The First Gingerbreads

I made the first gingerbreads of this Christmas season. Not very triditional, but still. I am on a sick leave, and I am supposed to stay in bed and only stay up for a short while at time. So I had to make something quick. I used readymade gingerbread dough I found from the crosery store freezer. I defrost the dough and then cut it in sticks 1 cm wide and 8cm long. After baking them in the oven, I let them cool down. Then I dipped each stick into melted milk chocolate and covered the chocolate with crushed peppermintcandies. I took the gingerbreads outside the the terrace for a while, so the chocolate would set and in no time at all, the first gingerbreads of the Christmas season were ready to be served!

My New Garland at the Front Door, version 1/2011

Our family has a summer cottage couple of hundred kilometers north from the south coast of Finland and last week I took a little break from work to spend couple of days there with the kids and grand parents. The nature around the cottage was still beautiful though summer is gone and even the fall is already turning into winter. We took long walks in the forest and I collected natural materials for a new front door garland.




Now that we still don't have any snow , it is easy to find materials from the forest. I used long willow twigs to create a base for the wreath. The leaveless blueberry branches are the main material and they are accompanied by some gray lichen. They were easy to tie together with iron wire, as they are rather light. The last bit was to decorate the wreath with a lingonberry branch, a small cone and a figure of a reindeer.

This is not only for christmas,
but for the wait of the snowy winter

Some thinning was done in the nearby forest and we found a huge pile of fir branches which still wait for my inspiration to make something out of them. They would also be great  material for a garland, but could I think of something else? Ideas anyone?

A knitted heart

I bought Christmas magazines and got hundreds of new ideas. That was bit of a promise, 'cause one of the magazines was called "101 Idéer" which is "101 Ideas". So this beautiful hearth was introduced in the magazine. It was knitted from different yarn and felted in the washing machine. And as the magazine was written in Swedish, I could not completely understand the instructions, so with a little help from my best friend I made my own version, which I think is even more cute than the original. I used needles sized 3 1/2 mm and the wool yarn, which I usually use for thick stockings.

This is how I made it:
1. Cast on three stiches.
2. Knit st stiches during the whole heart. Increase 1 stich in the beginning and in the end on each right side row by working into front and back of the first and the last stich. Continue untill you have 38 stiches.
3."Bubbles"
Knit bubbles by making five stiches out of one. (knit the front and the back loop in turns to create five stiches before letting the stich fall of the needle. Knit these five new stiches back and forth three rows and then knit all five together on the right side. You have created a bubble. Continue knitting st stiches until the next bubble. I made bubbles on every fifth row,  approximately after every 7 stiches;  1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4 pcs.  as shown it the picture.
4. When you have 38 stiches in the row, knit 12 rows without increasing and then decrease in the beginning and in the end of every right side row by knitting two stiches together until you have 30 stiches. Knit st stiches four rows.
5. Bind off.
6. Make the back piece of the hearth likewise, but without the bubbles.
7. Make a handle by knitting st stiches with 8 stiches until you reach the lenght you wish.
8. Sew the pieces together on the back side.
9. Sew a small bag out of a fabric (f.e. flannel). Sew it inside the hearth like a lining. Fill the extra space inside the heart with cotton wool before sewing the lining.

10. The hearth is now ready to be filled with candy, small gifts or ginger breads to greet your friends or family, or even the postman at the front door!

Angels, angels...

To continue my series of sinple, easy and beautiful decorations I add a paper angel. It is simply made of a sheet of old newspaper (or an old over read book), and a glossy angel picture with a vintage feeling.
This is how you make it:
1. Fold the paper back and forth to create an "accordion".
2. Use paper glue to create on shape of a semicircle.
3. Glue the picture in the middle.
4. Stick a ribbon or string in the back so you'll be able to hang up your new piece of decoration.
The size can be modified to fit the picture, and the angel can be used to decorate you Christmas tree, presents, Christmas flowers or anything, eved around the year, if you home needs a guardian angel. This is quick to finish, so make some to your friends as well.

Flower arrangements for Christmas

It has happened to me occasionally, that the flowershops have run out of white hyacinths before I managed to buy them. Well not last yeat. I bought them well in advance. The problem is, that I love them when they still bud. These little beauties grew too big before Christmas Eve, but luckyly they not the only flowers we had. These simple hyacinths have been the traditional Christmas flower arrangements  in our home for many years, and I know I will make some this Christmas as well, but I already have so many ideas fot the flowers that I think of making something whole new this year! :)












On a great Christmas Market at Vanha Ylioppilas talo (The Old Student House) in Helsinki last year I found small moss hearts made by Ideapaju and they match perfectly with the other decorations. I also added same cinnamon sticks and golden string among the dry gras. Unfortunately the scent can not be added to a blog post, but enjoy the pics!

Forests gifts

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Last autumn I collected loads of cones with my kids, just the day before we got snow. I made little cone angels of them. Simple, again, but cute. Later on, I hang them outside in a small fir, to fly among the snow. I also made a little crowd of angels for my friend and they got their place in a Christmas tree.

 
To make Cone Angels, you need:
*fir cones
*String
*white feathers



Today I went to the forest to have a little walk. The intension was to be sporty, but I ended up collecting "flowers". This is what I made of them. A little forest for my "basement elf", who has been living on top of a old window frame the whole summer. It will again go to the basement, because as much as I love Christmas, the elves are not a part of our decor in October. :)





I used:

*fir branches
*lingonberry sprigs
*moss
*stones
*a old piece of wood
*ling strigs

Flowers on ice

As the weather in Finland might get freezing cold in the winter, the only way to make your garden bloom is make frozen flowers. Easy. Put water on empty and cleaned milk, juice, soup... cartons. Put the flowers head first in the water and cover to keep the flower on the bottom. (Otherwise it will float.) Leave in the freeze for a day or so and then rip of the carton. You can make theese also in you freezer and then carry them outside when ready.  The flower may last for several weeks, some of them better than others, but in the end, you still had a blooming garden in the middle of winter. With candle light, they sparkle together with stars, making your season bright!