Hello my lovelies and Happy Christmas! It’s been an absolute madhouse for me over the last month, and to be completely honest I’ve not had a chance to write up any new posts for the festive period; one of those reasons is because my older sister is about to have her third baby!
So, today, instead of a new Christmas post today, I’m going to go through my favourite posts I’ve written for the festive season over the past few years! And with that, let’s get into it!
Let’s face it, with everything that’s been going on in 2020, none of us has been going out, and now is the perfect time to snuggle down and have a movie marathon with all our favourite Christmas movies.
Who doesn’t love looking at other people’s Christmas decorations?! Each year we decorate my house like mad, and it essentially ends up looking like a Santa’s grotto haha, this year we’ve added loads of lights outside!
I haven’t seen many naughty Christmas elves this year but this post still makes me smile, especially the one above with the nutella and peanut butter! It’s the little things at this time of year that add up to making this time period great.
Ok, so I only put this post up a few weeks ago, but I love these simple easy diy Santa gnomes! I’ve now decorated one of our Christmas trees with them and they are a great way to make your tree a little different this year instead of just the usual baubles.
I can’t believe I wrote this post about 2 years ago! It really is crazy how time flies. And even though this post is from 2018, I still really love the nail art I did here!
So, those are my favourite Christmas posts from the past few years! I absolutely love this time of year, the decorations, lights, food, giving gifts and the time we get to spend with family! This year will obviously be a little different in terms of being able to spend lots of time with all our families, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun and be grateful for what we have got!
I hope you have a great Christmas everyone! And a very happy new year!
Hello my lovelies! We’re finally in December, and that means the countdown to Christmas has begun! Since we’re in the lead up to Christmas, everyone is decorating their homes (if they haven’t already – to tell you the truth my house has been decorated since the 1st November!) I’ve been doing some festive diy’s!
One decoration I’ve seen, not for Christmas, but for all year round, was of some cute gnome pine cones. And it got me thinking that if I added a few details I could make these myself, and make them into some very cute Santas! And I managed to make about 25 of them for about £15 in total for all of the supplies!
So, here’s what you’re going to need:
Red and White Felt (and any other colours you want for your santa hats!)
Pine cones
Pom poms
White yarn
Wooden beads
Hot glue gun (plus some hot glue sticks)
Scissors
Pencil
I found everything I needed from Ebay and Amazon (if you buy from Amazon, make sure you’re on their Amazon Smile website as they donate money to a charity of your choice each time you buy something!) and everything arrived within a few days.
Right. Let’s get into it!
Step 1: Pick out your pine cone, I chose frosted pine cones for an even more Christmassy feel, then grab some felt in the colour you want for your santa hats. Using a pencil and some yarn, decide how tall you want your hat, and then hold down the end of the yarn at the corner of the felt and draw a 1/4 of a circle.
Step 2: Cut out your 1/4 of a circle and put away any excess for making more hats later. Or you can make a bulk batch of hats in one go, the choice is yours! Now plug in your glue gun, making sure you’ve got it on a safe surface as some glue can come out of the tip as it heats up so be careful!
Step 3: Once your glue gun is hot and ready to go, put a line of glue down one of the straight edges. Next up is rolling up the felt into its cone shape! I recommend starting at the tip of the hat (the corner of the felt will be the tip) and working your way down, be careful with this part and take your time so you don’t burn yourself!
Step 4: Once you’ve got yourself a cone hat, put it on top of your pine cone and double check it’s sitting how you want it to, and if you need to, give it a trim like I did. Now that the main part of your Santa hat is ready, it’s time to add that white trim! Grab your white felt and cut a strip of it, long enough to go round the bottom of the hat, I don’t measure this part and just trim off any extra but you can definitely measure it if you want to! The strip I use is usually around 1.5-2cm thick.
Step 5: It’s time to attach the white trim to the hat, so grab your glue gun and put a line of hot glue over the white felt and carefully wrap it round the bottom of your hat. I definitely glued my fingers a few times during this part so be wary if you’ve never got hot glue on yourself before!
Step 6: Pick your desired pom pom! I went for the classic white pom pom but in the pack I got from Ebay I got a mix of the red, green and white. Use a small blob of hot glue and add it onto the end of your hat! If your hat is especially pointy, you can snip the tip off so you have more space to add the pom pom to. Now add a ring of glue on the inside of your hat (this part reminds me of the Matilda movie) and stick it onto your pine cone so it’s secure!
Step 7: Now it’s time to make Santa’s beard! Grab your white yarn and wrap it around your fingers until you’ve got a decent bundle, remember not to do it too tight, you still want to be able to move your fingers! Then chop the end of the yarn from the bundle, leaving about 15-20cm of yarn unwrapped.
Step 8: Here comes the slightly fiddly part. With the end of the yarn, thread it between your fingers a few times, so you create a bowtie shape. Then you’re going to thread the end of the yarn through on of the sides of your bowtie, leaving a loop. Here you can switch to just two fingers wrapped in the yarn.
Step 9: With your yarn now threaded through one of your bowtie sides, you want to thread the end of your yarn through the loop you’ve just made and pull it fairly tight. Now repeat the process once again and cut off any extra yarn.
Step 10: Time to make Santa’s bowtie into a beard! Take the bundle off your fingers, and cut along the looped edges (a bit like what you do when you make pom poms) on either side, and you’ll have a funny looking bow.
Step 11: Using your hands you can shape the bow into a beard shape. Once you’ve got it to a shape you’re happy with, add a bit of hot glue to the back, where you wrapped the yarn to bind it together, and stick it onto your pine cone. You may need to hold it in place for a few seconds to make sure it sits how you want it to!
Step 12: The final step! Add a small blob of hot glue to the very top and centre of Santa’s beard and add on your wooden bead as his nose!
And voila! You’re done and your Santa is ready to be put on your tree, used as table decorations, given as gifts or pur all around your house! I personally find these super cute, and you can change up the style of them so they suit your taste, I’ve made a few with hats that are flopped down, and a few in green since Santa was originally in green instead of red! I’m also thinking of making a few in some more colours to match the different coloured tree decorations we’ve got going on this year! I find these quite mindful and relaxing to make, so when I’m making them I put on a movie with some snacks and a cup of tea, and before I know it I’m surrounded by Santa gnomes!
What crafts and Christmas diy’s are you doing this year? Let me know if there’s any you’d like to see me try, and if you try these, let me know how it goes and tag me on insta @theweightofmyworlds so I can see your cute crafts!
Hello my lovelies and a very Happy Christmas to you all! This year, the festive season has been busier than ever before for me, and I can’t wait to tell you why in the new year! (I’m not pregnant, or getting married or moving.. It’s weird how that’s immediately what everyone thinks huh!)
But anyway, even with it being so busy this year, I’m still finding time to enjoy the festivities with family and friends. Some of my favourite things about Christmas are, the food (duh! Who doesn’t love a good roast dinner!), spending time with my loved ones, playing games, getting my loved ones gifts and showing kindness, and of course the decorations!
That brings me onto today’s post, just like last year, it’s that time in December where I get to show you what my house is looking like this year! To see how my house looked last year, click here!
Well, enough of me chatting, I’ll leave you with some photos of my Christmas decorations!
And that’s all from me for today, what’s your favourite Christmas decoration? I personally love all of the lights, they make any room instantly cosier! What’re you doing for Christmas this year? Let me know in the comments!
I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas full of love and fun!
Hello my lovelies!! It’s less than two weeks until Santa Claus comes! Woohoo! Who’s excited for Christmas? I know I certainly am! I love the food, being around family and friends and of course the decorations. Which brings me to today’s post, easy DIY snowmen decorations!
I’ve made for several years now as decorations for the festive season and as gifts for the people I care about. These can be used as door stoppers or just as a festive ornament for the wintery season!
Oh, and did I mention how cute they are? Here’s the cuteness we’re dealing with:
See what I mean? A D O R A B L E .
So, onto what you need to make them:
White socks (Mens sport socks are great – mine are Tescos basics)
Embroidery or thick thread
Fabric or socks that you don’t mind cutting up to make a hat and scarf!
Buttons
Rice or lentils
Scissors
Hot glue gun (not necessary but faster then sewing by hand!)
Any other decorations!
Now that you know what you need, let’s get into the steps to make one!
Step 1 . Fill one of your white socks with rice or lentils. (I did two cereal bowl fulls).
Step 2 . Double up your sock with another and tie the top to keep the rice in. Then cut the excess sock off the top.
Step 3 . Grab some white thread and double it over, and tie it around your snowman’s body to create its neck and tie it off.
Step 5 . Next up is eyes! Grab black thread (or whatever colour you want!) and sew on some eyes, and if you want you can even add buttons or beads for the eyes!
Step 6 . Time to add a nose! Pick an orange bead or thread and sew on the nose.
Step 7 . Guess what? There’s only 3 steps left! Pick a sock that you want for the snowman’s hat, put it on the snowman’s head and decide how tall you want the hat to be and cut off the excess.
Step 8 . Time to sew up the top of the hat! Sew it together however you like and you can add any accessories to it if you want, I’ve added a pom pom to this one!
Step 9 . We’re on the final step! Time to make the scarf. Cut a sock (or whatever fabric you want to use) into a long strip and glue the edges down facing the middle with a hot glue. Next fold the strip in two (horizontally) and wrap them round your snowman. Depending on the scarves length you can either tie it or glue it down.
Step 10 . Viola! You have a snowman! Repeat these steps and you’ll have yourselves a family of snowmen in no time!
Here’s all of the snowmen I’ve made over the years for decorations and a few I’ve made recently as gifts!
And those are my snowmen! Featuring a Snowlamb because why not!? What’s your favourite snowman of the bunch? Let me know in the comments! Have you made any Christmas DIY’s? What’s your favourite decoration/gift to make?
And with that, I hope you’re all having a very happy Christmas so far and I’ll see you next week!
Hello my lovelies!! We’re finally in December and the Christmas countdown has begun! As someone who loves Christmas, I will be watching loads of Christmas movies all throughout this month, and I won’t lie, I definitely watched loads last month too.
But with that said, what are the top Christmas movies to get you in the spirit? That’s where today’s post comes in, I thought why not do a Christmas countdown with movies! Basically, a movie advent calendar to lead you up to Christmas and boxing day. So get your cosy pyjamas on and some snacks ready!
So, with that said, let’s get into it!
1 . Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s the perfect transition film into the festive season if you’re having to persuade your very own Grinch or Scrooge to watch a Christmas film.
2 . Die Hard. A Debatable Christmas Classic, but this is another one to ease you into the Christmas spirit! Do you class Die Hard as a Christmas film?
3 . Chicken Run. Ok, so it’s technically not a Christmas film but I only seem to watch this one around this time of year, just like how I watch Wallace and Gromit at this time of year too.
4 . The Polar Express. The polar express is my mum’s personal favourite for Christmas cheer so of course I had to include this one! Old steam trains and snow, what more could you ask for!
5 . Miracle on 34th Street. An old classic, which you can’t go wrong with if you’re after a slightly older more traditional Christmas film!
6 . Nativity. Ok.. so I couldn’t find a Nativity gif so here you can have this one of Martin Freeman which makes me laugh way too much. My family love Nativity and it’s a great one for kids!
7 . The Holiday. If you love a rom-com here you go! Cosy cottages and wine rambles!
8 . Love Actually. Everyone loves ‘Love Actually’, but I’ve never been that fussed about it personally, but I can deny that it does feel Christmassy in spirit so I understand why people love it so much.
9 . Jingle All The Way. Arnold Schwarzenegger running around trying to get his son a toy. Need I say more?
10 . The Grinch. This one is great for the kids, and adults to be honest. It’s bright, colourful and hilarious! Also, if you haven’t seen this one because you think it’s the same as the classic, then you’re wrong because it’s a semi-different storyline!
11 . The Christmas Chronicles. I literally just re-watched this one. It’s a Netflix own film that is funny and has a great musical number in jail!
12 . Deck the Halls. You ever feel the need to compete with your neighbours Christmas light show? What about going nuts because you want to see your house from space?
13 . Wallace and Gromit. Just like ‘Chicken Run’ my family always seem to see this around Christmas time, it doesn’t really matter which one is showing, because they’re all pretty great!
14 . Muppets Christmas Carol. Two words: A CLASSIC.
15 . Arthur Christmas. This is such a heartwarming, cute and funny Christmas film that kids will love!
16 . The Snowman. This is a film that everyone has grown up with and knows the soundtrack to, and it’s one of the first Christmas movies I’ve ever seen, so I had to include it!
17 . Home Alone. Classic Christmas! Who else has imagined what they’d do to boobytrap their own home?
18 . Elf. Will Ferrell dressed as an elf running around New York with people not realising it’s for a film? Yes please!
19 . How The Grinch Whole Stole Christmas. My favourite! We can all relate to the Grinch and Cindy Lou, and I just love this one. It’s hilarious!
20 . Gremlins. Don’t feed them after midnight! If you’ve never seen Gremlins, believe me when I say you’re in for a treat! I just watched this in a 4DX cinema with snow, moving chairs and loads of other special effects and it was brilliant!
And those are my favourite Christmas films to watch over the festive season! My personal favourite is ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ because who doesn’t love Jim Carrey as the Grinch, I mean talk about ICONIC.
What’s your favourite Christmas movie? Is it on my list? Let me know in the comments! And last but not least, stay tuned to see what my house looks like at Christmas!
I hope you’re all having a happy and safe Christmas so far!
Hello my lovelies! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! (Well, it nearly is.. it’s pretty much December in my eyes). Have you got your tree up yet? If you know me and my family well then you’ll know that my Christmas tree is up straight after Halloween! We love Christmas so much and my house pretty much becomes Santa’s grotto for the festive season.
With December is just a few days away, lots of elves will start to appear on shelves very soon; and with that, lot’s of parents are going to need to have a whole host of ideas to keep their elf busy whilst the kids are asleep.
That’s where this post comes in, to help you all out with some ideas for when you’re stuck, I’ve put together a list of easy ideas that’ll only take a few minutes to do with a few games from last years edition of elf games thrown in!
So without any further ado, here’s some elf on the shelf ideas!
1. His or Her arrival!
2 . Zip line fun!
3 . Hanging out with Santa.
4 . Wanna decorate gingerbread?
5 . Reindeer food.
6 . Getting started on the Christmas dinner.
7 . Time to start writing those Christmas cards!
8 . S’ELF’care day!
9 . A bit of light reading.
10 . Marshmallow snowmen and women!
11 . Forget reindeer, we’ve got duckies!
12 . Snowelves.
13 . Spider-Elf.
14 . Toilet roll snowman.
15 . Candy cane noughts ad crosses.
16 . Ok.. I had to include this one because we were laughing so much at how much this pepper looked like a butt.. so, here we have ‘Keeping Up With The Elf-ians’.
17 . Where’s Elfie?
18 . Hot chocolate anyone?
19 . Candy cane hunt!
20 . Date night for Elfie. Do you like his bowtie?
21 . Pun/book hunt! (Have Elfie hide the books for everyone to find!)
22 . Which cup has the candy canes?
23 . Bedtime box!
24 . Melted snowman.
And of course for Christmas day you can have your elf with your presents! I love Christmas for so many reasons, food, family, feeling the festive spirits, the aesthetics and of course the memories.
Some people aren’t a fan of parts of Christmas like doing the elf of the shelf, but one reason why I love it is because it creates great memories for kids! They get to wake up each day seeing their elf doing something funny in the lead up to Christmas day and all of the people helping the elves get into position get to have a giggle doing it too!
If you’re after more elf ideas, you can check out more naughty Christmas elf ideas from last year here too! What’s you favourite elf idea? Let me know in the comments!
Hello my lovelies! I hope you have all had a happy Christmas and a very peaceful few days in the lead up to the end of the year! And of course, because we’re coming up to the New Year, New Years resolutions are popping up all over the place.
Which brings me to this post. For as long as I can remember, I have made New Years resolutions each year; and EVERY SINGLE ONE has been about how my body looks and my weight. It’s always along the lines of: I will lose weight, I will drop a dress size, I will change my body, I will go to the gym 6 times a week, I will stop eating certain foods etc. etc. etc.
This year I REFUSE to make a resolution about changing my body.
Now, some of you who are subscribed to my blog will know that I have spoken out about my body image issues and having suffered with Anorexia (see my previous post about it here!). Well, this past year I have been lucky enough to get some help and support and I am happy to announce that I am in recovery!
Writing this post came from seeing everyone’s resolutions on social media, with the majority of them being about their bodies and how they want them to look; and before I started my recovery journey, mine would have been like that too. I started thinking about what I want for the new year ahead and for the first time in.. well forever, I don’t know what my resolution should be if it isn’t about my appearance.
Here’s why I’m refusing to make my new years resolutions about my body:
My body does NOT need to change to be beautiful. It already is.
Resolving to eat less food/calories is stupid, food is fuel and we need energy to do all the amazing things we want to accomplish.
Food is not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it’s just food.
Taking up less space does NOT mean I am a better human being.
Losing weight does not solve all your problems.
Spending hours in the gym trying to make my body into something it’s naturally not supposed to be is useless. And boring!
Here’s when it’s okay to make a new years resolution about your body:
Deciding to get help with a medical condition or something you’ve been struggling with.
Deciding to love your body.
Resolving to develop a healthy relationship with food and exercise. And no I don’t mean deciding to go on a so-called ‘healthy’ diet that makes you hate yourself and feel guilty for eating!!
So, because I am not making any resolutions to do with changing my body here are some resolutions that I AM making:
Riding my bike to work instead of driving so I become more confident in cycling. (I just got my first bike this Christmas!)
Read more.
Continue writing my blog, it’s by far one of the best things I decided to do this past year and I absolutely love it!
Learning to love my body more for everything it is and does.
Wearing clothes that I feel comfortable and confident in, regardless of what other people think.
Those are just a few of my many resolutions for the new year; and I just want to share with you how much I truly appreciate every single one of you for reading, commenting, liking and interacting with me on here. You have made my year so happy and I can’t thank you enough for all of your support! What’re your new years resolutions? Let me know if the comments!!
I hope you all have a great New Years Eve and a very Happy New Year! Love,
P.S. Thank you for voting for me and all of the other amazing bloggers nominated in the UKBloggerAwards!!
Christmas is nearly here!! And that means that homes all over the globe are sparkling with fairy lights, tinsel, ornaments and baubles! Ever wanted to look at other people’s homes at Christmas time to see how they decorate?
Well, this year I’m going to give you a little peak of my home and it’s many decorations! Anyone that knows me knows that the Christmas tree has been up since the beginning of November..(We have no shame at all!) and that this is my family’s favourite time of year.
So, before I get started on this little home tour, here’s a gorgeous Pinterest board I’ve made of Christmas decorations, table settings and general festive loveliness!
Now you’ve seen some pretty pictures to get you in an even more festive mood, here’s what my home looks like at this time of year!
Here’s most of my house’s decorations!
Here’s my favourite photos from my Christmas Decorations!
I can’t help but feel like that last photo is a Christmas Card waiting to happen haha!
So that’s my home at this time of year! Believe it or not we usually have even more trees and decorations, but we’ve been having work done on the house and it’s only just finished. What’s your favourite Christmas decoration? I love our Santa and our trees!!
Merry Christmas lovelies!! Love,
The UKBlogAwards voting is now open! It would mean the world to me if you could vote for me (the weight of my worlds)! You can vote here!
Merry Christmas everyone! Christmas parties are in full swing and that means not only am I looking for outfit inspo on Pinterest and Instagram, but also Christmassy nails that you can actually do yourself at home. So I decided to try a few of the designs out for myself to see what ones are actually doable for all of us at home!
1 . Classic Red and Gold.
These were simplest to do, just paint your nails red, let them dry and then add a simple tree onto either your ring finger or any other finger you want to stand out! This one can be done with any colours too if you’re not into red nails!
2 . Candy Cane Stripes.
It’s impossible to mention Christmas nails and not add some candy cane stripes into the mix. I did these by painting my nails white, then adding on the stripes with a small brush, if you’re a bit shaky when doing your non-dominant hand, get someone else to paint the stripes for you!
3 . Christmas Puddings!
These went pretty well, I didn’t have a green nail polish so the holly leaves on these ended up being a gold shimmery colour, but I think the glittery look makes these even more festive.
4 . Snowmen.
Who doesn’t think of snowmen when they think about Christmas and Winter time? This are so easy to do and only require 2 nail polishes at the very least! A white for the base and another one for the snowmen faces, you can use a different colour for the carrot noses if you want too. These are a classic for Christmas nails!
5 . Blue and White Christmas.
I think these are my favourite out of all the designs because it’s something I haven’t really seen that much and because even though this is one of the more complicated designs, it can still be done at home. Also, these nails will look elegant in any colour! For these I painted all the nails white except for the navy glitter one and then added all of the designs on with a small brush (any kind of brush should do the trick as long as it’s small! I use a tiny acrylic paint brush.)
6 . Pinky Nude Snowflakes.
These are another favourite of mine, when I think of pinky nude colours I don’t really think of Christmas; and that is what makes these perfect for the person who wants a bit of festive cheer that isn’t screaming at you in the face. For these I used the same method as the above nails!
Which nails do you like best? I think I’ll be going with the blue and white or pinky nude designs, I love the different patterns on the nails with a bit of sparkle! Are you planning on having your nails done for a party? Let me know what you like for your Christmas nails in the comments below!
Merry Christmas lovelies!
Love,
The UKBlogAwards voting is now open! It would mean the world to me if you could vote for me (the weight of my worlds)! You can vote here!
Merry Christmas everyone! The kids are soon breaking up for the Christmas holidays which means not only planning what you’ve bought/buying them, but coming up with fun ways to get the kids in the Christmas spirit! That’s why I’ve come up with 6 easy games you can do with the kids with your ‘Elf on the Shelf’!
Let’s get into it!
1 . Candy Canes ‘n Baubles! (Noughts and Crosses).
This one’s a simple and easy one to create; it’s a Christmas version of noughts and crosses and if you wanted to do this one over a few days I’m sure your Elf will take his turn whilst the kids are asleep! And if you wanted you can make the grid even bigger, add more baubles and candy canes!
2 . Candy Cane Treasure Hunt.
Here’s a great game that can be played over and over again with the help of your Scout Elf! I think all kids like a good treasure hunt don’t they?! And with candy canes being so cheap, why not do a treasure hunt with them! You can even swap the candy canes for other treats or even mini Christmas crackers.
3 . Elf – Who am I?
This game takes a little more prep than the others; but I promise it’ll be worth it! This game is great fun for both adults and kids; it involves picking a celebrity, character or other famous person etc. and dressing up your Elf as that person and getting your loved ones to guess who your Scout Elf is!
4 . Where’s Elfie?
My family loved this one, partly because we love a certain series of books that sound like ‘Where’s Holly?'(you get the idea) … if your kids have loads of toys, put them in a group and hide your Elf within the toys and give the kids the challenge of finding their Scout! This game can be repeated several times and you can add a time limit for searching to add a little suspense.
5 . DIY Elf Bed!
Since your lovely ‘Elf on the Shelf’ will be staying with you over the Christmas period, you’ll want them to be comfortable when they’re having a nap; so why not use some of those boxes from all of your Christmas shopping and make your Elf his very own bed! You could even make him a house if you wanted!
6 . Riddle, Elf Book or Joke Hunt!
I love this one, it can be used as a cute morning ‘Elf on the Shelf’ prop and for a game. For this game all you have to do is make as many little Elf books as you want, write in them (in very tiny handwriting..) either riddles, puns or parts to a story, and hide them around your house! If you’d like this can be a daily thing with one tiny book hidden per day for the kids to find!
All of the games and activities can be altered and tweaked to suit you and your family. A few more activities you could do with your ‘Elf on the Shelf’ are:
Elf portraits
Elf hide and seek
Making the perfect Elf dinner
Building an house/cottage for your Elf
Making your Elf their own special table for their Christmas dinner
Those are just a few extra ideas you can have a go at! And please let me know if you try any of these out and which one is your favourite. Oh, and don’t forget to register your Scout Elf and receive your adoption certificate and a special message from Santa! I hope you enjoyed this post my lovelies, and have a very Merry Christmas!
The Weight Of My Worlds 