Collecting things Planning and making things for Christmas 2021

Well Christmas 2020 is hardly over and I am already starting planning and plotting for Christmas 2021. Aargh you all say especially when we are only just getting over this very different Christmas that we have all had.

This post is just an aide memoire for me really, some things I have seen and some ideas I have had. On a practical basis we do not necessarily always have the wherewithal to pay for everything in December, and so breaking it down into segments to collect or look out for throughout the year makes more financial sense for me.

However the most precious of these commodities is time.  Time cannot always be replaced and as I am a lot slower than I used to be these days it makes  more sense for me on a practical basis to actually start making things and putting them up from now on-in, in readiness to give as presents later in the year.  Once you have the items in-house and once you have a period of time in which to play you can actually start making stuff and planning things out when you have a few hours to spare.

I do hope some of the ideas below will inspire you. Writing it down will help me keep track of what I am actually planning and how well I am getting on with it.

Covid Year was and has been a bummer for us all.  For me on a practical basis it has been a very messy year in that we tried to get things done in the house but progress was slow for one reason or another despite the best of intentions and so I have decided that Christmas 2021 is going to be prepared for throughout the year. Especially with the caravan trips that will commence again hopefully next year when the Covid situation has calmed down and people are able to move freely again. I want to get the house and the garden sorted before going off on our travels again. 

I am in the pros of creating a time-plan which will not be deviated from for me on a practical basis.  Things that crop up have tended to throw out lots of plans that were already well in hand and which did not get completed.  For the best part not completely wasted but frustrating.  Certain things will be done at specific times and squirrelled away.  Especially when preparing things to give away as presents such as food hampers.  This last Christmas I had planned on doing Gravadlax and home made bacon, but as the fridge and finances did not marry up I had to let these go for this Christmas.  Next year they are non-negotiable.  Making your own Gravadlax and bacon is second to none.

I had planned on doing a couple of projects this last Christmas but did not get round to them. I keep saying that I want to do more than ever at the beginning of the year but this last year has made me realise do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today.  We all tend to dither or drag our heels at times.  Unfortunately I am a great procrastinator and ditherer!  Not a good combination.  Smacked Dannies Pattypan!

I also had an epiphany on the creating side prior to Christmas 2020 and realised that I needed more time to accomplish things as I can be very slow at times.  Really slow and yet it is the creating that I enjoy the most, bringing something out of nothing, being involved bringing some of the Christmas magic to life that for me in many respects is the essence of Christmas.  Being with loved ones and family members is the icing on the cake.

On the food front I was not able to get a new freezer in the Spring as I had hoped (I am forever optimistic) which has impacted on the rest of the year and a lot of the stuff that I normally do.  I am hopeful that will be remedied at the beginning of 2021 to make sure that we have a good stock of most things as has always been my habit.

The kitchen has been cleaned and tidied up as has the pantry; the  Under-stairs cupboard and also the fireside cupboard are yet to be done. I am hoping to get to these pretty quickly. So a clean broom and ready to start with my preserving in January.  I have had a good sort out.  Still a lot more to do but gradually getting there.  My equipment is also easily accessible which it has not been in a long while.  Most of my baking dishes and casseroles are now in the same cupboard so I can see what I have.  This is going to be important when I get the new freezer as I will be baking a lot more than I have been.  A lot of the dishes I have are freezer proof in any event.  I have also recycled a couple of pieces of old equipment to the charity shop, so have a little more space to play with.

Initially in this coming New Year, I need to look out for the following items during this year from a variety of sources in order to get things where I want them, add to part-collections of items already to hand, expand equipment choices and have items ready to make home crafted hampers of different preserves which includes the collection of tins, baskets, jars, bottles. decorations etc.

Items I need to accumulate to start with include:

Command Strips

A selection of command strips paid for every so often to make sure that I have the hanging strips/capacity that I need in order to have different decorations up through the house. I am specifically thinking of hanging small wreaths with ribbon off doors to make more of a feature of them rather than just using them as table centres. In the main reception rooms of the house i.e. the dining room, the hallway doors and the Lounge door are all glass doors.  Victorian style etched glass.  I like having fresh and artificial wreaths about not just to use on the tables or to surround candleholders. I also have plans for seasonal garlands to decorate the dressers and these will come in useful for this as well.

I had wanted to decorate the dining room before Christmas but that just did not happen.  However, after speaking with OH this is very much on the cards this coming New Year with all the downstairs rooms being tackled although initially to start with it is the dining room.  I also need a new candleabra style ceiling light for the dining room.  The dressers and also the table and chairs need stripping, doing up and then re-finishing. So there is an awful lot of work to do. As well as decorating the floor also needs new covering.  We have had laminate flooring which has been down about 20 years and which needs replacing. However, it will happen.

Pens, Crayons etc.

Chalk Pens for decorating windows.  Christmas 2020 there seems to have been a great trend for decorating clear glass windows with chalk pens depicting Christmas images and I would like to have a go at this for Christmas 2021.  I loved the simplicity of this.

Wax

I would like to buy sheets of Beeswax and make my own traditional honeycomb candles, something I have never done before to really help create the right traditional aesthetic but honey wax also has a lovely scent of its own.

I also want to make scented pot candles for use throughout the year.  I have discovered that I quite like a candle or two burning as I am working away.  Very calming.  I do have Soy wax to play with but need to get the Beeswax sorted out.

Soap, Bath Bombs

I have a couple of soap bases to play with, but would like to go on further and make my own base from scratch.  Something I have wanted to try for a time.  I do have some equipment which I have already invested in although a few more moulds would not come amiss.

Twine and Hessian

Would like to have a play with string and hessian projects.  I have a rag rug in mind, but I have also seen decorative items made from hessian to transform decorations and with the addition of some paint, make some rustic cake bands and streamers. 

Vintage glassware

Particularly green glass, gold glass, lead crystal and vintage glassware table items.  For example I have my mother's Hors d'ouvres' wheel/Party Susan which I have been able to match with one from the Charity shop so I now have a matching pair for family parties and it makes for lovely visual vintage presentation at any meal.

Cloches, Storm Lanterns, Lanterns, Brass Candlesticks, Glass Candlesticks and wooden candlesticks, battery operated lights

Any of these can be so useful in helping to decorate the house seasonally and if you choose your pieces with care they can go from season to season.

Useful Preserving and Cooking equipment

I am always on the look out for preserving and cooking items, especially if they complement something that I am doing in any event.

Basketware

For small hampers, but I am also thinking that next year would like to have a go at doing some baskets/bowls for gifting thinking Paper whites, Hyacinth, Christmas Cacti that sort of thing.

From Nature

If you have any whole nuts left over from Christmas celebrations if you are not going to eat them do not throw them away either.  Keep them in a dry place.  This way you do not waste the pennies forked out already.  They can be used to decorate home-made garlands and wreaths in readiness for next Christmas.  Small polystyrene or oasis balls can also be decorated with nuts glued on them or indeed cones to create free-standing side decorations for the festive season.  You can also use seeds and herbs to decorate the baubles.  Cloves and Five Spice in particular.

Collect Fir cones of different sizes.  Very useful for decorating presents also garlands, shapes and wreaths.

Collect Larch Cones for use in decorating Christmas parcels with pretty recycled ribbon, using in Christmas decorations and using in firelighters to be gifted to friends.

Collect Teasel  heads for Christmas decorations.

Collect Twigs both for kindling bundles to gift to friends and for turning into Christmas decorations for Christmas yet to come.

Collect sea shells make ornaments, decorate items and jewellery.

Collect sea wood.

Collect sea glass - make home made jewellery for presents

Collect and dry Cow Parsley stems and dry them.  They look wonderful under a glass Cloche of which I have several. They can be highlighted with gold or silver paint or even "snow".

Source Juniper bush. Juniper berries are very useful in cooking and an integral part of Gin.

Source fir or Cyprus fronds for decoration.

Buy some Bay tree standard plants.

Buy two fir/spruce trees in pots.

Buy some Box plants.

Plenty of Ivy in planters and pots not actually in the garden as it is totally invasive.  I have plans to pot up about six hanging baskets with Ivy aside to normal hanging planters.

Make chocolate leaves from Roses and Bay to decorate your home baked goods.  This can be done throughout the year and will help you make distinctive cake decoration items at next to nothing apart from your ingredients and a little time.  Most of the time is taken up with drying.

Crystallise Heartsease and Viola for decorating cakes.

Crystallise Primrose for cake decorating.

Crystallise Violets for cake decorating.

Grow Chinese Lanterns for garlands and wreaths and baskets once dried.

Grow Honesty ditto

Grow Straw Flowers ditto

Collect corn ears and oat ears for use in garlands for the autumn. ditto

Plant a cutting garden so that I have fresh flowers throughout the year.

Wool

I need to stock up on wool for future projects.  Notably at the moment I am looking to source wool for two crochet blanket/throws for next Christmas in red and blue and white.

I would also like to source wool to knit myself a Christmas jumper for next Christmas.

Papercrafting

I would like to play with this more than I have.  I have some traditional paper chain ornament cutters as well as Christmas cracker cutters and little box templates that I would like to play with.  I need to stock up on card and paper to do this.  I think that this will be a regular thing adding different bits and bobs to the craft box.  I also have lots of Christmas inspired cutters for creating home made cards.  Some really lovely ones.  I am concentrating on simplicity when it comes to projects like this.

There are also a couple of projects that I have seen on Pinterest using and recycling old Christmas cards into ornaments or useful items.

Flower arranging equipment

Oasis block form dry and wet.

Oasis in rings

Flower pins

vases

wires

tape

scissors

Dried Flowers

Dried Leaves

Glycerined Leaves

Pot Pourri

Make my own vine wreaths.

Vintage Vases

A variety of these can really help set the scene for your table whether these be pottery or crystal.

Crystal looks particularly attractive on a vintage themed table but so does pretty pottery or china or indeed glass.

Fabrics

Recycling pretty fabrics to use in patchwork and sewing projects through the year, also for lining gift baskets and also making wax wrap.  Also making lap throws out of recycled fabrics.  The fabric can be recovered from upholstery or indeed clothing items like shirts, skirts and dresses.

Recycling vintage fabrics into pretty decorative but useful items to give away as gifts.

Making useful bags.

Old jumpers can be recycled into cushions and new clothing items.

Woollen items the fabric can be recovered and then turned into a patchwork style blanket/throw to keep you warm of a winter's evening.

Also pretty hand embroidered items that are damaged and which can be fussy-cut to suit your project.  A lovely way of upcycling something old into something new and which will be used.

Padded Coat-hangers

These can be made out of scraps of fabric and decorated with embroidery and/or lace.  Makes a lovely item to give away as a gift especially if accompanied by some scented sachets.

Pre-Bought items already made

Look out for reduced tablecloths and napkins to embroider and give away as pressies.

Either make aprons/pinnies and embroider or make carry bags and decorate.

Making or buying vintage Christmas decorations.

The above list is just for initial thoughts and things that I want to have a go at and gather round me in readiness to play and create.

There is lots to do and I am very much looking forward to the playing.  

Catch you soon.  

Pattypan x