Four Fantastic Weeks’ of Festive Fun – homemade rustic decorations

“So, I thought rather than one huge tree this year we could go for two smaller trees; one in the sitting room and perhaps a teeny one in the hallway” I suggested to the M mini adults recently whilst we were busy discussing Christmas, “what do you think?” I will admit to not being too surprised to hear their comments said quickly and in unison “Whatever you want is fine by us Mum.” Like most families we have our traditions at Christmas. Decorating trees en famille however is not one of them. Join me today for the third part of my Four Fantastic weeks’ of Festive Fun series and my take on homemade rustic decorations, three to be precise and of course a little story. There should always be a festive story …

Picture if you will the warm and cosy scene of the quintessential family gathered together to dress the long-awaited Christmas tree. Children excitedly unwrapping tissue clad shiny baubles, garlands of tinsel and twinkling lights strewn all around, whilst Mum and Dad look fondly on, sipping their mulled wine as they quietly reminisce of Christmas’ past. In the background perhaps a carol or two can be heard on the radio and there is much fun and merriment as everyone takes their turn beautifying the Christmas tree. Not in our house. Not a bit of it.

Christmas tree decoration falls in my domain. Usually simple, always co-ordinated and never with a childish bauble in sight. I’ve tried that fly by the seat of my pants approach, it’s just not for me. I get twitchy if the theme isn’t followed, twitchy if the lights are not evenly spaced and twitchier still if the (limited) colours clash. I did let M children decorate the tree once after a horrified family member looked on as I quickly saved my precious baubles from shattering and repositioned dear fairy comfortably for her month long sitting. Alas, as soon as my sweet pair were safely tucked up in their beds with visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads, I stripped the whole lot off and began again. A warm and fuzzy feeling crept over me as order was soon restored. And since that day, our family tradition consists of mini adult M’s unwrapping delicate baubles – they should at least be involved in a part of the process – whilst Mr M shoves a large glass of sherry in my hand and escapes to the kitchen to make a delicious pot of chilli. We are happy with our family tradition.

Rustic Christmas Garland

I have been on a mission of sorts this year to eradicate excessive plastic and unnecessary waste from the lives of the M’s where I can. This has meant Christmas décor has been addressed too and I had decided this year, our smaller tree would be adorned with simple and homemade rustic decorations.

To create my rustic Christmas garland, I began with a naked tree and took simple string and wrapped it loosely around, to gauge the overall length needed. Then I set about gathering my treasures.

What followed was the happiest of afternoons listening to Michael Bublé himself, belt out his best on repeat, whilst sticking and threading to my hearts content. Homemade clay buttons and stars left from a craft last year sat comfortably alongside dried seed heads and flowers from this summer’s cottage garden. I snipped and glued an unused length of soft cream coloured pompoms and tied red ribbons found buried deep at the bottom of the craft box. And ruby red beads squirrelled away from a long forgotten and broken Christmas bracelet, added to the simple homespun charm.

Battery operated fairy lights formed the twinkling backdrop and beginning at the bottom of the tree, I wound the completed garland to the top and popped a few wire hearts and stars here and there on the tree’s little branches. A couple of my sweet Christmas peg fairies adorned the rim of a much-loved zinc bucket.

Those who follow my account on Instagram cannot have failed to notice my joy recently when I was so generously gifted from @dinasdolls the most exquisite and beautiful fairy I ever did see. Twinkle, for that is here name, is without a doubt the tiniest fairy I know and rather like Magnificent, I cannot see her being packed away with the rest of the decorations any time soon.

The rustic theme continues for my teeny rustic Christmas tree now sits happily between two rustic shutters. I am sure the tree will be enjoyed by many over the festive period since our ‘through’ hallway doubles up as a dining room.

Festive Flower Table Decoration

Way back I stencilled a few garden pots and this favourite of mine spends more time inside the home than out. I like its shape and so decided its purpose this year would be for an inexpensive floral table decoration. The pot is a little on the deep side for this arrangement so I used a small terrine dish to bulk out half the pot and then reused an old oasis block, soaking first in water, which I placed on top of the dish.

Three candle holders saved from a previous project were pushed firmly into the oasis to house three cheap and cheerful white candles. The more elegant tapered variety which I didn’t have to hand would look quite special as an alternative or indeed colourful candles might take your fancy.

I took a trip around the garden with The Spotty One and snipped at a variety of greenery and began filling in spaces adhering to symmetry and shape along the way, adding and trimming until I was happy with the result. Top Tip: keep moving your pot around and checking it’s look from all angles and not just from the position you are working from. Once I was happy, I snipped four white supermarket roses at an angle and added one to each corner.

Finally for this craft, three red roses were mixed amongst the candles. You may have noticed a red theme unusually creeping its way into this year’s festive décor, which I must say this neutral girl is rather enjoying.

Doubtless the roses will not last until the big day itself; no matter these can easily be replaced. This arrangement would look equally delightful with pine cones, dried orange slices and even cinnamon sticks, threaded with florist wire and pushed deep into the oasis. An opportunity to let the festive imagination run wild.

My final homemade rustic decorations are again simple, inexpensive and beautifully effective and possibly my favourites.

Ruby Red Rustic Decorations

From one £2 (plastic) bag of cranberries, three further homemade rustic decorations were created. Actually, four decorations if you count the blue plate full of them before I began the crafts. The small wreath is fashioned by pushing fresh cranberries onto a circle of craft wire and finishing by poking carefully the end of the wire into the first cranberry thus creating your wreath. Pack those cranberries tight, they will shrink as they dry. A red gingham rag ribbon finished my look. I’m thinking the Christmas table will look beautiful with these cranberry circles alternating with these wreaths for individual place settings and one of these for every guest. What do you think?

The heart was achieved in much the same way, creating first the heart shape with craft wire and finishing with a recycled length of ribbon tied neatly into a bow and hot glued into place. And the cranberry rope could not have been simpler. I used thin nylon wire threaded onto an old darning needle – string or twine would work just as well – and alternated between a crystal saved from something or other long ago and a cranberry, until I achieved the length I was looking for. The possibilities for this rope garland are endless. There could be oh so much more bling or simply cranberries all the way. I looped the end of the wire should I decide to hang the rope at a later stage and tied gingham rag ribbon at each end.

As I write this week’s story, I intend for this ruby red rope to adorn the kitchen dresser over the Christmas holiday with perhaps a few other homemade rustic decorations. So why don’t you get to see it in situ today? Because dear friend much cleaning must occur before a photo shoot can take place. Next week is my last blog post before Christmas and the final part to this festive mini series, so do please join me as I show you my take on eco-friendly, zero waste, Christmas gift wrapping with all the pretties… until then x