Christmas Craft and Farewell to 2013

With only a matter of hours left until 2014 joins us I thought I better get a wriggle on with sharing my Christmas Crafts. 

Christmas has passed and most people are probably wondering if now is too early to take their tree down. Not me, I believe in the 12 days of Christmas and I'm clinging on to that Christmas feeling, unlike the shops who have already rid the shelves of the yummy festive nibbles and treats! 

Here is what I managed to get up to in the run up to Christmas. Not as much as I would have liked, but there is always next year and I have loads more ideas on the horizon!

Maple and Pecan Cupcakes

My first soirée in the kitchen involved cupcakes. I made these for a charity bake off at work. Quite challenging for me, I even made my own sugar shards. 

 

Advent Calendar

This year I was keen to make my own advent calendar with different themed pouches to put presents in. Both David and I bought 12 presents each, wrapped them in tissue and popped them in one of the felt pouches. I'm pretty chuffed with the result, so cute! It did take me most of December to finish though!! 

Homemade Mulled Cider

Nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, oranges, satsumas, pomegranates and of course 2 litres of good quality cider. Yum!  

Dried Fruit Wreath

Here is my first attempt at making a homemade dried fruit wreath. Unfortunately I burnt some of the fruit so the wreath is mini....better luck next year!!

Grapefruit, oranges, apples, limes and lemons were all dried out and then cinnamon sticks added in later. 

The Decoration of the Tree

I love putting the tree up and having a look at all my decorations. This year I got some Scandinavian decorations and some Norwegian flags to hang on my tree. We always had Norwegian flags on the Christmas tree when I was growing up so it's nice to carry on with the tradition. The toadstools I crocheted also made it up this year as well as the fabric heart decorations from last year.

Homemade Christmas Gift

This year I decided to try and make something new, I found the idea of using frosted glass spray in Homemaker magazine and thought it would look fantastic on a candle holder.

I pinned lace onto the jar and sprayed the frosting spray over the whole jar. Any part of the jar covered remained transparent. It worked well and you can see the lace pattern, looks even better with some flickering candles inside. A fantastic present idea! 

Norwegian Meets British Christmas

Another tradition my family always had was we would have a typically Norwegian Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve followed by the traditional British Christmas dinner on the 25th. Over the last few years I have begun to carry this tradition on if I'm not spending Christmas with my mum. 

I do a combination of the two meals on Christmas Eve as we usually go elsewhere on Christmas Day. Fillet of pork and surkal (Norwegian sweet and sour cabbage) is served along with the British classics such as stuffing and pigs in blankets. Delicious!!

That's all for 2013! Happy New Year to all of you and best wishes for 2014! Here is to some more crafty makes....keep those eyes peeled. 

Camilla 

Xxx