paper pom pom snowball fight!!

That is another one ticked off the list and one step nearer to achieving my goal of 50 makes for Christmas.

Do you have something in the cupboard that you just can't bring yourself to throw away because you are waiting for the right project to come along?  or is it just me?  

Friday crafternoon

After my lovely relaxing weekend in Norfolk I seem to have lost my mojo a bit and have been feeling a little bit blergh, disinterested, not with it.. So I thought I would treat myself a little Friday crafternoon and came up with another jam jar tealight holder design that used up a couple more pages from "the book"

recycled jam jars and old book pages

I didn't have a clear idea in my head of what I wanted to do so I just grabbed a couple of jars from my hoard and pulled out the washi tapes and my big tin of stamps, punches etc and started playing around with the stamps on the book pages.

Crafternoon supplies

The tapes never made it out of the storage jars, I was quite happy to convert the stampings into mini bunting

mini bunting

I played around with over printing, using bigger stamps but tearing the design into smaller flags and with the depth of print.

mini bunting T light holders

I had a few issues tying off the string tight enough and had resorted to a dab of sticky tape to hold a couple of the flags in place but this now gives the undulating line making it look more like bunting when it is hung out.

twinkle lights in jam jars

They ended up filled with the twinkle lights from Christmas rather than T lights as they reflect more light back into the room when stood in front of the mirror,


Another no spend make and my mojo is a little less faded.


What are everyone's weekend plans? It is Mothers day on Sunday here in the UK so I expect there will be plenty of pampering and treats around.  My daughter is away this weekend so I have already been treated to a lovely bunch of bright pink Lillies and and some delicious Green and Blacks chocolate.

Free Make 1 - mini paper bunting

I should really have been cutting up T shirts to make strips for my rag rug but I have had this little make in my head since before Christmas and it just wouldn't sit back and wait its turn.

To make this mini bunting I have used pages from the recycled book I brought back from holiday that I am still finding ways to use up. This little project only used one and a bit pages so it hasn't made much of a dent on it!  This does mean that this would be a good project to use up any small pieces of nice paper that you have left over, I think my intention was to try use some of the off cuts when I was doing my Christmas wrapping but it ended up as no more than a thought.

This is how I did it

• Take a book page and fold it in half long ways

• Cut down the fold

• Fold each piece in half long ways again

• Cut or tear into small flags about the size of the top of your thumb

• Glue the bottom edge but ensure the top is not stuck down as the thread needs to pass trhough here

• Cut a little "V" shape into the bottom

• Thread onto string, you can play around with the spacing and take some off or add more if needed.

• Hang on the edge of your shelf edge, mantle piece, mirror frame or any where you want.

Initially I put this up using blu-tac and it looked pretty bad especially as it seemed to draw attention to the parts of the shelf where I had made a bad attempted to do some "distressing".  A quick look on Pinterest  and I saw a couple of posts for mini bunting using washi tape and it was a good excuse to crack open the pack of washi tapes I has received for Christmas.

An easy, quick, free make as I didn't pay for the book, the string is recycled from my Advent calendar project, and the glue is of no real cost. I am pleased with the result and now just need to make another string for the next shelf down.

I am intending to feature a few "free makes" in the coming weeks as money is always tight in January and February just when we could do with a bit of cheering up, so keep checking back.

Advent Calendar..... the count down has begun pt2

The second stage of my Advent extravaganza project involved me bin diving into the recycling bin to retrieve a couple of envelopes,

Recycled envelope into Advent calendar

• Cut down the envelopes to your desired size ensuring that you include enough to have a turnover at the top. This one was from a birthday card and so I could cut it in half and still have two good sized envelopes.

• Seal the open side with wide tape, you are now free to decorate with anything you have available. 

• I have used patterned clear tape, this came from Cox and Cox a couple of years ago.  They have lots of interesting things but usually at a price outside of my budget, however, their sales can go as low as 75% off which is when I am most likely to be making my purchases.

• For this one I have added a crafting button, old style pricing tags and shapes punched from paper retrieved out of the recycling bin. 

• The wolly hat stamp was a recent purchase from Hobbycraft  clearance for just 50p, the pompom was from a crafting set I brought from the Poundshop a few years ago and the stars were punched using a little stamp that I brought from Hema last year.

• The final downsized envelope I wanted to be taller and thinner than the other two and was decorated with a very simple design using paper tape and more of the punched recycled paper.  The paper tape was purchased from Wilko a couple of years ago and this is the first time I have used it.

 These are all things that I had in which is a bit of an indicator that

a) I am something of a hoarder/magpie 

b) I am a sucker for a bargain as a large portion of these were sale purchases. 

If I didn't have any of these available I would look at old magazines, newspapers and promotional Christmas flyers and magazines, wrapping paper, print out words and phrases using different fonts or simply write myself, fabric scraps, bits of string, ribbon, old buttons, effectively what ever you have available you can use.

I am really please with the end results and think these designs would work equally well as cards or gift tags

... paper play with autumn leaves

The weather here has taken a distinctly autumnal turn, cardigans have been in daily use and the big debate about is it cold enough to put the heating on has begun ( we have resisted so far).  My Pinterest feed has been popping up with images showing that I am not the only one to have noticed the change in the season and my Leaf me alone board has been getting regular pins fed into it.

Autumnal dispaly

I enjoyed my  adventures with recycled paper play and still have plenty of pages of the book left along with some brown paper that had been on a parcel delivered earlier in the week so I decided it was time for a new mobile.

paper leaf mobile

I toyed with creating different textures by screwing the paper up or by folding it in half to give it a sharp line.  The leaf shapes are a combination of free hand cutting and drawing round some small cookie cutters that I had, it has resulted in a variety of shapes and textures that I am very happy with.  I love the shadows that are cast, it gives the whole thing another dimension.

Brown paper leaves

Once the mobile was up I had to carry on and dress the rest of the mantle, my vintage Sylvac pottery is perfect for an Autumnal display.

Sylvac Squirrel

Sylvac mouse

Sylvac deer

I jumped on the idea of using some of my vintage button cards to complete the display, this is in the room where I do my sewing so I can look up and  see these little lovelies while I am working. It seemed to be lacking a little punch of colour and I hit on the idea of using some of my sewing threads which seem to do the trick.

The old mobile has now been consigned to the log burner to have one final useful role in helping to start the fire.  Who says recycling can't be fun.

How are you marking the change in the season or are you hanging on to Summer a little longer?

...recycled paper play

When we returned from holiday I brought back a book from the apartments we were staying at as I hadn't finished reading it, I left behind two that I had brought with me so I felt that it was fair.  This was no extraordinary book it was Wicked by Jilly Cooper, but I do feel committed once I start reading something to make it all the way through to the end.  However, there was something special about this particular edition to me, I knew I was the last person who was going to read it. towards the beginning of the book two pages had become dislodged from the spine and while I was on the beach the wind blew and took them away.

As I approached the end of the book I thought oh I'll just drop it in the recycling bin, but then I thought why not have a bit of fun, so I created a page in my Pinterest account called paper play and put up a few ideas.   My criteria was it had to be quick and simple to make, didn't require me to buy anything else and something  I could accommodate into my home easily and here are the results


WARNING - Jilly Cooper novels are quite saucey, I have viewed the photos and don't think there is anything offensive in there, please let me know if you spot anything and I will remove the  photo.


A floating hearts mobile

Decorated gift tags or confetti

Decorative envelope bunting

They were all fun to do and quick to execute, I have hardly made a dent in the book so I will keep it for a short time and try a few more activities.  I think the envelopes are my favorite and have definitely potential to be made into an advent calendar.  I think I would choose a book who's material was more in keeping with the project, then you could highlight key words or sentences.

 Which is your favorite?  have you re-purposed any old books? can you suggest any other projects for the remaining pages?