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!

mogs cupcakes in a cup? or you could drill some holes in the rims, attach some chain and make them into mini hanging baskets
do you know any dressmakers? I'd personally love one made into a pin cushion! would you like my address?

Oooh I want teacup hanging baskets now! That's such a cute idea!

Re the teacups, how about planting them up with small bulbs, topping with that moss stuff from florists (or your garden) and putting them on your windowsills or giving them as gifts?

I love this thread! I've spent hours on Pinterest now, and am following many of you in a slightly stalkerish fashion.

Oh Debka I made cinnamon apple jelly with a glut of crab apples last year, great on scones etc. I will find the recipe if you would like it.

I have just made Christmas pudding rum! So excited!

My dad goes ice-fishing often and I'm thinking of making hand warmers for him...apparently you use pie weights?

My DS has some old teacups in his bedroom with cacti planted in them. They look like the ones here

I feel that if I was a real homemaker I would know the answer but... can you do the bulbs in a cup thing with snowdrops or just stonking? big hyacinths? And do they need much depth of soil at all? I have some very wee glasses that would look so sweet with little snowdrops in. And is there a way to make sure they flower bang on Christmas?

Oh my goodness I love this thread :) I made hampers last year, with home made butter, mint sauce, bara brith, fudge and brownies. I love doing home made things and will be doing it again this year, but I'd like to do things that last as well instead of just food. I think tomorrow I will be spending a goodly amountof time on this pintrest!

Just marking my place before I go to bed.

last year I made snowman soup cones and tea-cup scented candles

onlyaphase can I have the cinnamon apple jelly recipe please? I've been looking for something like that to do once I've made jam from all the blackberries sitting in my freezer.

Love your name by the way. It gets repeated in our house at least daily!

onlyaphase i'd love that recipe, thank you.

For bulbs, I think snowdrops would do nicely, or those little purpley grapy hyacinths. Actually, last time I was in a garden centre they had dozens of varieties of little bulbs as well as the bargain bags of daffs etc, so it might be worth having a look.

For making them flower, one of my books says to put the bulbs in the bottom of the fridge for a few weeks, so the bulbs think its winter, and then when you take them out into the warm and plant them, they will grow and flower. I haven't tried this, so might be worth googling to see if there are more precise instructions out there.

I'll go and find the apple jelly recipe now and post later.

I would quite like to try one of those 'in a jar' recipes, but want to try it with ice cream. I have a brilliant recipe that even my DP, who isn't that keen on sweet things, loves, so what I thought I could do was make up the ice cream and put it in individual jars, seal them and write, "Freeze Me" on the lids? I also figured I could whip up some chocolate sauce and send that down too. That would suit everyone, wouldn't it? Young, old, male, female... cheapish and I hope it would look quite pretty!

And I also love the idea of tea cup candles as well. I figure I can melt down the ones I already have instead of buying them though. Do you think mixing in scent while it was still liquid would work?

Cinnamon Crab Apple Jelly Recipe

Takes 50 minutes, makes just over 2lbs jelly, keeps for 6-9 months

1.5kg crab apples
pared rind of 1 lemon
5cm piece of ginger
20cm cinnamon stick
500g white granulated sugar for each 600ml/1 pint of juice

Put whole apples (minus any bad bits) and 1.2 litres of water into a large preserving pan. Add lemon rind, ginger and cinnamon and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the apples have collapsed and are pulpy. Spoon the mixture into a jelly bag and leave to drip for 6-12 hours

Measure the juice and weigh out the correct amount of sugar. Put the sugar and juice into the cleaned preserving pan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Cook at a full rolling boil for 5 minutes and then test for a set.

When the jelly has reached setting point,skim any scum off the top, pot into hot sterilized jars, seal and label. You can add a piece for cinnamon to each jar before adding the jelly if you like

Really nice on buttered toast, english muffins, crumpets and scones. Can melt and use as glaze on cakes etc too.

ooh, I just got another sack of pears from my colleague's garden. what preserves can I make with pears that will be edible?! I have never made jam before, so not sure pear jam would be an ideal starting point. however, you've got to start somewhere, I guess.

I'm slowly getting there. Made the jamie Oliver rocky road from the comic relief book yesterday (to test it out). Dh's colleagues are apparently wolfing it down this morning so that seems to be a winner.

With chutneys - do I need to do a wax circle on the jar as I would with jam?

Electricslide I've never used the wax discs with chutneys, and they've been fine.

I did quite a bit of googling last week when I made pear chutney and read that wax discs weren't necessary. A lot of pages said not to use metal lids but I found one site that said it was fine - I forget the reason but I only had metal lids so have had to use them. I made 5 jars and the buttons have all 'unpopped' so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll still be ok for christmas.

I did have one jar that's only half full. I am right in thinking that this isn't good and that the chutney will spoil? Should I use it sooner or keep it in the fridge?

Thanks for the link chirpchip!

ive just started the felt gingerbread man,and christmas tree garland from the christmas book.

All of you who are making/have made things for hampers. Do you buy hampers and if so do you know an inexpensive place to buy them? Or do you use gift-wrapped boxes?

I've already bookmarked loads of your suggestions, and am currently busily making chutney with the glut of courgettes from our garden.

ilove - I bought a few bread baskets from 'what!' a couple of years ago. They cost £1 each and are quite shallow so don't need loads of things to make it look like a decent selection. I have also used shoe boxes and decorated them in Christmas paper.

Phoenix trading sell patterned cellophane which I used last year to cover the baskets and they looked good - even if I do say so myself .

What Christmas book?!