Merry Christmas

 

So its Christmas, a time for feasting, families, friends and fun.  So we thought we would sign off for Christmas with a little picture from us to wish you all a happy time.

 

Also, if you haven't already, go take a look at our Pin Advent Calendar over on Instagram which showcases some amazing Pins from 2016.  If you don't get any of these for Christmas, then you can always cheer January up with some great Pin buying!

 

Looking forward to seeing what 2017 will bring, we have lots coming up in the pipeline and can't wait to share it all with you.

 

We hope you have an amazing Christmas doing whatever it is you want to do and have a very Happy new Year!

 

We will be around on social media over the holidays, but for the blog, see you on the other-side!

H & Sammy, xxx

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Food for feasting this Christmas

I don't know about you, but all thoughts go to food at this time of year and that's even before Christmas Dinner!

Gift Wrap I Want to Try

Debee Campos  //  Humphrey and Grace  //  Homey oh my  //  Fall For DIY

I don't know about you but I am a gift-wrap junkie, I always try and make the wrap as lovely as the gift inside. These cute DIY options are floating my boat for my Christmas wrapping this year. I love the printable wrap and the hand-tied fabric! I will definitely be using that for some of my gifts, let's face it, I have no shortage of fabric to choose from. If you need some more inspiration check out my Gift wrap 3 ways post.

Sammy xxx

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Make it: Mermaid Papercut with FREE PDF

We have a tutorial today for a present idea this Christmas for the mermaid fan in your life.  It really is a simple project to do and one that you can tailor to the person you are giving it to.

Sammy's Handmade Christmas Tree 2016

Every year My Christmas tree has a theme, yes, I am not sorry, I am one of 'those' people. When we add kids to our family they will get to sort out the tree, but until then it is all mine. This year I was planning to go with a kind of winter forest thing, then I saw our friend Claire (aka Claireabellemakes) was bringing out some limited edition Christmas decorations and I had an even better idea. This year all the decorations on my tree are handmade by independent UK Designer/Makers.

Lets Meet: Peas and Needles

Since meeting Lucy at the Mollie Makes Awards we have been wanting to have her on for a chat and so now the time has come - its like Christmas has come early!  So lets hear all about Peas and Needles and what she has got coming up.

Gifts for Your Stocking All Under £10

Bakes Box Unicorn Slabb Chocolate  //  Rabbit Portal Keyboard Sticker  //  Suede and Co Diamond Leather Keyring  //  Puptart Mini Sparkle Party Purse  //  Eclectic Eccentricity Arrow Ring  //  Ember Candle Co Skull Candle   //  Oh No Rachio Good Vibes Pin   //  Woah There Pickle Geek Badge  //  Love Me Not Shop Sugar Scrub  //  Finest Imaginary Pineapple Earrings

Our last gift guide may be the best one yet and all the handmade items on it are under £10. Aside from it making them all a complete bargain, they are all perfect stocking stuffers. They would also make your partner the happiest Secret Santa in the land! I don't know about you but this is one stocking I would LOVE to receive.

I really hope you have enjoyed our guides and that it has helped you with your handmade shopping this year. We would love to see if you have bought any of the gifts on our guides, do let us know by tagging us on social media #livelovemake

Sammy and H xxx

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Little Ones
Gifts for your Pets
Gifts for your Parents
Gifts for your Lady
Gifts for your Man
Gifts for your Best Friend


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Gifts for Little Ones

Karin Akesson Giraffe Dream Big T-shirt  //  Heart Felt Handmade Hair Bow Holder  //  Stitch it Mama Unicorn Toy  //  Letter Clothing Party All Night Baby Grow  //  What's Her Name Art Custom Name Watercolour painting  //  Sparkle Child Glitter Crown  //  HelloDODO Dinosaur Bib  //  The Fox In the Attic Ice Cream Rattle  //  HAHonline Leopard Leggings  //  Diddy Colours Dinosaur Crayon Bucket

Today's gift guide is for the littlest family members, You may not have any little ones of your own but there will no doubt be a niece or nephew, goddaughter or godson who would love one or two of the goodies in our round up. Why is it that tiny things are soooooo cute! Seriously we want  our own sparkly glitter crowns!!

Sammy and H xx

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Pets
Gifts for your Parents
Gifts for your Lady
Gifts for your Man
Gifts for your Best Friend


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Gifts for your Pet

Puptart Glitter Bow Tie  //  Lovely Luna Crafts Cat Teepee  //  The Distinguished Dog Company Neck Scarf  //  Hello Harriet Collar Tag  //  Crafted for Pets Guinea pig Antlers  //  Tux and Tabby Natural Mouse Toys  //  Louise Megan Ceramics Dog Bowls  //  Dawn Colgan Dog Coat  //  Tez Pets Hamster or Rat Hammock  //  Ros Shiers Personalised Pet Portrait

Our furry friends are just as important at Christmas time as other members of our families. There are some gorgeous gifts out there to help thank them for being our confidants, our walking mates and our snuggle buddies. From beds to bowls to bow ties, your fur babies will be more devoted than ever with these goodies under the tree.

Sammy and H xx

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Little Ones
Gifts for your Parents
Gifts for your Lady
Gifts for your Man
Gifts for your Best Friend


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Gifts for your Parents

Letterfest Personalised House Portrait  //  Keelham Farm Shop Ginger Sweets Treats Hamper  //  Claireabellemakes Personalised Scrabble Frame  //  Lauren Aston Designs Chunky Throw  //  Lahla Studio Egg pots for Two  //  Anna Wiscombe Wooden Flowers  //  Duck Ceramics Porcelain Mug  //  Tea and Crafting Rag Rugging Workshop With Ragged Life  //  DejaOoh Animal Chopping Board  //  Sophia Victoria Joy Personalised Teapot

Your parents will love whatever you buy them because that's what being a parent is all about, but wouldn't it be lovely to get them something they will treasure? Personalising gifts is a great way to take them from great to awesome! A lot of these gifts have that option but get on them fast as personalised options often take slightly longer to be made and delivered and you don't want to miss out on the perfect parent present.

Sammy and H xx

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Little Ones
Gifts for your Pets
Gifts for your Lady
Gifts for your Man
Gifts for your Best Friend

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Gifts for Your Lady

May28th Copper Watch  //  Wallflower Weavings Wall Art  //  Camila Prada Margot Figure  //  Dakota Rae Dust Embellished Jumper  //  Ali Sigr Moon Necklace  //  Le Chant du Robot Handbag  //  Geo Fleur Plant Subscription  //  Rock Cakes Pile of Books Necklace  //  Hania jewellery Smile Gold Necklace  //  Jureambox Knitted hat

Ladies, Girlfriends and Wives! Today's list is just for you. This is the post you need to forward to your significant other, to drop a, not so subtle hint that this is what you want for Christmas! Those things that you love, but just wouldn't splash out on for yourself. You are welcome!

Sammy and H

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Little Ones
Gifts for your Pets
Gifts for your Parents
Gifts for your Man
Gifts for your Best Friend

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Gifts For Your Man

DinosaurYEAH Socks  //  Alxndra Ghost T-shirt  //  Frederick Thomas Skull Tie  //  Holdall & Co Briefcase  //  Stolen Form Tin Can Mug  //  Alice Tams Game of Thrones Print  //  By Law London Card Holder  //  Goozeberry Hill iPhone Docking Station  //  The Minty Mountain 'Worlds Okayest Boyfriend' Decoration  //  Mister Peebles I'm Nuts About You Print

Handmade gift guide number two is here and this one is for your Man. 10 amazing items from some of our favourite designer makers. Buying for the boys is notoriously difficult but these designers make it easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

Sammy and H xxx

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Little Ones
Gifts for your Pets
Gifts for your Parents
Gifts for your Lady
Gifts for your Best Friend

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Gifts For Your Best Friend

Create! Craft Kits Lightning Bolt Banner Kit  //  Mica Peet Triangle Earrings  //  Sew Crafty Craft Journal  //  Veronica Dearly Just Get on With It Mug  //  Finest Imaginary Cheese Plant Leaf Coasters  //  Bear Claw Co Copper Marble Wall Jar Vase  //  Hi Cacti Concrete Planter  //  Fox and Lilly Speckled Necklace  //  Oh Squirrel You are Bloody Brilliant Print  //  Suede and Co Glitter Stripe Purse

Sorry not sorry for getting our gifts lists in order! We have put together 5 amazing gift lists for your nearest and dearest this Christmas and we are kicking off with 'Gifts for your Best Friend' the person that has listened to you all year long and been there for the best and worst of times. Treat them to some yummy handmade goodies this year. Our gift guides this year are 100% handmade from UK companies and independent businesses, so go on, get your shop on, as if you needed any excuse! 

Sammy and H

Check out the rest of this year's guides here:
Gifts for your Little Ones
Gifts for your Pets
Gifts for your Parents
Gifts for your Lady
Gifts for your Man

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Make it: Fabric House Advent Calendar on Skillshare

If you have been following us on social media you will already know that we published our first tutorial on Skillshare last week! I know, right!

Make it: Cute Bunny Toy

Gifts for the little ones this time of year can be so hard, just another plastic toy so soon to be discarded seems such a waste of money. I always like to make something for my niece because although her parents aren't really 'handmade people' I know that she will love it. This year I have made her an advent calendar but she will have that before Christmas so to open on the day I wanted to give her a little handmade friend that she could play with. This little bunny toy is so simple to put together but makes a gorgeous gift for the little ones. Also, being made from cotton fabric there are literally thousands of options for colours and prints to choose from.

Let's meet: Zeena Shah

Well hello there everyone, we have a treat in store for you today with our Let's meet feature.  We have been catching up with the very lovely Zeena Shah at events and markets for a while now and finally managed to pin her down for a chat.  She is one busy woman and so we are super happy she gave us a little insight into what she is up to and loving at the moment. So, over to Zeena ...

Make it: Easy Coasters

A simple DIY today, something I have been meaning to make for ages.  It's that time of year when I am embarking on making gifts for my family and friends in time for Christmas.  I need to get my butt in gear so some quick and easy makes are the answer.  These modern decoupage coasters are a great gift for new homeowners any time of the year but the touch of gold makes them a lovely festive treat, you might even get asked to stay for tea to break them in, 

Make it: Pumpkin Fever

Oh Autumn, we love you so, but (spoiler alert) sometimes the inspiration doesn't strike us and we just want to hibernate rather than make all the fun Halloween themed goodies.

Whats on our desks October

We have a special What's on our desks for you this month.  It is just the one desk as we have been busy doing something a little different together at Sammy's desk.

DIY's I want to Try October

Copper Leaf Garland by Nicest things  //  Floral Pumpkins by Sincerely Sara D  //  Autumnal Floral Crown by Us via Cellardoor Mag  //  Twiggy Letter by the Happy Housie

I Love Autumn, but I don't want everything I make this month to be Halloween themed so I have been on the look out for simple and fun Autumn themed crafty projects to keep me busy. I found some really lovely autumnal ideas that I will be giving a go this weekend. What about you? What autumnal crafts do you fancy trying this season?

Sammy xxx

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Make it: Cushions 3 ways

We thought it was about time we upped the home factor here on the blog, after all Autumn is all about getting comfortable and perhaps nesting in your new home and so we thought why not give you three different ways you can change up your sofa style with cushions.

Make it: Faux-dori Notebook Planner

We are back with a fresh DIY for the new season; I am fast becoming a planner addict, but I needed to kerb my spending and find a way to use up some of my already huge stationery stash. When I got a travel planner as a gift a few months ago, I realised I could use up all those piles of thin notebooks if I made myself some of my own Midori style planners.  So today I am going to share how I made two of my favourite's.

October Comfort food

After a bit of a break, the food posts are back and so is my appetite for finding new recipes.  The winter months always encourage me to find new things to cook as I don't mind spending time in the warm of the kitchen.  I have been checking out You tube a lot for these treats and so am sharing a few new places to try and hunt for recipes.

Makers Month: DIY Colour Block Tray with Claireabellemakes

We are finishing up Makers Month in style with a beautiful DIY from our best blogging buddy Claireabellemakes.  She has a pretty and practical tray tutorial, any excuse for afternoon tea!  Take it away Claire. 

Makers month: What's on all our desks

Hello there folks, so we thought we would give you another special edition of one of your favourite nosey posts for Makers Month.  This time around we have another great selection of Makers for you, you can see our last round in May here.  This time we had a nosey at the desks of Mister Peebles, The Fox in the Attic, Oh Squirrel and Frilly Industries. So lets get started shall we?

Makers Month: Top 5 tips for creating custom orders with DaphneRosa

Today's maker is Kate, with her business DaphneRosa she works alot with bespoke orders and creating custom orders specifically to her client's requirements. We thought it would be interesting to hear from her about how she goes about working with them and her tips for dealing with custom clients. 

Makers Month: Our Handmade Fair Adventure

We took a trip to the Handmade Fair on Saturday as you may have seen from our Instagram feed, so we thought we would show you a little more about what we got up to.  We had such a fun day and although it was a little chilly, it did not dampen our crafting spirits and it meant that we got to spend more time inside the tents seeing some of our favourite people!

Makers Month: Rag Rug letters with Ragged Life

Continuing with our Makers Month, we have a you tube treat for you today by the lovely Elsie from Ragged Life. We have known Elsie for a while and have had the pleasure of taking one of her classes, which was very fun indeed.  She made this tutorial to help promote her book, more on that later and so we thought we would share it with you for that Friday feeling!

Makers Month: Let's Meet: One & Eight

We are in Maker's Month now, so alot more about our favourite makers, but as always we had to have our Let's meet feature and so we thought we would talk to fellow Mollie Makes Awards attendee, although she only went and won her Start-up award! yey.  It's the very lovely Susie from One & Eight with her beautiful jewellery.  Which also means most of it is going in the shopping basket to be bought right now, so we best get on with it to give you a chance to grab some bits too!

Makers Month: Why Blogging is Important for your Handmade Business with The New Craft House

Today we are having a lovely chat with a pair of gorgeous babes who, like us, run an awesome craft blog. They have also launched a craft kit business, run lots of workshops and have a passion for all things Liberty. Say hi to the lovely Hannah and Rosie from The New Craft House to tell us why blogging is important for your handmade business.

Makers Month: Make it: Embroidery Jewellery by Messy Brunette

We are in full Makers Month swing now and so we thought we would bring you a Guest Tutorial from the very lovely Maura from The Messy Brunette who we came across on one of our many Instagram trawls.  We just love her crafty projects and she has a mean crochet hook to get through all those crochet projects.  For us, Maura decided to share how to make your own Embroidery Jewellery, which is a lovely simple and easy to do in front of the TV or sat in the garden project.  So over to her ...

Makers Month: Creative Business Q&A with Hello Sunshine

Hello and welcome to September's Makers Month, once again we have some treats for you this month, from Q&A's to tutorials and lots of fun in between.  So keep your eyes peeled for lots of fun coming up.

Today we are sharing our recent chat with the lovely Jo Want about her brand Hello Sunshine about what it's is like to have a handmade business and the things she wishes she had known before she started. Along with being a fab girlboss, she is honestly the sunny-est person we know, so read on to find out why we love her and her furry friends so much!

Fun with Bias Binding

Lets take a look at another tricky sewing technique to master, which is Bias Binding.  Of course once you have mastered it you can use it for so many things and so it really is a good one to get to grips with.

Our Craftacular Adventure

Last Sunday H and I took a trip to Bethnal Green to one of our fave handmade fairs Bust Craftacular. This year we were not only there to catch up with the usual suspects, but we were hosting a papercutting banner workshop at the event too.

Top 5 - Plantlife Make it's

Another top 5 for you today and this time we thought we would share the big trend of flowers and plants.  It would be rude not to hey!  For those who are not green fingered - like myself - there is an array of tutorials to try which give you the bright and colourful without the hayfever or worry that you will kill it at 5 paces - just me?

Top 5 - Inspiring Places

Over the years we have been to some pretty inspiring places together and apart, from the UK to abroad, there is always a museum to be found, architecture to be admired and plenty of cake to be consumed.  We thought we would take you on a little tour of some of our faves, and they just all happen to start with the letter B!

Top 5 - Travel Make it's

It is holiday time for many of us so we thought it was about time for a travel DIY round up!  We have done our fair share of travelling over the years and making the perfect accessories for our journeys can make all the difference.

These Tassel sandals are still so on trend, but you can always swap out the colours for a more neutral colour pallet with tan or black sandals if the neon colourway is not for you.  The thing I love about these is you can add the tassels to your sandals and remove them easily if you want to change it up.

Eye masks are all over the place right now, they are the perfect air travel companion and great for helping you sleep in on those sunny mornings.  Our tutorial is versatile and can be used with all sorts of fabrics.

Loosing my luggage or having my bags confused with someone else's is just my worst nightmare these Luggage tags give me a little more piece of mind that my big pink suitcase won't be picked up by anyone but me at baggage claim.

This Duo Make up bag is my travel best friend, I love that I can keep my skin care essentials in one side and makeup in the other whilst still being able to see exactly what I have in there.  It was so easy to DIY and only a fraction of the price of the designer one that it was based on!

And last but not least is our latest project which is this handy Card Wallet not just for holiday trips this little gem can be used all year round.

What are your travel essentials?  Let us know and maybe we can add to our list of make it's to do next.  Hope you are all enjoying your holidays.

Sammy xxx


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Get to grips with Zips

We all know there are some tricky sewing techniques out there and Zips seems to be a popular one, we have a handy Sewing Tips - Zips guide from last year that should help you out to know which zip to use when.

Live it: Workshop Adventures

We are mad about learning new skills and brushing up on those that may have got a little rusty over the years too. We have been lucky enough to attend more than our fair share of workshops and classes over the last few years, and they are always so much fun. We thought we would take a quick walk down memory lane with you today and remind ourselves what we have learnt and let you know about some fun places too and brush up your skills as well.