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

[theancientmarinator]

Phew! For a minute I thought the thread wouldn't accept my message because I just wasn't making enough stuff for Christmas this week. And then I realised it was because we had reached 1000 posts. Thought I'd lost you all!

We were all listing what we need to finish still. I'll be back tomorrow with mine - if I do it now I will dissolve in tears but tomorrow I will have had a night's sleep and a stiff drink. Not necessarily in that order, although....

cheers. Definately overdone it I fear, oh well more for me to eat.. nomnomnom...

FWIW, I was planning to give people 12s of things - it depends how hungry your giftees are, I think! I know my brothers would consider 6 a mere mid-morning snack to be inhaled ... they're thin as rakes, too ...

I've just been in Paperchase and, erm, it's not the cheapest way to buy stuff, is it?! It's all so pretty though ... I have no willpower left any more!

I'm planning to make gingerbread biscuits because they keep well and was fancying something else with nuts - almonds maybe? Anyone want to inspire me?

I am trawling through the old thread from when I left it btw, and am in awe of you busy lot!

What about florentines?

What about easy choc fudge with nuts? Just made a batch sans nuts (as the French say) and it's lush. I reckon some pecans or walnuts would be great too...

Ooh, walnuts in fudge would be delicious! Thanks.

mrstwinks - do you make florentines with or without chocolate? TBH none of us much like them with chocolate but they always seem to fall apart without - any tips?

I have made mincemeat, but need to make sugarcrust pastry which needs a day in the fridge to firm up before I make pies,

designed and made a Christmas tree skirt, more complicated than it sounds as I had to make the pattern first and it is made up of two layers that sit one over the other,

designed and made an alternative wreath, a five pointed star of red dogwood stems wound around with ivy trails and gold baubles tied on, and a gold rustic bow,

customised some baubles from Wilkinson by sticking on diamond type gems,

half decorated the house, will leave the tree till last.

I need to make and freeze chestnut stuffing, carrot and parsnip puree and vanilla icecream for Christmas day, and wrap presents.

Oh, wow, your wreath sounds beautiful! My mum grows dogwood and always has a big vase of the stems poking through greenery, but a wreath would be lovely. I think it smells great when it's fresh cut, too.

LDR make them thicker?? I'm a chocoholic so not tried them without

Thank you LRD, my DH is always pleased to see it being cut back! He wishes it was the one with variegated leaves in summer as he thinks the plain green is a bit boring, but it was already in the garden when we moved here. It was difficult getting 25 stems that were straight enough to bind together, they are all approx 20 ins, and in bunches of 5 stems, tied almost at the ends. I got the idea from googling star wreaths and lots of willow type ones came up, but mine needed to be weatherproof as it is very exposed where it is hanging.

How about honey spiced nuts? I got the recipe from the Dec Good Food mag. I can go and find the recipe if anyone is interested?

Still giggling at "spiced nuts" :o :o :o :o

2nd batch of fudge setting as we speak. Choc one done this morning, so am going to have light and dark fudge together. Anyone made and got a good recipe for a white chocolate one with condensed milk?

Flubba I think there is one on mumsnet recipes for White choc & cranberry that a lot of people have used.

Flubba could you use this and skip the cranberries? www.mumsnet.com/Recipes/i/3006-White-chocolate-and-cranberry-fudge

Ah cross posted with zeeky

I made some Oreo Truffles earlier. They are setting in the fridge at the mo waiting to be finished decorated. Super easy to make - much easier than normal truffles, more like cake pops. Got cake pops to make tomorrow and baileys choc fudge.

Looks good, will replace cranberries with nuts. Ta ladies

Right - cutting the material for our own Christmas placemats tonight and then I'll know what materials I have left to have a go at some patchworking for my parents' table-runner/centrepiece type thing. Haven't actually got a plan of what I'm making yet, but basically I have a whole bunch of fabric of reds and a couple of creams and a couple of greens, so thought I'd make something. Any ideas?!

Am relatively new to making stuff for Christmas presents...have made some chocolate fudge and some chocolate truffles for teachers' presents, but I made double batches in anticipation of using some for gifts on Christmas Day too, but am now worried they won't keep till then. Any advice on how long you thing the following recipes will keep for? If they won't last till Christmas, then they're going to be jolly happy at work this week .

chocolate truffles

chocolate fudge

Thank you!

Just uploaded some pics to my profile if anyone fancies a nose at the latest stuff I have made for my hampers.

Zeeky, your gifts are so well presented, I'm embarrassed about my amateur efforts compared to you talented bunch

Lovely, lovely pics Zeeky I'd be more than happy to receive presents looking like that :)

Loving the cunning name change martyr :o :o

Finishing our own Christmas placemats now. Would it be Very Wrong to give my sis these ones (still very lovely), and swap them with the ones I'd made for her (even lovelier)? :o

I hoped to use up my fresh cranberries that are currently in my freezer by making the cranberry fudge but it says I need dried ones. Not sure it would work with fresh?

Just want to say a massive THANK YOU to you lovely MNers for your advice - I busied myself with housework (my sheets have never been so wrinkle free!) and then I just got down to it. Result is that my candles are now finished!

Word of warning - I used red church candles and the plan was to pva them and roll them in Epson salts to "frost" them. They looked utterly crap. So thankfully the pva was peel-offable. I thwn drew on the candles with pva (i put recipient's names on them and holly sprigs) and used embossing glitter. I then brushed off the excess glitter and "fixed" the rest with a heat gun. Unbelievably they look amazing, especially in their little bags that I have tied with ribbon!

I'm going to try to keep up the momentum so this afternoon is going to be bacon jam and biscuit dough - wish me luck!

Thanks again you lot - I'm so glad I found this thread!

This is fab I am really enjoying all of my Christmas crafts and making.

Made choc/cranberry fudge this afternoon. Dd helped by putting all the pre-measured out things in the saucepan . I used the tesco recipe rather than the mn one which had exact measures. Looks fab, can't smell or taste tho cause of this rubbish cold!

Yes please for the spiced nuts recipe Zeeky.
I've done some very messy oreo cake pops tonight - thank goodness going to kids, I think I'll wrap them in baking sheets!