DIY Sock Snowmen | Blogmass 2016

Hello, Lovely People !

Christmas is a great time to get crafty with your kids or younger members of your family! But with so many different things to make that are too long or difficult to keep there attention, it can be hard to keep those little bundles of energy entertained throughout the holidays. Fortunately, my girlfriends mum is fabulously creative and showed me how to make these adorable sock snowmen with only an old sock, a bag of rice and a couple of buttons ! So here we go :

What You'll Need : 

• One Plain White Sock 
• One Patterned Sock
• 6 Little Buttons ( all colors, shaped and sizes are great ! ) 
• One Piece of Christmas Ribbon 
• A Lil bit of string 
• One Bag of Rice 

Step One : Cut the plain white sock along the ankle line 

Step Two : Fill almost to the top with rice and tie a piece of string around the top of the sock and double / triple knot it to make sure it's completely secure and no rice can escape ! 

Step Three : Tie a second piece of string around two thirds of the way up your snowman's body to separate his head from his body and wrap the string around a few times before double knotting again so that it stays put. 

Step Four : Fold the patterned sock up a couple times to form a little hat that you can put on your snowman's head 

Step Five : Glue on two button eyes, a nose and three little buttons down his tummy 

Step Six : Finally tie a lil bit of ribbon around your snowman's neck to make his scarfs annnddd... VOILA ! Your own personal snowman buddy ! 

Why not make a whole family of snowmen friends ? It's a great activity that costs barely anything to make and is brilliant fun for the whole family ! If you give them a try then I'd love to hear how it went in the comments ! 

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smile :) 

Lots of love,  Marianne xxx

DIY Star Garland | Blogmass 2016

Hello, Lovely People !

Handmade gifts are always well received and I have come up with a DIY that looks amazing , would be a great gift and is super easy to make ! So it's win-win all round ! Why not make one for the whole family ? So today I thought I'd share with you, how to make a DIY star garland. I hope you enjoy it !

What You Need :

• Air Drying Clay 
• A Gold Permanent Marker 
• Rolling Pin 
• Star Shaped Cookie Cutter 
• String 
• Pencil

Step One : Roll out your clay so it's about 0/5 cm thick

Step Two : Cut out four stars with your cookie cutter and poke a whole through two opposite points with a pencil.

Step Three : Leave the clay to dry for twenty-four hours ( Be patient, it's worth it ! )

Step Four : On each star write one letter with your gold pen on each star "N", "O", "E", "L" . If you're worried about slipping up then you can always lightly draw them on with a pencil first !

Step Five : Thread the string through each hole and tie a loop at either end.

TAADAAAAA ! It's really as easy as that ! All that's left to do is wrap it up in some pretty paper to give as a gift or even hang it over your own fire place as part of the Christmas decorations !

What's your favorite thing to make at Christmas time ? If you give this adorable little star garland a go, then I'd love to hear how it goes in the comments !

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley :) 

Lots of love, Marianne xxx

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I can almost people sighing and saying "Marianne ... honey .. you're confused... we've not even had Halloween yet ! " . I know , I know ! If you're one of those people that really celebrates Halloween and has no interest in Christmas until December 1st then well ... you're a normal person and well done hehe :) Feel free to come back to this post when you're ready for Christmas and I hope you have a great Halloween ! However for those of you that are like me .. OH MY GOSH IT'S CHRISTMAS !!!! ... nearly :)

I absolutely love Christmas because everybody becomes so much brighter and stranger wish you joy and it's finally socially acceptable to sing in shops ! I don't know about you, but I absolutely thrive in an environment filled with enthusiasm which is why I feel my best at Christmas and therefore love celebrating it . That's why today I was delighted when my mum offered to take me and my best friend to the garden centre to see what Christmas decorations and gifts they had out ! I imagine we got a few funny looks as I skipped around squeaking with excitement in my best pair of cat ears whilst my best friend ( Looking the exact opposite of me in her Eminem top ) tried to stop me running into everyone ! So as this put me in such a positive mood I wanted to share that with you and show you a few bits and bobs that I'd found ! These are all from Melbicks Garden Centre and if you want to feel Christmassy, it's definitely the place to go :)

 

I absolutely loved the delicate, vintage effect of this wreath shaped decoration :)

I could definitely see this in some form of fairytale themed tree !

This tealight holder was so lovely I couldn't help thinking what a beautiful gift it would be !

Guys .... IT LIGHTS UP !!! :D

 

The moment I saw this wrapping paper all I could think was how similar it was to the Cath Kidston range and what a great, cheaper alternative it would be to their cute designs <3

This candle smelt amazing ! It was sweet and vanillary with a hint of cinnamon ( A scent which is often over powering and that puts some people off but the balance was just right ) it smelt, to me, like Christmas in my mums house with all her delicious home baking :)

These were just a few of my favourites that I just had to share with you because of what a great mood this lil bit of Christmas spirit put me in ! I'd love to hear what you love about Christmas and when do you start getting into the festive spirit, are you an early bird like me or do you prefer to save the excitement until other celebrations like Halloween and Bonfire night are over ?

If you're not quite ready for Christmas yet then don't worry ! I'm not making Christmas a regular feature on Don'tBurstMyBubbleXx just yet ! I've still got a really cute Bonfire night recipe coming up which I'm really excited to share with you :)

Stay Strong <3 Stay Smiley :)

Lots of love, Marianne xxx

Instead of the normal hopeful notes I left some free smiles in a lift for  people to take with them :)