Our Favourite Posts 2014

2014 is almost over and what a year we have had here on Live it. Love it. Make it. We have more of you reading our blog than ever before and it makes us feel truly humbled that so many of you are enjoying what we share here. We would not get the opportunities that we have had this year if it wasn't for all your support.  Before 2015 gets into full swing we wanted to go back and remember some of our personal favourite posts from the year.

Jan - Understanding a Dress Pattern 
The Series of posts I (Sammy) wrote about how to navigate your way through a paper pattern has been one of our most viewed series this year and one of my favourite to write. Are there any other things like this that you struggle with? Let us know and we might be able to turn it into a post for you.

Feb - Make it: Ginger Biscuits
These biscuits are AMAZING and so simple to make, they had to make it into a top list somewhere. They would make a great Christmas Party something to take too, although be warned, they are rock hard after a day due to the golden syrup in them.  Bake them in the morning and they will be great for that evening.

March - Our Liberty Adventure
In March we got to visit Liberty thanks to the lovely girls of the New Craft Society to hear about Liberty fabrics and have afternoon tea. It was a lovely experience and one we will never forget.

April - Our Tea and Crafting Adventure
We loved going to see the Tea and Crafting workshop space for the first time and have been again since.  In April it was to learn machine embroidery though and it was great fun, we instantly became hooked!

May - Blogtacular
We headed to London for our first blog convention.  We had such an amazing time, got to meet some of our blogging idols and made some lovely new friends.  Despite H and I both being rather poorly all weekend.

June - Our 500th post and OMG we are in Mollie Makes
Well, we couldn't do this without mentioning one of our biggest moments this year.  We got a project featured in Mollie Makes! And an interview too, it's still exciting and we loved being part of it, fingers crossed we can do it again soon.

July - Brush Up Those Blogging Skills
For Me (Sammy) July was all about learning, I shared my favourite Blogging e-courses that I have taken in the past and learnt some new crafts on my road trip to Austria.

August - How we Wear New Look Special
We loved working with New Look and this is one of my (H) favourite How we Wear posts of the year, we look so glam!  Plus we got to work with one of our favourite brands - what's not to like!

September - Make it: Cable Cosy
By far our most popular tutorial of this year and my (Sammy) favourite has to be the cable cosy we made in Makers month. With the help of Dashwood Studio's gorgeous fabric and a need to store all my cables in one place this cosy is my favourite post of the year.

October - Make it: Spooky Spiders and Vampire Bats
Who doesn't love some spiders and bats for Halloween! Such a simple make to decorate the place or just be a fun make with the kids for the time of year.

November - Sew Crafty Online is Now Open
On a personal note (Sammy) opening my shop to a whole new customer base made my November, heck it made my year!  After working on it for so long it was such a relief to have the site go live. We have had such a lovely response and lots of lovely sales.

December - Gift Wrapped
The best part of Christmas for us is the giving of presents and what better way for us to enjoy it, than some amazing gift wrapping.  The gift is just part of it!

Wow! what a year it has been! What have been your highlights from 2014? and what are you looking forward to next year?

H and Sammy xxx


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Gift Wrapped 3 ways

One of my very favourite things about buying gifts, especially at this time of year is getting to wrap them up. I love paper-crafts and for me wrapping presents is just an extension of my favourite hobby. You may remember last year we even held a gift wrapping workshop! Getting to play with embellishments and glitter is just the best part of the gift buying process for me. It can make even the most mundane gift voucher that little bit more exciting to open. 

Most of my family have asked either for money or vouchers this year so for a bit of fun I have taken some kraft gift boxes and decorated them up to put their vouchers and money in, to make them a little more exciting than just a card. I got a little carried away and whilst I was at it I thought I would make some extras to share with you all.  I went with three themes to help inspire you to have a go at some different wrapping ideas this Christmas. 

All That Glitters

Use mini Christmas decorations to embellish, I also love wooden decals often sold for card making and sequins sprinkled like glitter. Copper and rose gold make a luxury statement, I used copper flakes on double sided tape and copper tape. Use even the smallest scraps of expensive gift wrap to make tags or add strips to basic papers to give a splash of glitz. 

Merry and Bright
Why not make your gifts stand out from the crowd by using a neon theme. By using simple tools like paper punches, fine liner pens and washi tape you can create simple but stunning wrapping that will have your family and friends reaching for the sunglasses. Hand write little phrases onto scraps of card or stickers to create funky gift tags. These star ones were 'sale' price tags from Ryman.

Trendy Traditional
A classic colour combination with a twist, red and white paired with aqua blue freshens up the traditional colour pallet. Use playful motifs like reindeer, penguins and gingerbread men to add a touch cuteness for kiddos or adults. Doilies look lovely as a classic pairing with good old bakers twine. Use fun fabrics to wrap gifts, it doubles as part of the gift if you are giving them to a crafty friend.

Do you like wrapping gifts or are you a last minute bung it in a bag kind of person? I have a last minute stash of tissue paper and gift bags at the ready just in case too! Which theme do you like the best? Which wrapping idea's will you be using this year?

Sammy xxx

This post is not sponsored.
Supplies from Hobbycraft, Marks and Spencer, Card Department, Sew Crafty, Amazon, Papercutz, Sainsbury's, Studio Calico, Ryman, Paperchase and Fox and Star.


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Festive Gift Wrapping Fun

We had such a brilliant time at our gift wrap workshop last week at Norden Farm, wrapping, decorating and eating the Frosted Fancies that H had bought along, Yum! So we thought we would share some photos of the fun we had.

Sammy bought along - a frankly obscene amount of Christmassy goodies to play with and help give our gifts some Live it. Love it. Make it. flair. Everything from bells to sprigs of holly were on offer...

...and a good wrapping session isn't complete without washi tape...

...oh and frosted fancies.

Sammy loves these fold out trees she picked up from Hobbycraft.

Sammy thinks this cracker style wrap was her favourite.

Nothing says Christmas like gold, gold and more gold - this was H's favourite.

These foam stickers, also from Hobbycraft made a great alternative to gift tags to spell out the recipients names on their parcels.

Sammy loves this candy cane wrapping paper from Sainsbury's.

This red snowflake trim from Wilko's is a great touch to jazz up a gift.

All our ladies said they had a lovely time, and so did we. This class, as most of ours do, had a really laid back chatty feel to it. One of the girls said that it was so nice to come along and have some time to herself, and learn something new . That is what our classes are all about, so it was great to have such wonderful feedback.

I hope this has inspired you to have fun with your gift wrapping this year, I know it has given us some new ideas to try.

Sammy & H, xxx

Love it: Wonderful Gift Wrap

Oh my goodness, I do love a bit of gift wrapping, it is seriously my favourite part of giving and receiving gifts! I literally can't wait for our Gift Wrap workshop next month. I have a whole Pinterest Board dedicated to my love of wrapping. I am always collecting up bits and bobs to use to wrap gifts - stickers, sparkles, ribbons you name it. 

Are you a gift wrap addict like me, or do you hate having to wrap all your Christmas presents? 

Sammy xxx

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Workshop: Gift Wrap

Our last Craft Club at Norden Farm is going to be one of Sammy's favourites, Gift wrapping!

You can book up now on the Norden Farm website. 

Thursday 12^th December

7pm – 8.30pm

Make it: Creative Gift Wrapping - £15.00

All Materials Supplied.

Come and learn some creative wrapping techniques for this year’s present list.  You can bring up to 3 gifts to wrap and we will show you some simple and effective ways to make your presents look really special. 

Book Here

Come 'Make it' with us.

H & Sammy

Make it: Workshop dates for you diary

The 'Button Jewellery' workshop was our last craft club at Norden Farm for a while, but don't worry, we are back in September with four sessions of crafty goodness taking you all the way to Christmas.

Make it: Button fun

1.Button phone case  /  2.Button Rings  /  3.Button Christmas card  /  4.Button Hair pins   /  5.Button Magnets  /  6.Button Gift wrap  /  7.Button Art  /  8.Button Monogram

Last night we held our Button Jewellery workshop at Norden Farm, as usual we had a fab night with all attendees and made loads of pretty things with buttons. 

I have a massive collection of buttons, I have been collecting them since I was a child, We were on holiday in York visiting family and Mum took me to Duttons for Buttons. I was enchanted! 

Ever-since I have bought and collected buttons from all over the place, I recently found in my parents loft a hat that was covered in an array of novelty ones from when I was little, it got me to thinking what else can we D.I.Y. with buttons? Here are some of my favourite ideas that I have found around the web.

So I hope you have fun this weekend raiding your button collections to have a go at making some of these.

Sammy xxx