My first Christmas Wreath

I am trying my best to have a handmade Christmas this year. This means making all my presents, decorations and cards. I can tick Christmas cards off my list, I'm doing quite well on the handmade presents which I will report on later and here is my first Christmas wreath. I made this at a Christmas Craft evening that was held at my sisters church.  We were given a wire base to start with which was then stuffed with moss and wrapped with florist wire to hold it all together. I then took a long piece of ivy and wrapped that around to give it a bit more of a 3D look. I then used some fake red berries on wire to add a little colour with a couple of cinnamon sticks and red ribbon to finishes it off. I really enjoyed making this and I have always wondered how they were made. Mystery solved.

My Recycled Christmas Card Design

This is my Christmas card design for this year. I kept it quite simple and wanted to use recycled materials as much as possible. The silver card is from off cuts of food packaging from a local business. The blue printed paper is from envelops linings which I have been collecting from bills and letter over the past few months. I know a blue tree isn’t very traditional Christmas colour but with the silver back ground I think it gives a modern look

My brothers Christmas Present

Well first things first I didn’t win the Folksy recycled Christmas decoration competition but I’m glad I took part. It was good fun trying to think of what to make.
This is my little bro’s Christmas present. (He doesn't know I have a blog so I don’t think this will ruin the surprise) He was given my granddad’s war medals when he passed away a couple of years ago and my brother has wanted to display them nicely some how for a while now. This is just a scanned image of the backing ground and the medals. I am presenting it in a black box frame so it has a 3D effect. The old newspaper and vintage flag I got from a local car boot. They are spray mounted onto the base of the frame and I think they really give it a vintage feel. I stitched the medals through the back of the frame so they were secure and so it didn’t damage them. I hope he likes it, he hasn’t noticed the medals are missing yet so hopefully it will be a lovely surprise. I am aiming to make all my presents this year and this is my first one. I hope I don’t run out of time!

Folksy Competition Second Entry

This is my second entry to the Folksy competition. The brief as I mentioned in my last post was to make a festive decoration out of recycled materials. Once I had made my first entry I still had quite a few ideas so as we weren’t limited to one entry I thought I would have another go. I think this one was slightly more successful then my first. I kept this design simple. As the competition was called Folksy Angle I thought why not attempt to make my own. I used a Champaign cork for the main body with the wings made out of a drinks can. I used a beer bottle top covered in a chocolate wrapper with some gold wire for a halo and legs.  I made two of them so they can keep each other company. I think they look quite cute.

The competition deadline was yesterday and voting has begun today. I’m not sure how long voting is open for but I know it’s going to be very short period. If you would like to show your support then please go along to the folksy blog and cast your vote by leaving a comment at then end of the post with you entry choice.