Felt Reindeer Christmas Tree Decoration

My last post of 2024 - and it's my yearly felt Christmas tree decoration!  I've been making these since 2018 - the year we got married and moved into a new house.

My daughter requested that I make a reindeer, so her wish was my command!  She did actually want it to be pink, but I was concerned it would end up looking like a pig with antlers!  So, I compromised with pink glittery antlers - she was happy!

The back is embroidered with the year, as always:

And here is the collection altogether!

Do you have a favourite?!

Trolls Party Decorations

My daughter had a Trolls themed party for her birthday, and a I made a few bits.  Not a lot, but a little something!

I bought some fuchsia pink tulle and tied it around a hairband to make this Poppy hair hairband for my daughter to wear.  As this was back in the Spring, I can't remember which tutorial I used for this - but it might have been this one.  I used it for the hair part, but I did my own thing for the flower headband.  I made that with a green ribbon for the band, and blue and green card for the flowers.  I cut the flower shapes out with my Cricut Joy and stuck them together and onto the green ribbon.

I also made table decorations...

I created a cone out of pink card, then wrapped strips of the pink tulle over it, tying at the top.  I used the same green ribbon and green and blue flower shapes as mentioned previously - wrapped around the bottom of the cone and tulle.

I made three of these...

I placed these down a long table where the children sat to eat.

You can see a couple of them above.

It wasn't a lot, as time was not in abundance!  However, it was nice to add a few personal touches and I found Poppy hair decorations were fun things to make!  I love the bright zingy colours and was pleased with how they came out!

Birthday Cakes

I'm coming to you again on the same day - as I don't have enough days left until the end of the year to report on this year's making on separate days!  (I could do them in January, but I have put this unnecessary rule on myself!)

Here I am now with the birthday cakes I made my children back in the Spring/Summer.

I love this cake I made for my daughter!  I got the idea from a friend, and it is SO simple and easy and yet looks really effective.  I just made a chocolate cake, covered in chocolate buttercream, then stuck chocolate fingers around the outside and smarties on the top.  Tied a ribbon around and ta-da!  The topper is made out of gold card with my Cricut machine, stuck to a wooden stick.  I make the same ones each year, I just change the numbers!

This cake for my son was more tricky!  I made a Victoria sandwich which I covered in red ready-to-roll royal icing.  I am not much of a cake decorator, and found it quite tricky to get the icing neatly over the cake - that black ribbon is really only there to hide the imperfect sides!  I used a black edible pen to draw the web, stood one of his Spidey characters on top, added my usual cake topper made with the Cricut, and the cake was done!

Overall, not a bad job with both cakes.  As I mentioned, I'm not really a great baker and cake decorator - but my Mum always used to make my birthday cakes and I've always said I'd do the same for my children.  I know these days people buy these wonderful professional cakes that look incredible, but I hope my kids will still like my simple attempts as they get older!

Crochet Cupcake

Hi!  I'm trying to update my much-neglected blog before the end of the year, with the very few things I've made!

Here is a crochet cupcake I hooked up for my daughter's birthday, back in May.

It's very cute, and I'd like to make more.  A crochet donut or two to go with it would be fun as well!

The pattern I used was a free one from Elisa's Crochet - you can find it here.  I just changed the cherry a bit as it wasn't coming out quite right.  I can't remember quite what I did differently - I thought I'd written it down, but I didn't.  I'll have to work it out again if I make another one!

I plan to be back again soon, with a couple of the other things I made this year.  Bye for now!