Christmas Crafting

Over the past month, I have been busy making lots of different crafty Christmas things for friends, family and my home.

Pottery tree decorations

Using basic buff clay, I rolled it out to 1cm thick and used heart and star biscuit cutters to create the shapes. To add the textural decorations I used the end of a pencil, a fork, a plastic knife and a screw head. I created a hole so they could be hung on the tree. I used regular clay but if you were making these at home air-dry clay or salt-dough would work just as well.

I'm an art and technology teacher and luckily have access to a kiln so I added the decorations to a bisque firing I was doing (for students work) and when they were cooled I glazed them. The effect of the glaze you can see I achieved by painting the glaze on the clay and then wiping the surface glaze off, leaving the glaze only in the textures and in-prints of the clay.

The majority of these have been gifted to friends and family but I kept a few for myself!

Christmas crackers

I went to a fantastic workshop with the London Craft Club at their HQ in Bloomsbury Square. It was such a fun evening of crafty craziness. They provided the cracker template, amazing wrapping papers, ribbons, cracker snaps, hats and chocolates to customise your crackers. At home, I added some cheesy jokes and extra little gifts inside.

Pom pom wreath

Last Sunday I spent the morning at Drink, Shop, Do at Kings Cross with knit designer and crochet-extraordinaire, Katie Jones, who was a vision of fun and festivities! I bought the workshop tickets for a friends birthday present so we spent the morning drinking tea, eating cake and learning how to make pom poms using a pom-pom-maker (rather than two rings of cardboard).

Once we had made a decent collection of pom poms we attached them to a tinsel wrapped wreath frame. Katie also showed us how to make simple tassels to decorate the wreath with too!

A truly fab time was had and my wreath was featured on Katie's Instagram account the following day!

Christmas shortbread

On the last day of term on Friday, I made some shortbread biscuits with one of my technology classes at school. We decorated them with some icing sugar and sprinkles which made them look very kitsch and festive. I took the batch I made into the staff room at break time and they disappeared in minutes!

Festive foliage

I never get a full-size Christmas tree or want to store an artificial tree, so I add a few extra additions to my bamboo plants every year. This year, I selected branches of spruce and eucalyptus, berried ivy, red roses and cotton plants to add some gorgeous scents and festive greenery to the room. I then decorated them with fairy lights and a selection of gifted and hand-made Christmas decorations.

Whatever you are doing over the festive break I hope you have some fun spending time with the people you love and get a chance to relax and maybe sneak in some craft!

Festive Wreath

I created a festive wreath this evening in a fun 2-hour session. It was such a lovely way to start the week!

Start with a florists oasis ring that has been soaked in water for about 10 minutes prior to use. This helps the foliage stays fresh for longer.

I started with some cheap and cheerful Salal which bulks out the wreath. Working in a clockwise direction trim the stalks on an angle so it can be inserted into the oasis much easier. I also angled the stalks around the wreath.

Next was a bunch of baby blue Eucalyptus which smells amazing. Longer stems can be trimmed down by snipping just after the leaf. Again I worked my way around the wreath adding stems at regular intervals.

The wreath was starting to look quite festive already at this point but it needed another green texture in the form of Norway Spruce (the same type as the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree). This densely packed pine also has a beautiful scent. To add sections of these into the wreath, pull away the needles at the bottom of your selected branch and trim the stalk at an angle. Insert into the wreath at regular intervals.

A lighter evergreen was introduced in the form of a bright limey-green Conifer which added a little contrast to the blue-greens of the other foliage.

The finishing touches to the wreath added a festive vibe using pine cones, cinnamon sticks, lotus heads and small Christmas baubles. These were all attached by using floristry wire. It takes a little patience to attach the wire to the decorations but once you get the knack it's really fun to play around with the placement of these accent features. There doesn't seem to be any set rules for creating this type of arrangement but it has been often said about flower arranging that using odd numbers of 3, 5 and 7 has visual balance.

Overall, I am very happy with my festive wreath and it wasn't too expensive for a fresh arrangement.
Here are some links if you want to make your own:

• Wilko's Oasis Wreath £3.50
• Wilko's Rustic Glow Baubles 50pk £5.00
• Fresh Eucalyptus Leaves £4.00
• Norway Spruce branches £2.79
• Bag of medium pine cones £1.00
• Cinnamon Sticks £1.00
• Lotus Heads 20pk £2.99

Total cost = (approx) £20.00

When you consider the cost of ready-made wreaths in high street shops and florists (£30 - £50) this is a fun and economical way to start the festive season.