My Handmade Christmas (pt 4) A card for life, not just for Christmas...

This year we (that is I, obviously, as it's generally me who buys, writes and distributes!) decided that we were going to keep cards to a minimum - immediate family, close friends and those good friends who live far away and whom we are not likely, but would dearly love to see over the festive period.

In keeping with the whole Handmade Christmas theme I decided it would be a really nice idea to make cards rather than buy them and way back in September I spotted a Cross Stitch magazine with a free 'make your own luxury cards' kit. The cards were cute, contemporary designs in bright colours and there were enough polka dots to keep even me happy. Perfect!! 

Now I, like many crafters, like to dabble, and I have done counted cross stitch in the past. In fact I'm sure there are two or three unfinished 'projects' floating around the place that I will get around to completing one day. The prospect of half a dozen simple motifs didn't phase me at all. 'Won't take long,' thinks I...

But cross stitch is a lot more time consuming than I remembered and each one of those little motifs actually took a lot longer than I thought they would...

...and several evenings were swallowed up putting needle and thread to aida...

 

Once all the motifs were stitched I ironed on some interfacing to the back of the aida and cut out each motif before combining them with other bits and bobs - sequins, felt shapes, buttons - to make up the cards.

I must confess I am quite chuffed with the results and I know they will be appreciated by those who receive them. I hope they will be kept and added to the decoration stash to be brought out year after year.

Despite my best intentions I really didn't have time to make everybody a card so I did the next best thing and sourced some really special cards in for everyone else...

These cards are designed by the lovely Becky Peabody, a Somerset based artist who creates fabulous collages from torn paper and, like me, has a passion for polka dots!  Her gorgeous collection of cards, postcards, notebooks, pictures and more are available from her website dotsandspots.co.uk . Go and have a look - you won't be disappointed :)

So all that's left to do now is finish off the presents and wrapping and get stuck into some Christmas baking...

My Handmade Christmas (pt 3) Dried Orange Garlands

What is it about oranges that so sums up Christmas? They are said to represent the gift of Gold in the Nativity story and in the days before electronic gadgets and must-have toys they were an essential, and much anticipated stocking gift. The glorious orangey scent blends so well with spices - cinnamon, cloves and ginger to create a quintessential Christmas fragrance that fills my home thanks to a couple of well placed essential oil burners that I keep topped up over the festive period.

Piles of mandarins and clementines in their little red net bags fill the fresh fruit section of the supermarket at this time of year and a fair few of them have found their way into my shopping basket and home, where they are currently residing in a basket with some unshelled walnuts looking oh-so-christmassy.

This year I decided to have a go at making some orange decorations and, rather than buy ready dried orange slices, I thought I'd do it from scratch and dry some myself. After all, how hard could it be?

So first of all you need a couple of nice firm oranges. Not the above mentioned clementines et al but the big ones you might juice for breakfast if you were feeling a bit decadent...

Cut them into fairly thick slices - about 5-10mm

and lay them all out on a baking tray.

Pop them in the oven on it's lowest setting for a couple of hours until they are completely dried out.

Then transfer them onto a wire rack to cool...

et voila! Dried orange slices ready to be made into pretty, festive decorations!

Well that's the theory anyway...

As you can see some of mine turned out a little too crispy round the edges and not quite as 'pretty' as the commercially dried slices. But I did them myself and that's what counts :)

And strung together on some red gingham ribbon I think they pass muster!

The rest look very pretty displayed in this little glass jar and, although they may not look perfect, they smell divine.

Which is, after all, the whole point!

Now I have some presents to finish off as there are only 10 sleeps till the big day :)

My Handmade Christmas (pt 2) Deck the Halls...

If there is one thing I have learned since having Riley it's that my time is no longer my own. In the old days the decorations would come down from the loft and we would spend a lazy weekend tinselling, hanging lights, dressing the tree and generally making the place look as festive as possible. Even last year Riley was small enough to nap for a couple of hours during the day so I could 'get on with it'. No more...

Now it has to be done in stages to accomodate a small boy's attention span and so as not to stretch mummy's patience too thin...

So the tree went up (see My Handmade Christmas (pt 1) ) and that was about as much as we could do in one day. Next job was to finish dressing the 'Christmas Room' (aka the conservatory).

The dresser has been...er...dressed...

This cute little Christmas clock I picked up from a charity shop a couple of years back. I love the little Santa pendulum, plus it plays Christmas tunes on the hour :)

Pride of place goes to this little Santa made by my other half when he was at primary school which makes it over 20 years old!(not going to tell you HOW much over - he might sulk) 

Who says family heirlooms have to be valuable pieces? It might just be some scraps of felt and a toilet roll but it's absolutely priceless.

I bought a lovely green wreath from the last Christmas Fair I was selling at. It is packed full of holly, evergreens and berries and I have added some of our glittery pine cones and dried orange slices (more on those in part 3!).

Even the kitchen has been properly pimped...

I added some cute mini glass baubles filled with 'angel hair' to my red gingham heart garland and some fab 'crystal' LED lights and tinsel to the stainless steel pan shelf...

More baubles in a glass vase on the window sill.

And finally, hanging on the tree ready to be filled with treats for him to find on Christmas morning,

 is the stocking Riley decorated with 'In the Night Garden' stickers.

His own little contribution to our Handmade Christmas.

Baby it's cold out there...

In fact cold is an understatement - someone told me it was -13 in the Forest today (7th December)! Most of last weeks snow had melted away by Sunday to be replaced by the most incredible 'frosting' I have ever seen :)

Jack has certainly been busy painting pretty pictures on our conservatory windows...

 

...not to mention my herbs.

Freeze dried sage? It looks so brittle it would just crumble between your fingers.

So me and the little man wrapped ourselves up nice and warm and ventured out into the chilly morning. The sun was actually shining when we set off but had disappeared behind a bank of cloud by the time we reached the end of the road. We are pretty exposed up here at one of the highest points of the Forest and the grey skies leant a certain bleakness to the view.

It's almost as if all the colour has been bleached out of the landscape...

...only the occasional flash of green leaf clinging on to the otherwise skeletal hedgerows.

But the cold wasn't going to stop Riley smiling...

...he loves the way the frosty grass crunches under his feet!

He also loved seeing the horses in their winter coats :)



But it's not all black, white and grey...

The bright scarlet berries look so pretty nestled among the shiny dark green holly leaves.

The extreme cold, frost and snow have been inconvenient for many people with some areas getting it much,much worse than we have, but it's unusual for us to experience it this side of Christmas. And, lets be honest, it makes snuggling up at home with the mulled wine, mince pies, pretty lights and colours of our decorations all the more appealing.

Stay warm people :)



My Handmade Christmas (pt 1) The Tree!!

So I have been a naughty blogger... I have completey failed to post anything since November 1st but I do have an excuse. To be fair I have a number of them but among the more relevent ones are 'I have been really busy making things and attending craft fairs and Christmas Shopping events (as a seller and shopper both)', 'I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on...', 'I'm soooo tired...' and 'I've been gearing up for my own handmade Christmas...'

Actually it's the first and the last one that have taken up the most of my time. My plush scented decorations have sold really well and kept me busy since the end of August - there are only a few left now (I don't want to think how many of them I actually made...) and they have ended up on my own tree :) The Christmas Fayre Frenzy has more or less finished and most of my Christmas stock has been sold (for the few remaining things check out my Folky shop and if you are on Twitter search #handmadechristmas for loads of other fabulous present and decoration ideas.)

And now on to my own Handmade Christmas...

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know that this has been my project for the second part of 2010 - promoting the idea of a Handmade Christmas to the world and encouraging you all to ditch some of the more commercial trappings of the festive season in favour of a more homespun approach. So have I been doing my bit? You betcha!!!

So first up is the tree...

Now I will confess that not all the decorations are handmade - I have been collecting baubles, stars, garlands, lights and tinsel for some years now and it would be a shame to waste them...

I love my red mirror baubles...

...and my glittery snowflakes. (The snowman was bought for Riley's 1st Christmas)

And I can't get enough of fairy lights!

But nestled in amongst the regular decorations are a few of my handmade scented ones, adding their festive fragrance to the room...

There are also a number of pine cones that I have collected with Riley over the past few months. Last week we had great fun painting them with glue and dipping them in silver glitter. I think you'll agree, the effect is lovely :)

and here's how it looks altogether...

So how many of you have your tree up now? I hope you had as much fun decorating it as we did!