Just one more thing...

The trouble with making stuff, is that just when you've decided you've made enough stuff, you have an urge to make some more stuff.

So, I made 7 little sweetie bags to be favours on our Christmas table.

I knitted a handbag for Poppy. 

I baked a boiled fruit cake.

And I made myself a large gin and tonic!

Happy Christmas everybody!

Radiator dried oranges

I sliced a couple of oranges the other day, patted them dry with some kitchen roll and lay them over my radiators for 48 hours.

Why haven't I done this before? They came out great, lovely and crisp and orange!

I tied some around bunches of cinnamon sticks...

I hung some on the branches of the tree...

And the rest I scattered into my wooden bowl of pinecones.

Pillowcase sack; handmade Thursday

This is really easy way to make a drawstring bag which is ideal for a Christmas sack.

I bought some red pillowcases, turned the top over and stitched it to make a channel for the drawstring - that's it!!

J for James; must do an A and a P next.

The applique was a little more difficult, but only because I had to be very careful not to sew the two sides of the bag together. I've chosen fabrics which are not specifically Christmassy so this bag can be useful all year round.

More handmade Thursdays at White Lily Green.

Machine stitched Christmas card

Some fabric left over from the advent calendar, glued onto card then embellished with machine sewing.

Handwritten message and mounted onto a square card.

Advent bunting

I've had this idea in my head for ages - I'm not saying it's all my own idea, I'm sure it's been done before! 

I bought a metre of Christmas fabric and made 24 pockets (roughly 5 inches square) and stitched them at regular intervals along a length of bias binding.

The numbers are hand embroidered onto felt - oh, how I hate hand sewing!

And now it's strung around the hallway, ready to be filled with treats!

Bramley Apple Mincemeat

This is a recipe heavily adapted from one I found on t'internet.

In a large pan melt 20g butter.

Add 850g bramley apples (peeled, cored and sliced - or chopped if you want smaller apple bits.)

Add 400ml water and cook gently for about 20 minutes.

Add 450g sugar, 300g sultanas, 300g mixed fruit, 70g mixed peel, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and the juice of a lemon.

Heat gently until sugar dissolves, then boil for about 20 minutes, until mixture is thick. Keep stirring!!

Stir in 2 tablespoons of sherry and pour into sterilised jars. (I got 4 jars worth.)

Handmade Thursday - crochet bowl

 The urge to crochet came upon me this morning.

So I dug out half a ball of wool and a hook and started making a hat.

But alas, half a ball only made a very small hat.

It does make a rather fetching bowl though.

(I'm envisaging it holding foil wrapped Christmas sweeties.)

More handmade Thursdays here.

Finished in the nick of time...

... because no one wants a new calendar once January has already started!

It's easy to think you have plenty of time in September, when you recklessly purchase a couple of blank calendars in Lidl.

"That will make a nice Christmas present for the grandparents," you say to yourself. "I can just stick a few photos in, and embellish them a bit."

Then you have to actually find twelve photos. Preferably not all of the same child. Preferably taken at appropriate times during the past year so you can have a summery photo on the June page, and a Christmassy photo in December.
And the kids are sick through most of December and not very photogenic as a result.

And then you have to print them out, and find suitable backing papers for each page.
And then it takes longer than you thought to glue them all in straight. (Or wonky as the mood takes you.)

And you haven't got the right embellishments in your vast box of things, so you decide simple, uncluttered pages would be nice.

But eventually, on 28th December, when the grandparents have all gone home after their Christmas visit, it is actually finished.

Just have to remember to take it to the Post Office tomorrow. And hope Royal Mail can get it there before February!

It's all a bit scary...

This is my Christmas present from my husband Mark.

A sewing machine - eek!

It seemed like a good idea at the the time, but last night I opened it and I'm a bit confuddled.

There are many mysterious bits.

It took me 90 minutes to thread the needle.

I did manage to stitch a 5 cm wonky line on a scrap of fabric eventually, but I may have to curtail my dreams of producing exquisitely beautiful items and practice on square, flat things for a while.

Pompom scarves

Let's face it; knitting a scarf is one of the most boring projects going.

Which is exactly why I love this pompom yarn; knits up super fast and super easy!!

The big scarf is for a Christmas present and has been knitted two or three rows at a time in snatched spare moments, and the little scarf is for Poppy's stocking and took about thirty minutes last night.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

 A greeny blue crochet star...

 ...and a pink one!

 A fluffy lavender and white bauble...
















                                                             ...pink with pearls...

...one with pink fluff (oh, how I hate knitting with that yarn!)...

...and one with star beads.

Mini panettone

Recipe here

Mama made Monday - advent calendar

The children are every excited to see a string of little bags pinned up the stairs.

I bought the string and Christmas pegs in Poundland; they are supposed to be for cards. I needed two because there were 12 pegs in each packet.

I bought the paper sweet bags on ebay; they were just over £2 for 100.

Ours contain sweeties, but you could also fill them with small toys, crayons, erasers etc.

I'm hoping to have time to hand print some labels with the numbers 1 to 24, but no promises on that front!

Nintendo crocheted star

I think I might get the hang of this crochet lark eventually!

James, my eldest son loves Mario so he is very pleased with this keyring I made for him today while he was poorly.

It was pretty simple, just lots of single crochets.

I used the pattern at  Ssh, I'm counting! and I attached the finished star to an old keyring thingy.

The star without the eyes would of course make a lovely Christmassy decoration...hmm...there's an idea!

Christmas cards!!!!!!

So here are my first two Christmas cards. I tend to make them a few at a time and all slightly different because I do so dislike making something twice!!

To make these I used a digi-stamp for the first time - basically an image you print out instead of stamping with ink. I coloured it with my watercolour pencils which I love because they are super quick, finished with some glitter and a peel off greeting.

(This digi-stamp came from Imag-e-nation. If you sign up to their email newsletter they will let you download a free image every week.)

Winter season swap

A big thank you to Becks for this fabulous winter swap.

A gorgeous red felt stocking and...

...a beautiful felted snowman with teeny handknitted scarf.

Thank you so much; I am so impressed you found the time to make me something so lovely inbetween all your other crafting and family life.

While we're on the subject of season swap...

...this is what I made for Claire - a knitted robin with a bar of chocolate inside.

Box of cards

Every time I made a card this year I tried to make an extra one.

There's quite a variety here; mostly birthdays, some blank, two new baby cards and a sympathy card.

I've packaged them up in cellophane bags.

I found an old box - it had some soap and a loofah in originally. I've covered up the words with some pretty paper and put all the cards in it.

These are for my mum as an extra Christmas present. She often asks me to make her a card, and now she can send genuine handmade greetings throughout the year.

(She can even claim them as her own work if she likes!)

Tree biscuits

Don't my tree biscuits look yummy?

They are decorated with a star cut out of roll out icing, stuck on with glace icing.

Paper stars

I'm in love with making these fabulous stars!

All you need is some square paper - and I have lots of that in my cardmaking stash - and some glue dots or double sided sticky tape. And some ribbon for hanging.

The instructions are on this blog The Magic Onions.

Here are mine hanging from the light fitting in the hall.

Christmas greenery

I am definitely no florist!

This is my attempt at arranging greenery which I picked in the garden.

It is very hard to find bits which are the right size and which point the right way.

I' m quite happy with the result though, as it cost me only £1.20 for the oasis (and I only used half of it) and £1 for a packet of candles. I already had the tray and the baubles.