I have been overwhelmed by the love, support, comments, likes and joy that this blog of mine has provided this year and most of that is down to you, my lovely readers.
Gorgeous Christmas cup by Holly Rance.
I hope you all have the most wonderful day and lots of Christmas kisses from me to you (now go and eat ALL the mince pies and drink ALL the gin!).
Katy Xxx
I used to love tinsel as a child and we would decorate the whole house with it: up the banisters, along the mantelpiece, over pictures hanging on the walls, anywhere and everywhere. It’s definitely festive, but not necessarily particularly beautiful.
I saw this fabulous Eucalyptus garland tutorial back in November and I was determined to give it a go, having never made a garland before, as it seems like the perfect alternative to tinsel.
This really is as easy as it looks and it can be a last minute decoration that you make to run down the centre of the Christmas table or I think it would look beautiful on a mantelpiece (I wish I had one!).
– Hardy foliage (I bought mine from Columbia Road flower market because I don’t have a garden and very helpfully some lovely people on Instagram were able to tell me that it is called Eucalyptus pauciflora, otherwise known as Snow Gum and it is amazingly hardy!)
– Twine
– Scissors
1. Cut your big branch into smaller pieces around 20cm long.
2. Unravel 20cm of your twine but don’t cut it, just lay it out on a flat surface. Place one of your pieces of foliage on top of the twine. Cut a 20cm piece of wire and secure the twine to the foliage by winding the wire around and around.
3. Unravel more twine and place another piece of foliage on to it, slightly overlapping the last piece and secure it with the wire and so on until you have the length of garland that you want.
If I had a beautiful doorway or fireplace this ‘green tinsel’ would be perfect but I think it will look equally as lovely on the Christmas table.
I’m taking next week off to prepare for January so I will pop in on Christmas day and New Year’s eve to say hello but won’t be back again properly until January 4th with my first Styling the Seasons of 2016. Until then, I hope you all have the most wondrous holiday!
Katy x
I have just put my Christmas tree up and I still have glittery fingers from making my one handmade bauble of the year that I always gift to my sister (it’s our little tradition). I love having a mix of old and new in my home and the same goes for the tree; some new, some old and some handmade.
This year we have a beautiful ‘tree’ from Houseology that is perfect for our flat and I love how simple it is. It has LED tips and it looks so, so pretty when it is lit at night. Soooo pretty!
So, here is my little tree and my homemade feather bauble (a stupidly easy tutorial below – it honestly took me five mins to make it) along with a set of new baubles that fit with the Scandi/vintage vibe that you know that I love.
Snow LED Light Branch from Houseology
A good dose of brown paper packages tied up with string (and a few sprigs of Eucalyptus for good measure).
I love these porcelain hanging stars
I was spoilt for choice when selecting a new collection of baubles from Houseology. I decided to stick with white and gold and mix the Scandi wooden hanging tall heart decorations and the large wooden star hanging decoration with the more vintage looking harlequin ball baubles.
My handmade feather bauble (tutorial below). When Jules found me a pure white swan feather in the park a couple of months ago I scoured the park looking for more but with no luck. Therefore, I tried to make my own using air dry clay (Jules says it looks more like a leaf, but I hope you think it looks like a feather!).
And this little munchkin eyeing up the presents.
If you would like to make some of my gold-tipped feather baubles here is a little tutorial for you…
– Rolling pin
– Wooden board
– Knife
– Tooth pick
– Paint, brush, glue and glitter to decorate if you want to
– Twine to string it up for the tree
1. Take a small piece of clay in your hands and roll it into a largish sausage shape in your hands (make sure it is as fat as a large sausage).
2. Roll out the sausage shape so it is about 5mm thick. Using a knife cut out a feather shape.
3. Use both forefingers to mould a spine down the centre of the feather. Don’t worry about squishing out the shape of the feather as you do this or leaving finger prints.
4. Use a toothpick to score lines from the spine tot eh outer edge of the feather at a 45 degree angle. Don’t worry about keeping it neat or blurring the outer edge – a bit of texture will make it look better and more feather like than leaf like.
5. Once you have scored down both sides use the tooth pick to create a hole for the twine.
6. Before you leave it to dry overnight, gently manipulate the feather to curl it slightly so it gains the shape of a real feather.
7. Once the clay has dried overnight, gently rub over the little bits and pieces with your fingers to smooth the surface of the feather. Paint your feather and/or add glitter using PVA glue and then string it up ready for the tree!
Happy tree decorating everyone!
Katy
*This post was written in collaboration with Houseology.
So, are you ready for the in-laws and your family to descend this Christmas expecting a clean house, pristine beds, comfy sofas and lots of yummy food and drink? No pressure.
I realised recently that both our bedlinen and sofa are getting totally trashed by our dog, to the point where I caught a guest moving to a different part of the sofa after pulling a face at the dog stains she was sitting on – I tell no lie. The next day I immediately pulled off all the covers and stuffed them in the washing machine but they have to be washed at 30 degrees because they shrink and the blue stripes against the white fabric can run. When they came out of the washing machine they looked exactly the same as they had when they went in: mud stains, drool stains and general yellowing – gross!
I don’t want my sofa to be grubby and unpleasant with a house full of people over Christmas, not least because the vast majority of time is spent on the sofa watching Xmas telly and drinking as much as is humanly possible. However, I also couldn’t bear the thought of paying to have my sofa covers professionally cleaned. This is where the baking soda comes in.
Oh my god. This stuff is A-MAZING! Seriously.
Here’s what I did to tackle the sofa covers:
1) 1 cup or mug of baking soda poured into 8 litres of very hot water in a bucket and stirred.
2) Submerge cushion covers into bucket (I did it in three different batches as I only have one bucket, which doesn’t fit all of the covers into it at once. I did try putting them all in the bath and adding more baking soda but it just didn’t work very well at all – no idea why). Stir the covers around in the water and soda solution and then make sure they are all submerged, even if you have to weight them down with something.
3) Leave to soak for 18 hours.
4) Remove covers, wring out and then put into a cold wash in your washing machine.
I did no scrubbing and the baking soda just lifted out these stains as well as the general dirt that had discoloured the covers. I promise you, the results are miraculous considering a conventional wash in the machine had not made any difference at all.
I have done the same to my bedlinen, which works amazingly well as the main reason bedlinen goes past its best is the build up of sweat (horrible, I know). The baking soda break down the oils and sweat build up, which makes whites yellow and robs them of their fresh feeling. My linen is back to its best and ready for ALL the house guests this Christmas.
Do it! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
What are you doing to prepare for houseguests this Christmas?
Katy x
The sheer volume of gifts that need to be bought and wrapped is what feels quite overwhelming about Christmas to me. However, last year I overcame this problem by making my ‘Christmas in a Jar‘ gifts – a massive stack of inexpensive, thoughtful and quick to make presents that didn’t need to be wrapped. They were perfect for colleagues, neighbours and friends and saved me heaps of money.
This year I wanted to do the same sort of thing and have decided to make homemade nutella and gingerbread syrup, both of which are super easy to make and don’t cost too much. They are also a little bit different and I hope will be appreciated!
I have been inspired by Deliciously Ella‘s recipe for the nutella, so it has no refined sugar in it, but I’ve taken a few short cuts here and there. Here’s how I made it…
To make one 125ml kilner jar (I bought a set of 12 from here for £20)
– 1/2 cup of smooth hazelnut butter (Ella roasts and blends the hazelnuts herself but buying the butter ready made is actually cheaper and far less hassle!)
– 1/3 cup of maple syrup
– 1/3 cup raw cocoa powder
Mix all three ingredients in a bowl until blended completely to a smooth paste and that is it! Spoon into your jar and add a pretty label. You do need to eat it pretty quickly as there are no preservatives or nasties in it so maybe mention that on the label – Ella recommends thee days.
I was inspired to make this for the first time last year after seeing the recipe over on Laura’s gorgeous blog Circle of Pine Trees. I gave Jules a bottle and he actually said it was his favourite present last year as he is obsessed with coffee and thought it was delicious.
Pop over to Lauras blog for the recipe; the ingredients are pretty simple, as you can see in the picture below.
Jules has it in his coffee and begged me to make him more when his bottle ran out.
I used a Dymo label maker and nice swing top bottles (you can buy these in supermarkets, Ikea or department stores or buy individual drinks in them and then just keep the bottle – that can actually be cheaper!) to make the present extra special.
Festive cheer and sugar and caffeine highs all round!
Got any good homemade Christmas present ideas that don’t cost too much or take too much time?
Katy x
P.S. All pics taken on my iPhone because cooking (well, mixing things together) and ‘proper’ photo taking don’t work well together in my world – the camera would end up the stickiest mess you could possibly imagine!