December 6th

** Welcome to my little Christmas blog! Here you'll find something Christmassy every single day until the big celebration on 25th of December! Some of the things I have created myself and some have been made by you, my dearest readers!

Thank you and Happiest Holidays!**

DECEMBER 6th

I have many memories of my family Christmas decorations, but one of the earliest is of red-white birds made by my mom. They were cut of dark red cardboard and they had white wings made of beautiful lace-edged paper, those round ones you place under the cakes. I remember very vividly how the birds were twirling slowly in our windows as they were hung up over the radiators. I asked my mom and oh, she still had a few birds left!
Here is the original from early 1980s:

The cake paper is a bit yellow already but they still swirl beautifully!


You'll need:

cardboard (I chose blue this time as it's our Independence Day today
and the Finnish colors are blue&white)
round cake paper or you can cut these out of tissue paper
or any paper you like
scissors
pen
thread for hanging
needle (makes it easier to put the thread through wings)
optional: double-sided tape


Draw a birdie on the cardboard. I used my mom's as a pattern, but made the tail a bit bigger this time. I hope you draw better than me! The hole on the birdie is for the paper-wing, very important! Cut the first birdie and you can use it as a model for the next ones.

Then it's time to fold the wings! Start from any edge of your round paper and fold it all the way until the next end. You can choose the width of the fold - as long as it'll fit through the hole you have cut into your birdie!



After the folding stick the neat paper pack though the birdie's wing-hole, fold in half and voila, you have a pretty birdie almost ready to fly!



I used some double-sided tape between the wings in the middle to keep them together, and pushed the needle and white thread through all the papers. The birdie is ready!



Mine twirl over the lace advent candles beautifully!

Where would yours fly?


Happy 6th December
and
Finnish Independence Day!

Yours,
Mia

December 5th

** Welcome to my little Christmas blog! Here you'll find something Christmassy every single day until the big celebration on 25th of December! Some of the things I have created myself and some have been made by you, my dearest readers!

Thank you and Happiest Holidays!**

DECEMBER 5th

Sometimes the most beautiful things are just the simplest to create, and all you need to make them is already around you - nothing needs to be bought. That's the case with the perfect candle holder created by fantastic Pam from Hortensia. I couldn't have agreed more when she said that candles and lights play a huge part in her Christmas decorations. That's no surprise that these little candle holders are this pretty as Pam creates most beautiful things, and you can see even them more closely here.

You'll need:

glass tumbler or jar with as straight sides as possible
double-sided tape
anything you like for decoration:
beads
ribbons
glitter
paper of fabric flowers
greenery (especially Rosemary smells wonderful it when gently warms up)
and my version has old lace


When you have chosen your glass or jar, attach double-sided tape around the top and the bottom. Then lay the beads onto you palm. If you lay them on paper, it can get stuck into the tape, and if you use a plate for instance, beads may (will) roll everywhere. Roll the glass along the beads and they'll stick into the tape. Press firmly just to make sure.


Go around the whole glass, until the tape is covered with beads
and you're done!

Once you have light in your candle, be careful, never leave it unattended or around small children. With more delicate decorations such as paper flowers or just to be extra careful you can always use led candles.


I made my set of four advent candle holders with a bit of hand crocheted lace. I just measured the glasses, cut long enough pieces of lace and taped them into glass. I placed a piece of double-sided tape on one end of the lace first, placed it to glass, and then did the same with the another end. I put the lace ends slightly one on the other. If the idea of cutting handmade lace hurts you (it did me at first) you can use industrial-made, but I made these glasses to be used on every advent from now. Today is the second so light to two candles.

Thank you so much Pam!

***

Today's the winner-drawing time for Viv's beautiful holly-corsage! Thank you so much for all of you who commented! There were many red&green-fans like myself, but white, cold, silver, purple and pink and blue had friends too. All sound equally lovely!


And since today's beautiful candle holders were by Pam, it was just perfect to pick up the winner from one of Hortensia-creations! I wrote all your names into pieces of paper (and numbered them from 1-13), put them into Pam's pretty fabric pot, and one was picked...


.. And the winner is: ANNE ! Congratulations! I will contact you soon and pass your details to Viv, who will ship the corsage to you!

Happy 5th December!

Yours,
Mia

P.S. A little remainder still: my other, the little snowman giveaway is still going on, so if you liked the scarf and haven't commented yet, please do so now! And an extra note still: all the beaded candle holder-pictures were taken by Pam, thank you so much!

December 4th

** Welcome to my little Christmas blog! Here you'll find something Christmassy every single day until the big celebration on 25th of December! Some of the things I have created myself and some have been made by you, my dearest readers!

Thank you and the Happiest Holidays!**

DECEMBER 4th

The very best crafts are the ones that you can make after a workday or very first thing in the morning, without doing a lot of shopping for this and that. The best crafts have all the ingredients in your home already,
and suddenly when you put the a few things together, you have created something beautiful to make you smile and bring you some Holiday Spirits!
And the best of all: these crafts can be made with young and old!


My dear friend Anne from Plumcreek22 sent me this wonderful Mini Snowglobe idea, and I fell in love with it immediately. Anne told me, that she had seen it in a magazine first some years back, and wanted to share it with us. Anne makes the most beautiful hairpins and jewelry herself, and chose some adorable Polish and Russian doll-figurines to her jars this time.

You'll need

A glass jar (any size, Anne's were from 7,5cm/3" to 12,5cm/5" )
Some salt ( Anne used coarse, for example Epsom salt, but mine has
regular table salt - it works too!
Christmas figurines of your choice


Put about 2,5cm/1" of salt in the jar, and place your the figurine(s) in the center.


Pictures: Anne

You can close the lid or leave it open, and my table salt-globe needed a tiny shake so it settled like a real, beautiful snow - but do not shake the finished jar like these globes!


Pictures: Anne

And you're done! It just can't get easier than that, and you can create different scenery globes with different figurines. With my first globe I chose quite traditional things: a birdie and some toadstools. And I love it!

Thank you so much, Anne!

Happy December 4th!

Yours,
Mia

December 3rd

** Welcome to my little Christmas blog! Here you'll find something Christmassy every single day until the big celebration on 25th of December! Some of the things I have created myself and some have been made by you, my dearest readers!

Thank you and the Happiest Holidays!**

DECEMBER 3rd

When you are a Christmas person, you want everyone to know that, right? And you want to show that too by wearing Christmas jewelry and clothing.
How about outside, when thick winter coats and
mittens are hiding the pretty things?
I wanted to create something for outside too,
and not only for Christmas-time but also for winter, and
to make you and everyone who sees you
happy and smiling!

So you'll need:

A scarf (can be new or old or you can knit one for this project or you
can just use fleece-fabric to make one quickly)
wool for needle felting (white, black, orange and
little bit for a scarf, any color you like)
needle felting needle
needle felting base
sewing needle
thread
buttons

I found this pretty striped wool-angora scarf from a local thrift-shop, washed it and ironed gently so it's not felted but it became just a bit thicker.

To needle felt a snowman you need some white wool. Start by placing the brushy-felting base underneath the scarf and start poking the wool
(I used my 5-needle felting tool to get started).
After the snowman starts to get his shape, you need to secure and finish all the sides and poke the guy all over to make him sturdy and durable (and pretty!).
I use a single-needle for this step.




The little snowman needs a scarf! I chose some pretty blue wool and
used my single-needle to make it.
My guys scarf is quite long and the ends are flying with the wind too!



Then it's time to start choosing the eyes and and
the buttons for the snowman's belly.
The eyes can really change the look of the little face,
so I think I still need to re-think these...



Once you've settled for pretty/funny/playful whatever look you wish for your snowman it's time to needle felt the coal-mouth, the carrot-nose and finally sew all the buttons in place. My buttons went a bit on the left side but hey! this is a handmade and unique piece!

Then you just need to sew the arms and you're done! I used some embroidery threads to sew the buttons and arms, but you can use wool yarn or cotton, what you have in stock, really.



Happy little scarf is ready (and the bag can be found in my shop)!



I am giving away this happy little snowman scarf! All you need to do is leave a comment to this my 3.12.2010 blog-post
and it would be lovely to hear

What is your favorite Christmas figure?

I will draw the winner on Tuesday, 7th of December 2010,
and ship the scarf soon after that to its new owner!
And again, when you're leaving a comment, please make sure, that
your name or link to your blog is there,
so the winner can be find easily!
And I will not be replying to your comments today, so it's all yours, friends!

Happy 3rd December!

Yours,
Mia

P.S. If you're not familiar with needle felting,
you can make the scarf with felt fabric!
Just cut the snowman from white felt and sew it into scarf.
You can sew the coal-mouth too, or use tiny black buttons.
Quick and fun!

December 2nd

** Welcome to my little Christmas blog! Here you'll find something Christmassy every single day until the big celebration on 25th of December! Some of the things I have created myself and some have been made by you, my dearest readers!

Thank you and Happiest Holidays!**

DECEMBER 2nd

For me Christmas is red and green. There might be little blue, even pink here and there, but nothing is quite like these two. A green tree and red baubles, red curtains and table clothes. Beautiful red apples in a basket, and some green hyacinths waiting to bloom. Green wreath (with red hearts) on my front door to welcome family and friends.

One of my wonderful readers, Vivienne from The Green Rabbit Designs has made a special Christmas corsage for my Christmas blog to give-away for one of you readers! Viv knits and crochets the most beautiful things, and you can find more of her adorable creations here.

So how to win this beautiful corsage? Just leave a comment on this,
my 2.12. 2010 blog-post
and it would be lovely if you could share with us

What are your Christmas colors?

I will draw the winner on Sunday, 5th December 2010, and Viv has kindly offered to ship the beautiful corsage to its new owner immediately after that, so it can be worn on this Holiday time still. And when commenting, please leave your name or link to your blog,
so I can make sure the corsage finds its owner easily.
I will not be commenting to this post as I normally would do, it's all yours!

Thank you so much, Viv!

Happy 2nd December!

Yours,
Mia

P.S. The pretty pictures were taken by Viv too, thank you so much!

December 1st

** Welcome to my little Christmas blog! Here you'll find something Christmassy every single day until the big celebration on 25th of December! Some of the things I have created myself and some have been made by you, my dearest readers!
Thank you and the Happiest Holidays!**

DECEMBER 1st

Christmas-calendar is something I just cannot miss - I need to have one every year! This year I wanted to create something pretty by using materials that could be found in home. By surfing the net for inspiration I saw these beautiful Wood&Wool Stool trees by Ingrid Jansen, found my way to her etsy-shop and flickr-pictures, and just fell in love with these beautiful designs:


Thank you Ingrid for letting me share these!

A tree calendar! I started to look for something I could use for mine and remembered that I have saved some empty matchboxes... That's it! I am going to make my tree-calendar from these little (and some bigger) boxes. At home you can use any boxes you have available as long as they can be opened after they've been clued together.

You'll need:

25 empty boxes
scissors
glue
tape
(double-sided tape is great for decoration)
pretty papers or paint for decoration
pen or stickers to mark 1-25
(optional: some metal brads for handles)
little gifts inside (can be anything you like!)


Start with designing your tree, and make sure, that the boxes can be opened after they've been glued together. I spent some time before I ended up a design with 22 smaller boxes and three bigger ones. In my tree the little boxes can be opened by pushing them from the back (and bigger ones open both sides).

I glued the rows of little boxes together and used some tape too to secure the rows. I left the bigger ones untouched yet as I'll need to decorate them from more than one side before putting three together for good.

And now the funniest part: decoration! I used for mine clippings from magazines and a Christmas-paper set I got when I purchased a craft magazine years back, but you can paint, use fabric, old Christmas cards - anything you love! My tree has a green-red theme and there are some pretty snowmen and baubles too.


I used double-sided tape to secure the decorative papers in the boxes. I placed the tape on the box front and the paper into it, and just cut the extras off. I chose some plain and some more merrier papers and just mixed them happily. I also decorated the parts that will be shown when the tree is put together. You can see those by putting the rows of boxes together
and having a look of it from different angles.

To put the tree finally together I used both clue and double-sided tape
to stick the layers firmly. And as my tree came out quite colorful, I ended up writing the numbers with a black marker only - you can go for more decorative options!


And the finished tree? I love it! It stands in my bedroom next to my Maileg piggies and snowmen and it will be the first thing I see every morning! And the little gifts? Today's gone already - I opted for my favorite: chocolate!

What will be in yours?

Happy 1st December!

Yours,
Mia