Happy Christmas 2022 ………..

I’ve wanted a Charlie Brown type Christmas tree for ages now …… so for this year at least, this is the closest I’ve got.

Found in an Evesham charity shop, where else, for just £2.50 and three AA batteries, it would have been rude not to.  All I had to add was the shiny, red, jingle bell ornament. I love it.

With just a few days to go I’d like, with much love, to wish you all a  wonderful and peaceful Christmas, stay safe and after a short break I’ll hopefully be back ………. on the other side, on 2nd January 2023 and then "properly" on 9th January.

Mini Santa Chocolate Sleigh Decoration/Favours

This is the idea I’ve had in mind ………..

…….. ever since I bought a few packs of the little, white, wooden sleighs (2 for £1) from The Works when they first appeared in the shops.

There’s not a lot to them, it was just a case of waiting for the nets of chocolate Santas to arrive in Home Bargains (79p a net of 12) and then finding the right sized, wrapped chocolate to fit on the sleigh, in this case Marks and Spencer Italian Chocolate Assortment (£5) which look a bit like Santa’s sack(?).

I tied a narrow, red ribbon around the neck of the chocolate and then put two, self adhesive, foam pads on the bottom so that it would stick on to the sleigh.

I used two, self adhesive Christmas greetings (Hobbycraft, a couple of years ago) in either pink or green on the two sides of the sleigh runners.

An adhesive, foam pad was also stuck to the back of the Santas to attach them to the front of the chocolates.

As I said, there’s not an awful lot to them, it was just a case of trying to find components that were all in reasonable proportion to each another.

I think these would make a really cute table place setting/favours, perhaps changing one of the greeting tags on the side of the sleigh for the name of the various guests? 

Knitted Christmas Wreath

What’s a girl to do when she spots a knitted wreath kit in the Salvation Army charity shop for just £3.50, well, it would look rude not to!

The kit was originally from Aldi and I was curious, as to how hard could it be, for less than the price of a coffee and slice of cake I thought it would be worth a punt while saving the calories!

Oh my goodness the needles were mahooooooosive, as was the thickness of the yarn ……

…… a good thing the instructions seemed pretty simple.  The knitting itself couldn’t have taken me more than an hour.

When I saw it wrapped round the metal frame I loved the texture.  The yarn was far too thick for any needle, but it was possible to thread it between the stitches to join the two ends together and then to close the edge inside the ring, although it didn’t like too much pulling to tighten anything up.  I used the left over wool (almost a whole ball) to pad out the inside of the wreath.

I used some burlap ribbon that originally came with a hamper a couple of Christmas’s ago, to make the bow following a tutorial on YouTube.

To add a little more colour I glue gunned some red, wooden snowflake embellishments, putting a flat backed pearl in the centres.  I also threaded a length of jute thread in the back to hang the wreath from.

The wreath is now destined for Marc and the cottage, he loves a knitted novelty, he loves a wreath for any occassion and he loves a good charity shop bargain, so I can’t really go wrong to score maximum points can I?   I’ll post pictures later when it’s in situ and his reaction, especially as I’m going to put it back in the original box and suggest we tackle it together to busy ourselves during my stay!  Happy days …………

Christmas Cat Tree Decorations

This follows on from my post of last week, musing on making other variations of my experimental cat tree decoration.

I started by cutting part of a wooden fence embellishment just short of a length of a narrow craft stick. If/when I repeat this idea, I would make the fence slightly longer, so it’s more visible on the finished decoration.

I glued the craft stick along the bottom of the fence and then added two small beads stuck together to give something to glue the cat embellishment on to.  To give extra dimension the cat was stuck on to the front of the craft stick and onto the beads to keep it stable.

The cat was given a ribbon scarf and a Christmas tree.  It’s here that I wished the fence was just a centimetre longer on each side

The cat was given a fish (a wooden bead) and a foam, glittered hat (The Works pack of 21 for £1), all of which were given a generous coating of Ranger Glossy Accents to give it, in my opinion, a more “professional” look.

Then I went mad, adding a small, wooden Christmas plaque, glued on the bottom of the fence (The Works - pack of 6 for £1), a tiny, punched holly sprig with flat backed pearl berries on the cat’s hat, gems and nail art snowflakes on the tree, all topped off by a little Snow-Writer for the snow.

A small bail was glued to the middle of the back to allow the decoration to hang by a thin, gold cord .

I think I will return to the idea again in the new year, this was just another trial run which could be tweaked a little here and there.

Christmas Cat Tags or Christmas Tree Decorations

I don’t really “do” cats, but I have to admit that these old school, wooden cat embellishments that I got for 20p a pack a while back are sort of cute.

These tags were a bit of an experiment…………

……. using some extra thick cardboard pieces from a children’s game that I found for £1 in a charity shop. After realising their potential, I knew I couldn’t buy new card or wooden pieces for anywhere near that price on eBay, so it would have been rude not to buy them.  There were about 15 each of the squares and circles, plus a bag that could come in useful for something. The glittery, foam Christmas hats came from The Works (£1 for 21 in three different sizes).

I covered both sides of the cardboard circles with a small Christmas patterned paper, inserting a flat bail between the layers to tie/hang the tag/decoration by.  I also coloured the edges of the circles with a black Sharpie pen to hid the bare card colour.

The cat was given a scarf using scraps of red snowflake ribbon, before I gave him a hat, putting the reverse image of one on the back of his head just because I’m a bit anal about how my decorations look from the back too.

The final touch was a tiny, holly sprig punchie with three, red, pearl, flat back gems for the berries on the hat.

It’s the start of an idea, I am not 100% with the edging, it looks clumsy, but I think that may be down to my choice of paper and then pen rather than anything else. It’s also an idea that would look pretty OK on a Christmas card for a cat person, however, what I really want to try now is the cat sat sitting in front of a basic, flat, craft stick house shape, adding some snow and perhaps a fish ……….. so watch this space!

Spooky Halloween Haunted House Hanging Decoration.

Christmas stash busting ……….

Unfortunately, this idea came in to my head too late for this Halloween, but at least I can be sad enough to say I’ve already made a start on next year! The idea follows on from the Christmas Cabin decorations posted the other week and on which I think I can finally say I have used up all the Hobbycraft fairy doors I purchased a couple of Christmas’s ago (pack of 4 for £1). 

The cabins were made in exactly the same way as the Christmas ones ……

……. it’s just the embellishment that is completely different and over the top.

 

So, when the basic cabins were complete I started by colouring the front and back orange and the door, windows and roof purple. I’ll admit I had doubts about my choice of colours but by then it was too late.  I also gave both sides a couple of coats of quick dry, clear, gloss varnish for good measure ……….

……. before adding the green Dovecraft Enamel Effects wherever I fancied it oozing from before leaving to dry overnight.

Then  I sorted out all manner of MDF Halloween shapes (eBay) I still managed to have left,  all were coloured and Glossy Accented to an inch of their lives.

This was followed by all the fiddle fart, where I started by cutting down the already very small pieces of Halloween confetti to fit the windows,  putting a skull bead on the top of the porch canopy, a skeleton by the door  and bats on the roof. The door didn’t look right so I went over the embossed details with a fine, black, permanent pen, now it looked right!

Next came a ghost, black cat and headstones.

Then the detail just went insane.

All the creatures got tiny, nail art, gem eyes, tombstones a little engraving, and the door knob an eye ball ……..

…… but my favourite was the door wreath with another three watching eyes!

I’m not sure what other people do on the reverse of their flat decorations, I’m always curious.  I tend to embellish them too, because if they’re hung on a Halloween tree/branch it could be visible from another angle, anal I know! I just can’t help it ……..

….. and these were no exception, with the backs of any creatures coloured in to match their fronts, more oozing slime and bejewelled spiders to fill in some of the empty space.

I think these is my favourite Halloween idea of this year, even if they seemed to take an age to complete.  I suppose now I should turn to thinking Valentines and Easter cottages ……… I wonder if I can find any more doors, perhaps I didn’t get enough after all!