How to make your own ~ Personalised Christmas Baubles

Growing up we never truly had a Christmas tradition. Each year was spent somewhere new, wether it require a 4 hour drive or wether it be around the corner. Always with other people and never at our own home. Some years we would wake up else where and other years we would wake up at home. But we did have one thing that we did every year, we waited until after my Birthday (Dec 7th) much to the dismay of my siblings, to decorate our home. And when we did decorate we would play the Christmas Carols and we would spend all night topping the tree of baubles and tinsel, hanging garlands around the house, emptying our Christmas box of magic to be strewn through out the bedrooms. Yesterday I mention a very special Christmas job that I had every year, today I want to tell you about the family baubles that we each hang.

We would wait for everything else to be complete and then we would each select our own baubles with our own names on them from the special box and place them on the tree. All fighting for the prime position!

Ever since I owned my own tree I have been looking for a place that would recreate those personalised baubles but have found anywhere that is quite as nice. So... I decided to tackle this one on my own!

Here is my how to guide!

What you will need:
1 bauble per family member 
(I chose mine from bed, bath and table for $5.99 each)
Glitter of your choice
(I used silver and metallic white)
PVC glue
A skewer
String to hang the baubles
(mine came with them)

How to make:
Lay a towel over your workspace to collect all the fallen glitter dust
Fill a bowl with your glitter
Squeeze some PVC glue out on to a mat for easy dipping and dip your skewer into the glue, begin to write your name, quite thickly so that you can get a good coverage of glitter
Once you have finished writing your names put your bauble in the bowl and cover the glue with the glitter
Let the glue dry for 24 hours

**I made these at home alone so was unable to take any photos of the process***

How to make your own ~ Fabric Christmas Wreath

Growing up one of my very clear memories of preparing for Christmas was that each and every year I had my own special job. I was the one who hung the Christmas wreath on the front door. This was my very special job because the very special Christmas wreath was made by me in preschool. It was made with white plastic shopping bags and a coat hanger with some cheap decorations hanging on it. It was nothing beautiful or spectacular, but it was made by my very young hands. It was something I delighted in hanging every year... even as a late teenager. 

There is nothing more rewarding than being able to hang something in your own home that was made by you (or your husband or children). Handmade really is the best kind of made there it is. Always original, always full of love and always evokes pride. 

So this year, I have been delighting in creating Christmas decorations that I can hang in my own home, each and every year. That I can tell Evelyn I made and she helped choose the resources. That I can tell Jelly that I made while they kicked away in my tummy. Then next year, I can create craft activities for Evelyn to make and I will hang those with pride in my home too. Because, you see, I love things that are full of love and made especially with me in mind.

Last night I started and finished my very own adult version of that very special Christmas wreath and I hang it on my wall and I swelled with pride and memories and love. So in the spirit of Christmas, and sharing, and my crafty posts I decided to share this here with you too! I apologise for the quality of photos and lack of steps, I was so wrapped up in getting the job done that I actually forgot to photograph it along the way. You know, living in the moment and all that!

What you will need:

1 x metal ring ~ Spotlight $2
A range of Christmas fabric ~ Spotlight $28
Scissors

I bought 30 cms of four different fabrics and then a pack of "fat quarters" which were mixed red fabrics. I had way too much fabric! I dont think I even used half of it!



How to make:

Cut your fabric in strips - 1/2" x 5"
Tie in a simple knot onto the ring, making sure to alternate fabrics
Once ring is full - Hang with pride

It is as simple as that!

How to make your own ~ Christmas Felt Ball Garland

I have been hearing so much about these 'felt ball garlands' over the last few months that as Christmas began to approach I decided that we MUST add one to our christmas decorations. I started to look to just buy one but was shocked at the expense and unwilling to spend that kind of money on something that I could so easily make myself!

So, with that in mind, I began to research "how to make a felt ball garland". Each Christmas we have a different colour scheme in our house and with this year being traditional I was looking to make an all green or all red garland, but I found that when buying felt balls, you buy them in multi colour and multi colour only! So, I was going to make my OWN felt balls and Evelyn and I trotted off to spotlight for a felt ball making adventure!

I will warn you that this little project became quite a big project! It was quite time consuming and often maddening, but last night when I hang my garland on the wall, all that torture was definitely worth it!

So here is what you will need:

*Wool roving
Waxed string
Hot water
Soap (I used morning fresh liquid soap but you can also use a bar of soap)
A needle
Patience!

*Make sure you get the wool that specifically says roving. As I bought one that just said wool merino and it was impossible to felt!

And here is how you make a felt ball

You will need to have a bowl of hot soapy water and a bowl of cold clean water
Cut your roving into pieces. I did one test ball before cutting all the wool to make sure that it would create a big enough ball at the end
Roll your dry wool into a loose ball shape and then dip into the hot soapy water
Begin to roll, without too much pressure as you do not want the ball to felt in the wrong shape
Make sure you have enough soap to create a lather, without bubbles














You will begin to notice your ball will harden and the wool will start to "felt"
Keeping dipping it in the hot water as much as you need to
Keep rolling until the ball becomes quite dense and you cannot flatten it between your fingers
Dip the ball into the cold clean water to rinse and to shock the fibres
Let the balls dry for 24 hours before stringing them

Once your balls are dry simply thread them onto your string with a needle

Here's a lesson I learnt the hard way - Do not thread all the balls onto the string before knotting them into place as the entire thing will knot and you will have to start again!

For my felt ball I wanted them a ball and a half space apart so I threaded one ball at a time and then knotted it into place. However you dont have to knot it if you like the haphazard look.

Once it is all tied, hang! And there you have it... my very own, hand-made, felt ball garland! I am actually quite proud!

I am yet to find a good storage solution for this so if you have any ideas please do let me know!

How to make your own ~ Christmas Candy Cane Hearts

I love everything about this time of year. I love the vibe and the atmosphere. I love the happiness and the festive spirit. I love the rush and the stress. I adore the giving and of course the receiving. I love the lead up, the day and the come down. Christmas is that one thing every year that I look forward to, all year. When the decorations start to appear in the shops I start to get goosebumps and have often found myself tearing up when I have found a new and exciting decoration to bring home. It excites me, it brings out the child in me, it encourages my inner imagination and creativity and it just makes me so freaking happy. I love Christmas!

Before I had children I was known to spend hundreds of dollars on buying well thought out gifts for my family and friends, never recording what I had spent... Because the feeling of buying, wrapping and giving far out weighed the cost! But since Evelyn was born and we now live on a single income I have had to reign in my spending come Christmas. My desire to give is still live and well and so each year I look for ideas for handmade and cost effective gifts.

This week I saw a photo of a great quick and easy candy cane treat on the instagram feed of this lovely lady and I just knew I had to give it a whirl. With today being my Mothers Group Christmas party I thought it was a good excuse! And I had the best time making these little gems so I thought I would share with you this very cost effective, quick and easy "baking" recipe for the non baker.

I have a few other "crafty" christmas projects on the go at the moment and will share each one as they are finished here. I am not a crafter, but come Christmas, I try to be! So all of these projects are easy to do, for the non crafty mama!

What you will need

4 x boxes of Candy Canes ~ Aldi - 2 for $3

2 x bags of Cadbury Melts ~ Coles - $3.98 each

Cellophane Lollie Bags ~ Coles - 30 for $2 (I think!)

Total cost - $15.96 

(this made me 15 hearts)

Recipe

Lay your candy canes out on baking paper in the shape of hearts to make 15 hearts

Crush your spare Candy Canes in a plastic bag with a hammer or meat mallet

Melt your chocolate down over boiling water, I used milk chocolate and white chocolate so had to melt mine down in two steps

Carefully spoon your chocolate into the heart of your candy cane, then sprinkle with the candy cane dust

Pop in the fridge for a couple of hours and wait for the chocolate to set

Once it is set I placed two hearts, one milk and one white chocolate into my lolly bags. I wrapped a small piece of christmas ribbon around the end and made a 'Merry Xmas' tag with some cardboard and stamps that I had in my craft drawer.

Ta - Da!!!

Merry Christmas