December 2024

We're so excited to share another monthly journal written by the lovely Lola Jones, also known as @pocketfullofbuttercups on Instagram. Lola is a wonderful photographer and all round creator of beautiful content, raising her raising her twin daughters Maya and Chloe, little Thea and her youngest Millie Fleur from her house near the Peak District. Each month she will give us a small glimpse into her world, inspiring you with activity ideas, recipes and more.

These little trees are so quick and fun to make! Make festive/winter cupcake toppers or add a few of them and create a topping for a festive centrepiece cake/dessert.

To make the trees you will need:

- pretzel sticks
- white chocolate or candy melts
- food colouring (optional)
- piping bag
- sprinkles/edible glitter

Method:

Prepare a baking tray with greaseproof paper on it. Melt chocolate or candy melts over a Bain Marie,
add food colouring if using. Pour the mixture into a piping bag. Place a pretzel vertically on
the tray with greaseproof paper, cut the tip of the pipping bag off and start piping your tree, leaving a little bit of the pretzel sticking out - this is your tree trunk. Remember the bigger the cut, the bigger the chocolate will pour out, so keep the cut quite small for a finer finish. Add the sprinkles/glitter as soon as you make the trees, before the chocolate starts to set. If you are using candy melts, note that the mixture will set quicker than the chocolate. Once you have finished piping and decorating your trees, place the tray in the fridge to set - about 15 min or so depending on how thick your trees are. Remove the tray from the fridge and carefully peel the trees off the paper.
Place on top of your cupcakes, cake or just eat on its own.

To add a little more magic to this already very exciting season, Thea and I have been crafting Christmas fairy wands.

To make your own you will need:

- lollipop sticks
- hot glue and gun
- acrylic paint
- glitter/buttons/tinsel/jingle bells, etc to decorate your stars with

Method:

Take two lollipop sticks and make an upside down “V” shape and glue them at the top with a little hot glue. Next, add another lollipop stick, going from the bottom right end of your upside down “V” to the left and up at around 45 degree angle. Repeat, but with the opposite side - add another lollipop
stick to the bottom left corner, going right and up at about 45 degree angle. Finally, add your 5th lollipop stick going across connecting the tops of the last two lollipop sticks you added and your star is finished. Now pick the colour you are going to paint it in, as well as any additional accessories it may need. Finally, once your star is painted and dry, glue it to either a skewer (cut off the pointy end) or a twig. Decorate with pretty ribbons, bows, tinsel and any other accessories you like.

One of our advent calendar activities this year is: “make your own tree decoration” and we have decided to create these sweet, woolly sheep. Just a handful of tools/materials, a tiny bit of skill and, I am certain, that you and your little ones will have fun making these too.

You will need:

- cardboard
- a glass or something round to make a circle (or you can hand draw one)
- pencil
- scissors
- yarn
- card for making the head and legs
- hot glue and gun

Method:

Start by cutting a donut shape from the cardboard (ours are about 8.5cm in diameter on the outside and 5cm in diameter on the inside). Next wrap the yarn all the way around the cardboard (as many times as it takes to cover the cardboard completely and more, so your sheep look nice and puffy). I made a cut in the cardboard so I can feed the yarn through it. But if your ball of yarn
is small enough to go through the hole as you wrap it around, then the cut is not necessary. If you do make a cut, it is then easily disguised once you wrap the yarn around it a few times.
Next, draw the sheep’s head and legs on the card. Have fun making various ears and eyes to give them different personalities. Cut them out and glue to the yarn with a little hot glue.
Final touch - add some yarn to make a loop so you can hang it on a tree.