I had planned at least four more Christmas craft posts in the run-up to Christmas, but I’ve had to lay those plans aside for a while as my little boy was laid low with a horrible eye infection and a virus. We’ve had a tough […]
As I walked with my little boy to his nursery this week, we talked about the changing seasons. He was given a perpetual calendar for his birthday, which also records the time, weather and changing seasons, so we have enjoyed watching the almost daily changes […]
The first Christmas decorations have gone up in our house in the form of our Christmas stockings. In past years I have hung the two stockings that I designed and knitted; (Star Stocking and Cool Stocking) for my husband and I. I love those stockings so very much and they have been a part of our Christmas celebrations since we met.
If you wanted to knit your own stockings this year and were looking for a relatively quick and satisfying knit, or just really wanted to jump start your plans for next Christmas, I currently have these stocking patterns on an offer whereby if you add both to your Ravelry cart it will automatically take 50% off of the combined price, meaning you get both patterns for $5 rather than $10. Clicking this link will add both to your cart and apply the discount for you.
Next year I want to add a third pattern to the Christmas Stockings, that I will design specifically with my little boy’s personality in mind. This year, however, I wanted to try a different form of Christmas stocking and make a trio of matching family stockings.
I bought the linen Christmas stockings pre-made for speed and ease. They are not the most refined stockings, and mine in particular seems to have been seewn a bit wonky, but they come at an absolute bargain of a price, when they are in stock.
I cut the vinyl decorations using Greenstick Materials vinyl, which is a new brand to me but seems well priced and with a good variety of colours. I haven’t washed any of these yet, but they have adhered to the rough linen very well, even with the very fine line work that I decided to use.
Astute readers will notice that there is a tiny bit of decoration missing on my stocking. I don’t know how that happened, but I shall remedy it before Christmas. Perhaps.
I want for a navy blue vinyl alongside the traditional green and red because I thought it would give a little extra richness to the design, rather than using black as I might have done. I really like this colour combination on the natural, unbleached linen.
As this is the first year that my toddler has really has a grasp of some of the concepts of a family celebration at Christmas I am hoping that he enjoys placing the stocking at the end of his bed at Christmas Eve so that Father Christmas can fill it with some small little magical gifts. Have you got your stockings ready and made? There’s still time to sew, decorate or knit your own. Hopefully Father Christmas will bring you something lovely this year, and some chocolate coins.
In my quest to come up with the world’s most difficult-to-photograph project, I decided to make some new decorations for our Christmas tree. As we have not had a Christmas tree for a few years, Darwin wishing to have a tree this year feels like […]
We have not had a Christmas tree up for the past two Christmasses at Castle Codd. As soon as The Toddler Years hit, the floor space became a valuable commodity, and it just seemed to be more bother than it was worth. Russell really misses […]
We have a tradition of giving each other a small, but personal gift to each other on Christmas Eve. My husband and I have done this since our first Christmas together, and when our son was born we included him in this by buying him new pyjamas to wear each Christmas Eve.
When I was younger I used to receive a little colouring book or family film for Christmas Eve to occupy those exciting hours before I tried to sleep through my excitement of Father Christmas visiting that night, and this is a little tradition I would like to pass on. As well as being a nice little jolt of memory and tradition for me, I also think it has some part in dispelling a little of that nervous excitement before Christmas Day. If those hours can be occupied with some colouring, or a wholesome film, then maybe it adds just a little to a more relaxed evening. I hope so, anyway.
My little boy has this year started to show a little of the interest in Christmas, talking of when Father Christmas might visit and a great interest in sending him a letter, so I thought as well as giving him his Christmas pyjamas this year I might also include a little sticker and activity book, or magazine of one of his favourite characters.
I usually wrap the Christmas pyjamas, but as the idea of Christmas Eve boxes has been a popular one these past few years, and I am trying to make my way towards a more sustainable and thoughtful season, I thought I would make a wooden box that can be reused every year and later used to store memories of our family Christmasses together.
I put this little box together in stages, first deciding on a design and layout for the top, then cutting the vinyl, lacquering the box, applying the vinyl, then re-laquering. As I already had the vinyl and lacquer, the only outlay I had was the £4 for the wooden box, which I bought from The Works (they also have a 2-pack for £7, which is even more bargainous if you wanted two!)
Of course, a design could be drawn, painted or stuck on in many, many forms. These boxes could be fabric-covered or embellished in all manner of ways. I chose vinyl because I thought the finish would be sturdy and long-lasting. And I already had some.
I had seen a wooden box that I quite liked, that was left neutral, with a picture of Christmas trees on the front, so took that as inspiration. I was going to draw each of the trees, and did indeed make a whole selection of them for use on a Christmas card, but decided on a style change at the last moment and used two sets of trees from Miss Kate Cuttables: Christmas Trees and Retro Trees.
I layered the images of trees up to work with a limited palette of colours that I had chosen, and added text and a few circles for snow, before cutting my vinyl pieces and stacking the colours in layers to make the multicoloured trees.
I used Beetle for the script font, and Canter, a particular favourite of mine, for the rest of the text.
Once the vinyl pieces were all stacked and arranged on a piece of transfer tape to apply in one piece to the box, I gave the box a couple of light coats of a clear acrylic lacquer spray to prime the surface and give a slicker, less absorbent surface for the vinyl to adhere to. The vinyl transferred like an absolute dream, all in one single motion. The lacquer spray made a massive difference.
Once the vinyl was applied I gave the entire box, including the vinyl, one more spray coat with the lacquer spray, and this quick and easy, but personalised Christmas Eve box was complete.
