Ideas for handmade Christmas gifts

It's I hope you all have had a very merry Christmas :)! Now Christmas is over, and for those who are thinking about next year's Christmas (363days to go guys!) I'm going to share with you what I did for gifts this year!

I hand made (more like decorated) Snowman mugs and Christmas decorations out of felts and I'm going to show you how I did them because they are super easy to do! 

First of all the mugs. I went and got myself coup of plain mugs from John Lewis. They don't have to be from John knows, as long as they are plain and you can decorate on them any mugs will do. 

Decide what design you want to decorate your mugs with - this will help you decide what colour pens to get :)

Then I bought some porcelain painter pens from hobby craft to decorate my mugs! They sell glass painter pen in the same package so make sure you buy the right one! Alternatively, a lot of people use sharpie pens to decorate so you can use them too :) it is recommended to use oil base sharpie but I couldn't find any! 

I decided to decorate mine with snowman, as it's christmassy enough but you can use it throughout the season with the frozen hype and all ;) 

I gave it little arms for hugs too ;)

As I am a tea lover, so I drew tea bag tag at the back :) also I added my friends name at the bottom to make it more personal. 

Once I have decorated the mug, I left it to dry for four hours before baking it in the oven (160C*) for 30 minutes as instructed. Depending on the colour you use, the instruction may vary. I bought an orange pen to do the nose but this pen didn't need any baking :)  after 30 minutes, leave the mugs in the oven to cool down with oven to prevent suddenly cooling and cracking. 

And there you have it! Personalised snowman mug! I think this is a such cute and creative idea for gifts you can give in any occasion, not just christmas :) 

For the second half of my present, I made felt Christmas decorations to put into the mug. These are very easy to make too and I'll give you step by step guide of how to do the style of stiching I used, called blanket stitch. 

I chose gingerbreadman and reindeer as my two decorations, and I looked for ideal shapes online to use as my templates. 

I bought my felts from hobby craft , 50p each sheet (12x9) 

I managed to make four reindeers from once sheet, and four gingerbreadmen from one sheet too. You need two exact pair to make one whole one, and make sure to decorate the face etc before you sew both of them together. 

Once you have sewed halfway through, Insert ribbon at the top so you can hang them :) carry on sewing but leave a small gap in the end to stuff it with cotton. 

I have used blanket stitch to sew them together, and here is a step by step guide !

Create a starting point. Have both parts together, but only put a needle through the top sheet. 

Once that's through, go through the bottom sheet, making sure it goes through the same point as the top sheet. 

Before you pull the thread tightly, put a needle through in a loop to create a secure starting point. 

Then pull tight! - here you have the starting point. 

Once you have a point, go through both sheets together like so,

And put a thread behind the needle before you pull it tight. 

Carry on using the same technique, and it will start to look like this!

It's important to keep the same distance between each point. 

When I finished, I wrapped it in a cellophane bag with a candycane :) this cellophane bag came with the ribbon as it's supposed to be cake pop bags but it worked out quite nicely :) 

Put this little bag inside the mug and there you have it! I am looking forward to playing with my porcelain pens and be creative! 

Did anyone else give handmade gifts this year? 

THE BIG EASY Lunching

I have heard many good reviews about THE BIG EASY before, and I've been wanting to try ever since I walked past it by chance.

The big easy is an American Bar.B.Q Lobstershack that also has a bar inside! 

There is one in Covent Garden which I went to, and another one in Kings Road.  The place is located in one of the side roads in Covent Garden so you cannot spot it straight away, but once you are on the right road, it is hard to miss with its red 'big' sign!

As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by very friendly staff and cosy interior, both made me feel very welcome :)  I didn't book a table, as it was just two of us and lunch time but I recommend you to book a table if you are going as a group! It started to get very busy within 30 minutes of being there. 

Pretty much everyone there was indulging in their lobster shack ( did some stalking and peeking) so I was determined to get mine! Everything on the menu sounded heavenly that I took me a while to decide! 

I was feeling greedy and wanted some starters as well as the main, and I spotted this Lunch, pre theatre & late night menu for £10 and was surprised by the generous pricing and what was included in, and so I went for it. For £10, You could get a starter and a main or a main and a desert with a free drink of your choice!
I opted for crispy calamari for a starter and lobster roll and fries for main and strawberry daiquiri , because why not?!

Strawberry Daiquiri

Crispy Calamari 

Lobster roll and fries 

They also have an incredible bar with variety of drinks, I would love to come back here for drinks as well!

The impressive bar 

I will definitely be coming back here to taste this again, and to try out the lobster shack, which appeared to be the most popular one! I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a new place to try out or to anyone really!

They are now taking bookings for new years eve as well :) 

http://bigeasy.co.uk/#home

Has anyone been there before? or have any recommendations?