I always love the build up to Christmas but somehow feel that apart from a Christmas party or two, that we don’t do enough festive ‘stuff’. So, this year I was delighted when Tia, of A Crafty Alternative, offered to run one of her craft workshops for me and a group of my friends. Tia’s website is really clear and I immediately honed in on the wreath-making workshop as I know it’s relatively easy to make an impressive wreath, even if you’ve never made one before and what could be more festive?

Tia brought armfuls of really beautiful foliage and dried flowers – did you know that you can dry Hydrangeas in the oven?! Her workshops are based on the principle of using materials that are easily accessible and inexpensive so that you can easily recreate what you learn by yourself. Therefore, our wreaths were all made around a coat hanger…

And here are our finished wreaths! What we all loved about this particular workshop was that it was fascinating to see how different our wreaths were in the end and how they reflected our personalities so well. Can you tell which one is mine bearing in mind that I am the total neat freak, organised one of the group?

Tia brings the food, drink and music to your home, as well as all of the craft materials, and can even organise trestle tables and chairs. All I had to worry about was finding a date that my friends could agree on  (Amy, we missed you!), adding a few festive touches to my home office for the evening and keeping Otto under control as he thought the whole thing was far too exciting.

We had the workshop in my office but Tia takes care of everything else so it is a no-stress evening for the host.

Agnes and Najette starting their wreaths.

Emma started an hour and a half after the rest of us but somehow finished before us – what’s that about?

Apologies that there is no ‘end of workshop holding up what we made’ shot. Jules was responsible for that and messed it up big time but he did serve us mulled wine all night, so he’s forgiven.

Do pop over to A Crafty Alternative to check out the other workshops that Tia runs. My friends and I had a really lovely time and it made such a nice change to going out to dinner, which is what we would normally do and costs a lot less. I love doing craft classes but being able to do it in your own home with your own friends was so much fun and Tia was wonderfully relaxed and it felt just like having another friend in the room, which was perfect.

I’m off to hang my wreath on the door now (yes, top right, the really tightly wound one – a bit like me!).

Katy x

A few weeks ago Becky wrote to me asking for ideas for homemade Christmas presents and I came across an idea on Dandee that I fell in love with; so easy, simple and I would love to receive one. All you have to do is add a combination of fruit and spices to a jar. When you receive your jar you pour the contents into a saucepan, add water and simmer to fill your home with the unmistakeable scent of Christmas.

So, I decided to make a few Christmas in a Jar presents for some old colleagues, instead of boring chocolates.  If you need to make some last minute gifts for neighbours, colleagues or family friends, these are the perfect inexpensive option.

I changed the contents of the jar slightly to these ingredients:

– 10 cloves

– Two slices of dried orange (just slice them and bake them in the oven at 50 degrees for a couple of hours).

– Two dried apple rings

– Two bay leaves

– Two cinnamon sticks

– 1 tsp Ground cinnamon

– 1 tsp Ground nutmeg

– 1 tsp All spice

Pop the contents into a jar and I used hessian to cover the top, that I tied with twine.

Pour the contents into a saucepan, fill jar with water, add water to saucepan and bring to a simmer.

When you simmer the ingredients in a saucepan it fills your home with the scent of Christmas – perfect if you are having guests or you just want to make your home extra cosy and festive this Christmas.

Have you made any gifts this year? Or did you make any from the Homemade Christmas presents post I wrote? Thank you so much to Dandee for the great tutorial and the lovely labels.

We’re getting closer, people! Exciting!

Katy x