Twelfth day of Christmas

As today is the twelfth day of Christmas I have taken down my Christmas decorations ready to neatly pack them away. So I thought it the perfect day to do a round up of my Vintage Christmas and say goodbye to all things Christmas. Starting tomorrow I will be posting a new series called 101 ways to get pretty organized, showing you some of my highlights from the Spring 2013 press shows I attended and sharing a few recipes of sweet treats I served over Christmas but that can be used all year round.

My glass Christmas tree jar filled with strawberry meringues

My dining room mirror adorned with beaded cream twigs with glass bird decorations and glitter snowflakes

Candy filled stars

Have a sweet day!

Snowy village Christmas cake

I left deciding what my Christmas cake should look like till the last minute! Not my brightest idea as fruit cakes taste better when they have time to mature but I just couldn't decide what to do. So on the Friday before Christmas I got up at the crack of dawn and made a simple round Christmas cake. Later that afternoon after the cake had cooled I covered it in a layer of marzipan and decided to decorate it with little houses inspired by my vintage house Christmas tree decoration and my Christmas cake from 2009 that had four little houses on. So I started making the little houses out of roll on icing whilst I let the marzipan on my Christmas cake set a little. I also made some fondant white Christmas trees like the ones on my gluten free mint choc chip cupcakes. Unfortunately as I finished decorating my cake in the wee hours of the morning I didn't get to take any photos's along the way. So I have just included a link to my gluten free Christmas cake recipe and the decorations and tools I used.

Snowy village Christmas cake

Ingredients

• Gluten free Christmas cake covered in a layer of marzipan and iced
• Royal Icing
• Ready to roll white icing
• Pink food colouring
• Aqua food colouring
• Pink, mint and white edible glitter
• Mint and pink edible dust
• Sugar snowflakes
• Pink and mint edible balls
• Silver and gold edible sequins

Equipment

• Rolling pin
• Square cutter used to make houses
• Triangle cutter used to make houses
• Holly leaf cutter
• Star cutters used to make Christmas trees
• Snowflake cutter
• Piping bag fitted with small star nozzle

Have a sweet day!

Sequin Christmas Tree

I love my sequin eggs I made last Easter using polystyrene eggs, that when I found a polystyrene cone in my Christmas craft supplies I decided to make a sequin Christmas tree. Here's how...

Sequin Christmas Tree
Tools and Materials

• Polystyrene cone
• Brass sequin pins
• Translucent round Sequins
• Printed Round sequins
• Printed Round sequins
• Small pink bucket

Start by pushing the pin through the hole in the top of one printed sequin and one larger translucent sequin, then push pin with sequins into cone. Then continue to pin the sequins in rows till entire cone is covered in sequins. Carefully bend back the handles on the bucket so they are at 90 degrees and attach to base of sequin cone using map pins.




Have a sweet day!

Snow globe inspired table setting

I bought my six glass butter dishes from Dille Kamille in Antwerp, Belgium last year and have used them several times as they perfectly fit individual cupcakes! For Christmas I decided to make them look like snow globes. I started by tracing the dome on to a sheet of card so I had the right size circle to sit in the base. Then using a small piece of double sided sticky tape I adhered a bottle brush tree to the centre of the card. ( I used tape instead of glue so I could re-use the trees) Then using snow paint I covered the circle of card and the base of the tree in the textured paint. Before the paint started to dry I sprinkled it with white glitter and left it to dry. I had some plastic deer cake decorations that were the perfect size but there orange bellies were a little bit bright for me so I scratched off the paint and replaced it with some pearly nail polish, I then painted the antlers on my deer cake decorations with silver glitter nail polish to give them some extra sparkle!







Have a sweet day!

My Christmas Table

Yesterday I showed you my Christmas corner so today I thought I would share with you what my Christmas table finally looked like...

My glass butter dishes turned into snow globes and used as table settings, Denby plates from there Flavours range in coconut and blueberry.

Cake stand filled with Lindt Lindor white chocolate truffles, Glass Pinecone ornaments

Glass reindeer my parents bought me last year on a trip to Alaska, Felted Snowflake table mat tutorial, Mini cake stands from Next

Mini milk bottle wrapped in Tilda printed paper from Musha Makes

Gold glitter spoon from Amara, Linen tablecloth & Lace tablecloth from H&M, Handmade Christmas crackers

Have a sweet day!

A corner of my Christmas

Sitting Deer from House Doctor, Sequin tree tutorial, Needle felted acorns

Happy New Year sweets!
I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, I am happy to say I took a week off and had a lovely time with friends and family.

Before I kick off the New Year with lots of lovely Spring Press show finds and ways to get super organised. I wanted to share with you my Christmas decorations, crafts and recipes that I didn't get to show you before. First up is a corner of my open plan lounge/dining room that I showed you briefly before Christmas but have since had a flurry of e-mails asking me where my treasures are from. So...

Large wooden white tree from Cox & Cox 2011. Small wooden white tree from Deck the Halls @ The Spirit of Christmas Show 2012.

Mini glass Pinecone tree ornaments, White tinsel

Handmade Beaded snowflakes tutorial, Christmas tree ornaments, Baubles, Pretty pine cones

Glitter "NOEL" wooden letters tutorial, Patchwork Cushion tutorial, Beaded bird stocking tutorial

Printers tray painted white, Mini glass bottles filled with sequins and beads

Have a sweet day!

Merry Christmas!

I have been running around for the last few days trying to get everything ready for Christmas...


Almost finished!

Now I must dash to put the finishing touches on, but before I do...

Let me wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!

xxx

Patchwork cushions

The lovely peeps at new craft store Musha Makes sent me a "Winter Memories" fabric charm pack from Tilda. So I decided to make some sparkly patchwork cushions for my Christmas Decor. Here's how...

Patchwork cushion Tools and Materials

• Fabric charm pack- Winter memories
• Wadding
• Fabric for back of cushions
• Beaded trim/pom pom trim
• Embroidery thread
• Sequins
• Seed beads
• Needle
• Sewing thread

Patchwork cushion, How-to step by step



Pick 9 squares of fabric from the charm pack. Lay out squares to form a pleasing pattern.
Pin and stitch squares together in rows of three, taking 5mmm seam allowances. Press seam allowances open.
With seams matching, pin the three rows together.



Stitch the three rows together taking 5mm seam allowances. Press seam allowances open. Cut a rectangle 34cm x 34cm out of wadding and pin to back of patchwork square. Embroider bead or sequin the squares to your liking. Pin trim to right side of fabric 5mm in from every edge with the bottom of the trim facing the centre of the rectangle.
Cut two rectangles 34cm x 34cm for the back and press under and stitch a 1.5cm hem across one long edge of each back.
With right sides together, lay backs on top of front so hemmed edges overlap. Pin and stitch around outer edges. Turn right side out and press. Insert a 12 inch cushion pad.









Have a sweet day!

Beaded bird stocking

All my Christmas stockings are now finished and hanging from my staircase. The last one in my line up is my beaded bird stocking, here's how I made it...

Beaded bird stocking Tools and Materials

• Printed cotton
• magic beads
• Sewing needle & thread
• Beaded trim
• Brocade
• Lining fabric

Beaded bird stocking, How-to step by step

Start by printing off the stocking pattern at 200% and cut out the pattern piece.


Place pattern piece on fabric, using your water soluble pen, trace around outside edge. Flip pattern piece over and draw another stocking piece so you have two pieces. Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut out stocking pieces leaving a 1cm seam allowance. Then pin one cut out fabric piece to wadding. Carefully cut around stocking. With your fabric stocking and wadding pieces still pinned together, join them together by stitching on beads. Pin the two fabric stocking pieces together with the embellishment on the inside. Stitch stocking together with a 1cm seam allowance using your drawn line as a guide.Turn stocking out so print is on outside and hand stitch braid, ribbon trim etc around top of stocking.




Stitch hanging loop to the top of the stocking so that the loop faces downwards.
Place pattern piece on lining, using your water soluble pen, trace around outside edges, flip pattern over and trace a second stocking. Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut out lining pieces leaving a 1cm seam allowance.Pin the lining pieces together with the right side of the fabric on the inside. Stitch around the edges, with a 1cm seam allowance, (you can use your traced line as a guide) leaving the top open. Now slip embellished stocking into sewn lining and pin together at top. Starting at the back of the stocking, stitch the lining to the felt stocking at the top leaving a 5cm gap, so you can turn stocking out. Turn stocking out and hand stitch gap together. Lightly press iron the top so that it sits flat.

Beaded bird stocking, Snowflake felt stocking, Winter bird embellished stocking

Hung from my handmade beaded star garland

Have a sweet day!

Snowflake felt stocking

I finished my second felt stocking, and it is now hanging on my staircase. I made it in exactly the same way as my Winter bird embellished stocking but this time I went for a mint coloured felt and decorated it with white felt snowflake table scatters from Papechase. See Winter bird embellished stocking for the full tutorial.



I then decided that my hand made stockings needed handmade candy! So whipped up some pretty chocolate snowflake lollipops that I packaged in lace printed bags...







For chocolate lollipop tutorial check out my Easter chocolate lollipops



Have a sweet day!