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

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

OLD THREAD

We were all on about pinterest, jars, and where we are up to in our christmas planning :)

Lets go...

Flubba - i'm not the greatest when it comes to sewing but I have got a sewing machine and some random pieces of fabric hanging around. Are they really easy and roughly how long would it take to make?

has anyone linked to these before here rosy posy christmas decoration patterns. I bought the pdf pattern (about £6) and have made the coat so far. There are 3 other patterns and they are all lovely. Not too difficult!

I'm not great at sewing either but do have a sewing machine which makes things a lot easier - it's basically three lots of rectangles, one folded into a pocket, and then the 'pockets' sewn in, so it's all straight sewing. I did a job lot of four or five at a time, (as it makes it quicker to do the interfacing ironing/pockets sewing etc). I reckon each one took about 45 mins/1 hr from start to finish (possibly I'm slow because they were done around looking after (ahem ) my three little ones).

this is the tutorial I followed

Where did people get their glass bottles for their vodkas? I want to do 5 skittle bottles and i don't know what size or where to get the bottles?!

Thank you all for measuring your wrists - that's about what I'd gone for :)

Lisa I've reused nice glass bottle with screw lids I had, they are about 250ml.

If you want small screw top bottles for flavoured vodkas etc you could buy the mini bottles of wine that the supermarkets sell, often on offer like 4 for £5 or similar, enjoy the contents , soak off the labels and refill, I have done this in the past. I am tight prefer to get some benefit my self instead of paying for empty bottles

ok...so can i just use my glass bottles with screw lids that once held my DH's dandelion and burdock

Sound perfect! The frugality of already having them would even outweigh the fun of drinking the wine

I just put them through the dishwasher and then they're fine.

Am just marking my place .. Am loving all your ideas.

WholeLottaRosie you can't leave us in suspense! What are you going to make with the straws?

I've had a similar problem with the lemon scrub but found that shaking it and leaving it upside down for a while does the trick. I tried the stirring method but found due to clumsiness I kept losing some of the mixture

I have persuaded my husband that Pinterest is a Good Thing this morning by showing him what happens if you search for 'women with curves'. He spent a happy ten minutes looking at (mostly) fully clothed women of welcoming proportions... normally he has to flick through my Pepperberry catalogue for that. ;-/

I made a lovely find in Home Bargains today... some nice little Christmas tins for £0.39 each, perfect with some tissue paper in to house a small selection of truffles, fudge or chocolate bark. I also got two big metal trays in a matching design for I don't know what yet, putting out with nibbles or making a big hamper style display on. Only £1.29 each.

I have one of those tinned marmalade kits and wanted to try making some different flavoured marmalades rather than just the bog-standard orange. Was thinking maybe adding some cinnamon, cloves or ginger, but having been googling and wilfing for a while, just cannot find a recipe. Any marmalade makers out there who knows if this would work, and how much and when I should add the spice?

WholeLottaRosie lol

Well, I've gone ahead and done the marmalade - just waiting for it to cool slightly before sealing the jars. I ended up bunging in 3 cinnamon sticks, 1/2 tsp ginger and 1/2 tsp ground cloves. Once in the jars, I stirred in some gold edible glitter stars - it looks and smells divine! Truly Christmas Marmalade

Zeeky loving the spangly marmalade as much as the strawberry glam and hoping that someone who gives me presents at Christmas reads this thread

I was inspired by the Strawberry Glam idea, but as I had already made loads of jam, I couldn't do the glam . But managed to make glamalade instead!

icapturethecastle that rosy posy site is fantastic! I don't embroider but it's so tempting to try after seeing that site. The felt ornaments are so unusual and inspired - I've pinned it to spread the love!

They are lovely - the coat was quite easy to make. I am going to do the polar bear next. I also love the ice skate and cup of cocoa.