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Yessss, I love DaWanda sooo much! I just bought this vintage dress for less than 4€ and I love the pattern and the colors! As you can see, it was way too long, so I shortened it and I think it fits quite well. :) What I love most about clothes with a colorful pattern is that you can combine them with tights and leggings in every color which you can find in the dress. <3
By the way, hello to all my new readers!! :) Hope you enjoy my blog party, there are some other nice projects to come. :) Some of you may have found my blog via Stef's beautiful blog magnoliaelectric, because today she has posted her delicious punch recipe in German and has written a short text about my blog, sooo lovely! <3
If you're new here, read something about me to get to know what my blog is about. :)
Wish you a lovely weekend! :)
Lu
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Here's a great tutorial by my lovely friend Malin, she writes the blog normalean and she makes music as Mary Jane Insane. <3

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Hello dear readers!
I am very happy that Lu invited me to her “Bloc Party“ for the 2ndtime to share another tutorial I created on my own.
Since it became autumn and finally winter, I started drinking even more tea than I usually do (even in the hottest summer I drink much tea, for it is very healthy!). So this DIY shows you how you can create your own winter tea you can give away or to drink on your own :)

Supplies needed:
- loose winter tea
- big tea filters
- teaspoon
- yarn in red and green, particularly cotton
- paper and pen for your patterns
- a scale
- a sewing machine or a normal needle to sew by hand
I'll later tell you how to make the right mixture, but now I'll show you how to sew Christmassy tea bags. 
1. Draw some patterns for your bags in Christmassy shapes. I used a heart, a star, a moon and a bell. You can use whatever you like most, but it also depends on the tea you use. If you use very fine tea, you can use every shape (like the Christmas tree I also drew, but didn't sew), but if you're gonna use tea which has for example big dry fruits in it like apple slices, you might choose a bigger and not angled shape, like the star for exemple. Before you produce a high number of tea bags, be sure the size is big enough (5-8 g of tea should fit in).

2. + 2.2 Cut out your shapes and pin them onto the tea filter, cut them out with a sewing allowance of approximately 3-5mm.
3. Leave an opening for later filling in the tea.

3.1 Now sew with your sewing machine (fine needle plus stitch lenght of 2), leave 3-4 cm open for easy filling (I chose red yarn, for I like the colour of red and green most for Christmas time, but of course you can use whatever you like).

4. Fill in the tea and scale the filling.
5. Now close the opening with your sewing machine.

6. Sew a thread of double length to the upper middle of your selfmade tea bag to use it properly and maybe to hang it up on your christmas tree. ;)


The tea mixture:
Now I come to the tea mixture. In fact, I went to a tea shop and got some advice of a salesgirl there. I wanted to have some tea with apples (but not too sour and fresh), almonds, cinnamon (of course!), and some other winter/Christmas flavours I adore :) Sadly, you can't really mix yourself a tea, for these shops have so many finished mixes so you don't really need to mix them on your own or you are not allowed to. Sometimes at some Christmas fairs or in pharmacies, you can get loose tea which isn't already mixed.
I used the mixtures: „Gebrannte Mandel“ (rosted almond) and „Winter Apfel“ (winter apple) which have the following ingredients:
Apple pieces, almond pieces, beetroot pieces, hibiscus blossoms, rose hip parings, currants, cinnamon pieces, vanilla pieces and finally, calendula blossoms.

Now you can boil your tea and after the brewing time of 5 to 10 minutes, you can enjoy it with some cookies and a book. :) Have a great winter time!!!


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Awww, Sweetie, thanks for preparing this great tutorial! <3
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Source of the mug graphic: creaturecomforts

Hello, this is Stef from magnoliaelectric - I am 23 years old and from Austria, Europe -  a student with a heart full of things I love (photography, books, DIY, travelling, cooking). I have the honour of writing a guest post for the blogging christmas party and have decided to share the recipe for the most delicious beverage in winter - besides hot chocolate and tea - with you - homemade (hot) punch.

You need:
1 cup of water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup fruit tea
7 whole cloves
2-3 cinnamon sticks
2 cups fresh orangejuice
1/2 cup rum
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup honey

Now:
Combine water, sugar, tea, rum, honey, cloves and the cinnamon sticks in a large pot. bring it to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Boil for 2 to 4 minutes. Remove whole spices, if desired. Stir in the orangejuice and the fresh lemon juice. Serve hot. (For about 8 to 10 servings)

To include diy as well, I thought of serving the hot punch in self-made bowls. You just need to hollow out an apple which can "stand" on its own. make sure you don't damage the paring. Put some lemonjuice on the seam so it doesn't turn brown so quickly. Then, pour in the hot punch and serve it - I used fairy lights, carnations, oranges and cinnamon sticks for decoration.

You should drink the punch rather quickly, because the apple will become leaky after some time.
I wish you an unforgettable christmas and happy cooking!

Lots of love, Stef.

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Awwww, so delicous! :) Can't wait to try this!
Love, Lu
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Hi there! My name is Mirij from Liepsch - a blog where I write about DIY, my sewed stuff and my kids and life.
I'm thrilled to guestblog here on luloveshandmade and hope you enjoy my little tutorial!

Only 13 days left for Christmas and you are still wondering which presents you can gift?
Don't worry, there are plenty of ideas what to gift without even spending a dime.

Some friends and family are so far away that you can and will send them only a nice letter.
That's why I want to share a quick tutorial
with you for doing your own Christmas-, stars- and snow-inspired stationary.

You need:
- baking paper, the white one (comes recyled as well)
- sewing machine
- yarn (of course)
- (optional) star punch
- old envelope

I love, love, love, baking paper so much, because it can be used for so many things. The white looks really winterly and snowy to me and it is not only used here for sewing patterns and baking, but also for crafting laterns, punching out stars, for decorating and so much more.

Let's start:
Take one sheet of baking paper (I got paper which has already been cut) and red yarn and go creative on the paper. We really had a lot of fun to pull the paper through my sewing machine. My oldest child (almost 3 years) helped me with it and was glad to finally sew something himself. It's always nice if you can involve the kids in a crafting project. 

Now take the paper and create the envelope.
Therefore, you need to carefully rip apart an old envelope. This should not be too difficult, considering the huge amount of unwanted mail we all receive each day. :(
You can choose between the smaller ones or the bigger ones like in this tutorial.
This is then the model/pattern for your own envelope. 

Transfer the outline on your baking paper and then cut it out.

Glue the edges together and, if you want to, pimp the back with another cutted backing paper star. 

For the front I used a self-adhesive paper label and sewed around it before sticking it onto the envelope.

For the letter itself, just use plain backing paper and write with a pencil. It looks clean, but also a little romantic - perfect for christmas.

I'm also planning to use this sewed baking paper for all the present wrapping which I recommend to try out as well. What is more, it's so much cheaper than buying present paper and perfect if you also forgot to do so. ;)

I really love my envelopes and wrapping paper and hope you like it, too!

Have a nice Christmas time everyone! 
Mirij

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Thank you for sharing, this is such a pretty and easy idea! :)
Lu
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Dear readers, happy St. Nicholas' Day! :) I love the Christmas season and I love this day! I woke up early and was so excited to see what's in my stocking, Flo got me a season of one of my favourite series. :) And as you can see on the photo above, Mogli got a little bone this morning. :)
Here you can see a part of the stocking I made for my mother, our mistletoe we hung up above our living room door, the Advent candles I gave to my mother and some rasped, organic chocolate which can be used for being scattered on hot chocolate or milk. <3
This day has been perfect, we had a great brunch and I sold lots of items on DaWanda. This is so much fun! <3
Wish you a lovely night!
Lu
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Yay, only today there's 12% discount on all items in my shop, so if you still need any Christmas presents, here's your chance to buy them! :) It's only in my German shop on DaWanda, but if you're from a foreign country and like an item, I'd love to translate the article description for you and I can also ship internationally if there are any requests.
Wish you a lovely St. Nicholas' day!! <3
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Dear readers, today lovely Sammy of The Cookie Button shows you a pretty knitting DIY project! :)
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I would like to introduce to you all my Christmas over sized knitted wristband where it will bring out the Lady Gaga in all of us! I hope this will inspire all of you to get knitting during this festive season and get you in the Christmas mood :)
You will need: A ball of chunky wool, size 9 knitting needles, thread, needle, yarn needle, scissors and not forgetting that sweet little bell!

Step 1: Cast on six stitches with your yarn (there will be tutorials online if you are unsure how to do this).

Step 2: Knit as many rows as you like the the basic knit stitch. Measure it around your wrist every so often and stop when you think it fits perfectly. Then cast on another 6 stitches to make your bow but make this one slightly smaller than your previous knitted bit.

Step 3: Using your yarn need stitch together the wristband itself. Get your bow part and wrap some of the wool around the middle so it will start to look like a bow. Then stitch this onto the wristband so it is nice and tight. Then the fun bit begins when you can stitch your bell on with your needle.

Finished! Put your wristband on and admire your work! Mission complete!

Thank you once again Lu for asking me to be part of your Christmas blog party, it is always a bundle of fun :) 

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Thank you for sharing this pretty tutorial, Sammy! <3
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