Flower power - simple folded paper flower tutorial

It's our turn to host the New Year's Eve party so it was thinking caps on for simple, but effective decorations. With the conservatory still adorned with tissue paper flowers and snowflakes left over from Babypuddleduck's Frozen Party, that was my starting point. I made some smaller tissue paper flowers and attached them to dowels so I could place them in vases, but I wanted to mix it up a bit so created some folded paper flowers. And they're so simple as this tutorial shows but please ask if I've missed anything or it's unclear. 

Folded Paper Flower Tutorial

Leave a gap between the fold in the centre of your strip and the start of the double-sided tape as you will need to thread the wire through when the flower is fully formed. 

  

By now all four edges should be attached to make the fully formed flower. 

Crafty Christmas

This Christmas we were once again invited to spend the special day with my Aunty and Uncle, my cousin, her daughter and my mom and dad.

Christmas is a very special time for us with many traditions that have established themselves into our day, such as the youngest member of the family placing baby Jesus in the nativity officially signalling the start of the festivities, a glass of champagne being handed to guests the minute they walk over the threshold and Santa's jingle bells making a second appearance after lunch. 

Washi tape bows

It's these little routines that make for such a special day and hopefully will make my children look back with the same warmth and fondness that I now do about my childhood Christmasses.

But the pressure to make Christmas special can be hard to manage. It's important to take a step away from it all and remember to enjoy the preparation, planning and the day itself. Whilst I have been lucky enough to never have had to cook a Christmas dinner yet, I do like to be involved in making the day go with a swing.

Monogram chair back decorations, created using Cricut Explore

This year I very much enjoyed the planning and preparation which involved making sweet treats such as fudge, marshmallow, gingerbread (Biscuiteers book of Biscuits recipe), Nigella's honeycomb, and not forgetting a dairy-free chocolate sponge with 'buttercream' filling (c/o Jamie Oliver) as well as the table settings and of course the wrapping. Gift tags, names and initials were designed and cut on the Cricut Explore with glitter card, and I made washi tape bows as well (via tutorial by NoBiggie who has a Washi Tape Christmas book - which is definitely on my wish list for next year!). 

They were all extremely simple, with time being a critical factor i.e. I never have enough of it but in my mind, very effective. Let me know what you think...

Cricut vinyl name monikers atop simple Christmas crackers 

Homemade marshmallow, chocolate fudge and honeycomb