Monday 10 December 2012

Green and white Christmas stairs

I bookmarked the following picture on tumblr a while ago (sadly the tumblr that posted the original seems to have been deleted, so don't really have a link to the original image), as I loved the use of the empty white frames up the staircase - such a great and simple idea that could probably be done quite cheaply:

via
The fact that it was a Christmas-inspired picture was actually secondary at the time. However, I do love a bit of garland-and-wreathery at this time of year, so here are a couple more that caught my eye and keep the simple green and white theme:

via


house to home

Friday 7 December 2012

The World's Easiest Wreath, Or; Why I'm Not A Craft Blogger

Let me state up front that I've always been a bit rubbish at anything vaguely crafty. To be honest, I'm probably still slightly traumatised by my junior school teacher Mrs Woodcock, who I overheard one day showing some of my "work" to our headteacher. "She tries", went the conversation, "but it's not really her strong point".

Christmas, however, brings out the trier in me, for whatever reason. Combine this with my love of a simple wreath, and you have the only crafty thing I regularly attempt. I've bought wreaths in the past, but to be honest have always worried a little bit about them getting stolen (we live on a busy road that tends to get its fair share of Christmas revellers wandering back from the pub), so cheap and cheerful is a must.

You will need:

- A handy source of green foliage (in our case a massive holly tree that sits behind our house. It has the advantage of probably being the only holly tree that does not have prickly leaves, which is ideal! We normally have masses of red berries, but for some reason this year they all seem to have dropped off at the beginning of December, which is a real shame as the wreath won't be quite as colourful as normal).


- A ring and some ribbon. This ring is from a wreath I bought a few years ago, and have kept ever since:



Then simply:



1) Select your twigs
2) Arrange them around your frame
3) Wrap your ribbon around the whole thing
4) Adjust any stray twigs

Et voila. The world's easiest wreath, with that trendy thrown-together, home-made look!


Of course, if it turns out really rubbish, you can still cheat and buy one. I keep this one from John Lewis in reserve ;-)


If you're a wreath freak like me, then also check out this video on the Etsy blog that has got some absolutely amazing wreaths made from a wide variety of materials.

Monday 3 December 2012

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas, 1

The start of December always feels like the right time to start getting a little bit festive, although I like to take things slow and steady, and build up to the fully decorated house as we get closer to Christmas. Our family tradition for a long time used to be that we didn't put up our tree and decorate it until Christmas eve (a Finnish tradition, from my mother's side). However, I confess that I can't normally wait quite that long these days. Patience has never really been a virtue, and to get a good tree (we like to get a real one), you have to buy relatively early, which means it sits outside tempting me until I give in or the children nag me into submission. We've booked in our tree shopping expedition for next weekend, so we'll see how long I last until I crack this year!

In the meantime, the first thing I love to do is get a few festive lights up, and these gingham and jingle bell fairy lights are a new purchase from lights4fun (no, this post isn't in any way sponsored, but I have got all my Christmas lights from them the past couple of years and they are fab):

jingle bells

They currently have pride of place on my daughters' bunk beds, where they are looking extremely pretty! I'm actually quite jealous...


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