January 2025

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.

Something to brighten up the dark winter days and bring a little magic to your little one’s bedroom or reading corner.

Materials and tools:

- 2 x Paper cups
- Bradawl or a tick needle
- Wire or pipe cleaners
- Ribbon, yarn or fabric strips
- Cardboard
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun and sticks
- Crepe paper
- LED tea lights or battery powered twinkly lights

Step 1
Measure out the wire to create the handle for your lantern. The wire will feed through the bottom of the paper cup (the top of the lantern). Leave about 2cm on each end to create loops to secure the wire to the cup. Next decorate your wire using a ribbon, some yarn or strips of fabric. Wrap around the whole length of the wire leaving about 2cm on each end bare. Secure with knots.
You can replace the wire with pipe cleaners if you wish. Set the handle aside whilst you work on the other elements of the lantern.

Step 2
Using the bradawl or a thick needle, punch holes all over one of the paper cups. Add two more holes (one opposite the other) in the bottom edge of the cup - this is where your handle will go.

Step 3
Feed the twinkly lights inside the cup and secure the box with batteries on the outside of the cup with a little hot glue. Alternatively, to use the LED tea light, cut a little hole in the top of your lantern (bottom of the cup) large enough to fit the switch of the tealight through. Secure the tealight on the inside of the lantern with a little hot glue so that the switch is accessible through the hole you cut and you can switch the light on and off as necessary.

Step 4
Now attach the handle to the lantern. Feed the wire through the two holes you made at either side of the top of your lantern. Bend the wire to secure it in place.

Step 5
To make the base for your lantern, place the wider part of the paper cup on a piece of cardboard and trace around it with a pencil. Cut the circle out of the cardboard and set aside.
Next make the petals for the base of your lantern. Cut strips of crepe paper about 3-4cm wide and 5-6cm long (make sure the wrinkles on the crepe paper are vertical). You can decide how wide and long your petals should be. Cut the petals out of each strip of paper by giving it the shape of a petal with a round or a pointy edge. Now stretch the crepe paper at the wider end of your petal a little to give it the shape of a real petal. Repeat this with every petal. Now start to assemble your flower by attaching petals to the cardboard circle you have cut out earlier. Attach enough petals to complete a full circle and add more petals to create a fuller flower if desired.
Now that the bottom of your lantern is complete, you can attach it to the the paper cup. Squeeze a little hot glue all around the bottom of the lantern and glue it to the petals. Shape the petals so they are “hugging” the lantern.

Step 6
For the final part of the lantern, the lid, you are going to need the second paper cup if you are using the LED light. If not, you can skip this and glue the top part of your lantern straight on to the top of your lantern. If you are using the LED tea light, you will need access to the top of your lantern so you can switch it on and off.
Cut off the narrow end of the second paper cup - about 2cm wide. Once you have decorated it with petals, it will basically sit on top of your lantern as a removable lid.
Next cut a piece of crepe paper about 18cm x 22cm, fold it as if you are making a paper fan. Then tie a piece of yarn or a strip of fabric around the middle of your fan. Round up both ends of crepe paper with scissors. Now unfold each side, stretching the crepe paper a little to create a bell shape. Squeeze a little hot glue all around the “lid” you cut out from the paper cup earlier and attach your crepe paper bell shape flower to it. Play around with the lid to make sure it sits well on
top of your lantern (you may need to make two small cuts in the paper cup lid and under the bell shape petals, so it sits well around the wire handle).
Play around with colour combinations, materials and different style petals etc. to make your very own fairy lantern.

Winter is the perfect time to make this delicious treat as lots of citrus fruit is now in season. Not difficult at all to make and once dipped in a little dark chocolate and placed in a glass jar, - will make a perfect homemade gift too.
It is important to use organic fruit as the standard, commercially-grown fruit is usually treated with chemicals to keep it pest-free and fresh for longer on a supermarket shelf.
You can use pretty much any citrus fruit such as oranges, lemons or grapefruit, but I am using oranges and lemon here.

You will need:

- 3 organic oranges
- 1 organic lemon
- 500g white sugar plus extra for coating
- 250g good quality dark chocolate (if using)

Wash your citrus fruit well, then slice off the top and bottom of the fruit. Score the peel through to flesh on each side, which will divide the skin in two pieces. Using your fingers gently separate the peel from the flesh being careful not to tear the skin. You should now have two large pieces of skin. Slice each piece into thin strips. Repeat with all your fruit.
Next place the skins in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to the boil, simmer for about 3 minutes and drain the peel through a sieve. Return the peel back to the pan, cover in fresh cold water, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Place the sieve over a bowl to catch the liquid and drain the peels. Make up to 500ml with cold water and return to the saucepan with the sugar. Stir over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Return the peels to the saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the peels to a wire rack set over a tray lined with parchment paper. Transfer to the oven and dry for 30 minutes at 100C. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Fill a bowl with sugar and toss the candied peels to coat. Set aside to dry completely.
Melt the chocolate in a Bain Marie, dip the dried candied peel into the chocolate and place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper or a silicone mat to set.

My older girls have been doing sewing and embroidery as part of their school work and Thea was desperate to make something too, so I decided to teach her some simple embroidery, but using cardboard. We saw a robin with its little red chest on our walk the other day and it inspired this idea of making little robins out of cardboard and making the red chest using some yarn.

For this project you will need:

- Cardboard
- Pencil
- Acrylic paint or pen
- Scissors
- Red yarn
- Thick needle or bradawl

Hand draw your robins on a piece of cardboard. You can draw one, cut it out and use it as a stencil for the others if you are making more than one. Or you can freestyle a few so they are all slightly different.
Draw the wings separately to the body, so you can attach them after you’ve done the embroidery.
Next, using a sharp thick needle, make a row of holes along the line where the red chest will be.
Cut the robins and their wings out. Feed the yarn through the needle, make a knot. Starting at the back of the bird, feed the yarn through the first hole, wrapping it around its chest and going through the same hole a couple more times before moving on to the next hole. Once the chest is complete, secure the yarn at the back with another knot.
Next draw the eye and attach the wing with a little glue.