Handmade favourites - sweet treats

What's better than a gift you can eat?! This month's collection of my favourite handmade gift ideas is all about sweet treats. From homemade marshmallow to ice cream making sets, these are perfect gifts for anyone who enjoys a yummy treat or a spot of baking. Everything is made right here in the UK.

Large red velvet cake from Cake in a Jar

Honeycomb ice cream making set from Granny Gothards

Blueberry and vanilla muffin mix from Cookie Crumbles

Pick and mix sweet tree from Sweet Trees

Chocolate cake in a can from The Food Ministry

Afternoon tea party gift box from Crumb

Triple chocolate pancake mix from Little Pancake Company

Raspberry and white chocolate marshmallows from Mello Mallo

Weekend makes

Since I work with paper all week as my job, when I want to craft for fun I like to use other materials. This weekend I got my sewing machine out again. I was supposed to be making some more of these cushions, but after cutting out all the pieces out I got distracted...

So I made a drawstring bag out of some spotty fabric that I love. It makes me happy just looking at it! I'm going to use this as a travel laundry bag. I'm really pleased with it as I didn't have a pattern or any instructions, I just started sewing.

And I used an A3 clip frame to create this organiser. It's a super easy way of doing it. I sewed the two pockets and then simply wrapped the whole thing round the glass from the frame and clipped it all together. We are going to use this for post, as we are very good at dumping opened and unopened post on our coffee table and important bills get muddled up with the junk mail and forgotten about! So I'm hoping this will keep us organised. We just need to decide where to hang it so that we actually remember to use it!

If you'd like to see what other crafty folk have been making this week pop over to Handmade Monday where lots of craft bloggers link up their weekly makes.

Say hello with personalised notecards

How often do you get happy post? I mean proper nice post brought to you by the postman and pushed through your letterbox after travelling across the country from someone who has spared a few minutes of their day to think of you. Doesn't it just make your day to arrive home and find a handwritten envelope waiting for you?!

If you want to receive more happy post perhaps you should try sending some? You could make someone's day by choosing to write them a note instead of popping what you have to say in an email or text. And you could make it extra special by sending one of my new handmade notecards.

Each notecard is personalised with the name of the sender, saying either "hello from" or "a note from".

They are made with my new silhouette portrait machine, which makes me so happy every time I use it. I can cut anything. Amazing.

If you'd like a pack of 4 bright and colourful papercut notecards personalised with your name pop over to my Folksy shop and I'll get ready to start cutting. Or perhaps you could buy a set as a gift and hope they send one back to you!

Top stationery trends: bright contrasting colours

Next up in my favourite stationery trends for 2014 is bright contrasting colours. Last month I went zig zag crazy with my top chevron stationery picks and this month it's all about colour. Nice bright colour.

I feel that we've been stuck on pastels for too long and I'm so excited by the pops of bright colour that have been appearing this year. And in particular there seems to be a trend for mixing up contrasting bright colours. Love love love. Here are my favourite bold and bright stationery finds.

1. Thinking of you card with badge from Think Bubble

2. Personalised colourful leather journal from Begolden

3. Pink and lime washi tape from Ruby and Dig

4. Screen printed card from Rob Ryan

5. Foliage thank you cards from Louise Norman Studio

6. A5 notebook from Paperchase