#CraftBlogClub // Secret Santa

Holla! 

It's Craft Blog Club Secret Santa time! This is the second year I have taken part & I love it - you can see last year's post here! It's a great way to find new bloggers as well as being creative! I was given Dominique, a fellow member of Craft Blog Club who I had never come across before (see, it really is a great way to find new people) so I immediately browsed her Etsy Shop, to be sure I didn't sent something she already makes herself. I am loving decoupage at the moment, so settled on creating a lovely, colourful decoupage photo frame. I also made a decoupage Christmas decoration, as it is Christmas & all...! 

On Christmas Eve Eve, I had a card from the postman to say my package was at the sorting office. I totally forgot about Secret Santa so was super excited when I realised what it was! So excited that I opened my gift on Christmas Eve! My gift was from Shelley Makes & it was so lovely. She noticed that I liked Sewing Bee & Bake Off so combined the two & made me a cute little sewing wallet & a Pin Cushion Ring! I love them both & can't wait to use them....especially the Pin Cushion Ring!  

Thank you to the lovely ladies who run #CraftBlogClub & organised the various challenges. I can't wait for the next one! Did you take part in Craft Blog Clubs Secret Santa this year? Post you links below if you did, I would love to see what you made/recieved! 

♥ 
ZoFlo

101 Things in 1001 Days #42

Go Ice Skating 

As a Pre-Christmas treat, I booked for myself & Nick to go to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park in London. Nick hasn't been before & he loves Christmas so it was the perfect surprise for him! I had been previously but never really had the opportunity to really soak up the atmosphere & explore it all properly. 

I booked for us both to go to Zippos Circus & Ice Skating - another tick off my 101 Things (although I have been Ice Skating twice since starting this list....)! 

 

Have you ever been Ice Skating before?

♥ 

ZoFlo

Feeling Festive // Christmas Centre Piece

9 sleeps to go! 

Every year my Mum makes her own centre piece to go on the table on Christmas Day. It always looks so lovely so I thought this year I would give it a go too! I picked up the cutest little robin from a local garden centre along with some oasis. I then ventured off to my grandparents house to attack their holly tree. 

Unfortunately, this year there wasn't many berries on them & any that did have a few on fell off! Once I had gathered my holly clippings & soaked the oasis in water, I was ready to begin. I chose to arrange mine in a cute polka dot tin jug (borrowed from my Gran!) but you could use anything you prefer. I cut down the stems to the right length & pulled off any unwanted holly before pushing them into the oasis & arranging in the jug. 

Please Note: Holly leaves are prickly & can really bloody hurt! 

I was really pleased with how it turned out, although it took me a little while to get it looking the way I wanted. The robin is perfect & adds a lovely bit of colour too! It's definitely something to take your time on!

What do you think? Will you be making your own festive centre piece this year? 

♥ 

ZoFlo

Feeling Festive // Homemade Advent Calendar

Happy Wednesday! 

Every Christmas I always decide I want to make my own advent calendar but I'm usually too late or never get around to doing it. So this year I made sure I was prepared - well kind of! I purchased the wooden tree from Hobbycraft back in November, which was £15. Not bad considering you can use it as many times as you like. I knew I wanted to paint the tree & decoupage the drawers but wasn't sure what colours to go with. I opted for a blue, white & red Christmassy Deco Maché paper, which I cannot for the life of me find the paper I used on the Hobbycraft website! I went for stripes with the paper as I tried randomly sticking the paper on & it didn't really work.

I settled on using Farrow & Ball Green Blue paint (No. 84) - mainly because I already had a small pot of it at home & was dying to use it for something! When I had finished painting it I was surprised with how lovely the colour was - it actually matched the decoupage paper really well too! I finished it with a little wooden heart shaped card topper that says "Merry Christmas". Very cute. I am really pleased with the way it looks - it sits on the sideboard in our lounge so everyone who visits can see it! I have had lots of lovely comments from friends/family. The only thing missing are the numbers. Hobbycraft had sold out & I couldn't find anything I really liked elsewhere. We have decided to open them top to bottom instead of using numbers - maybe I'll add them on in time for next Christmas...!



Have you made your own advent calendar this year?

♥
ZoFlo

101 Things in 1001 Days #12

Work in a Job I love!

Well hello there! It's been a long time I know (sorry)! There are a number of reasons for my absence, with the main one being a new job I started back in September! Starting a new job is scary, but I was super nervous as since finishing university last summer, I just hadn't really settled anywhere & found a job role that I really felt happy in. Within the first week I knew this job was just perfect for me. Phew! 

For those of you wondering, I work for my local Mind Charity as a Community Fundraiser. Mental Health is a topic I find so fascinating & have a great passion for so when I was offered the job, I kinda knew I would love it! And the job role is perfect for me as I am actually able to put my degree to good use! 

I have always been a person who loves being challenged & learning new things, which this job role certainly offers me! I get bored easily so working on lots of different projects at once keeps me motivated and I really love being able to use my creativity to come up with my own ideas too. I think its safe to say that this is a big fat tick on my 101 Things & I am so pleased, as I was starting to wonder if this one was a little unrealistic!

Now that I am settled in my new job, I am going to start blogging regularly again as I have really missed it. If you enjoy reading my posts, please do comment!

♥
ZoFlo

101 Things in 1001 Days #92

Upload a Video on YouTube

When I wrote this, I am pretty sure I had in mind some kind of DIY Tutorial or similar. But I'll be totally honest with you - I would find that hideously awkward! I wouldn't even know where to begin & definitely don't have the confidence to sit in front of a camera & babble on before uploading it for all to see. Scary! So instead, I have settled for a lovely little GoPro video edit of a Sunday bike ride in the sun we had a few weeks ago. It was a lovely day & we didn't have much else to do. I got Nick the GoPro for his Birthday so we thought it would be fun to test it out. I did a very basic video edit & added in some music. It was really fun & I want to make so many more videos of our day trips/adventures so watch this space (although I wouldn't ever do a proper vlog as again, I think I would be too awkward). So here is my first (very simple) YouTube video.

I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please hit the like button. And if you want to stay updated with any of our future advertures, maybe hit the subcribe button :)

♥  

ZoFlo


Music: Love Like This - Kodaline

100 Happy Days // Challenge Completed

I cannot believe my 100 Happy Days has come to an end! I started this challenge wayyyy back in May, which seems like such a long time ago now. It is amazing how quickly the time has gone & the things that have changed during that time as well. Here are my final photos of the last part of my 100 Happy Days...

Some highlights of my 100 Happy Days include winning a competition, being offered a new job, selling an item on Etsy & becoming a Make-a-Wish Volunteer. Although these are really big & exciting things, I have also learnt to enjoy the simple, everyday things in life - like making a really yummy dinner, reading a good book & spending time with my friends! If you want to take a look at all of my 100 Happy Day photos you can either search the Hashtag "100HappyDaysOfZoFlo" on Instagram or see my blog updates listed below

Update #1

Update #2

Update #3

Have you completed the 100 Happy Days Challenge? 

♥  

ZoFlo