It's been an exciting week at Curlicue HQ; we've been celebrating our first anniversary of creating beautiful, eco-friendly wrapping paper. In honour of our proud achievement, we've launched some of our latest prints for 2020!  

We wanted to introduce you to each one of our prints personally so that you can see them in all of their gorgeous, uniquely designed, glory. What better way to kick-off on a warm summer day than with our brightest, happiest print - Zest For Life.

Zest For Life 

When we saw this print, designed by the incredible Kiwi and the Bear, we fell in love. How could you not? When all the world was closing around us, this bright and colourful print made us smile. That's what gift-giving is all about - making people smile. 

If you want to appreciate all the bright-sparks in your life, why not choose our gorgeous Zest For Life, Happy Birthday print. Made on recycled and fully recyclable paper with zero plastic and printed with vegetable ink, you can make your favourite people smile with our Zest For Life print. All the while knowing that you're doing so without harming the planet.

In honour of all things zesty, we've compiled a list of some of our favourite orange-tastic activities and recipes. Perfect ideas if you've run out of things to do with the kids over the Summer holidays. There's only so much Peppa Pig one household can take. Enjoy and spread some smiles today! What are you waiting for? Buy your own piece of sunshine here.

Ice Lollies

As temperatures sky-rocket, we are craving the freshest ice lollies to keep us cool in the heat. We are a little obsessed with this recipe from Jude's Ice Cream & Desserts Cookbook. By making our own lollies, we're also not consuming the plastic wrapping from store-bought lollies - a simple swap!

They’re super easy to make, delicious and just like our wrapping paper, they’re vegan! Here is the recipe to create 4 of these tasty lollies.

What You'll Need: 

• 5 - 7 Large Oranges (to make around 300ml of juice).

• A squeeze of fresh lime juice.

• Lolly Moulds*.

How to Do it:

1. Juice those yummy oranges. If you don't have a juicer, just use good old strength. Squeeze those oranges and use a fork to get the last drops of juice. 

2. Add a squeeze of fresh lime to the orange juice and adjust to your taste.

3. Pour your orange and lime mixture into lolly moulds until each one is three-quarters full. Put the moulds in the freezer upright for an hour or so. After an hour, place an ice-lolly stick into each mould.

4. Continue to freeze the lollies for a further 3 hours, ideally overnight, until solid. 

5. Take the moulds from the freezer and, very quickly, dip the moulds briefly into hot water. The hot water will help ease the lollies out to freedom.  

6. Serve straight away! 

*CURLICUE TIP: Don't worry if you don't have ice lolly moulds, empty yoghurt pots make the perfect substitute, and you'll be taking a singe-use plastic and giving it another life.  

Crochet Reusable Product Bag 

Ever since the 5p charge for plastic bags began in supermarkets in 2015, supermarkets have reported a drop in plastic bags consumption by 86% (www.gov.uk). But, in the wake of Coronavirus, we are seeing those numbers go up. If you're still keen on buying your fruit plastic-less, why not create product bags to keep your oranges safe?

We love an afternoon spent with a craft, and these reusable crochet product bags are so easy to do. We may get a little carried away and make a bag for each beautiful wrapping paper print we have! 

You can download a free crochet pattern here from My Poppet.  

Feed the Birds

Our eco-system is so reliant on wildlife including birds. Native birds in every country are essential for pollination and seed dispersal to encourage flora and fauna to flourish so our habit can survive.

Help attract birds to your garden with these bird feeders that you can make with (or without) your little ones.

What You'll Need: 

• 1 Whole Orange 

• A Spoon

• Pencil or Pen

• String or Twine

• Scissors 

• Bird Seed 

How to Do It:

1. Cut the orange neatly in half and, using your spoon, scoop out all the delicious pulp until it's just the peel. 

2. Use the pencil to poke three holes, each one half an inch from the rim of the peel. Make sure they are evenly spaced as these holes will be used to hang your bird feeder.

3. Cut three pieces of twine around 9 inches long. 

4. Take one piece of twine and feed one end through one of the holes in the orange - make sure you feed from inside to the outside.  

5. Tie a knot in the twine on the rim to create a loop around the rim (see the image for reference). 

6. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the other pieces of twine. 

7. Once all three pieces of twine are fixed to the orange, tie all three pieces together at the loose end, with one big knot.

8. Fill with birdseed, hang outside and wait for the birds to come flocking to your garden or balcony. 

If you want to keep track of who is enjoying your bird feeder, the RSPB has some great birdwatching tips!

Tell Us All About It!

We hope you find some sunny smiles in our zesty activities. Please send pictures to @Curlicue_uk; we'd love to see you enjoying Summer.