MSE Christmas

garret1

oops_a_daisy wrote:

has anybody got any ideas for a HM Christmas Wreath

I was thinking of doing one with some of the greenery from my garden with some fir cones ( collected at a park ) and ribbons. I was going to try to tie it together somehow and put it on top of my fire place ( we dont use the fire very often )

any suggestions ?

I buy undecorated oasis wreaths from the florist. You can then stick in bits of foliage and pine cones and ribbon. Cost about £5 for the wreath but still cheaper than a decorated one.
Another one I have done is to cut out a cardboard circle and glue on loads of mixed nuts in their shells gradually building up the layers. You can spray paint these gold and they look great.:D

kethry

ooops a daisy:

the other thing you could try is drying orange and apple segments and fixing them with acrylic spray (instructions in the link), spraypainting fircones gold and silver, and nuking greenery from the garden - yes you read that right - and fixing them with an acrylic craft spray. I don't see any reason why you couldn't try it with berries as well, berries still on stalks and fix those - if you're inventive you could have a whole selection of dried things - if you like the apples and oranges you could try other fruits.

Anyway, once you've got all your things, wire them up (push wire through the leaves at the base so the wire'll be invisible in the display, for example, or wrap around the base of fir cones), then do a couple of circles with the florists wire to create a "base" to work from, then just start attaching items with wires, winding the attached wires around the base to form your stable wreath. With enough items you should wind up with a wreath that is pretty steady - and with luck, one that'll give you joy year after year.

hope that helps! (I should add that i've never done that before, but i'm going to try to do it myself this year..)

keth
xx

skintchick

I buy wrapping paper that isn;t Christmas-branded, ie no trees or angels, so I can use it all year round. In tesco last year I got some plain gold and red paper that's festive but also can be used for other occasions.

growingafamily

I decorate empty baby milk tins (sma follow-on have red lids which is a bonus)
I cover them in nice paper and make a tag, then fill it depending on the recipient, for my lil bro a gingerbread making kit (cutter, instructions, dry ingredients in a bag, icing tubes to decorate, other decorations etc etc), for DH a night at the movies kit (blockbuster dvd vouchers from ipoints, microwave popcorn packets, probably some of his fave sweets, and a few other bits)
have a few more too but still deciding on what to put in some of those !!

HTH !

Scarlett1

laurajayne wrote:

We've always been ones to use Mum's pinking shears to cut round old christmas cards to make into tags

my nan does that, and I know where to go when I need tags

Doozergirl

I love the idea of making a chocolate pudding. Assuming it's a simple steamed chocolate pudding, there's a recipe here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/chocolatesteamedpudd_71225.shtml

I like the idea of putting hazelnuts in for added texture - I'm also wondering if adding big chocolate buttons or Rolos (you read right) into the mixture would give little surprise gooey pockets of chocolate/caramel, err, goo? Very indulgent! :drool:

I'm going to try and do my own traditional Christmas Pudding this year. I'm not a fan of it really, but I thought if I did my own, I'd at least know what went into it and maybe adapt the recipe to my own taste a bit. There's a thread on Old Style raving about Delia's recipe and I've found a fairly simple looking recipe in this month's Good Housekeeping too.

BloomingTasty

oops_a_daisy wrote: »

has anybody got any ideas for a HM Christmas Wreath

I was thinking of doing one with some of the greenery from my garden with some fir cones ( collected at a park ) and ribbons. I was going to try to tie it together somehow and put it on top of my fire place ( we dont use the fire very often )

any suggestions ?

If you look for Kirstie allsopps homemade home on Channel4 website its on there somewhere. Hope this helps

mary-op

I re-use old christmas cards (unless theyre hand made or from someone in the family)
Use them for gift tags as well

Get shoe boxes from local shoe shop(free) cover them with paper (this year some red textured wallpaper from charity shop for 50p

Cover gravy tubs, empty twiglet tubs and old boxes I've had medication in (they''re ideal for little things)

Made fabric hearts from free fabric samples on freebie board

Use empty coffee jars (or similar) for 'gift in jar' presents like 'brownie mix' -stuff like that

Flannel snowmen(soap inside)........cheap white flannel, make a hat out of childs sock, stick on eyes etc.

Decorations are the same every year...........artificial garlands hung across the wall. Got them from the charity shop few years back. Same with christmas tree and wreath.

Make a lot of presents as much as I can and try the charity shops for 'unwanted gifts' -always loads get handed in around Jan/Feb

Can't think of anything else at the minute.

Frogletina

When my daughter was quite young my mother helped her make new cards out of old ones. One of these she gave to a friend of mine who 'complained' to me that is was not a newly bought card! How very rude! Needless to say, the said friend was very odd and did not remain a friend of mine for long.

Meanwhile my daughter learned so much from my mum and is now a teachers' assistant and rainbows leader, and is very creative.

msfoxymax

Frogletina wrote: »

When my daughter was quite young my mother helped her make new cards out of old ones. One of these she gave to a friend of mine who 'complained' to me that is was not a newly bought card! How very rude! Needless to say, the said friend was very odd and did not remain a friend of mine for long.

Meanwhile my daughter learned so much from my mum and is now a teachers' assistant and rainbows leader, and is very creative.

Glas you kicked your 'friends' ar5e into gear what a nasty thing to say :eek: