On the fifth day of Christmas..... Away in a Manger

If you are following me on my Facebook crafty page you'll see my peg fairy and angel but I've posted them here before so today is something I haven't made - yet.  I love old women's magazines and spied this charming nativity in the 1975 Christmas edition of Woman & Home.  You can still buy these small wooden people blanks easily in craft shops and on line (my favourite shop is Myriad - love their felt!).  

Here are the instructions in case you want to make one.  Unfortunately the prices quoted have risen somewhat!  I have a sentimental fondness for peg dolls - something I liked making when I was a child and I've collected a whole Pinterest board full of them to please and inspire me - and you!

On the fourth day of Christmas..... peg snowmen

You may have seen these here before, however they are another quick and easy project you could make with children so I don't mind repeating myself.   Paint your pegs with blue and white acrylic or poster paints.  The noses are the tips of cocktail sticks coloured with an orange felt pen and glued into a small hole made with a screwdriver or similar.  A simple face is drawn with a black marker and the scarfs are cut from felt scraps.

These pegs have stands as they are specially made for crafters but ordinary pegs will do if you add a cord to hang in your tree.  Cute or what!

Don't forget to visit my friend Baukje at Busy Bee Free who is also crafting the 12 days of Christmas.

On the third day of Christmas..... snowflakes on a garland

This is a quick and easy crochet snowflake very popular on Pinterest at the moment but I saw it first two years ago on Sarah London's blog here.  To make a garland I crocheted a simple chain and slip stitched them into it as I went along.  15 or 20 chains between each flake is about right but make sure you count as you are going to keep it regular.  Number 20 crochet cotton looks nice I think (makes a flake about 3cms across using a 3.5mm hook) but Sarah made hers with DK for a chunky snowflake to hand individually on your tree or in a window.

Of course white is the obvious colour but I like them in red too and they are very pretty in pastel colours.  If you don't crochet perhaps felt flakes would be a good substitute or even something shop bought if you are short of time.

And I forgot to say yesterday that my very good blog friend Bauke, at the brilliant Busy Bee Free is also crafting the 12 days of Christmas.  Make sure you visit her too for more inspiration.  Thankyou Baukje! x

On the second day of Crafty Christmas..... another reindeer!

Gather some twigs from the garden - red dogwood is great but anything straightish will do, cut to size with secaturs, hot glue together and finish off with twine or string to hide the blobs of glue.  I saw this idea in Karin Hossack's lovely book Simple Christmas Style (1998) many years ago.  I made reindeer for all my work colleagues and they loved them.  I kept this one for myself and its at least 10 years old! 

Hope to see you here tomorrow.

Twelve Craft Days of Christmas - On the first day.....

If you've got it - flaunt it I say!  Let me explain - I'm talking about beautiful stamps and I've bought some gorgeous Christmas stamps this year from Claire at Waltzingmouse Stamps.  This set, Folk Art Christmas Additions, has to be my favourite and of the four images in the set the Reindeer is definitely the star.  And when I say flaunt it, I mean show it off - as far as I'm concerned it needs nothing else to make a perfect Scandinavian style Christmas card. 

I've used a 4 inch square plain white card blank, Festive Berries Distress Ink, and a simple sentiment.  The only embellishment I've added is a bit of glitter with a Clear Star Sakura Gelly Roll pen on the floral decoration - hard to see in the photo I'm afraid but it does add to the Christmassy feel.  I've also made gift tags in the same style using ready made stationery luggage labels.  Couldn't be easier if you are short of time..... and as always I'm short of time!

Well, its 12 days till Christmas and I want to try and post something on each of the 12 days.  It may not be something I've created every day but I hope it will be something either interesting, beautiful or inspiring and preferably all three.  Hope to see you here this time tomorrow!  Ho, ho, ho!

Christmas is coming......

Ok!  I have to admit November is quite a dark month - especially when there is a cloud covering over the vale.  And in my tiny house photographing my projects can be a problem, even if I take them outside the back door.  However if the sun is shining there is a five minute slot when, if I'm organised and quick, I can get photos like these.  The houses opposite me are tall and block out the sun during the colder months of the year, but there is a narrow alleyway between and the sunlight can shine through into my front room - but it only lasts a very few minutes.

The sun shone on Saturday and I quickly started snapping.  There is one more fair next weekend - a local primary school Christmas Fayre - and I've been trying out Hama beads to make simple decorations children might like.  The beads don't look very promising do they, but ironed to fuse and with the light shining through them I think they are quite effective. 

You can also see my crochet snowflakes, wooden pokerwork, and felt bead mini-wreaths in the photos.  And these utterly delightful Scandinavian people I bought from a lovely lady at Attingham Park Frost Fair last week.

Really wish I'd bought a couple more!  Sadly she doesn't seem to have an online presence but I've emailed to see if she has any other fairs coming up locally.  If you want to try this photo technique, I have to admit I've tweeked the images in Photoshop (any other photo editing programme will do) and whacked up the shadows to blot out the untidy background.

Dull November? Certainly not!

Most folks hate November and say its dark and dull - my Mum in particular always seems rather down at this time of year.  However I enjoyed this November.  We had lots of sunshine, it hasn't been very cold, I've managed to get quite a lot of my home made Christmas gifts organised, and I've even got out and about a couple of times.  And I'm also quite pleased with the Christmassy crafting projects I've had on the go this year.  So here's my November remembered page - can you believe there's only one more before I'll be looking for a bargain offer on printing out my creative year book!!!!  You can see last year's book here.