Crafting for Christmas 2010, lets begin again......

candjsmum

Not sure if anyone can help, i am sure some one can. A quick question regarding chutneys. Can i use normal jars and lids or will the vinegar react to lids, if so can i use something in between the chutney and lids, cling film etc. Really insipred by all the ideas and want to make some for xmas!
Thanks

boiler_man

If you want to grow flowers for Christmas now is time to put hyacinth bulbs in the bottom of the fridge in a paper bag for 4-6 weeks so that they are "forced" to grow and flower for Christmas.

elysia2003

Wow - thanks for the info boiler-man. :beer:

Every year someone says 'plant now for flowers at christmas' and mine always come up about a fortnight/three weeks too late.

:jI'm going to try this!!! Thanks. :j

susan42

Thanks giggle, love the candy bouquets, lots of ideas flowing....

Boilerman, i`m going to try this and hope no one eats them, if they`re in the bottom of the fridge they`re fair game in our house x

susan42

I dont know where my last post went...but giggles thank you for the advice, i`ve been to your blog, some great makes their, i¬ll made loads of those, what are the sweets on , is it kebab sticks? And how many packs of sweets would i need , say for the eclair one....

boilerman, i`m going to try this , hopefully they`ll be left alone in bottom of fride, even if i label them , peeps will lookk to see in them

boiler_man

Once the bulbs come out of the fridge plant them in container and leave in a cold dark area such as garage or shed. You will need to bring them out to somewhere warm about 3 weeks before Christmas and they will then grow quick and flower within that time.

NorthLondonChick

Hi sorry for the delay - not been on for a few days!

Giggles-Fairy: I used the larger sized records for making bowls although I believe you can also use the smaller ones. I just didnt have any pyrex bowls little enough to mould the smaller vinyls over in the oven. My charity shop sells all their vinyls for a flat rate of £1.85 each which I thought was a bit over-priced at the time but now hearing that other can get them for 50p each or even 4 for 99p, I'll have to shop around a bit! Just make sure you have a window or two open as it can get a "fumey" otherwise. And dont let them bubble up - that means they've burnt! Otherwise, its dead easy!

I'm also hoping to make chutneys and/or relishes for people using my slow cooker. I saw a nice recipe for apple, thyme and rosemary jelly which i might try. I've got 4 little rubber seal air-tight jars i got in the sale in house of fraser and also some wax disc things for jam making i got in lakeland. I wasnt sure if i needed them too for the chutneys but panicked and bought them anyway!

Great tip about the hyacinth too - thanks!

Just posted off my first 2 sock monkeys today as b'day presents for 2 little girl's i know. Hope they survive the journey!

psso

claire_tink wrote: »

I want to make some chutney, 2 problems really, i've no jam jars and the ones si've seen in the shops are quite expensive

You could buy the cheapo jars of curry sauce etc from the supermarket (asda smart price about 10p) and use them.

tub28

NorthLondonChick wrote: »

Giggles-Fairy: I used the larger sized records for making bowls although I believe you can also use the smaller ones. I just didnt have any pyrex bowls little enough to mould the smaller vinyls over in the oven. My charity shop sells all their vinyls for a flat rate of £1.85 each which I thought was a bit over-priced at the time but now hearing that other can get them for 50p each or even 4 for 99p, I'll have to shop around a bit! Just make sure you have a window or two open as it can get a "fumey" otherwise. And dont let them bubble up - that means they've burnt! Otherwise, its dead easy!

!

Hi
I posted this on a seperate thread, but thought I would repeat it here anyway in case it helps anyone

My brother and I used to make bowls years ago out of old 78 records. We used to put a knitting needle through the hole in the middle and use this to lower the record into a bowl of hot water. When the record went 'soft' we took it out and put over a basin or whatever we were using for a mould.

A lot quicker and safer I would think than the oven method

NorthLondonChick

That sounds like a good way! I think I saw someone on youtube doing something similar with an old bucket, a kettle and some thick gardening gloves.