DIY Wooden Advent Calendar

Wooden advent calendars are becoming increasingly popular at this time of year. They give you the chance to spoil your loved ones with more than just a tiny chocolate every day as you count down to Christmas. Not only are they a wonderful pre-Christmas gift, they work as a charming festive decoration for your home during the holiday season. Like every popular Christmas item, it can be difficult to get your hands on one. Aldi had a stunning calendar for only £8.99 but they sold out almost instantly & I certainly wouldn't waste £64.95 on Harrods' offering! I love getting a bit crafty at Christmastime as I think that handmade personalised gifts are the best. I decided to try my hand at making a wooden advent calendar for Chloe. Last year she had a Lego advent calendar which came with a new Lego toy every day. This year's Lego calendar didn't look like much fun so I figured I could fill a wooden calendar with toys that she'll really love instead. I think that the finished calendar looks absolutely gorgeous & just as good as something you'd buy in the shops! Here's how I made my wooden advent calendar...





Makers of lockers for schools, Action Storage sent me one of these blank wooden advent calendars from Hobbycraft & a £20 gift voucher to buy some decorative supplies. I decided early on that I wanted to do a white house with gold & silver accents. I went to Hobbycraft in Leeds & although they had plenty of the calendars still in stock, the decorations were in short supply. They had hardly any numbers available for the advent doors so the shop assistants suggested I just drew them on instead. I picked up some gold & silver Posca pens for this purpose but I found these gold stickers in Chloe's craft box at home which were the perfect size. As I only had gold numbers I decided not to include any silver elements to make the overall design more cohesive.





I started my advent calendar design by covering the entire house with white acrylic paint. I used a really cheap paintbrush which made the paint look quite streaky so I had to do two coats for full coverage. It's important to leave the doors open after painting them otherwise they can get stuck! Next I used the gold Posca pen to colour in the doorknobs. I really like these pens, the colour looks great & they dry very quickly.




Next I decided to work on the roof. I had wanted to cover it with glitter but the tubs of glitter in Hobbycraft cost about a tenner so I just used some gold glitter washi tape that I bought on Amazon instead. The lines between the tape give the effect of roof tiles so I was happy with how this turned out. I also stuck a little gold bow in the centre because I thought it looked cute!






The doors are the most important part of the calendar so I wanted them to look really good. I like simplicity in design & because there are so many elements to this calendar I didn't want to overcrowd the doors. I decided to use the glitter stars, the glitter heart buttons & the gold bows. I didn't want to bother with a hot glue gun so I used glue dots to affix all the different elements to the calendar. I then stuck on all the number stickers underneath. You get a bigger door for the 25th so I stuck on three larger stars to make it look really special.






I finished off the top section with some more stars & a couple of heart buttons to hide the wood joints. I also put Chloe's name on top of the 25th door to further personalise the design. I'm so pleased with how it turned out! It looks super cute & very Christmassy. I love anything gold & sparkly so I think the colour scheme is perfect. Chloe absolutely loves her advent calendar & she can't wait to open the first door tomorrow!





As for the contents of the calendar it's totally up to you! This calendar would be a fantastic present for any of your friends or family. You could do a beauty one with things like eyeshadow pans, lip balm & nail polish. Chloe's obsessed with things like Monster High Minis & Shopkins which both fit perfectly inside the doors. I even managed to cram in a Tsum Tsum for Christmas Day! You don't have to spends loads of money either. In some of the doors I've placed chocolate coins & mini chocolate bars but she's most excited about the toys! I really enjoyed making this calendar & it's something that I'll look forward to bringing out every Christmas with new surprises tucked behind each door.

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DIY Christmas Beauty Hamper With Boots

If you're someone who likes to get their Christmas shopping out of the way early then I'm sure you've already started buying a few bits & pieces. This year instead of wrapping up all your presents individually, why not create a bespoke gift hamper? Personalised presents are always the way to go when you want to give something really unique. Of course, you can buy ready-made hampers but who wants to receive something boring like shortbread & preserves?! Hampers can be tailor-made to suit anyone & they're even more special when you make them yourself. As I'm a beauty lover, Boots challenged me to create a homemade Christmas beauty hamper. I'd never attempted to make a hamper before but it was actually really easy & fun to do. Boots kindly sent me a wonderful selection of beauty products & most of the supplies to decorate the hamper. I'm so pleased with how it came out & it's a huge relief to know that I've already got one Christmas present ready to go! Here's how I made my Christmas beauty hamper...



You will need:
- Cardboard box
- Festive wrapping paper
- Shredded paper
- Sheet of tissue paper
- Cellophane
- Ribbon
- Gift tag
- Bow
- Scissors
- Double sided tape




As I had been sent quite a few gold decorations I decided to do a black & gold themed box. I spotted this luxury gift wrap pack in Boots & was instantly drawn to the black & gold paper. With their 3 for 2 offer on Christmas gifts, Boots is a great place to buy your wrapping paper. I bought a Lego Friends advent calendar & a Barbie doll for Chloe which meant that I got the gift wrap set for free! I used this to cover my cardboard box. This was probably the hardest part for me as I'm not the best at wrapping presents, let alone an open box. I used the double sided tape to keep the folds as neat as possible & it turned out surprisingly well!




The next step is to pad out your box with paper to act as a base for your products. If you like the look of the shredded paper you can just leave it there but as I wanted to stick with the black & gold colour scheme I placed some decorative gold tissue paper over the top. You need to push the shredded paper underneath towards the back of your box to create a slope. This helps with the positioning of your products & allows you create an attractive visual display within the hamper.




Then you just need to pop all of your gifts inside the hamper. Place any heavy items towards the front with lighter products towards the back. If you're making multiple hampers for different people you can open up gift sets & use the individual products in each hamper. Play around with the items until you get the perfect arrangement. Fill in any gaps with smaller items like lipstick or chocolates. Use double sided tape to stick them to the tissue paper & prevent them from moving about in the box.




Once you are happy with the arrangement of your products you need to wrap your hamper in cellophane. Tape the cellophane to the bottom of the box, wrap it around as tightly as possible, cut off the excess & secure it with double sided tape. Then you just need to trim the sides before folding & sticking them like regular wrapping paper.



To make your hamper look even prettier you can add a few final decorative details. I slipped the gift tag onto the gold ribbon & wrapped it around the box. Then I finished it off with a large gold bow at the front. That's all there is to it!




Here is my finished DIY Christmas beauty hamper! I think it looks absolutely smashing & I really enjoyed putting it together. It was much easier to do than I had imagined & took hardly any time at all. This would be an ideal luxury gift for a friend or family member & it looks so much more impressive than regular gift wrap. It would be lovely to do this for other special occasions too & you can really spoil your loved ones with all of their favourite products. Now that I know how simple they are to make I'll definitely be putting my hamper curating skills to good use this Christmas!



If you fancy making your own beauty hamper, Boots have put together this very helpful video tutorial with step by step instructions. Don't forget to check out the Boots Beauty Hamper page for more Christmas gift inspiration & useful tips on wrapping presents. Let me know if you're planning on making a bespoke gift hamper this year!

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DIY Candle Jars

The other week I picked up a couple of White Fig & Patchouli candles from Sainsburys during my weekly shop. When I buy candles I normally go for Yankee ones as they have the best scents in my opinion but I just couldn't resist these cute little jars. Especially when I saw that they were reduced to £3.33 each! As soon as I saw them I knew they'd be perfect for storing my cotton pads & buds. I'm not too fussed about skincare storage as I like to have the things I use regularly out for me to get to easily. I'm determined to keep up my skincare routine as its working really well so having everything out makes me much more inclined to actually use them. But cotton pads always come in those flimsy plastic wrappers that don't really have a home other than being stuffed into a drawer out of sight. So I wanted somewhere proper to store them on top of my bedside table. Turning an old candle into some new storage is really simple, I wish I'd tried doing it sooner.

Once your candle has completely burned out pop it into your fridge or freezer for a few hours. This will make the wax a lot harder than when it normally sets. Then you can use a butter knife to pop the wax out easily. After you've gotten all of the wax out, the next job is to remove the metal bit that holds the wick. Boil your kettle and fill each jar with hot water. Wait a few minutes for the boiled water to melt the glue holding the metal bit down. Pour the water out through a sieve to catch any little bits of leftover wax and use some kitchen roll to lift out the metal bit. Then you just need to give it a good wash out with some soap & a sponge. If theres any sticky bits left on the jar you can get rid of them with a baby wipe. Fill the jars up with your cotton pads & buds. Et voilà! You have your very own cute recycled storage, perfect for prettying up your dressing table.

You could use this kind of storage for so many different things depending on the size & shape of your candle pot. As well as cotton pads & buds you could put things such as jewellery, hair clips/bands, sweets, makeup brushes, eye/lip liners or pens inside. The possibilities are endless!

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