Friday, 16 December 2011

Sleigh bells, Christmas lights and homemade gift tags....

Well it is nearly Christmas (although I haven't started counting how many sleeps left, not yet anyway!) and it is time to decorate the house with everything red, green and gold! I like to bring the outside in so we have a real Christmas tree which we keep potted up in the garden for the rest of the year, I am going to make a Christmas wreath for our front door, along with pine cone decorations and lots of holly berries.

I have loved watching Kirstie's Homemade Britain, and in particular I really enjoyed the Christmas special. I have decided to make my own gift tags for Christmas pressies so took her idea and changed it slightly. I picked up some Fimo oven bake clay and some red acrylic paint from HobbyCraft and dug out the cookie cutters and the rolling pin. I also found some old stamps to print some pretty patterns on the stars and little Chritsmas tree shapes. After cutting and stamping I put them into the rayburn for about 30 minutes to dry out. Once cooled I painted them with the red acrylic paint - not too neatly as you end up rubbing most of it off. Once dry I used a damp cloth to rub away the red paint, leaving some red in the pattern I had imprinted - add some ribbon and there you have it - homemade gift tags!

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Log fire, mince pies .....and crochet!

This is my first post and what better way to introduce Orchard Originals than to show you something I am making! It is freezing outside so I am sitting by the fire munching on mince pies and enjoying a large mug of tea.

I picked up some really pretty dusky pink yarn earlier in the week and I thought today would be the day to make some handwarmers for myself - I have spent the last few weeks making things for family and friends as Christmas gifts that I hadn't had the chance to actually make something for myself! I haven't followed a pattern - I prefer to see where things take me and sometimes is the best way to create something beautiful!
They turned out really well so I think I will make another pair to put on my MISI shop!
Now onto the Christmas decorations!!