Grandma Tina & Grandpa Al’s Tips & Tricks

Share this page: 👍 Facebook · 📌 Pinterest · 💬 WhatsApp · 📸 Instagram · ✉️ Email

Explore: Tips & Tricks · Stitch Library · Free Patterns · Conversion Charts · Printing & Download Help · Start Here · Made It Gallery

Pull up a chair, love — the kettle’s on. ☕

Welcome to our little corner of the shop, where Grandma Tina and Grandpa Al share the tricks we’ve picked up over a lifetime of making. There are now 31 short video tutorials below — every one with its tips written out underneath, so you can watch, read along, or both. Pick your craft from the list below and dive straight in.

Making for Christmas? See all our Christmas patterns in one place: Christmas at AlandTina

Happy making, love — Tina & Al 💛

Prefer watching on YouTube? Here’s the full playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPqR_Bq0Ef8E

And for the techniques themselves, stitch by stitch, visit our Stitch Library.

Jump to your craft:

Crochet · Knitting · Macramé & Needlecraft · Candles & Soaps · Bath & Body · Family Learning · Printable Planners & Journals · Christmas & Seasonal

Crochet

• 10 Crochet Tips for Beginners
• How to Read a Crochet Pattern
• 10 Amigurumi Tips for Beginners
• 10 Granny Square Tips
• Crochet Gauge & Tension
• Joining & Edging Blankets

Knitting

• 10 Knitting Tips for Beginners
• Baby Knitting — Sizing & Safety
• Blocking & Finishing Tips
• Yarn Substitution Made Simple
• Fixing Knitting Mistakes

Macramé & Needlecraft

• 10 Macramé Tips for Beginners
• 10 Needlecraft Tips
• Sewing: Your First Plush Toy

Candles & Soaps

• 10 Candle Making Tips
• 10 Candle Care Tips
• Candle Troubleshooting
• 10 Soap Making Tips
• 10 Melt & Pour Soap Tips

Bath & Body

• 10 Bath Bomb Tips
• 10 Shower Steamer Tips
• 10 Bath Salt & Soak Tips
• 10 Sugar Scrub Tips
• Body Butter & Lotion Bars
• 10 Lip Balm & Salve Tips

Family Learning

• Calmer Bedtime Story Tips
• Finger Puppet Storytelling
• 10 ABC Tips for Little Ones
• 10 Trivia Night Tips

Printable Planners & Journals

• Printable Planners & Journals

Christmas & Seasonal

• 10 Christmas Craft Tips

Crochet

10 Crochet Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

▶ Watch the video

Just picked up a crochet hook for the very first time? Tina’s ten little tips will set you right — smooth yarn you can actually see, the right hook, even tension and counting every row — with Al on yarn-holding and tea duty.

1. Start with a smooth, light-coloured, medium-weight yarn — you need to see every stitch clearly while you’re learning.
2. Use the hook size printed on the yarn band: a four or five millimetre hook is a lovely, forgiving place to start.
3. Hold your yarn the same way for every stitch — even tension comes from doing it the same way, not from squeezing tight.
4. Learn the slip knot and the chain before anything else: every beautiful piece you’ll ever make starts with those two.
5. Count your stitches at the end of every row, and pop a marker in the first and last stitch — most mistakes hide at the edges.
6. Keep it loose: if the hook won’t slide through, drop your shoulders, breathe out, and loosen up — tight stitches fight back.
7. Know your terms (Al’s tip): Aussie patterns say double crochet for what Americans call a single crochet — check before you start, or you’ll be frogging it (that’s ripping it back).
8. Read the whole pattern before you begin — the yarn, the hook, and any stitch that’s new to you — so there are no surprises halfway through a row.
9. Practise on a little square first — a face washer or a dishcloth: it forgives everything, and you finish it the same day.
10. Fasten off neatly, and weave in your ends — that’s the difference between homemade and handmade.

Browse our Crochet Patterns to try these tips out.

How to Read a Crochet Pattern — Free Video Tutorial

Do crochet patterns look like code? Tina’s ten keys to reading them with confidence — abbreviations made simple, US vs UK terms, repeats and stitch counts, gauge swatches, turning chains and charts — with Al on printing, ticking off rows and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Read the whole pattern through before you pick up your hook, like a story — and if the pattern comes in sizes, highlight your size first.
2. Keep the pattern’s abbreviations list open beside you for the first rows; by row ten you’ll read the codes without thinking.
3. Check whether the pattern uses US or UK terms — a US single crochet is a UK double crochet, and mixing them up changes the finished size.
4. Brackets and asterisks are repeat signs: work the group between them again, as many times as the pattern says.
5. Check your stitch count against the pattern’s count at the end of every row or round, before you go on.
6. Make the gauge swatch, and change hook size until your stitches match the pattern’s — that little square decides whether the finished thing fits.
7. Print the pattern and tick off each row with a pencil, or use a row counter (Al’s rule) — you’ll never stand there wondering where you were up to.
8. Check whether your pattern counts the turning chain as a stitch — some do, some don’t, and missing that line drifts every row out by one.
9. Charts are read from the bottom up: right-side rows run right to left, wrong-side rows run back the other way. One row at a time, like a map.
10. “Work even” simply means keep going in the same stitch, with no increases and no decreases, for the rows named.

Browse our Crochet Patterns to try these tips out.

10 Amigurumi Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

New to amigurumi? Tina’s ten essentials — the magic ring, stitch markers and counting rounds, the invisible decrease, dense yarn-under fabric, stuffing and shaping that lasts — with Al on the safety-eyes rule and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start with a magic ring — it pulls up tight with no hole in the middle; practise it on scrap yarn until it’s second nature.
2. Use a stitch marker in the first stitch of every round and move it up as you go — amigurumi is one long spiral, and you will lose your place without one.
3. Count your stitches at the end of every round and check the number against the pattern.
4. Learn the invisible decrease: front loops only, so the decrease all but disappears and no stuffing peeks through.
5. Try yarn under instead of yarn over for a tighter, denser fabric — then stick with one way for the whole piece.
6. Go down a hook size from the yarn band and keep your tension firm; if you can see stuffing through the stitches, your hook’s too big.
7. Safety eyes are NOT safe for babies and toddlers (Al’s rule): for any child under three, embroider the eyes with yarn instead.
8. For older children and grown-ups, place safety eyes between the rounds the pattern names and check them from the front before clicking the backs on — look twice, click once.
9. Stuff little and often: small handfuls pushed right into the corners, firm but not straining the stitches, pinching and rolling the piece to shape it as you go.
10. Sew the parts on with a long tail and strong, secure stitches, and weave every end in well — a toy gets hugged hard, so build it to survive.

Browse our Crochet Patterns to try these tips out.

10 Granny Square Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

Squares coming out wonky, twisted or the wrong size? Tina’s ten essentials — the corner formula, turning on purpose, blocking every square the same and a unifying final round — with Al on the layout photograph, and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Use the same corner formula every square, every round — three trebles, two chains, three trebles in our book — and every corner comes out the same sharp shape.
2. Decide whether you’ll turn your work each round, and do it deliberately. Turning keeps the square straight; never turning lets it slowly twist. Mixing the two by accident gives you diamonds, not squares.
3. Count the stitches along each side as you finish every round — one cluster more or less per side is the whole difference between a square and a wonky kite.
4. Block every square to the same size — pin them all to the same measurements on the same board. Squares that match join like a dream; squares that nearly match fight you.
5. Weave the ends in as you go: two minutes per square now, instead of a whole sorry evening of tails at the end.
6. Lay the whole blanket out and photograph it before you join anything (Al’s rule): colour clashes, and the one square facing the wrong way, jump straight out of a photo.
7. Choose your joining on purpose: join-as-you-go is fast and light but harder to undo; sewing gives a flatter, sturdier finish. For a first blanket, Tina sews.
8. Work one final round in a single unifying colour around every square before joining — it frames each one and pulls the whole blanket together.
9. Let the border forgive: a border of two or three rounds in the joining colour quietly absorbs small differences between squares. A gentle steam and a pat helps too.
10. Keep a square-count checklist: total squares, rows by columns, ticked off as you finish each one — you’ll always know if you’re nearly there or only dreaming.

Browse our Crochet Patterns to try these tips out.

Crochet Gauge & Tension Made Easy — Free Video Tutorial

Why did that jumper come out two sizes too big? Tina and Al make swatching simple — measure right, adjust the hook, and get the fit you planned.

▶ Watch the video

1. Gauge decides the finished size — one extra stitch per 10 cm becomes a whole size over a jumper.
2. Always swatch: at least 15 cm square, in the pattern stitch, with the project yarn and hook.
3. Measure in the middle of the swatch, over 10 cm, and count part-stitches too.
4. Wash, dry flat and re-measure — the washed size is the size your piece will live at.
5. Too many stitches? Go up a hook size. Too few? Come down. Change the hook, never your tension.
6. Row gauge matters most for garments worked in pieces or with shaping.
7. Al’s rule: tension starts in your hands — relax your shoulders, let the yarn flow, and keep the same hold every session.
8. Breaks change tension — warm up with a few rows on the swatch after time away.
9. Yarn changes everything: cotton barely stretches, wool blooms, acrylic holds — swatch in the real yarn.
10. Staple the swatch into a notebook with the yarn, hook and measurements — your gauge library.

Browse our crochet patterns to try these tips out.

Joining & Edging Crochet Blankets — Free Video Tutorial

The follow-on to our Granny Squares video: three ways to join, corners that stay square, and borders that lie flat — no more wavy edges.

▶ Watch the video

1. Block every square to the same size before you join a thing — joins can’t fix different-sized squares.
2. Slip-stitch join through the back loops: fast, flat and forgiving, in a matching or contrast yarn.
3. Mattress stitch with a tapestry needle for an invisible seam on best blankets.
4. Join-as-you-go for the last round when you’re making squares over weeks — no marathon joining session.
5. Uneven sides? Add a plain round of doubles to the shorter square first — it hides a multitude of sins.
6. Lay the whole blanket out and label the rows before joining; one photo saves a hundred mistakes.
7. Al’s rule for borders: mark the four corners first, then space your stitches evenly between the marks.
8. Border round one: doubles all round, three doubles in every corner — this round sets the flatness.
9. Wavy edge? Too many stitches — drop a stitch every fifth or sixth. Tight, pulling edge? Add one.
10. Finish with a crab-stitch or picot round, block the whole blanket, and look at it from a distance with fresh eyes.

Browse our crochet patterns to try these tips out.

Knitting

10 Knitting Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

Just picked up a pair of knitting needles for the very first time? Tina’s ten little tips will set you right — the long-tail cast on, the only two stitches there are, catching dropped stitches early and blocking like you mean it — with Al on yarn-holding and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start with a smooth, light-coloured, medium-weight yarn — a ten-ply worsted is perfect — so you can see every stitch clearly while you’re learning.
2. Use the needle size printed on the yarn band; four or five millimetres is forgiving — and try bamboo or wooden needles, which grip the yarn so your stitches won’t slide off.
3. Learn the long-tail cast on: it’s stretchy, it’s neat, and it works for nearly everything you’ll ever make — one good cast on carries you a long way.
4. Here’s the secret: there are only two stitches, knit and purl — every cable and every lace pattern is just those two arranged in different orders.
5. Count your stitches every few rows: a dropped stitch will run like a ladder in a stocking, so catch it early and pick it back up with a crochet hook.
6. Tension comes from doing it the same way every time, not from pulling tight: keep your stitches on the fat part of the needle, not the tips, and drop those shoulders.
7. Know your terms (Al’s tip): our stocking stitch is America’s stockinette — same stitch, different name — and their worsted yarn is our ten-ply. Made a mistake? You can tink (that’s knit spelled backwards) or frog it — rip it, rip it.
8. Read the whole pattern before you begin, then knit a tension square — ten centimetres, measured honestly: if the thing has to fit, that little square matters.
9. Practise on something small first — a dishcloth or a little square: it forgives everything, and you can finish it the same day.
10. Weave in your ends, then block your work — a gentle wash, pin it out flat, and let it dry: that’s the difference between homemade and handmade.

Browse our Knitted Patterns to try these tips out.

Knitting for Babies — 10 Sizing & Safety Tips — Free Video Tutorial

Knitting for a baby? Tina’s ten essentials — sizes by age and how to check them, knitting the next size up, smooth washable yarns, safe finishes with no loose bits — with Al on cot safety and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Baby sizes go by age — 0–3, 3–6 and 6–12 months — but babies vary, so check the pattern’s actual measurements against the baby if you can. Age is a guide; measurements tell the truth.
2. When you’re between sizes, knit the next size up: babies grow fast, and slightly big this month is perfect next month.
3. Choose smooth, soft yarn, and avoid fuzzy halo yarns for newborns — loose fibres can wind around tiny fingers, and baby skin is easily annoyed.
4. Always choose washable fibres for baby knits; check the ball band before you fall in love with a colour.
5. Skip buttons for under-3s, or sew them on absolutely rock-solid — a loose button is a choking hazard. Embroidered details give the same sweet finish and can never come off.
6. Sew seams as flat as you can, with mattress stitch and a light press — bulky seams rub against brand-new skin.
7. Nothing loose in the cot (Al’s rule): no long ties, ribbons or drawstrings, and nothing that can detach, on anything a baby sleeps in or under.
8. Use a stretchy cast-off at necklines — baby heads are big, dressing is a wrestling match, and a neck that won’t stretch won’t get worn.
9. Your tension square matters more, not less, at baby scale: half a stitch out on a tiny cardigan is a whole size.
10. When gifting, add a little label or card with the size and washing instructions — new parents will thank you at 3 a.m.

Browse our Knitted Baby Patterns to try these tips out.

10 Blocking & Finishing Tips for Knit & Crochet — Free Video Tutorial

Finished pieces looking a bit tired and wobbly? Tina’s ten essentials — wet blocking vs steam by fibre, pinning to measurements, invisible mattress stitch, ends woven in three directions and buttons with a proper shank — with Al on measuring twice and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Blocking is not optional — it’s the professional finish. A wash, a gentle stretch and a flat dry sets every stitch in its place.
2. Match the method to the fibre: wool and natural fibres love a wet block (soak, roll in a towel, pin out); steam suits small touch-ups and seams.
3. Pin out to the pattern’s measurements, not whatever size the piece fancies being — corners first, then the middles, easing as you go.
4. Join with mattress stitch for seams that all but vanish, then press the seam itself, gently — never the stitch pattern, which wants to keep its spring.
5. Weave ends in three directions — one way, back on itself, then off at an angle — and they’ll never work loose in the wash.
6. Be careful steaming acrylic: too much heat “kills” it and the piece goes limp for good. Test on your tension square first, never on the finished work.
7. Measure twice, pin once (Al’s rule): check both sides against each other — the two sleeves, the two fronts — before anything dries.
8. Square up motifs one by one: every square pinned to the same true square before joining, corners sharp, sides equal.
9. Sew buttons on with a thread shank, so the button sits proud with room for the layer beneath; flat-sewn buttons strain and pop off.
10. Block the pieces before you seam the garment — flat, true pieces sew up neatly, and making-up becomes the relaxing part.

Browse our Knitted Patterns to try these tips out.

Yarn Substitution Made Simple — Free Video Tutorial

Pattern calls for a yarn you haven’t got? Tina’s ten essentials — ball bands, total yardage over grams, fibre character, the non-negotiable tension square and dye lots — with Al on doing the maths before you buy, and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Everything you need to swap yarn is printed on the ball band: the weight, the fibre content and the metres in the ball. Read it before you fall in love with a colour.
2. Match total yardage, never just grams: work out the pattern’s total metres, then the new yarn’s ball count from its yardage. Fifty grams of cotton and fifty grams of mohair are different countries.
3. Fibre character changes everything: wool springs back, cotton hangs, alpaca drapes. Swapping fibres changes how the finished piece sits, stretches and wears.
4. The tension square is non-negotiable: knit it, wash it, measure it; if the numbers don’t match the pattern, no yardage maths will save you.
5. Ply is not thickness — compare wraps per inch, or wraps around a ruler, between the pattern yarn and your swap to be sure they’re really the same weight family.
6. Buy the same dye lot for anything bigger than a hat, and keep a band: dye lots differ more than you’d think, and a spare ball must match.
7. Do the total-yardage maths before you buy (Al’s rule): then add a ball or roughly 10% extra — cheap insurance against running out near the end.
8. The washcare has to suit the project’s life: a baby blanket needs machine-washable yarn, a good jumper deserves hand-wash wool.
9. Don’t mix unlike fibres in one project if you can help it — they shrink, stretch and age at different rates, and the piece can warp and pucker.
10. When in doubt, choose the yarn most like the original in spin and structure; like-for-like swaps behave, and your tension square will tell you the truth.

Browse our Knitted Patterns to try these tips out.

Fixing Common Knitting Mistakes — Free Video Tutorial

Dropped a stitch? Twisted a row? Tina and Al show you how to rescue your knitting calmly — and when it’s kinder to rip it back.

▶ Watch the video

1. Count your stitches at the end of every few rows — the moment the number changes is the moment to fix it.
2. Rescue a dropped stitch with a crochet hook: catch the loop and ladder it back up, knit-wise on knit rows, purl-wise on purl rows.
3. A stitch that climbs into a ladder and keeps running can be pinned with a locking marker or safety pin until you get back to it.
4. Twisted stitches face the wrong way: slip the stitch off, turn it around and put it back so its right leg sits in front.
5. Knit two together by accident? Find where the count changed, work back to it, and tink — knit backwards, stitch by stitch.
6. Split yarn (the needle pierced the strand): work back that one stitch and re-knit it whole.
7. Al’s rule: when the mistake is more than a couple of rows back or it changes the shape, rip it back calmly to a lifeline — frogging is a skill, not a failure.
8. Use a lifeline: thread waste yarn through a good row with a tapestry needle before any tricky section.
9. Put a marker at every pattern repeat — a mistake can’t hide when it has to fit between two markers.
10. Always check your work in daylight and off your lap — most mistakes are easy to see, and fix, the moment you can actually see them.

Browse our knitting patterns to try these tips out.

Macramé & Needlecraft

10 Macramé Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

New to macramé? Tina’s ten essentials — choosing the right cord, the four knots that make almost everything, cutting generously and keeping tension even, and finishing your fringe like you mean it — with Al on safe-hanging and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start with soft single-twist cotton cord, three to four millimetres thick — it shows every knot clearly and brushes out into lovely fringe.
2. Learn just four knots — lark’s head, square knot, double half hitch and gathering knot — and you can make almost anything.
3. Cut your cord about four times your finished length; knotting eats length fast, and spare cord beats a short piece.
4. Keep tension even: the same snug pull every time, and let the work hang so gravity helps.
5. Hang your work up to knot it — a dowel over door hooks beats knotting flat on a table.
6. Count your knots row by row before starting the next, so both sides stay symmetrical.
7. Hang finished pieces safely — a proper hook into something solid, and keep dangly bits away from little hands and pets (Al’s rule).
8. Trim the fringe straight with sharp scissors, then brush it out for that soft, feathery finish.
9. Practise on a key ring or a mini plant hanger first — you’ll use all four knots and finish the same afternoon.
10. Mistakes untie: if a row goes wrong, unknot back to the last good row and do it again.

Browse our Macramé Patterns to try these tips out.

10 Needlecraft Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

New to needlecraft? Tina’s ten essentials — fabric counts made simple, separating strands without the tangles, starting without knots, keeping the back tidy and framing your finished work like art — with Al on needle-watch and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start with 14-count Aida and a simple chart — the count is stitches to the inch, and Aida’s woven squares keep every cross honest.
2. Separate your strands: stitch with two of the six, peeled away one at a time so they don’t knot.
3. Start without a knot at the back — use the loop start, or leave a tail and stitch over it to anchor it.
4. Keep the back tidy: short carries and no long jumps across the fabric, so it lies flat, frames beautifully and lasts.
5. Make every top stitch lean the same way — that’s what gives cross stitch its smooth, professional finish.
6. Work in a hoop or frame, with the right needle: a blunt tapestry needle, size 24 or 26, for cross stitch; a sharp one for embroidery.
7. Mind your needles (Al’s rule): keep a needle book or magnet handy, count them out and back, and stitch in good light.
8. Wash gently and press face-down on a towel before framing, so the stitches stay plump and proud.
9. Frame it like the art it is: stretched over board, laced square, with a little breathing room in the frame.
10. Practise on a little sampler first — one small hoop, finished properly, beats a big piece abandoned in a drawer.

Browse our Needlecraft Patterns to try these tips out.

Beginner Sewing Tips: Your First Plush Toy — Free Video Tutorial

Never sewn a soft toy? Tina and Al walk you through fabric, faces and stuffing — including the safety rules for toys going to little ones.

▶ Watch the video

1. Pick an easy first pattern: few pieces, no darts, no tiny limbs — a cushion-shaped animal is perfect.
2. Choose forgiving fabric: quilting cotton, flannel or fleece; save the stretchy and slippery fabrics for later.
3. Pin the pattern down, cut on a flat table, and mind the grain line so your toy doesn’t twist.
4. Transfer every marking — eyes, nose, joins — before you unpin; a lopsided face starts here.
5. Sew the face before you sew the body, while the piece is flat and easy to handle.
6. Shorten your stitch on curves and pivot at corners with the needle down.
7. Al’s safety rule: for under-threes, embroider the face — no plastic eyes or buttons — and tug-test every seam.
8. Clip curves and trim corners before turning, so the shape comes out smooth, not lumpy.
9. Stuff little and often, pushing filling into ears and toes first with a chopstick.
10. Close the gap with ladder stitch, then give the toy a good cuddle-test squeeze before it meets its new owner.

Browse our sewing patterns to try these tips out.

Candles & Soaps

10 Candle Making Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

New to candle making? Tina’s ten essentials, straight from her own candle bench — wax types explained, wick sizing, fragrance loads, curing and the melt-pool rule — with Al on fire-watch and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Pick your wax with the end in mind: soy for jars and tins, paraffin for the strongest scent throw, beeswax for a long, natural burn.
2. Wick size makes or breaks the candle — match it to your jar’s width from the maker’s chart, and test one before you pour a batch.
3. Mind your temperatures: melt gently in a double boiler, and stir fragrance in at about sixty degrees for soy so it binds instead of burning away.
4. Respect the fragrance load: six to eight percent for soy is plenty, and only ever use fragrance oils made for candles.
5. Pour slowly into warmed jars to dodge the sinkholes and wet spots that spoil a pretty candle.
6. Centre the wick and keep it straight — a wick sticker at the base and a clothes peg rested across the jar top.
7. Never leave a burning candle alone (Al’s rule): away from curtains, kids and curious cats, on something heatproof, wick trimmed to five millimetres — and smother, never water, if wax ever catches.
8. Let soy candles cure for about two weeks before burning, so the scent throw is at its best.
9. First burn rule: burn until the melt pool reaches the edges — about an hour per two and a half centimetres across — or it will tunnel forever.
10. Keep a notebook for every batch: wax, wick, fragrance, temperatures and dates, so your best candle can be made again.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

10 Candle Care Tips — Free Video Tutorial

Got a handmade candle you love? Tina’s ten essentials — the first-burn memory, wick trimming, burn times, fixing tunnelling and keeping the scent — with Al on never leaving a burning candle alone, and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. The first burn sets the candle’s memory: burn it until the melt pool reaches the edges of the jar — about an hour per 2.5 cm across — or it will tunnel down the middle forever after.
2. Trim the wick to about 5 millimetres before every burn: long wicks smoke, soot and make the flame too tall; a short, neat wick gives a clean, even burn.
3. Burn for about an hour for every 2.5 cm across, and no longer than four hours at a stretch — then let the candle cool and set before lighting it again.
4. Keep candles out of drafts: a flickery flame is an uneven one, and drafts soot the jar and burn one side faster than the other.
5. Stop burning when about a centimetre of wax is left: below that the jar overheats, which can scorch the surface underneath and crack the glass.
6. Snuff the candle out, don’t blow it: a snuffer, or dipping the wick into the melt pool with a skewer, puts it out without smoke or splashed wax.
7. Keep the melt pool clean — no matches, wick trimmings or dust — and never leave a burning candle alone (Al’s rule): keep it well away from curtains, kids and curious cats, on something heatproof.
8. Fix tunnelling with a foil collar: wrap foil around the top, leaving a hole for the flame, and let it burn an hour or so until the rim melts down level.
9. Store candles lidded, cool and out of sunlight — scent fades in the heat, colours change, and dust sticks to a bare candle and smokes when lit.
10. Centre a drifting wick while the wax is still soft after a burn, nudging it straight with a skewer, so the next burn stays even.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

Candle Troubleshooting — Free Video Tutorial

Tunnelled candle? Mushroom wick? Tina and Al diagnose the ten most common candle problems — and Grandpa Al draws the safety line on cracked jars.

▶ Watch the video

1. Tunnelling: wrap the jar in a loose foil collar with a hole at the top and burn an hour — the walls melt back level.
2. A mushroom wick means the wick is too big or the burn went too long: extinguish, trim the carbon ball off to about 5 mm, relight.
3. A drowning wick: fish it upright with tweezers while the wax is soft and let it set before relighting.
4. A wick that’s wandered off-centre: guide it back to the middle with a skewer after each burn while the wax is liquid.
5. Rough, cratered tops on soy: pour a touch cooler, warm the jars first, and smooth the top with a heat gun.
6. Frosting (white snowy patches) is cosmetic only — a gentle heat-gun pass evens it out.
7. Al’s safety rule: a cracked or chipped jar retires the candle, full stop — melt the wax out into a sound jar with a new wick.
8. Weak scent usually means an old candle — burn the oldest first and store new ones cool, dark and lidded.
9. Sweating beads on top: blot gently and keep the candle out of hot spots and sunny windowsills.
10. Sinkholes beside the wick: poke relief holes as it cools and top up level; and never burn longer than about four hours.

Browse our Candles and Soaps range to try these tips out.

10 Soap Making Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

New to soap making? Tina’s ten essentials — cold process without the fear: lye safety first, trace explained, oils and butters, curing times and the beginner mistakes to skip, from the soaps she makes for our own shop — with Al on lye-watch and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Safety first, always: gloves on, goggles on, long sleeves — and no little helpers or pets underfoot while you work with lye.
2. Never guess your lye: run every recipe through a proper lye calculator, and weigh everything in grams.
3. Start with a simple three-oil bar: olive oil for gentleness, coconut oil (a third or less) for bubbles and hardness, and a little shea or cocoa butter.
4. Combine your lye water and melted oils at similar temperatures, around thirty-five to forty-five degrees, for a smooth, even trace.
5. Trace explained: blend in bursts until the batter is like thin custard and a drizzle leaves a trail on the surface — that’s light trace, your moment to pour.
6. Add fragrance and colour at light trace, with the mould right beside you — some fragrance oils race the batter thick in seconds.
7. Always add lye to water, never water to lye (Al’s rule): “snow falls on the lake” — stir somewhere airy, and rinse any splash with plenty of plain water.
8. Insulate the mould for about a day, unmould at one to two days, and slice while it’s firm like a block of cheese.
9. Cure your bars four to six weeks on a rack with air around them: harder, milder, and far longer-lasting.
10. Label and date every batch, and keep a notebook of what went in — your best bar, made again exactly.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

10 Melt & Pour Soap Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

The joyful, no-lye way to gorgeous soap in an afternoon. Tina’s ten essentials — choosing clear or white base, melting without boiling, fragrance and mica colour, clean layers, stained-glass embeds and beating glycerin dew — with Al on embeds and the upside-down rule he learned the hard way.

▶ Watch the video

1. Choose your base with the end in mind: clear base shows off embeds and layers like stained glass; white, goat’s milk or shea bases give creamy colour and hide beginner surprises.
2. Chop the base into small, even cubes before melting: even pieces melt evenly, with no stubborn lumps or scorched edges.
3. Melt low and slow: 20–30 second microwave bursts, stirring between, or a gentle water bath. Never let it boil — a boiled base turns bubbly, rubbery and sweats later.
4. Fragrance goes in off the heat, roughly one to two teaspoons per 250 g of base (follow your base maker’s guide): too much can cloud a clear base and soften the bar.
5. Colour with micas and proper soap colourants, pre-mixed in a spoonful of melted base. Food colouring bleeds, migrates and can stain the washcloth.
6. For clean layers: let each layer form a firm skin, spritz with rubbing alcohol, then pour the next layer warm, not scorching — the alcohol bonds the layers so they never split.
7. Al’s embed rules: spritz embeds with alcohol so they grip, set them into soap that has cooled a touch (piping hot soap melts and sinks them), and plan your picture upside down — the bottom of the mould is the face of the soap.
8. Banish bubbles: pour low and slow down the side of the mould, then spritz the surface with rubbing alcohol — bubbles pop and you get a glassy finish.
9. Wrap bars as soon as they’re unmoulded: glycerin pulls moisture from the air and beads as dew, so a snug wrap of cling film keeps them dry and glossy.
10. Unmould after a few hours (overnight for a big loaf), slice smoothly, label with scent and date, store wrapped and dry, and enjoy within about a year.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

Bath & Body

10 Tips for Creating Bath Bombs — Free Video Tutorial

Want to make bath bombs at home that actually fizz? Tina’s ten essentials — the 2-to-1 base recipe, what every ingredient does, colour and fragrance that behave, moulding, troubleshooting and storage — with Al on keeping the tub safe, not slippery.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start with the classic bath bomb base recipe: 2 parts bicarb soda (baking soda) to 1 part citric acid — a starter batch is 2 cups of bicarb to 1 cup of citric acid. That pair is what makes the fizz.
2. Know what the extras do: ½ cup of cornflour (cornstarch) slows the fizz and helps the bomb set hard, and ½ cup of Epsom salts makes a soothing soak. Bombs still fizz without them — just faster and softer.
3. Sift and whisk the dry ingredients until there isn’t a lump left: lumps of citric acid make rough, spotty bombs that fizz unevenly. Wear gloves — citric acid stings dry hands.
4. Add colour while the mix is dry: 1–2 teaspoons of mica powder whisked through gives beautiful colour that won’t stain. Never use liquid dyes — the water in them sets the fizz off in the bowl.
5. Add fragrance while the mix is still dry: a skin-safe fragrance oil or essential oil at 1–2% of the batch, never over the maker’s safe rate, plus a teaspoon of polysorbate 80 so the oils disperse through the bathwater instead of floating on top.
6. Bind it slowly: witch hazel in a spray bottle, a few spritzes at a time, stirring as you go, until the mix feels like damp sand and holds a squeeze. Fizzing in the bowl means you’ve gone too far. A spoon of melted coconut oil helps it hold.
7. Al’s safety rules: polysorbate 80 stops oils pooling on the water and making the tub slippery — but hop out carefully anyway. Bath bombs are for unbroken skin only, watch little ones in the tub, and if your skin is sensitive, try a small bomb first.
8. Mould firmly: heap the mix into both halves of a round mould, overfull, press the halves together hard and hold a few seconds, then tap gently, ease the mould away and rest the bomb on a soft towel. Crumbles mean it wanted one more spritz.
9. Fix the failures: crumbling bombs are too dry (one more spritz next time); bombs that swell, crack or grow warts got too wet, or the day was too humid — bath bombs hate steamy kitchens, so pick a dry day. Leave finished bombs untouched for a day or two to harden right through.
10. Store them right: once rock hard, wrap each bomb in shrink wrap or keep them in an airtight jar somewhere cool and dry — never a steamy bathroom — and use within about six months while the fizz and fragrance are at their best.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out: https://alandtina.com/product-category/candles-and-soaps/

10 Shower Steamer Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

No bath? No worries. Tina’s ten essentials for shower steamers that fizz from first splash to last — the classic 2-to-1 base, the cornflour trick that makes them last, menthol crystals, bold eucalyptus oils, and moulding that doesn’t crumble — with Al on splash-zone placement and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start with the classic base: two parts bicarb soda to one part citric acid, whisked together dry (a cup of bicarb and half a cup of citric makes a good small batch).
2. Add a tablespoon of cornflour or kaolin clay — it slows the fizz right down, so the steamer lasts the whole shower instead of vanishing in the first minute.
3. Bind the mix with witch hazel from a spray bottle, a few spritzes at a time — never pour liquid in, or it fizzes in the bowl. It should feel like damp sand that holds a squeeze.
4. Menthol crystals are the magic: crush about a teaspoonful fine and whisk it through the dry mix. A little goes a very long way.
5. Choose bold essential oils that cut through steam — eucalyptus, peppermint, rosemary — steamers can carry a stronger scent than bath bombs, as they melt in shower water rather than soaking against skin.
6. Pack the mix into silicone moulds or a muffin tin and press it down hard — a loosely packed steamer crumbles. Dry a full day, two is better, before unmoulding.
7. Al’s placement rule: on the shower floor at the edge, out of the direct stream but in the splash zone. Never soak in one like a bath bomb (the menthol is far too strong for bath water), and keep it away from eyes and little kids.
8. Keep water away until showtime: dry steamers somewhere airy away from the steamy bathroom, then seal them in a jar — humidity quietly sets them off.
9. Go easy on colour: a light dusting of mica looks lovely, but strong colours can tint the shower floor or grout. Rinse the tray when you hop out.
10. Label every jar with the scent and the date, and make small, fresh batches — steamers are at their best within a few months, while the scent is still bold.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

10 Bath Salt & Soak Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

The easiest make in the bath and body cupboard, done properly. Tina’s ten essentials — the Epsom base, blending salts, scenting safely, colouring with clays and layering jars like a gift shop — with Al on the muslin bag trick that saves your drains, and warm-water testing duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Epsom salt is your base: it dissolves beautifully and makes the soak your muscles thank you for. Work on about two cups of finished salts for a good, deep bath.
2. Blend your salts: half Epsom and half coarse sea salt or pink Himalayan gives texture and sparkle — just keep the coarse grains modest so everything still dissolves.
3. Stir in a little bicarb soda (about half a cup to a two-cup batch): it softens the water and leaves skin feeling silky instead of squeaky.
4. Scent safely: stir essential oils into a teaspoon of carrier oil or dispersant first, then through the salts, so the oil never floats on the bath in droplets against your skin.
5. Colour gently with natural clays and micas — pink clay for blush, green clay for a garden soak. Skip strong food colourings; they can tint the tub.
6. Layer it up for gifts: alternating bands of coloured salts pressed firmly into a clean, dry jar, filled right to the top so the layers don’t shift.
7. Al’s muslin bag trick: if you’re adding rose petals or lavender buds, spoon the salts into a little muslin bag under the tap — all the perfume, none of the petal soup in the drain.
8. Keep them dry: salts drink in moisture and set like concrete in a steamy bathroom, so store airtight somewhere cool and dry, and always scoop with a dry spoon.
9. Use enough and dissolve it properly: one to two cups under warm running water, swished until every grain has melted, then soak for fifteen to twenty minutes.
10. Label every jar with the ingredients and the date: salts keep for many months stored dry, but the scent softens over time — and an ingredient list is a kindness for sensitive skin.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

10 Sugar Scrub Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

The scrub that leaves skin polished soft, from two pantry staples. Tina’s ten essentials — the golden 2-to-1 ratio, which sugar for which skin, the emulsified upgrade that rinses clean, and keeping water (and mould) out of the jar — with Al on the slippery-tub rule and elbow-testing duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Learn the golden ratio: two parts sugar to one part oil (one cup of sugar, half a cup of oil). Too much oil and it swims; too little and it’s crumbly and harsh.
2. Pick your sugar for the job: fine white sugar is gentlest, brown sugar is softer still and kind to dry skin, and coarse raw sugar is for heels and hardworking feet only — never a coarse scrub on your face.
3. Choose oils that suit your skin: sweet almond, jojoba and grapeseed sink in light; coconut oil is rich but sets firm in a cool bathroom, so blend it with a liquid oil.
4. Next level: an emulsified scrub. A little emulsifying wax means the scrub turns creamy on wet skin and rinses away clean instead of leaving an oil slick.
5. Scent gently: around half to one teaspoon of essential oil per cup of scrub is plenty, and go easy with citrus oils, which can make skin extra sensitive to the sun.
6. Use it right: on damp skin, in gentle circles, two or three times a week — and skip broken, sunburnt or freshly shaved skin.
7. Al’s safety rule: any oily scrub makes the tub or shower floor slippery, so put a mat down, rinse the floor afterwards, and warn the next person in.
8. Keep water out of the jar: wet fingers carry water in and water grows mould, so scoop with a dry spoon and make small jars you’ll finish in a few weeks.
9. Shelf life: a plain scrub needs no preservative (there’s no water in it) but is best within two to three months; oil rising to the top is normal — just stir it back through.
10. Jar it up pretty and label it honestly: scent, ingredients, date and a use-by. Two colours layered in a clear jar makes a gift anyone would love.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

10 Body Butter & Lotion Bar Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

Rich, silky skin food from three simple ingredients. Tina’s ten essentials — the classic trio, the firmness see-saw, chill-then-whip for cloud-soft butter, the arrowroot trick, and dead-easy 1:1:1 lotion bars — with Al on melting safety and chief jar-holding duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start with the classic trio: shea butter for softness, cocoa butter for firmness, and coconut oil to melt it all together on your skin — roughly equal thirds.
2. Learn the see-saw: more hard butter makes a firmer butter, more liquid oil a softer one. About half butters, half oils is a good soft-whip balance.
3. Melt gently, always gently: a heatproof jug in a saucepan of warm water, low and slow, never boiling — fried butters go grainy.
4. For whipped butter, chill first until it just sets at the edges (about twenty to thirty minutes in the fridge), then whip for a full five minutes to soft, fluffy peaks.
5. A teaspoon of arrowroot powder or tapioca starch whipped through at the end cuts the greasy feel and helps the butter sink in beautifully.
6. Lotion bars are simpler still: equal parts beeswax, butter and oil (1:1:1), melted and poured into moulds or tins; the bar melts between warm hands.
7. Al’s melting rules: never leave melting oils and wax alone on the stove, keep water well away from the pot (water in hot wax spits), and wipe spills up straight away.
8. Scent lightly — half to one percent essential oil — and stir it in once the mix has cooled a little, so the scent doesn’t float off in the steam.
9. Store cool: butters and bars melt in warm weather, so a cool cupboard (the fridge mid-summer); a whipped butter that softens and resets denser is still perfectly good.
10. Label and date every jar and tin: best within about six months, and a whipped butter firms up over its first few days before settling at its true texture.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

10 Lip Balm & Salve Tips for Beginners — Free Video Tutorial

Tiny tubes, big satisfaction — and the most forgiving make in the cupboard. Tina’s ten essentials — the simple 1-wax-1-butter-2-oils start, weighing in grams, the cold spoon test, lip-safe flavour at the right rate, and tubes-versus-tins firmness — with Al on warm pours, sinkhole patrol and tray duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start simple: one wax, one butter, two oils. A good first batch is roughly equal parts beeswax and cocoa or shea butter, with twice that in liquid oils.
2. Weigh everything in grams: lip balm batches are tiny, and a spoonful’s difference throws the texture right off — kitchen scales beat teaspoons every time here.
3. Melt gently: wax, butter and oils in a heatproof jug standing in a small saucepan of warm water, stirred until clear, never boiled or microwaved hard.
4. Do the cold spoon test: dip a cold spoon in the mix and let it set a minute — too hard, add oil; too soft and greasy, add wax. One minute now saves the whole batch.
5. Flavour with lip-safe flavour oils only, about 1–3% at most (the maker prints the limit: stay under it) — many essential oils and kitchen flavourings are not safe on lips.
6. A tiny touch of honey (about a teaspoon per small batch) stirred through warm adds gentle sweetness — much more and it separates; a pinch of stevia is the tidy alternative.
7. Al’s pouring rules: pour warm, not hot — a scorching pour shrinks the balm and leaves sinkholes in the middle. Fill to the brim and top up the dips as they cool.
8. Match the firmness to the container: tubes need a firmer balm that glides without collapsing, while tins and salves can be a little softer and creamier.
9. Let them set undisturbed at room temperature for a couple of hours (overnight is better) before capping, moving or testing, or you’ll fingerprint and dent every top.
10. Label every batch — flavour, ingredients, date. Balm keeps six to twelve months stored cool and out of the sun; hard or grainy balm can be gently remelted and repoured.

Browse our Candles and Soaps to try these tips out.

Family Learning

10 Tips for a Calmer Bedtime Story Routine — Free Video Tutorial

Bedtime more battle than bliss? Tina’s ten essentials for a calm bedtime story routine — the same-time wind-down, lights low, slow reading, character voices and the closing-line sleep cue — with Al on short-and-finished stories and the warm milk run.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start the wind-down at the same time every night: rhythm beats length, and a short story at a regular time settles a child better than a long one at a different time each day.
2. Dim the lights and put screens away 30 minutes before story time — low light and quiet voices are the runway to sleep.
3. Let the child choose the story: two choices is plenty, and a little one who picks the book settles faster than any rule can settle them.
4. Read slower than feels natural, and let your voice drop softer and lower as the story ends — you’re lowering their heart rate with it.
5. Give each character its own voice: a squeaky mouse and a rumbly bear mean kids listen twice as hard.
6. Pause halfway and ask one little question — “What do you think the koala will do next?” — to keep little minds inside the tale.
7. Keep stories short on tired nights (Al’s rule): one story finished properly beats three rushed ones, and complete feels calm.
8. Use audio stories for the nights you’re away — a familiar voice settles a child nearly as well as you beside them.
9. End with the same closing line every night, said the same way — it becomes their sleep cue.
10. Keep a little basket of printed stories right by the bed: no scrambling in the dark, no screens, just reach, read and rest.

Browse our Bedtime Stories, in print and audio, to try these tips out.

10 Finger Puppet Storytelling Tips — Free Video Tutorial

Turn a knitted kangaroo on your finger into a story they’ll ask for nightly: Tina’s ten puppet storytelling essentials — two-puppet starts, voices and catchphrases, the cushion stage and the goodnight finish — with Al on the wombat waddle and keeping the theatre respectable.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start with just two puppets: a chat between two little characters is the easiest show for young ones to follow — and to perform.
2. Give every puppet a voice and a catchphrase — children wait for the catchphrase and join in the moment it lands.
3. Let the child wear a puppet and join the story, not just watch: a child inside the story listens longer and laughs louder.
4. Act out the animal — hop the kangaroo, waddle the wombat, flap the cockatoo — the movement is half the fun.
5. Hide the puppets behind a cushion “stage” for surprise entrances: surprise is the cheapest special effect there is.
6. Retell the bedtime story you just read, using the puppets — hearing a tale twice is how it sinks in and stays.
7. Keep your puppets in a little pouch (Al’s rule): special things live in a special place, and when the pouch comes out, it’s show time.
8. Ask the puppet questions: shy little ones will tell a friendly puppet things they’d never tell a grown-up.
9. Make one puppet the “silly one” who gets things wrong — children roar correcting it, and correcting is learning in disguise.
10. End every puppet show the same way: the puppets say goodnight, one by one — a gentle walk from show time to sleep time.

Browse our Aussie animal finger puppet patterns to try these tips out.

10 Tips for Teaching Little Ones Their ABCs — Free Video Tutorial

Teaching a little one their letters? Tina’s ten gentle essentials — one letter a week, animal anchors, tracing, singing, letter hunts and five-minute sessions — with Al on flashcards, mixing up the order, and losing gracefully at letter hunts.

▶ Watch the video

1. One letter a week beats the whole alphabet in a day: time to spot it, say it, trace it and own it — and the letters actually stay learned.
2. Anchor every letter to an animal: A is remembered as Alligator, B as Bandicoot, K forever as Kangaroo.
3. Trace the letter everywhere — in the air, in the sand, on your palm, on their back — movement locks the shape in.
4. Sing it: the alphabet song does half the teaching, so sing it in the car, in the bath, stirring the porridge.
5. Hunt the letter of the week on signs, cereal packets, number plates and books — make it a treasure hunt.
6. Put the alphabet print at child height, where little eyes actually land, so it teaches quietly every day.
7. Mix up the order once they know the song (Al’s rule): real learning shows when they know M out of order — keep it a game, not a test.
8. Praise the attempt, not just the right answer: warmly praised near-misses keep little learners brave.
9. Start with the letters in their own name — nothing motivates like “their” letters, and the pride pulls the rest of the alphabet along.
10. Keep sessions to five minutes and stop while it’s still fun — short and joyful beats long and dutiful every time.

Browse our ABC animal alphabet prints to try these tips out.

10 Trivia Night Tips for Family Fun — Free Video Tutorial

Running a family quiz night? Tina’s ten essentials — mixed questions, a performing host, generation teams, dad-joke rounds and the easiest-question finish — with Al reigning champion of the dad joke round and holding the wooden spoon in every other category.

▶ Watch the video

1. Mix easy and hard questions — and make sure everybody scores early; save the brain-melters for late, when confidence is up.
2. Pick a host who performs, not just reads: voices, pauses and a little suspense — a question performed is entertainment.
3. Team up the generations, grandparents and kids on the same side: they cover each other’s gaps, and the best family stories follow.
4. Throw in a dad-joke round between sets — points for the best worst joke — to rest the brains and lift the energy.
5. Use picture and music rounds, not just questions: different rounds suit different brains and keep the table lively.
6. Keep rounds to 10 questions — pace is everything at trivia.
7. Have a silly prize for last place (Al’s rule): a paper crown, something daft — when bottom place wins a laugh, nobody fears finishing last.
8. Let the kids host one round: they take it enormously seriously, and the photos alone are worth the evening.
9. Break ties with a joke-off or a dance-off, never an argument — nobody remembers who won; everybody remembers the dance-off.
10. End on the easiest question of the night, one the whole table can shout together, and send everyone home smiling on a win.

Browse our trivia and Aussie dad joke books to try these tips out.

Printable Planners & Journals

Getting the Best from Printable Planners & Journals — Free Video Tutorial

Bought a printable planner and not sure where to start? Tina and Al cover printing at the right size, paper, binding and the weekly habit that makes it work.

▶ Watch the video

1. Always print at 100% — “Actual size”, never “Fit to page”, or your boxes shrink and your disc holes wander.
2. Start with the pages you’ll actually use: a weekly spread and one list page beat forty pages you’ll never open.
3. Know your page size before you print — A4 vs US Letter changes the margins.
4. Set print quality and paper type to match the paper in the tray.
5. Slightly heavier paper (120 gsm or so) stops pen bleed-through and feels like a bought planner.
6. Bind it at home: ring binder, disc-bound, stitched spine, or a folder per month.
7. Al’s rule: test-print ONE page first — check size, margins and colour before printing the whole set.
8. Undated pages never go stale — write dates in by hand and print on demand.
9. Do a five-minute weekly review with your morning cuppa, and move unfinished jobs forward.
10. Keep a small kit — pens, washi, sticky notes — with the planner, so using it is a pleasure.

Browse our printable planners and journals to try these tips out.

Christmas & Seasonal

10 Christmas Craft Tips — Free Video Tutorial

Dreaming of a handmade Christmas? Tina’s ten essentials — starting small and early, quick-win bauble covers and stockings, a classic palette with a touch of metallic, batch-making and personalised finishing — with Al on tree safety and tea duty.

▶ Watch the video

1. Start small, and start early — one little decoration finished in October is worth six grand plans in the week before Christmas.
2. Go for the quick wins first: bauble covers slip over plain baubles you already own and look a million dollars, and little stockings knit or crochet up fast.
3. Choose a classic palette and stick to it — red, green, cream and gold never date — then add just one metallic thread through one piece in each set.
4. Batch-make, assembly-line style: all the bodies first, then all the finishing, then all the hanging loops. Faster, tidier, and every one the same size.
5. Keep craft gifts and food gifts separate: yarn, glue and glitter have no business near the shortbread. Wrap food in proper food-safe wrapping and let the craft be the decoration on the outside.
6. Personalise with initials: one little letter stitched, crocheted or cross-stitched onto a stocking or gift tag turns a nice present into the one they keep forever.
7. Keep handmade decorations well away from heat and open flames (Al’s rule): no real candles near the tree, LED lights only near fabric and yarn crafts, and check the light cords.
8. Mix knit, crochet and stitch for a fuller tree — different textures side by side look richer than a tree full of any one craft.
9. Make your gift tags from scraps: card offcuts, a punched hole and a tiny stitched motif, and every present looks handmade before it’s even opened.
10. Photograph your makes before you gift them, one clear photo each in good light — then store the keepers flat, with tissue between the layers, ready for next December.

Browse our Christmas patterns to try these tips out.

Want the techniques in writing, step by step? Our Stitch Library has a guide for every stitch on this page.