Christmas Projects

[Epona]

Do you make your own Christmas ornaments for around the house decorating?
We have always made our own star for the tree. Once in a while we would make the ornaments. This year we are def going to make our own reefs. I love making those for some reason.

[Chris_W]

Hi,

By reefs do you mean wreaths? I used to make a wreath each Christmas, and would make some ornaments too. Haven't don't anything like that in quite a while though - for some reason it gets harder to get into the Christmas spirit.

We were thinking of a Halloween party this year, but now I'm thinking about a Christmas party instead. Maybe a Christmas party where we make ornaments would be fun! Something to think about

Chris

[Kas]

I was looking on the Bernina Blog site and found a link to a shop called Spool. The link is spoolsewing.com and they have a pattern for a cloth bird they made a baby's mobile with. I printed the pattern and sewed it up in about 45 mins. I am going to make bold colored tree ornaments with this pattern for the kid's teachers and maybe even my family this year. Heather and Ben each wanted one and play with them all the time. Heather got to pick out her colors and she made a nest for hers. Too funny.

Kas

[govgirl75]

One of the things I do is make "gingerbread" ornaments out of cinnamon dough. I use puffy paint to decorate the ornaments (looks like frosting) and my husband spray varnishes them. They last for several years. I have them on a tree in my kitchen. Another thing I like to do is to cut fresh greens (boxwood, holly, juniper) and lay the boughs around the house to decorate. They smell nice and are pretty. I tuck some pine cones and sometimes some ribbon among the branches. They last surprisingly long and are very low cost.
Glo

[thy]

homemade Christmas traditions ?
We only have a fewm but they are keepers
Tree decorations are saved from year to year, the gass ball colors may change a bit, but the paperstars are the one my son made and the figures are made by my daughter at age 3 and 4, the ugly gnome made my mother, some harts by me, some things by my grandmother... they are somehow inportant Christmas stuff... really they are sort of Christmas, most things are old, but new things are added every year. They just have to benefit the old stuff

Cookies We do have a cookie day, reciepies are what we like and most are not traditional Christmas cookies. This is the one day a year I bake cookies, the have to be good Last ear I did not take the tme. I moved and thought.. then what... bought some from the local bakery.. too much buttter, too few nuts , cheap chocolate..anf the price $15 for 500 gram/one pound/ half kilo...back to the anual backing this year for sure

Marcipan sweeties,,, sure. What we can bye are made of cheap stuff... homemade here are 66%almonds, then add nuts, liquor, brown nougat, good chokolate... one of the reasons son in law got into the family for real... he love to eat them ..and last year he even made some

But the very best day is girls... it is n afternoon, evening and half night with preparing, eating, trying, testing fun, comments and it is girls only
Talking about Christmas decorations here.
Somehow this is better than Christmas eve
The traditions somehow started with my mother, doing decorations way different from other persons and continued with me..my daughter and now include my DiL from last year
Reciepie is hard to give but:

A huge table, small ones( space on the floor
Decoration clay.. lots of
All sort of conifers, moss and....
Nice , funny tiny branches
Good looking weeds
Chilies
lemon peels
Dried fruits, nuts and sheles
Christmas ornaments, 'Weird stuff
Vegetables
ribbons
Garden stuff like dried hosta stalks, daylilly and teepeony and allium and and and
candles in all shapes and colors as you like
Hair lacque.. the old thing and What ever to add... nini glitter, crystal snow or... the lacque works as a glue too when whet
Gold, silver and copper spray
Snow spray if wanted

Start with a plate, bowl, piece of wood or what ever you like... plactic, china, silver, cobber, wood.. it is all up to you.
We normally start collecting items around this time of year... finding things, like sponges in the wood, artiscoas in the veggie shops
Rememer to make it possible to change the candle if you use smaller ones
Problem: they have to be transported very gently... this is boys time and late night...
Due to the small is delicious meals served during the hours and the additional drinks with or with out alcohol, the girls have to be taxied home with their decorations
The good stuff are saved from year to year
Have fun
Pia

[party_music50]

Pia, that 'girls day' sounds amazing. Just assembling all the "ingredients" would be a chore, but I'll bet it smells wonderful and whatever you create is beautiful.

When I was a kid, my mother always sent me out to the woods to collect ground pine that she made into wreaths. I'm told that it's now a protected plant -- I haven't collected any in many years.