Christmas crafting bonanza

As some of you will know, this year I decided to do an entirely handmade selection of Christmas gifts for friends and family. This was partly because I haven't been working for a while and wanted to cut down on spending, but also because I wanted an excuse to try out lots of new crafts! I didn't blog about them at the time of making as I didn't want to spoil it for the recipients, but now that Christmas is over I thought I would show you some of my makes. I'm annoyed that I didn't get round to photographing all of them or getting pictures of them all wrapped up as I put a lot of effort in to the gift wrapping this year with handmade tags, paper and trimmings, but I was in the middle of an international move, so I think I can forgive myself :)

Let the Christmas present showcase commence!

Fabric covered notebook for my niece.

Fimo covered festive spoon and charms.

A joint effort with my boyf: pear vodka and winter spice liqueur for all the men folk.

Cross stitched card for my parents.

Decorated jar of handmade mincemeat for my French friend.

Handmade bracelet with charms for boyf's sister-in-law

Handmade earrings from recycled beads for boyf's sister.

Ribbon hairband for my niece.

Sewing case for my friend.

I really enjoyed doing all the hand sewing. This Russian doll kit was inspired
by  Flossie Teacakes needlecase tutorial.

Personalised cross stitch space invaders purse for another niece. Made from all recycled materials.

My friend Rob pointed me in the direction of this great idea for keeping track of what's in your freezer, which I made for my Mum. I used pictures of food cut out of French and German supermarket special offer brochures, then laminated them and added a self-adhesive magnet to the back. It was a fairly quick and easy make which I would recommend.

There are so many great tutorials and inspiring posts on the internet. Often my own ideas pop into my head, but it's always nice to know there is a range of practical help and projects that you can refer to or adapt whenever you want.

I really enjoyed making all my presents this year and will definitely do it again if I have the time.

Some thoughts on Christmas

As Christmas Day approaches, I find myself in a philosophical/cultural wrangle. What is Christmas exactly and what am I celebrating? I am an atheist/freethinker/humanist (there I've said it! Kind of feels good to get it out in the open) so how can I celebrate Christmas? Over the last few years I have found myself coming to the conclusion that I am celebrating  the festive season, the spirit of joy and good will and coming together with friends and family. I am not celebrating the birth of Jesus, as I do not recognise him as the son of God and also do not believe that there is a God (Christian or otherwise).

I was looking on line a couple of weeks back for some charitable activities I could get involved with in December. Unfortunately they all seem to be run by Christian charities which actively promote Christianity to the recipients of gifts or aid through missionary work. As this does not sit well with me, I started looking for secular alternatives. I was saddened to find that there don't seem to be hardly any. In the US they recently launched a campaign called "Good without God".  I really like this sentiment. Surely, as humans, we all have the capacity for good and if we need a god to tell us to be good, is that really being charitable and caring about our fellow humans?

One thing that has started to bother me about this time of year is Father Christmas or Santa Claus. I found a women's refuge website which was asking for gifts for children who would find themselves at the refuge over Christmas as their mothers would be forced to flee their home to escape domestic violence. The refuge asked for gifts as they said it would be difficult to explain to the children why Santa had not visited them this year. This thought of small children, already upset and scared by having to leave their home, then thinking that they had been too naughty to get presents from Santa this year or that Santa had forgotten about them, filled me with sorrow. I actually started crying at the thought. Maybe another person would want to send them a gift from "Santa", but I started to feel really angry. After all, why would the children think and feel like this? It's because society has fed them a pack of lies about an old man on a sleigh magically delivering presents to all the good children of the world. I really started to think about the Santa myth and its repercussions. I found these arguments online for not promoting it, which really resonate with me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some Scrooge who wants to spoil Christmas for little children, but I just don't see what positive aspects there are to the Santa myth. Wouldn't it be better to teach our children the value of gracious receiving and thanking the real person that gave them that gift rather than a make-believe character? Wouldn't it be better for our children not to feel that consumerism equals happiness?

When I was little, Father Christmas was something that worried me. I lived in a house with a gas fire and wondered how on earth he would get into the house with no chimney. I didn't like the idea of him breaking in while we were sleeping. I asked lots of questions about him. As the questions were impossible to answer truthfully and sensibly, my parents always downplayed Father Christmas from then on. I still enjoyed Christmas each year.

So, I don't think we need Santa or Jesus to enjoy the ancient celebration that takes place in December each year. Concentrate on being kind to each other and doing things to help others because you want to, because they are your fellow humans. I'm still going to search for a way to give back and help those less fortunate than myself that fits in with my ethics and world view. Give gifts to family and friends if you want, preferably something handmade and unique that will mean something to you and also to the recipient, but don't make it all about the presents. There are a million ways to say I love you and they don't come wrapped up with a bow or delivered by a man in a red suit.

Wishing you a peaceful and contented Yule :)

Christmas has arrived!

28 November - this is the day that Christmas begins! Yes, it's true. Across Europe, the Christmas markets opened their wooden shutters today. So, having one of the best Christmas markets on my doorstep, I thought it only right to toddle into town, have a mosey round and get in the festive spirit with some vin chaud. I also took the opportunity to take a few snaps to use in my home made Christmas cards and tags. Here are my favourites:

Strasbourg Cathedral

Nutcracker soldiers

Baubles

Get your mulled wine here!

Lovely fruity soaps

Expat Christmas Mincemeat

Living in Alsace, France, right on the border with Germany I am lucky that I can buy my food from either country. I love the selection of foods in the supermarkets in both countries, but it's only when you try to make something on the lead up to Christmas, like mince pies, that you realise just how British they are.

Firstly, you need a jar of mincemeat. Hmmm, nowhere to be found. Then you need some large round cutters to cut out the pastry. Strangely, I couldn't find them in France or Germany - only very small circles or bigger star shaped ones. I solved that problem by ordering some off Amazon UK. So, for the mincemeat issue, the only thing to do was to make my own. I decided to follow the Delia recipe. So far so good. Alas, there is no suet (animal or vegetarian) available in France or Germany and also no Bramley apples! I would not let this beat me. I adapted the list of ingredients to what I had available to me as an expat and below is my Christmas Mincemeat recipe.

I cycled across the Rhine to Edeka supermarket to buy all my ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 large Belle de Boskoop apple, cored and chopped up small (sharper than most eating apples and closest to a Bramley)
• 110g of butter
• 175g Brauner Zucker (soft brown sugar doesn't seem to exist, only expensive muscavado, which you can use if you want to)
• Grated zest and juice of one orange and one lemon
• 125g Rum Rosinen (rum soaked raisins)
• 100g Sultaninen (sultanas)
• 100g Korinthen (currants)
• 50g Aprikosen (dried apricots - chopped up small)
• 50g Cranberries (chopped)
• 100g Orangeat gewuerfelt (chopped candied peel)
• 25g Mandeln blanchiert, gestiftelt (slivered almonds)
• 2 level teaspoons of Lebkuchen Gewuerz (closest thing to allspice I could find. Apparently it does exist and is called Nelkenpfeffer)
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• Generous grating of nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons of brandy (I chose Mariacron Weinbrand)

Equipment

Lovely Le Parfait 340ml jars

• 3 350ml preserving jars (I used slightly smaller ones, but love these Le Parfait ones which I picked up in Alsace Coop for only €6 for a pack of 6)
• A large mixing bowl
• Mixing spoon
• Oven proof dish 
• Silver foil
• Grater
• Citrus juicer
• Zellglas (this is optional, but I cut this see-through film into circles, soaked it in some brandy then laid it on the top of my mincemeat in the jar before sealing. It is supposed to keep the contents fresher and help with preserving)

Method

Put all of the ingredients in your large mixing bowl, except for the brandy, and stir it up really well, making sure the butter doesn't clump. Leave this mixture to soak over night. The next day, transfer the mix into your oven proof dish. Put some foil on the top and put it in the oven at 120C for 3 hours. When it comes out it will look like this:

Baked mincemeat - smells fabulous!

Give it a good stir and come back from time to time to stir again as it cools down. When it is cold add the brandy and stir. Take your sterilised jars (you can do this by washing them by hand then putting them in the oven at 180C for 5 minutes or if you have a dishwasher, put them on a 30 minute wash and then let them cool down) and spoon in the mincemeat, making sure to eliminate air bubbles by putting the spoon in and wiggling it around. When the jars are full, put the disc of Zellglas on the top and screw the lid tight. Pop them in the fridge or in a cool dark cupboard. They should keep for a decent length of time.

Ta da! Finished jars of mincemeat. Looking forward to making mincepies now.

Once I had made my mincemeat I sat down to finish my first Christmas card. What a successful festive day :)

Joyeux Noel!

Party hair band

If you are looking for a stocking filler for a young girl, or something for your little princess to wear in her hair during the Christmas party season, here is a quick, cheap and easy crafty make for you!

All you need is:

• a plain elasticated hair band
• some pieces of ribbon about 15cm long (if they are recycled then so much the better!)
• a pearl or large bead
• 2 beads with large holes through the center (I used two plastic, glittery star shaped beads)
• a short length of thread
• a small piece of felt
• a pair of scissors
• hot glue gun or strong glue

How to make the party hair band:

1. Take the lengths of ribbon and bunch them together with the pieces lying at different angles, crossing in the centre. 
2. Use one length of ribbon to tie a knot around the middle of your bunch to secure in place. Leave the ends of this ribbon long and use them to then tie the bundle of ribbons to the hair band. Cut the ends or incorporate them into the ribbon bundle if you prefer.
3. Thread the beads with large centre holes onto the ends of a couple of the ribbons and knot above the bead to secure into place.
4. Thread the pearl or large bead onto some thread and tie it around the ribbon bundle and hair band so that it sits in the centre of the ribbon bundle. Knot it securely in place at the back.
5. Cut a small piece of felt into a rectangle, round the ends using scissors and then pinching the ribbon bundle to push the ribbon ends upwards and inwards to surround the pearl, glue the felt in place on the back of the bundle of ribbons. This will cover the thread and knots and secure the decorative part to the hair band (see photos below).

Voilà! A pretty hair decoration for any discerning young lady ;)

I made this as a small gift for my 11 year old niece for Christmas. All the ribbons are from my ribbon store, collected from boxes of chocolates, clothing tags etc. You could make it more festive by using red, green and gold ribbons and adding small bells or choose ribbons that match a party outfit. I would love to see your creations if you decide to have a go!