Submit your birth story by sending us an 
Cutting Costs with Crafts this Christmas
Christmas can be costly time especially when you are a parent! Our current financial climate makes ‘saving pennies’ even more important for many, thus Mums Baby Magazine have come up with a few crafty ideas to help you save some pennies this Christmas.
Cutting the cost of cards:
Lets face it, we all spend far too much at Christmas buying cards on behalf of our children to give to Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles etc. Rather than searching the shelves for specific cards for family members, why not spend the time with your little one creating something by hand. Here is a quick guide on how to create our 3D Christmas Tree Cards suitable for all.
You will need:
- Cardboard (we used old packaging for this example)
- Scissors
- Green Paint
- Bobbles
- PVA Glue
- A Pen/ Pencil
- Glitter
- Simply draw your Christmas tree shape onto a piece of cardboard and cut out, now use this as your template to draw and cut out a replica. Paint both sides of each tree shape green and leave to dry. Once dry make a cut along middle from the bottom to midway of one of your two pieces of cardboard, make a cut in the other cardboard tree from the top of the tree to the centre. Now slot the two trees together to create a 3D tree.
- Once you are happy with your tree, pour a small amount of PVA glue into an container and use a spreader to apply glue to bobbles, stick bobbles onto the tree as and where you like.
- Making Christmas a Little Sweeter with Festive Cupcakes
Many of us buy huge tins of chocolates for families and friends, this can become expensive if you are buying for large amounts of people. Have some fun and save some pennies by making cupcakes for your friends and family. Cupcake boxes are available for reasonable prices online and sprinkles are now sold in many high street supermarkets.
The following recipe creates 16 cakes. In order to create the cupcakes you will also need a piping bag and nozzle and cake cases.
You will need:
- 4 oz Butter
- 4 oz Caster Sugar
- 4 oz Self Raising Flour
- Half Tsp Vanilla Essence
- 2 Eggs
For the frosting
- 8oz Icing Sugar
- 4oz Butter
- 1 Tsp Food Colouring
- Sprinkles
Begin by creaming together the butter and the sugar. In a separate bowl beat the eggs, once beaten add to the mixture. Stir the mixture gently, add vanilla essence. Finally add the self raising flour and fold together. Separate the mix into cake cases and put into the oven for 20 minutes to cook. Whilst your cakes are cooking mix together the Icing Sugar, Butter and food colouring in a bowl, store this in the fridge.
Once your cakes are ready remove from the oven and allow to cool, once cool pipe the frosting onto the top of each cake in a swirling motion (from outside to centre) and then add sprinkles.
Decorating the Halls
These festive felt decorations can be made really easily and can be used as a gift tag which can later be reused as a Christmas decoration for the tree of elsewhere.
You will need:
- Sparkly ribbon
- Green Felt
- Brown Felt
- Small Bobbles
- Stuffing/ Cotton Wool
- Cotton
- A Needle
Simply fold a piece of green felt in two and then cut out a triangular Christmas tree shape. Once cut you should have two identical green felt triangles. Now sew bobbles onto each felt triangle. Once completed, piece the triangles together so that you are able to see back and front.
Fold a small piece of ribbon in two and slip in-between the two pieces of felt at the top of your tree, now begin to sew around the edges of your tree (starting from the top so that you have secured your ribbon). Continue sewing until you reach the base of your tree, fold a small piece of brown felt into two and place between the two pieces of felt, allowing a short tree stump to stick out, sew along the base of your tree securing the tree stump.
Sew half way up the final edge of your tree, pause to insert stuffing and then continue sewing until you reach the top of the three, ensuring the ribbon is secure. Once complete cut a small amount of cotton to sew the edges of the tree strump together, your tree is now ready for the tree!
If you would like to share your crafty cost cutting ideas with us then we would love to hear from you, simply email us at writeforus@mumsbabymagazine.com with your suggestions and pictures.
10% DISCOUNT on Bibetta Products!
Save yourself some money and some mess by purchasing Bibetta products before the end of November. Simply enter the code BPMBM01 at the checkout when purchasing any item from www.bibetta.com
Free their knees with Freenies!
It may be cute to dress your little lady in frills and fancies but it isn’t always practical… As soon as your little one begins to explore movement, clothing needs to be closely considered for practicality, as skirts and dresses may look nice but can hinder your little ones ability to move freely.
Freenies are a simple yet effective device which enable your little ones skirt/ dress to gathered up and neatly tied at the back of your child’s outfit. Freenies frees your child from loose fabrics which can be hazardous during early movement, Freenies are perfect for crawling, climbing or for use in the playground.
Mums Baby Magazine put Freenies to the test with two little testers, we were impressed by just how easily clothing can be gathered up and altered temporarily for safety. Freenies are a fantastic idea, freeing little ones of clothing fabrics which can frustrate and hinder essential 
early motor development practice. Mums Baby Magazine give Freenies 10/10.
Freenies are available in a wide range of colours, shapes and designs for $3.50 each from www.freenies.com
Top Tots Tip for Sprinkling Icing Sugar
Little ones love cooking and whilst us adults may find the concept of allowing little ones to join in with cooking/ baking it is a fantastic bonding exercise not mention great fun for all involved. Whether its a cake, biscuits or even mince pies that you and your little ones have cooked together, nothing sweetens up treats better than icing sugar sprinkled on top. Whilst icing sugar can be messy, there is an easy way to keep mess at bay and make things a little simpler for your little one…
Purchase a ‘Tea Leaf Infuser’ (originally designed for holding tea leaves whilst brewing in a cup), pop some icing sugar into a tea leaf infuser and shake! You can refill with more icing sugar simply or if you haven’t managed to use all the icing sugar within the infuser, you can simply squeeze and open the tea leaf infuser to put the remaining icing sugar back into the box to reduce waste!
Felix’s Diary: Magical Moments Captured Forever
Children are only children for a short amount of time, from the moment that your child is born it seems time suddenly begins to speed up and before you know it your tiny baby is growing up into a young lady or young man before your eyes. With the modern technology now available it is possible to record our memories at the click of a button and to share our memories through a wide range of social networking devices such as YouTube and online storage facilities such as Flickr.
Katrina Kieffer-Wellis is Mum to Felix, Katrina decided to take a photograph per day of her son’s life in order to document her son’s life in the form of a digital photographic diary. By capturing Felix’s magical moments, Katrina feels that she will be more able to remember each day of her son’s upbringing, noting milestones which are easily forgotten over time. As Katrina began photographing her son, it became apparent just how quickly he was growing. Katrina has kindly shared some of the photographs/ diary entries captured through the blink of a lens with us in the hope that other it may inspire our readers to record their memories in a similar fashion. To view more of Katrina and Felix’s photos visit Felix’s Diary Facebook Page
Has your little one inspired you to carry out a specific project which you would like to share with us? Visit our contact page in order to send us an email.
Follow Us!