Tag Archives: Christmas Decoration

Advent Calendar – Day Twelve

It’s Day Twelve on the Advent Calendar, half way there, and a special date on the actual calendar as it’s 12/12/12! I don’t know whether the numbers imbue the date with any magical properties, if it does a visit from the Ironing Fairy would be nice…

The make today stems from the Christmas Fair we are having on Saturday in aid of our Village Hall. For years we raised funds for the old Hall. First to keep it standing, then to raise funds to build a new hall and now we have a wonderful new eco-built hall we have keep it in good repair. As it’s where our Knit and Stitch Group meet every month we have a table at the Fair and we’re all working to fill it with goodies to sell on Saturday.

With things being a little hectic on Planet Penny at the moment I haven’t been able to come up with as much as usual, but I spent some time yesterday afternoon with my trusty glue gun…

…a section of crafty bits and pieces…

…and I now have a dozen little Christmas tree rings for sale on Saturday.

If you haven’t got a glue gun, quick! put it on your Christmas list! It’s the most wonderful thing for quick assembly while crafting, as it sets as it cools so you’re noty left trying to hold everything together with clothes pegs while the glue dries over half an hour or so. I first started using one when I worked at a dried flower shop making arrangements and decorations, back when dried flowers were very fashionable. My own glue gun dates back to that era and is an industrial strength model, but the hobby ones are quite reasonable price. You do have to be careful when using them as the glue is incredibly hot when melted, I sported quite a few burns when I first started out.

(I’ve just realised that I obviously like to live dangerously, if I’m not stabbing myself with felting needles I’n burning myself with glue! Who’d have thought Crafting was an Extreme Sport!)

The little rings are available from most good florist shops and then you have scope for using any number of different odds and ends out of your crafty bit box. It’s a great way of using all the tiny bits and pieces which are too small to make a whole project.

You’ll spot I’ve made use of the little pot of silver bells I bought the other day, I just stitched through the loops with thread to maker a cluster of three and stitched through the twig wreath to hold them. Then the glue which attaches the bow and leaves holds it all in place.

I hope that’s fired your imagination. I’d love to see what you make if it has…

See you tomorrow….x

Advent Calendar – Day Ten

Yesterday I wrote about the simple things, so that has prompted today’s simple make for the Advent Calendar. A pompom garland. If you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while you’ll know I have had a bit of a love affair with pompoms! The Pompom and Heart Garland which is in this tutorial now hangs in the studio, if I look up in the office I see this…

…and in my 2010 Using Up Leftovers post I had fun with the remains of my big granny square blanket to make my first pompom bunting. So it’s snow balls!

(if you are having Higgins withdrawal symptoms these links will also take you to a couple of little ‘aaah’ moments from his younger days!)

It gave me a chance to get out my little pompom makers, which I find very addictive because it’s so quick. You don’t have to go out and spend money to do this because there is always the traditional way to make pompoms, but I would recommend these over other gadgets I’ve tried.

There’s no point wasting good quality yarn on these, it’s such a shame to cut it up and cotton in this case is useless because it doesn’t have enough ‘give’ and you end up with something like a little corn sheaf! I used a ball of snowy white acrylic which looked perfectly fluffy and snowballish…

These are just strung on a length of the acrylic, but you could also use some sparkly thread, or even some fishing line so they appear suspended in mid air!

And if you’ve got completly carried away and filled the house with pompoms, you can always give them away on your Christmas gifts!

By the way, thank you for all the comments yesterday, sharing your fantasy Christmas dreams. It’s been lovely reading them. If you haven’t added yours yet, please do!

I’ll be back tomorrow, happy pompom making!

Advent Calendar – Day Four

Here we are on Day Four of the Advent Calendar and I’ve been ferreting around in the button box! Well, the Mother-of-Pearl button box to be precise…

to reprise a little decoration I made a few Christmases ago. I spotted the idea in an upmarket catalogue and decided it would be silly to buy it when I had so many buttons, had a go at making it and was very happy with the result, and very smug because it hadn’t cost me anything!

The box is rather full, but I’m gradually working my through the small buttons…

I shall have to be inventive for the big ones!

It’s a very simple little button heart…

and apart from the buttons all you need is gold or silver wire and some jewellery pliers.

Select your buttons and lay them out in your desired order. Cut two lengths of wire, about 18″ in length, you just snip off the excess. Twist the wires together a couple of inches from one end then thread the first button on to one of the wires then twist the two wires together for a few turns before threading the next button on a single wire again.

Continue like this until you have used all the buttons, then bend into the desired shape, bringing the two ends together at the top of the heart. Then you can use the excess wire to twist a hanging loop, and snip off the ends.

Finish with a length of pretty ribbon or cord…

hang, stand back and admire!

Of course you can use any buttons you happen to have in your workbox, coloured ones look pretty too…

Have fun, I’ll be back tomorrow….x

Advent Calendar – Day Three

For the Planet Penny Advent Calendar today I’ve gone to a Christmas favourite of mine, Origami Stars. I first tried Origami when I was about 11. My mother found a book in the library, and thought it was a great idea as it didn’t require any cutting up of bits of paper. (She says I spent my entire childhood creating scraps of paper which were too small to pick up, and too big to be vacuumed. Nothing’s changed there then!)

The stars didn’t make an appearance then, but my lovely daughter-in-law, Celia, discovered them a few Christmases ago, and decorated the mantelpiece in their old house in Rouen, and they now remind me of the last Christmas we spent there together before she, my son and grandsons move back to the UK. Happy memories, and I’ve been making them every Christmas since…

What I love about them is that they are so simple to make, and yet can be made to fit in any colour scheme, from the wild and colourful to sophisticated and plain. You will be very surprised by my particular choice, given my love of colour but I really like them plain and white and simple…

The possibilities are endless when it comes to decorating ideas. They look good just in a glass jar, dish or vase…

…so pretty scattered over a red Christmas tablecloth…

In the past I’ve strung them together to make garlands, added individual strings to each little star to hang them in the Christmas tree branches and attached them to mirrors and windows with double sided tape. Made in gold and silver and glued on to a simple wreath they would look stunning and in bright colours stuck to the ceiling to a child’s bedroom they would look pretty any time of the year…

Tempted? Well, there’s a great tutorial here which will get you started, and before too long you’ll be churning them out in every spare moment!

And if you’d like a little colour fix, I found these on Pinterest. Aren’t they gorgeous? (no source I’m afraid)

If you missed yesterdays’s post don’t forget to join in with the Prize Draw, see this post for all the details of the prize. Just follow Planet Penny in some way, whether it’s by email sign up, or on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Don’t think I expect you to do everything, and if you are already following, well thank you very much! All I need is for you to tell me somewhere in a comment during the Advent Calendar posts because that where I will be compiling my list of entrants from. Hope that make sense…

In the meantime, Have fun, and I’ll be back tomorrow!

Day Two of the ‘Virtual’ Advent Calendar!

I’ve had lots of encouraging comments about my Christmas blogging marathon, a post a day for the virtual Advent Calendar until Christmas Eve, thank you all very much! (And if you’ve just discovered what I’m up to, scroll down to end of this post and find Day One’s crafty wrapping ideas…)

Today is all about my celebratory Giveaway for my 5 years living on Planet Penny, and I’ve deliberated long and hard to think of something everyone can enjoy, whether you are a maker, or someone who just appreciates what is made. So the prize is ready made, and part of it is the Advent Calendar make for today.

Having spent so much time with my Rainbow collection of yarn I thought it would be good to celebrate that with colourful tree decorations, so I have made some mini balls of yarn complete with tiny knitting needles.

These look lovely on the Christmas tree…

…but are far too pretty and colourful to hide away for the rest of the year. Can you imagine them strung on a line adorning someone’s crafting corner, or hanging round the edge of a lampshade perhaps?

They are simple to make if you want to do your own. I used a small polystyrene ball as a base and glued the yarn on to start with. Then you just wind round carefully until the base is hidden and the ball is the size you want. Glue the tail back on itself to form the hanger. The needles are made from cocktail sticks with beads on the end and pushed through the ball…simples!

But you can win your own if you enter the Give-away Prize Draw!

The next part of the prize has to be needlefelt don’t you think? It’s been so much of what I do. So this too could be yours…

..a little Christmas Mousie…

And finally, I’d like to include a book, and this time there’s a choice. It could be a copy of ‘Knitting on the Road’…

…if you are a knitter. There are some beautiful and unusual patterns from around the world…

Or if sewing’s more your thing, there’s ‘Zakka Style’…

This has some stylish and unusual designs which are very appealing…

…or if you or someone in your family would prefer to snuggle up with a good read you could choose this…

…which will be signed by the author, Thomas Taylor, just for you. I know him quite well! (You can find out more about Thomas, the book and how we know each other from this post)

So to recap, the prize is –

14 hanging ornaments – mini rainbow balls of yarn with knitting needles
a Christmas needlefelt mouse with hat and bell
And a choice of one of three books

And what do you have to do to have a chance of winning? I didn’t want to make things complicated so all you have to do is follow me in some way. You can subscribe by Email in the little box at the top of the left hand column. If you do that already there’s also the choice of Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. And then just leave a comment on this post or any other of the Advent posts to let me know so I can add you to the list. You only have to do one thing, but if you sign up for more than that you get more chances!

If you sign up to follow me on any of the other sites, please let me know via a blog comment so I don’t miss you off the list!

This will run until after Christmas to give every one as much of a chance as possible to take part and I will make the draw via a Random Number Generator in the week between Christmas and New Year. In the meantime, do call back and find out what happens next on the Crafty Christmas Countdown Calendar!

See you soon…!

P.S. Don’t forget to call over to Handmade Monday to see what else is going on in the crafty world!

Chilling out on Planet Penny

Brrrr, it’s sooo cold! I’m ensconced in my little Planet Penny office wearing my Boneyard scarf…

wrapped several times round my neck, the pink version of the wrist warmers and with a cup of hot lemon and ginger tea to hand. Apart from the miserable weather a lot of it is to do with sitting still too much, needlefelting, crocheting and winding wool, or tapping on a keyboard does not generate enough heat! Tim’s on dog walking duty while I finalise the craft fair bits and pieces, so at least he and Higgins are getting proper exercise.

The needlefelting? Well it’s robins as usual! I think I’ve got enough now to be going on with. My latest version, and I think my favourite, is attached to a wool covered crocodile clip which means it can be clipped on the branches of a Christmas tree, or a pot plant…

…he’s got a little button heart in his beak…

The crocheting, well I’ve made some tiny bunting, it’s great for using up left over Planet Penny cotton and would look lovely strung on shelves or a dresser. For the moment I’ve just added it to my bunting and garland collection in the studio add a little colourfulness against the gloom…

The winding has been for more rainbow mouse kits (this can be done in front of the fire watching Strictly Come Dancing so I did manage to thaw out a bit!)

And the tapping away on the computer was for my first proper book review which, if you missed it, is here. It’s worth a look, it’s a fabulous book.

Finally, with Halloween around the corner, Higgins had a go at pumpkin carving yesterday. When I came in with one to turn into pumpkin soup, Higgins when wild with excitement, convinced it was a football, just for him.

When I put down for him to check it out he made a huge effort to get his teeth in it…

But the disaster came when he finally managed to get it to roll. It rumbled across the floor, hit a small table on which Tim had just placed a fresh cup of tea and knocked it flying, soaking poor Henry who was just passing. What a good thing Henry has thick fur, just his dignity was hurt!

He managed to make quite an impression on the pumpkin before being bribed away with a doggy treat so I could hide it in the pantry! (I now have a lot of soup, a lot of frozen pumpkin, and I still have half left. I wonder if I can chop it up with dog food? And this was a small one!)

So for now I’ll leave you with the usual link to Handmade Monday and get back to work. If you’re in Norfolk on Wednesday it would be lovely to see you at How Hill for the Craft Fair but if not, I’ll be back soon…x