12 Handmades of Christmas: Two for the Table

The last two Handmades of Christmas are a couple of simple ideas to dress up the dinner table tomorrow. The best thing is that you only need a couple of crafty supplies and the rest can come from your garden (or a festive walk)!

This gorgeous centrepiece was made this morning by Jacqueline, Jake's lovely Mum. All you need is a bit of oasis, a long candle and some winter sprigs from the garden. Then you can arrange it however you like! As you can see, this one has a lovely mix of evergreen, white flowers and a few pops of red berries. Super easy and a lovely alternative to a shop bought centrepiece. I can't wait to see it in the middle of lots of lovely Christmas food tomorrow :) 

To go with Jacqueline's lovely centrepiece, I made some place cards with some brown card and a few sprigs of holly. I just stuck the holly to the stamped cards with some double sided sticky tape. 

That's it for my 12 Handmades! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Lots of love, 

x Rachel 

12 Handmades of Christmas: Wrapping Ideas

Sometimes I think simple wrapping is best - brown paper has been my favourite for ages. I love how versatile it is, you can dress it up with bows and stamps so easily, and make lovely personalised wrapping that will look great under the Christmas tree. 

Nearly all of our presents are handmade this year, so we wanted to wrap them in a crafty way too. We used my trusty alphabet stamps to label each present, and then finished them off simply with bright red jute string. I love how they all look together! 

You can use this idea and push it further by stamping custom patterns on to brown paper, or cut out book pages and wrap them under the string. 

I have the last two handmades coming up later on today - both table decoration ideas! So keep an eye out if you are looking for last minute ideas for the Christmas lunch table.... 

x Rachel 

12 Handmades of Christmas: Personalised Candle

Is everyone ready and wrapped for Christmas? I'm almost done, but it's always nice to do a few little extras. Here's a great last minute idea that costs next to nothing to make but can make a really lovely personalised gift. 

You will need: A medium sized pillar candle, a small wood slice, a large wood slice, jute string, white paint, decorative moss. 

1// Paint an initial in white on the small wood slice. 

2// Wrap the jute string around the base of the candle twice and secure in a bow. Usually these candles burn quite neatly with not too much wax spill so the string should be fine - but you can always untie it as the candle burns down. 

3// With a little dot of non-solvent glue, attach the small wood slice to the string. You could then very carefully melt a little wax on the side of the candle and use that to keep the wood in place. 

4// Add another blob of glue or hot wax to the middle of the large wood slice to fix the candle in place. Add some decorative moss around the sides to finish it off! 

Obviously it goes without saying that this project is not for kids! Be very careful when working with hot wax and flammable materials, and never leave a candle burning unattended. 

Only a few more handmades of Christmas left before the big day. I've got some great ones saved up, including some place cards for the dinner table and some lovely wrapping ideas. 

Happy Christmas Eve Eve 

x Rachel 

12 Handmades of Christmas: Pine Forest Mobile

The idea for this DIY came from this tutorial by the lovely Leanne from Knit me a Cake. She used paint chips to make Christmas tree gift tags, and I loved them so much I couldn't wait to try out the same technique. I made a mobile with my paint chip trees, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with my little pine forest. 

You will need: Paint chips in a variety of greens, small bells, red thread, green felt needle, scissors. 

1// Cut the tree shapes out of the paint chips. I think I variety of sizes looks best when they are grouped together like that. 

2// Using the red thread, sew the bell on to the bottom of the tree. Take the excess thread up the back of the tree and use some pretty tape to secure it in place. 

3// Cut some green felt double the length you would like your mobile to be. Fix the ends of the threads to it with dots of glue. You want to have the trees hanging at different lengths and widths apart. 

4// Fold the felt in half and glue again to secure the threads in place. 

What do you think? Don't forget to check out Leanne's gift tags too... So much fun to be had with free paint chips :) 

x Rachel 

12 Handmades of Christmas: Glitter Jars

This next instalment of the 12 Handmades of Christmas. Today my Mum is stepping in to show us these glitter jars. These are obviously all over the place so don't need too much explaining (it is #TryItTuesday after all!)- I just think they are really pretty :) Just coat the inside of the jars in PVA and pour in the glitter. Then shake it about! Finish off with a little red bow and a tea-light inside. They make great easy gifts, especially when you have a lot to make in a short time. If you're having a Christmas or New Year party, you could make lots to decorate with and then everyone can take one home with them as a party favour! I'm sure that the key to a successful night is to come home with a glitter jar... Right? 

x Rachel 

12 Handmades of Christmas: Pinecone Wreath

I've seen loads of lovely pinecone wreaths about this year, so I thought I'd have a go at making my own. The beauty with making wreaths in this way is that you really can just use anything that you have in your garden or around the house - the possibilities are endless! 

You will need: a wire coat hanger, pinecones, dried moss, florist twine, old book pages, red felt, red string, hot glue. 

1// Bend the coat hanger into a circle shape. You can use pliers to help, but I found it easier without. 

2// Firstly, layout all your materials around the hanger to get an idea what the finished wreath will look like. This helps you to get the balance right. Start with the pine cones and build up. 

3// To attach the pinecones, twist the florist twine a few times around both the pinecone and the coat hanger, then wind in the loose ends. They should be able to move around a little bit so you can fix them later. 

4// Once the whole hanger is covered in pinecones, add some moss in some of the gaps. It stays pretty securely on it's own, but I used a bit of hot glue to make sure it wasn't going anywhere. 

5// Make a bow out of the book pages and felt as shown, glueing the pieces together with hot glue. Then fix some red string to the back with some more glue. 

6// Use the string to tie the bow in place in the middle of your wreath. It's probably best to hang it on the inside of your door as it's not really rain friendly! 

Has anyone else made their own wreaths this year? I'd love to see them! 

x Rachel