Scrap wrapping Advent calendar....

Today I wanted to share with you how I made this simple, yet beautiful advent calendar for little Miss Moo...

Looking around the shops for advent calendars, it struck me how they are all commercially branded, ie. Barbie or Gruffalo etc. I really wanted LMM to have something different, and more exciting....something more than a chocolaty treat for each day, but rather a little toy, or a book or some crayons....a little surprise that she could actually DO something with...

Looking online there are lots of fabulous DIY advent calendar ideas, but I didn't want to be constricted with the size of the daily surprises...So in the end I opted to create this scrap-wrapping present-a-day Advent calendar....

Scrap-wrapping is one of my favourite ways to wrap presents, as you simply use what you have!

I decided to keep it simple(ish) with brown parcel paper and some vintage music sheets...

 

Having wrapped up all of Little Miss Moo's advent treats, I was ready to decorate...

Being a crafty person, I have a rather large supply of crafty and beautiful papers and glossy decoupage images....but you can just use what you have...(You can find similar decoupage images in TIGER)

 

 I think brown parcel paper can look very chic, when jazzed up a bit...

I used scraps of lace, bakers twine and ribbons...

 

 ...as well as paper doilies and glossy vintage decoupage images to decorate with...

 

 

 Then I simply stamped the numbers from 1 to 25 on plain white tags, with a little lacy hart for décor...

 

With the 25 advent surprises all wrapped up and decorated, I attached the number tags...

 

...then used some brown paper twine to string them all up on a tree-branch that I'd dusted with white spray paint...

And voila!

Little Miss Moo's unique advent calendar was done...

 

 

 

I can't wait to see Little Miss Moo's face when she comes home from school and sees her Advent calendar... 

 

 

...I just hope there will be no cheating in the form of pinching and sneaking a little look.

I am starting to get really excited about Christmas, and cant wait to show you more of my little DIY's and projects over the next month or so...

xxx

June

Plaster dipped pinecones...

 TUTORIAL 

   

Making Christmas decorations is an absolute must for me during advent...I remember making  decorations with my mum by candlelight, a cup of hot chocolate and lots of Christmas cookies...

Now, we never made these, but none the less, it is that feeling...when you are covered in glitter and its cold outside!!

This project will take you outdoors in the cold, then bring you back inside for a cosy winters night glitter session...

Pinecones....I love them! Like natures own little ornaments, and essential for the Christmas tree!

A few weeks ago I went out in our local woods and filled my bag with pinecones, not really knowing what my plan for them was... 

I love how they look naturally, but I also wanted to ad a little Christmas sparkle to them....and I have always wanted to try dipping them in plaster (I've seen a few people trying this, but not with great results)...so I decided to have a go....

I soaked my pinecones in water, and scrubbed them clean, then put them in my oven on 100 c for about 45 min to dry out....I didn't want to overdo it, as I wanted the pinecones to stay closed for dipping in plaster...

Pinecones will close up when wet, and open when dry...

 Next, I drilled a little hole in the end of my pinecones, and glued in some jewellery eye pins....so that I could easily string them up....both for the next step and for later.

 

 MIXING UP PLASTER

Like I said above, I read a few tutorials on dipping pinecones in plaster, none of which were very successful...but I think I know where they went wrong: the pinecones have to be dry, but not opened, and then there is the plaster mix: I have been working with plaster for years in the film industry, and I am very comfortable with it as a material.

 

I decided to use casting plaster for my pinecones, as it dries quickly...

When mixing up the plaster, add the plaster to lukewarm water, until it peeks out over the surface, then leave for a few minutes until this plaster has soaked up moisture from the water, then using your hands, mix thoroughly together...this should give you the consistency you are after: not too runny, but just thick enough to form a thin film on your hand when you take it out of the mix...

 

Working fast, I dipped my pinecones in the plaster mix, and hung up to dry...I dipped each pinecone twice, letting the first layer stiffen (but not cure) before re-dipping...Taking care not to use the plaster mix when it had thickened too much, but mixing up more as I went...

Once the plaster has set, leave to cure over night in a dry warm spot on a towel...don't cover them up, as you want the moisture in the plaster to totally evaporate (or you could get mould in the plaster)...

...MORE EXPERIMENTING:

 

I also tried dipping the pinecones in gloss paint (1st from the left in the picture ), but found that the gloss took more than 2 days to fully dry, and I didn't like the look as much as the plaster-dipped pinecones (2nd from the left). Some of the pinecones I lightly dusted with some white spray-paint(3rd from the left), and I loved how these looked when they opened fully out as they dried...and some I've just kept natural (4th from the left)

DECORATING...

 

For the plaster-dipped pinecones, I simply brushed on some PVA craft glue...don't overload the brush with glue and start at the top of the pinecone and brush downwards...then sprinkled with glitter!

(I love that I get to use lots of glitter at Christmas....he he!)

And I love the way they turned out...

 The pinecones that I just dusted with white spray paint I gave the same treatment, only this time I used Epson salts to add a subtle "frost"-effect:

...and the same for some of my plain ones. Some I've kept natural or just spray-painted white...

 

I love the way they all look together

Thread some ribbon through the eye-pin, or use jewellery wire (The plaster ones will need wire, as the eye-pins were almost hidden in the plaster) so you can hang up your pinecones:

 

 .....Little miss moo loved decorating her little frosted Christmas tree with them...

 

And I think they look lovely....

Note: try not to place these near heating etc. as that will cause the pinecones to open more, and the plaster to crack..

 

I am planning on using these in my next post, all about bringing cosy light into the winter night....so tune in over the weekend to see how...

Thanks for popping by, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below..

xxx

June

twig star DIY

...DIY

 

In my post about advent last week I talked about how I'm feeling inspired by nature for this years Christmas décor, and today I want to show you how I've made this easy twig star to help

bring some light into the winter darkness...

It all started with a lovely Sunday family walk in some local woods the other week...

I love getting outdoors this time of year: The crispness of the cold air, the way the sun is bright and low, casting long shadows on the ground....the smell of damp leaves and the stillness of the woods...

I was picking up twigs along the way, and came home with my arms full...

I picked out the straightest ones,(You'll need 12) about the same length and gave them a good scrub in the bath..

...when they were dry, I dusted them lightly with some white spray paint...

 

Using some garden wire, I bound them together in the shape of a star...I found the easiest way to do this was to first make 2 triangles then wire them together...then I doubled up the twigs because I thought that looked nicer...

 

Then I used 2 small battery operated LED strings of fairy lights and wrapped them around the twigs, securing in places with some wire...I made sure the battery boxes was at the same spot, near the "bottom" of the star..

 

  

And that's it:

 

 

 

 Looks nice, hey? Hang it on the wall, or do what I did and place it on the floor in a dark corner of the room, to light up those dark winter evenings....very atmospheric and perfect for advent!

 

 

  I will be back with another post about bringing some more atmospheric light into your advent décor before the end of the week!

But before I do, I want to show you another nature inspired post: my big pinecone experiment...

Please let me know what you think about my twig-star or if you've made something to bring some light into you décor for this winter...I love to hear from you all!!

xxx

June