12th night - taking down the Christmas decs

I have been quite active on Instagram over the Twixtmas period, I found it a good outlet to post a few pics and not have to provide any context other than a few #hashtags.  I was a bit surprised by the number of people posting pics of their Christmas Decs getting put away, some even before the 31st of December.  I am a traditionalist and to me the decs stay up until the 5th of December and only then do we take them down.  I am not saying they all survive to the end, we have already had a few drop off the Christmas tree and the tree itself has some distinct bald patches!  For various reasons it has been a few years since we had a real tree and I had forgotten just how much they drop the needles combined with we haven't taken the correct care of it. The accompanying photos were taken when it freshly decorated, so no bald patches should be visible!

An ex- colleague always had a family party on 12th night to mark the end of the Christmas period and everyone brought all the odds and ends of leftover  food and booze to use them up. There seem to be such a hurry of social arrangements in the run up to Christmas so it makes a nice opportunity to catch up with everyone. Although I believe there was one uncle who needed to be steered firmly towards the door at the end of the night as he had something of a reputation for outstaying his welcome!

I am quite please with my lack of Christmas leftovers, 1/2 a packet of ginger spiced biscuits and an unopened box of biscuits for cheese, this was not due to some carefully thought out plan as such.  My daughter hosted us for Christmas dinner, however, I ended up buying the food and cooking it on her new swanky range cooker (the rest of the room was like a building site and the only running water was in the utility room next door).  She had booked an online shopping slot and shoved a few items in the basket to "save the slot", we had gone through together and worked out what we needed, unfortunately, when she went in to update the basket the next day the order had already been sent to the despatchers and couldn't be replaced so had to be cancelled. It was Mum and Dad to the rescue and we battled our way round the supermarket, I focused just on what we needed for Lunch, snacks for the evening and a good old full english for brekkie on Boxing day with enough turkey left over for sarnies it would be criminal to waste the cranberry sauce.

I hope you had the Christmas that you wanted and said goodbye to 2016 taking the good stuff with you and leaving the bad stuff behind.

I would love to hear if you have already packed Christmas away or are you waiting to take it all down on the 5th Jan,

50 makes for Christmas 41 - 50

Woo hoo I reached the end of my 50 makes for Christmas and here is the final roundup

50 -Gin truffles


49 - Making paper chains

48 - Twiggy Stardust



47 - sprout, sprout and more sprouts!



46 - Marshmallow snowglobes



45 - Washi tape Christmas trees



44 - Christmas bulbs



43-Christmas wreath



42 - Christmas potpourri



41 - Granddaughter's Christmas stocking





And that concludes my 50 makes for Christmas.  My favourite make by far was the stocking for my granddaughter even though she will only be 6 weeks old on Christmas day I hope she will appreciate it in years to come, although I think it is more likely to be the contents she will be interested in!

There are links  here to the previous 40 makes.

Thank you for taking an interest in my project and I hope you might have found something of interest or even inspiration.

I've only gone and made paper chains 49/50 - 50 Makes for Christmas

I remember making paper chains when I was a kid, licking the end of a bit of paper and realising that it wasn't the sticky end! but loving seeing them all completed and pinned up criss crossing the room. I seem to recall a certain amount of rivalry between myself and my brother and sister about who could lake the longest chain I think my sister being the eldest always won. They seemed to disappear from fashion for a number of years and I am nostalgic to see them back again.

I wanted a little something to finish off the area where I put up the washi tape forest so paper chains made from a Christmas wrapping paper is the order of the day. I went for a small dimension as I felt it fitted in with the washi tape trees. I didn't measure anything as usual and just started off with a small scrap and cut and stuck until a little chain began to evolve.

There are many available to buy if you don't fancy cutting your own, like these from dotcomgiftshop.





And these festive beauties from paper chase


They are a little bit more polished than my own efforts.

So that is my penultimate make of my 50 makes for Christmas with one final make to complete. There was a moment in the middle where I had a little wobble thinking that I may not reach the end but it is well and truly in sight.

I hope your own projects are coming together, I would love to hear what you have been making, were any of them inspired by my 50 makes?

twiggy stardust 48/50 - 50 makes for Christmas

When I made my Christmas wreath I cut more foliage than I needed and I have held on to it thinking "it may come in handy".

The Hydrangea heads I have popped in a jug to dry out, although I think this may not produce the skeletal effect I am hoping for and could well be destined for the composting bin in the not too distant future.

A holly sprig here and there in an old bottle adds a traditional touch to the Christmas decorations.

The dogwood I have decided to make into a twiggy star, festive, rustic and biodegradable. I had thought I would make a small one but I had plenty of stems to play with so I went for a really big one,  I have propped it up outside the patio doors so I can enjoy it from the inside out.

Only two more posts before I complete my 50 makes for Christmas project I am so very close to completion!


I alway forget how long it takes to do the Christmassy jobs like writing the cards, it not the actual writing its the time it takes to hunt down all the addresses too! at least it is another one to tick off the list.  Have you got round to writing your cards yet?

Sprouts, sprouts and more sprouts!! 47/50 - 50makes for Christmas

One of the most controversial vegetables on our planet, is the brussel sprouts loved by some. hated by many and very often overcooked.  My daughters boyfriend shared this Christmas sprout interpretation with me that he got from a chef at a country house.





Image taken from google search and is not my own please let me know if it yours and I will gladly credit accordingly




Streaky bacon - chopped

Sprouts - thinly sliced

Pear - chopped

Red wine

Blue cheese - crumbled

Walnuts - chopped or crumbled

Add the bacon to a frying pan and cook in its own fat and juices until crispy.  Remove the bacon and deglaze the pan with some red wine picking up all the crusty bits, add the shredded sprouts and stir, followed by the pears and another stir. cook for a bit, throw in the bacon, walnuts and the blue cheese cook for a little bit and serve.

I have made variations of this by adding and omitting what ever I have or don't have to hand, eg fruit juice for wine, fruity chutney instead of pear, any cheese instead of the blue cheese.

To save money I cut the tails off bacon rashers when I make bacon butties at the weekends and pop them in the freezer to use instead of buying streaky bacon.
.
Give it a go if you fancy something different and it uses a frying pan instead of a saucepan which can be quite handy when cooking Christmas dinner

Marshmallow snow globes 46/50 - 50 makes for Christmas

I am still being inspired by all those amazing jam jar snow globes that everyone has been making over the past couple of years this is my latest effort.

You will need

A little marshmallow mood music

Clean and dried empty jam jar with lid ( these were from the £shop a few years ago and have done a sterling job collecting dust in the spare room!)

white mini marshmallows (you will be left with a jar of pink mini marshmallows, scatter them over the top of your mug of hot choccy)

A small foil covered chocolate bar/snowman/santa/reindeer etc (remember they are your presents an should not be eaten by yourself under any circumstances!!)

Something sticky (sellotape/double-sided tape/sticky fix/glue dot)

Attach the bottom of the figure to the bottom of the jar with your sticky fix

Pile in some of the mini marshmallows so that it looks like the figure is standing in snow.

Pop the lid on and keep it upright.

I am giving mine along side some nice quality drinking chocolate.

A quick little make that will get wrapped up with some posh hot chocolate for a Christmas gift,

Have you done all your present shopping yet? I still have a couple of bits to find but no clear idea of exactly what it is I am looking for (shopping for male members of my family of course!)

Washi tape Christmas tree 45/50 - 50 makes for Christmas

The big day is getting ever closer and its starting to showing in my home.  As usual my inspiration for this is courtesy of Pinterest and all it takes is some washi tape and a suitable surface, I added a few Christmas stickers too.

This is my efforts, yes I did get a bit carried away!

and this is some of my inspiration










This has to be one of the simplest makes I have done in this project of 50 Makes for Christmas.

Have you put your Christmas tree up yet? We brought ours on Friday but I only started decorating it last night but once the Christmas boxes come out its more than the tree that gets trimmed so things are looking a bit chaotic at the moment, peace and harmony will be restored.... at some point!

Fresh Garden Christmas Wreath 43/50 - 50 Makes for Christmas

I was thrilled with the dogwood wreath I made last year so it was a no brainer to include it in my list of things to do this year.  Of course I need to change it up a bit from last time when I kept it very stark with only a grey linen ribbon and a few clay ornaments.

This year I am looking to hide the dogwood away with a wealth of foliage that I have collected from mine and my daughter's gardens.  I had intended to use plenty of holly as we are planning some changes to the bottom part of the garden and this involves removing a much loved holly tree, it came from my Mum's garden as a little twig of a thing and seemed to struggle for a while before picking up and growing into a fine healthy specimen.  I had hoped to have uprooted it and replanted it at my daughters as she has a fairly large garden, however there are many holly trees already established and plenty of self seeded saplings so we will need to have a little think about what to do with it.

The Dogwood base was made by creating a circle with one stem and securing it with some wire. More strands were woven in to give it some substance.

 I then bound on the base foliage using florists wire and followed this up with bunches of foliage and flowers that were also bound on with the wire.  I had a few false starts before I got it where I wanted to to be so my advice would be to play around and learn what works best for you.

The final arrangement is now hanging on my front door and I am hoping it will not fall to pieces all over the postie!

I made a second wreath for my daughter and tried to give it a more modern look with a bit of tinsel and a few baubles. This hides that I was running short of the base foliage and the tinsel was a bit of improvisation to fill in some of the gaps.

I had a lovely but very cold morning exploring this new craft.  I don't think the local florist has anything to worry about but I shall be making wreaths again next year.

Make 43 completed from my 50 makes for Christmas challenge with just 7 more posts left to completion.

Home made potpourri 42/50 - 50 Makes for Christmas

I looked up the definition of potpourri and it has two meanings

 a) a collection of dried petals and leaves used to make a room smell pleasant

 b) an unusual mix of things.

I think my potpourri is a bit of both of these descriptions!

In no particular order I dropped the following into a big glass hurricane lamp jar

• Dried Orange Slices
• Pinecones
• Cinnamon sticks
• Cloves (Left over from the Orange Pomanders)
• Christmas Scented oil (I brought this in the sale from M and S about 10 years ago and it is still smelling strong!!)
• A few clay tree decorations

It smells like Christmas!

I have a feeling that there may be a few more decorative items dropped in over the next few days and knowing my family they will probably put in toy from a cracker to see if I am on the ball!

That is make 42 ticked off the ever changing list and only 8 yes 8 left to complete my 50 Makes for Christmas!

Its not too late to still make a few things for your own Christmas celebrations

Christmas Cocktails 39/50 - 50 makes for Christmas

Christmas is without a doubt the season of indulgence, so I have started planning a few festive treats by way of some Christmas Cocktails.  The supermarkets are usually full of offers on spirits in the run up to Christmas in a bid to entice us in to do our big shop.

I am kicking off with this one that is a firm favourite with the ladies in our family and is affectionately known as a winter warmer, I think it came from a Nigella Lawson interview I heard on the radio several years ago


A75cl  bottle of Prosseco or Cava  - Chilled (I usually just get which ever is cheapest,)

125ml triple sec or any other orange flavoured liqueur (you can buy Cointreau or Grand Marnier if you like a label)

500ml Cranberry juice - Chilled


Just put them all in a jug and pour into your flute or cocktail glass. Most of the supermarkets seem to stock the little mini bottles of Prosecco so you could easily make a scaled down version.

                                                                         
If you have made the investment in a bottle of triple sec another way you could use it is to add a little tot in your hot chocolate it is a rather nice bedtime indulgence.

Using the triple sec as a starting point you only need cranberry juice, vodka and lime and you have got yourself a Cosmopolitan much loved by the Sex in the city girls and the reddy/pinky colour garnished with a peel of lime give it a lovely festive colour.

                                                               


I am a big fan of Winter Pimms, we discovered this last year when we took a winter break in St Ives and popped into the St Ives Harbour hotel for gin o'clock.  It is quite a tricky beast to get hold of and I believe it is only available in Waitrose and it is always seems to be sold out when I make the pilgrimage to try and get some.  I was delighted when I found this recipe on Pinterest, I have kind of followed this but done my own thing, I mulled a carton of apple juice and added a capful of brandy a measure of Pimms (well the cheap equivalent!) to a mug and topped up with the mulled apple juice and added a slice of orange (it really does make a difference).  The mulled apple juice is delicious by itself and if you are not drinking alcohol it is nice to have a special drink that isn't full of gas.

Having invested in a bottle of brandy for the Winter Pimms I was then poking around to find other cocktail ideas to use it in and I followed a link to this delightful post from a life of geekery for "The brandy apple - an Autumnal cocktail".  It only has three ingredients one of which is brandy, hardly surprising cloudy apple juice is in there and it is just topped off with ginger ale, the good news is this is an Autumnal cocktail so you don't have to wait for it to get any closer to Christmas before giving it a go!  I am thinking that apple juice and ginger ale might also make a nice little mocktail

Cheers everyone a little celebration for make 39 of my 50 makes for Christmas

Do you have any favourite Christmas cocktails or drinks that remind you of Christmas?  When we were children I remember my Mum getting in some bottles of Babycham and a bottle of nut brown beer, she made shandy from the beer and we were allowed to have some (enough beer just to change the colour of the lemonade) and we thought that we were being very naughty!

Free Christmas Decorations - Hips & Haws 38/50 - 50 makes for Christmas

I have been taking my camera for a walk this Autumn, I think my original intention was to increase the amount of walking I did but once I get my camera in my hand I see photos every few steps so I am not sure that I am actually gaining any benefit other than being in the big outdoors.

In early Autumn I seemed to have a bit of an obsession for photographing Hips and Haws, I was poking round on the internet looking at other peoples photos and a couple came up where they had been used to make Christmas decorations. They had been gathered and then threaded onto wire and shaped into either a wreath or heart shape.  I rather liked this as they look like chunky red beads we use in our Christmas decorations, or is it the other way round?





Add a  ribbon or a piece of twine on the top to hang them on the tree and bingo a free Christmas decoration.  I did have a little chat with my conscience before deciding that I want to make these as I was concerned if I was taking food away from the birds as there is no way of knowing how harsh the winter may be and these could make all the difference to some little soul. My solution - hang them outside on my little olive tree on the patio, we can enjoy them through the glass of the patio doors and they are still accessible to the local wildlife.

However my cunning plan was knocked off course when I went out to collect the hips and haws and there was very scant pickings so I didn't feel comfortable taking anything from what was left.  This is an excellent blog post with some fabulous photos  (see above) and full of inspiration but may require translating.

I am going to keep this in mind for next year when hopefully there will be an abunance of hips and haws.

I am crossing this off the list as no 38 leaving just 12 makes to complete my 50 makes of Christmas.

Tissue paper pom-poms 37/50 - 50 makes for Christmas

Way back in make September I showed you this make for Paper pom poms out of paper cake cases, although they came together OK they weren't quite the WOW that I was looking.  In my Pinterest feed I kept seeing tutorials for these big tissue paper pom poms but thought they would be quite faffy to make, I was so wrong.

All you need to do is take two sheets of tissue paper in differing colours and lay them on top of each other, cut them in half vertically and in half again horizontally, so you end up with 8 sheets of paper stacked in alternating colours.

All you do now is pleat them

Tie a bit of wire around the middle to hold it all together

Cut a curve or a point on the end

Tie a string on the wire in the middle long enough for you to hang it up with

Then the fun begins, you just simply fan them out and pull back each of the layers of papers and your Pom Pom emerges

I have played around with this formula a little and made some smaller versions to put on Christmas presents  but they could also be used on your Christmas tree.

I tried it out first time with some tissue that I had saved to reuse, when I realised how easy this was to do I was ready to splash out on some tissue from Hobbycraft as a pound gets you a pack of 10 sheets, however I remembered that about five years ago I had picked some up from the Pound shop in the January sale for 50p! sometimes my magpie tendencies do pay off.

If you are making these in advance don't open them out until you are ready to hang them as they are quite delicate and are very good at collecting dust!

Make 37 done and the 40 mark is on the horizon, I am sure I can squeeze in the rest of my 50 makes for Christmas around hospital visiting and Grandma duties.

What do you think of the pom-pom ? I must confess to being bold over by them

Pomander oranges - 50 makes of Christmas 36/50

I have been really looking forward to doing this little make ever since I drew up my long list back in the summer. The smell of these is just lovely, I wish I could send it out to you as part of this post, if you are not already in the Christmas mood then this is just the thing to help you on the way. You may think I have gone a bit early with this but my research shows that these should be done early in order for the orange to dry out.

To make this you only need two things Oranges and cloves and the only equipment you need is a skewer or other sharp implement to make a hole with.

Make holes in any pattern or design that you like and push a clove stud into each one. To help me keep my design I put tape around around the middle of the orange in both directions and filled in the gaps with the cloves, this was then removed and I may run a ribbon around.  For the spiral I just free handed it.

In an ideal situation these should be popped into the airing cupboard to dry but as we have a combi boiler I am leaving them in the hallway near the radiator so that I can enjoy the smell everytime I come home.


 I have kept my designs pretty simple but there are some fabulous intricate designs on Pinterest.




I do like the idea of cutting a design into the skin but I don't have a tool to do this and you know I am all about using up what I already have in and I have had the cloves in the cupboard since last year.

I held a few cloves back to use in some of my Christmas cocktails, I will share more on these soon.

Make 36 completed and only 14 makes left in the challenge of 50 makes for Christmas.

Ar

Which smells do you associate most with Christmas?

Pine cone fire lighter #2 35/50 - 50 makes for Christmas

One of the most popular posts that I have written in the 50 makes for Christmas has been the pine cone firelighters so I wanted to share the # 2 version

Using exactly the same method as last time I used the ends and the very small slices of  the oven dried oranges I made.  I cut them in half or quarters and just slipped them in at the side of the pine cone. I also incorporated a few bits of woodland debris that were in the bottom of the bag I had used for collecting the pine cones, it is all combustible so I thought I would put it to good use.

This suits the small to medium sizes cones as I found that one of my pine cones was too big to fit anything down the side!

These have been bagged and tagged and are ready to be given as a Christmas present.  I am hoping that I will be able to make some incorporating some of the cuttings from my Christmas tree,

Another Christmas present made leaving me just 15 more makes to complete my 50 makes for Christmas

I hope all your Christmas makes are starting to come together, I would love to hear what you are making.