Christmas Countdown - December

So once again I've been joining in with Allie's Christmas Through The Year - the final installment!

Want to see my roundup of what I've made?

1 - 6: Teacup candles

7-8: 2 sets of wax tarts for burners

9: Cross stitch cushion

10: Table runner

11: Wine Bottle Cosy

12-13: Wash bags

14-19: Spa Kits

Which actually adds up to more than 19 presents, because the spa kit itself is a bag and contains:

20-25: Spa slippers

26-31: Eye mask

32-37: Crocheted wash cloth

38-47: Homemade soap

48-57: Home made bath bombs

And there's more!!  In the photographless category we have:

58-63: Glass candles

64-70: Birdfeeders

Not a bad effort!  I've still got some work to do, but I've still got a few days (including two full days where I don't have to go to work).  My list of things to make is:

1. Finish off the 6 glass candles I've made (just topping up around the wick)

2. Sew up the glasses cases

3. Crochet 3 x scrubbies

4: Crochet 1 x washcloth

5: Crochet 1 x keyboard duster

6: Crochet Yoda ami

7: Crochet ami pig

8: Finish the bird feeders

9: Assemble cookies in jars

10: Assemble the reinbeer

Numbers 6 and 7 can be left off if I run out of time, so I'm feeling pretty confident that Christmas will be ready!

Spa Kits - complete!

I have finally finished the spa kits!  Well, OK, I've got one washcloth to crochet as apparently I can't count, but they're pretty much done.


I never showed you the eye masks, so here they are:

After I'd finished sewing them, I put one on and Mr CA said "the nose cut out needs to be bigger".  I gave him an "annoyed look" and ignored him.  Maybe I've just got a big nose...

They have elastic at the back to account for a range of small - large heads.  Not that I'm saying my family and friends have large heads, but you never know.


So, want to see the completed Spa kits?

Here they are, all full of goodies.  Want to see what's in each one?

The slippers and eye mask are from this tutorial, the bag itself is from a pattern in Making magazine.  The crochet washcloths are are different from various patterns in one of my books.  There's also a couple of homemade soaps and bath bombs.  The kit above also includes a bought pig-shaped shower gel.  This kit is for my piggy-loving mum.

Would you be excited to find this under your Christmas tree?

Each kit is the same but different.  Some have plastic bath toys in them - for the mother's of small children. 

The slippers and eye masks are all made from the DS quilt line that was sold in the US in Joann's.  Each has a different colour combination.  I wish I'd had enough to make the bags the same, but it was not to be.

Most of the washcloths are made from cotton or acrylic yarn, I made them months and months ago, at the start of the year I think.

The soap and bath bombs are all from a couple of kits, but there are recipes galore on the internet if you want to try it.  The soap is just melt-and-pour and was easy, the bath bombs were NOT easy!


Phew, it feels like a weight of my mind now that is done. I'm just having a break after finishing my last batch of candles and candle tarts and before making my gift tags.  Not long to go now but most items are crossed off my list - either because they're done or because I've decided not to make them!  Ah well, at least I'll have some ideas for next year!

Spa Kit - kitchen crafts

Well how frustrating. First of all, when I first came to write this post I'd put a load of photos into posts, ready to write them up, then I sat down to write them up and Blogger had stolen them! Fine then Blogger, I'll just put them all back in, shall I? Don't you worry, I've got all the time in the world, unlike you, sitting around being a computer programme.  Then, last night, in the midst of Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway week giveaway entering, Blogger decided to disable my account and remove my blog!  I finally got it back, after several hours of panic and even a little dispair.  I'd scheduled this post to post Wednesday morning, Wednesday afternoon I come into the blog to have a look at something and guess what, it's only posted half my post, removing all my photos and just stopping halfway through!  Bloody great.  Doesn't Blogger know I'm meant to be at work right now, and, worse than that, I'm meant to be going out for a fag break?  Grrr.

I've done.

So, what was this post about? Ah, kitchen crafts. No, not cooking, I don't do cooking. I do do baking but I don't really blog about that. This is kitchen crafts of the beauty variety. I fancied trying something new (don't I always?!) and these seemed ideal additions to my spa kits (which are so close to being done!).

First up, handmade bath bombs.

In this picture they're just in food bags, I didn't dare take them out and take photos of them naked as I had a few issues with them.  As you can see, the blue ones are crumbling.  I found this really hard.  The recipe said to use the tiniest weeniest bit of water, but I couldn't get them to stick together and I think I ended up adding too much water. 

I wrapped them in a bit of cellaphane and tied them with a ribbon type thing I had.  Not the best packaging in the world, but to be honest, by this point I was sick of the damn things!  I don't think this is a craft I'll be repeating.

Next up was soap.  Not real cold-press soap, just melt and pour stuff.

Here they are.  Three colours and three different scents.  Some have flowers in them but they mainly ended up on the base.  The recipe said to leave the soap for 10 minutes to set, then stir in the flowers. Well they were set after 10minutes, completely set!  I must have done something wrong.

It was quite fun doing this, and I might do it again if people ask for them, but it was very quick and easy.  This could easily be done by children.  Or me. 

I just wrapped them in cellophane and added a bit of washi tape, you see, I'd overlooked something important.  I'm allergic to soap.  Yes, that's right, I'm allergic to soap so I decided to make... soap.  There's a word for people like me.  Yes, that's the one.  Anyway, by the time I got to this point, my hands were falling off in large chunks (bit overdramatic but you get the picture) and I didn't really want to touch them any more!

I just accidentally closed the window (on the computer, not in the office) and lost half of this post.  I'm about ready to jump out of that damn window, I tell you.  And to add to that, I've got a papercut that's as pathetic as they come but it hurts like hell.  Wow, such moaning and whining and whinging!  I've finished now, happy face is back, it's fag and coffee time and I've just had an email saying it's someone's birthday and there's cakes in the kitchen... Yippee!!!