Enjoy a more natural fragrance in your home.

The thing with aerosol and other shop-bought room fresheners is that they can have a rather ‘chemical’ aroma.

For a more natural and much more subtle way to add fragrance to your room, make and display your own pot pourri.

It’s incredibly simple to make, and you can chose your own petals and spices depending on the aromas that you prefer.

And the really great thing is you’ll know that no one else’s home will have exactly the same fragrance as yours.

Use the website inks below to get started:

Make Stuff

Save On Crafts

DIY Life

All you need is a scanner and a piece of software to create your own unique screensaver full of your favourite photos.

There is lots of photo screensaver software that you can download – many of which are free.

Use the websites below to find one that suits you and start your own personal screensaver this morning.

Websites:

My Photos Screensaver

Google Photos Screensaver

Add a really personal touch to Easter this year by making and decorating your own chocolate eggs.

All you need are some plastic moulds, a cooking thermometer, greaseproof paper and plenty of good quality chocolate.   

Jane Asher’s website below supplies moulds and chocolate direct.

Jane Asher

Imaginative Icing

Home Chocolate Factory

Grab your camera and head for a local beauty spot to see how artistic you are.

Photography, like art, is very much in the eye of the beholder. But there a some guidelines to follow while you’re snapping to ensure you get the best possible pictures you can.

You don’t need loads of expensive equipment to get started, in fact, you can take some surprisingly good images with a simple disposable camera. If you have a decent pixel level on your mobile phone (over 300 is best) you can use that too. There are a few websites listed below to help you get started.

Why not send us some of the pictures you take – we might be able to publish some of them here.

Helpful websites:

www.photographytips.com

www.photolinks.com/resources.html

Blogs:

digital-photography-school.com/blog/

Worth a browse: ‘How to Photograph Absolutely Everything: Successful Pictures from Your Digital Camera’, Tom Ang (Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd)

Use whatever you have in the store cupboard and get creative with the kids.

Dried peas, lentils, pasta shells, rice, beans, Quaker Oats and many other things can be used to make a picture that children of all ages can get involved in.

Start by drawing out a very basic template. It could be fields with sky, clouds and perhaps a little house, a bowl of fruit or a face. You really don’t need any artistic skills for this.

Then gather as many different dried foods as you have in the cupboard. Get the children to help – they may spot ideas that you miss.

Shop bought glue such as a ‘sticky stick’ is ideal but a good alternative is flour and water with a pinch of salt. Mix to a consistency that is spreadable with a pastry brush but not too runny.

Then get the children to paste sections of the picture and stick on the food. Try to cover all the paper and leave to dry. That’s it. Fun and simple. Why not give it a go now?

Some ideas to try:

• Malted cereal squares make great fences and roofs
• Pasta shells make a great choppy sea
• Rice is a good general filler and ideal for clouds
• Bright yellow and orange lentils make interesting sunsets
• Spinach pasta is ideal for grassy areas
• Pasta spirals are great for frizzy hair