All the homemade Christmas people over here please, lets share our ideas :)

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Do we have a 'Homemade Christmas Thread' going yet? Ive linked to last years below, I am determined to MAKE MAKE MAKE this year and bugger the responses

I need a fail safe mulled wine kit to give people please if anyone can help, Thankyou :)

Last years thread!

20oz of sugar
8 fl oz of Virgin Olive Oil
4 tbsp of lemon oil

Mix well & this makes 2 good sized jars.

I used the recipe martyr posted but think it is either 4 tbsps of lemon juice or use lemon oil instead. I used about 5ml of lemon oil in mine and it smells lush.

FlubbaBubba that's basically what I was thinking, only problem is I've never made anything before!

I know that working in drops of essential oil, you should have 3 drops per 5ml (1 tsp) of oil, absolute maximum 5 drops, but don't know about translating drops into ml.

I've got too many household jobs and crafts on the go at the same time! Degenerating into cluttered chaos. Trouble is that while I am forced to stop doing things by the baby needing a feed or falling asleep on me, I am on here plotting new things and buying more resources !

lovebeingamumagain I have made a number of different children's bags, mostly messenger style but drawstring bags too, always personalised with applique (either their names or other things they are into) and my favourite was the messenger bags with button-on fabric flowers that I made for a little girl.

messenger bag with button on flowers

<a class="break-all" href="http://soresourceful.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/project-sixty-eight-a-messenger-bag-with-button-up-flowers/soresourceful.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/project-sixty-seven-a-personalised-drawstring-bag-for-a-boy/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">personalised drawstring bag for a boy

a girls' messenger bag

They are all really simple to make, if you need more instructions I am happy to help. The messenger bags all use a simple messenger bag structure, lots of tutorials for them online if you google it.

I use bondaweb too to hold letters and images in place while I applique them on using my machine.

I am going wild on pinterest, it's a little bit addictive, if anyone is interested in following me, I am here

I am officially on the home made Christmas bandwaggon. Especially for the more difficult older relatives. The citrus whiskey is in the cupboard and the peppermint chocolate bark is cooling in the kitchen in the first of my 'practice makes'.

Where in the supermarket should I look for Semolina? Or is it just that my local Sainsburys doesn't stock it.

Akandra - it should be by the pudding rice, in the desserts section. Asda sells it if it's any help.

overmydeadbody WOW your nags are amazing. Yes the drawstring one was what I had in mind. Was thinking of a bright colour and then different coloured letters for their names. Was probably going to hand sew those on as have only just got my machine. Was thinking felt for the letters. Would polycotton be ok for the bag? Have you used ribbon for the drawstring?

I've seen that a few people I assume to be MNers have repinned the tiny knitted snowmen I had on my board. The link behind that pin takes you to a blog which references them and then to a website where you have to pay for the pattern.

The free pattern I used when I did them last year is here I made the bodies, tied them and put little scarves on them and then stitched arms on instead of knitting extra limbs, I didn't do hats either, though they're in the pattern if you want them. HTH!

Thanks Toria :)

lovebeingamumagain yes felt will be fine for the letters, polycotton fine for the bag (I would interface it and line the bag though, to give it more structure and hide all the raw seams) and ribbon will work for the drawstring, but you might want to find the thicker cotton-type ribbon rather than the flimsy silk-type ribbon, but both will work, the silky ribbon might just wear out quicker?

I used very little lavender oil - I have a 10ml bottle that I got from Boots, looks like I put about 2ml into the recipe. TBH I just added enough so it smelled nice but not too strong.

I think next time I make it, I'll use more caster sugar than granulated as I think the granulated makes it quite scratchy to use, I prefer something a little less scrubby!

Got to decide how to package it all up now...need to make a nice label etc.

Forgot to say - the other thing I did today was make a couple of nursery pictures, total cost was about £5 each. I'm just putting pics on my profile of them...if anyone wants to do something similar then shout and I'll explain what I did! :o)

I had a go at making legomen crayons this afternoon! They have come out ok but I need to have another go at it I think. I also bought a mould from Lakeland which has a tree, a gingerbread man, a star and a snowman and they have worked slightly better.

I spent ages trying to get the paper off all the bits of crayons .

I still haven't caught up on this thread, but am inspired by the lemon sugar handscrub.

Has anyone tried it using actual lemons (zest? juice?) instead of lemon oil?

Has anyone ever made the little Christmas heart basket things to hang on the Christmas tree (can fill them with chocs, sweets, nuts etc). They're a good decoration to make with children and fun to do.

For anyone who is interested, I found some drawings showing how to make them here

You can make them as big or small or fancy or simple as you like, but here are the basic instructions:

2 bits of toughish paper / thin cardboard (although we used to use wrapping paper as kids)

Fold each piece in half and then cut into the shape you see in the drawing, with the folded edge being the one opposite to the curved edge.

Cut three (or however many you want, but 3 is good to practice on) slits in the bottom 'square', (like in the drawing) on each piece. The important thing here is that the two pieces are exactly the same size and the length of the slits is equal to (or maybe a mm more than) the width of the pieces.

Now you have to weave them together. So to use the drawing as an example, strip C would go through strip 1 and then around strip 2 and then through strip 3. Strip B would then go around strip 1, through strip 2 and then around strip 3 and so.

Once finished weaving, it should open out into a little basket, then you can stick a handle on to hang it.

Mogs0 - saw the crayon recipe, but how do you make legoman crayons?

(Is it in that big middle chunk of the thread that I am slowly working my way through - keep getting sidetracked with all the links and ideas :o )

Biking - I daren't be away from MN for more than 24hrs, I'd never catch up!

The Lego shop sell a Lego man ice cube tray. The oven needs to be on fairly low though so the mould doesn't melt .

Ooh, I didn't know that.

This thread is the gift that just keeps giving :o

Ha, ha!

interface it?

been on pinterest and started my boards :-D i can be found here
hoping to follow many of you for some ideas.

loving the thread!

My little fish crayons worked well but my starfish crayons' arms keep breaking off so I'm going to get the heart shaped mould from Ikea and remelt the starfish and do hearts instead.

Got carrot and apple chutney reducing on the hob at the moment.

i was thinking to look out for letter ice cube trays (if they exist) - and then making letter crayons to spell out the names for the dc's, friend's children and nieces as small presents / stocking fillers.

Got so much to catch up on (damn work getting in the way of internet and crafty stuff) but Muji had letter molds/ice cube tray things earlier in the summer :-)

too tired to catch up properly tonight - exhausted from watching the GBBO final - but will catch up tomorrow! Promise!