DIY Fabric Garlands

I love to decorate the house and there is no better time to do this than at Christmas. These fabric garlands are a great way to add a splash of colour to your home, they won't break the bank as they can be made using old fabric scraps or even old clothes.

Firstly, choose your fabrics. I picked five fabrics and a red ribbon I had in the craft box. Cut the fabric into strips about 2cm wide and about 50cm long, you could use a few pieces of fabric and a few ribbons if you have them.

I chose to make mine look rustic so cut slightly up the fabric and then tore the rest of the way, this leaves a few strands of string hanging off.

Once you have cut all of your fabric into strips, you need to start building the garlands. To do this, stack one piece on top of another, mine have 11 pieces each, two strips of each fabric and one piece of ribbon. Once you are happy with how it looks, place the fabric pile with the rough side facing up and fold it over whatever string you are using. I am using brown string as it is a Christmas themed fabric selection.

Once you have folded it on itself, use either, another piece of brown string or, whatever you are using. I used some left over fabric and tied this around the garland, this part is made easier if you hang the string up, perhaps between two chairs, before adding the fabric.

Once you have done this with all of your fabric pieces, then you are ready to hang! You can make these as big or small as you like and you could have smaller garlands if you used thinner or shorter fabric pieces.

The garlands can be hung over your fireplace, on a wall or even on the window, they would also look great on the wall in a child's bedroom, you could make one using fabric to match their bedroom.

What's in the box!?!

I love it when I go round to see my grandparents and my gran says 'here are these any good to you', she normally finds a skirt or a box of something she no longer needs and as I am the only grandchild to visit regulraly I am offered said item.

This time though I didn't mind, when anyone hands you a biscuit box dated Best Before April 93 you know your in for a treat.

What's in the box?

Oooh

And here is some of it's contents, some gorgeous and I suppose vintage decorations. Some just for  Christmas, some that will look gorgeous all year round.

I love these, they are paper and still look lovely!

 

These are a bit later but still you can tell they were made to last by the plastic holding the tassels

I'm not sure if she still has her button box but if she does I hope she offers me that one day, so many hours spent threading them onto cotton when I was little :D

Beautiful Baubles

So after a few years of going for a red and gold themed Christmas tree we decided that we would go eclectic instead! No bauble on our tree was to be the same and I scoured the shops looking for the most beautiful or tacky baubles possible!

Something that would make us laugh when we put them on the tree, we also had a few that would make us go awwww. Like our sons first christmas 2008 bauble :'o)

I have got my daughter the same bauble for this year (well pink with 2011 on) so that we can reminisce over them in years to come.

Last year we bought this beautiful one back from Disneyland Paris, its special because we managed to get it back in our suitcase on the train without breaking it!

Anyway, I thought I would look for a few extra's this year, I really like this one from John Lewis

and these, also from John Lewis

I have also seen a few from some lovely crafters that are not only lovely but very reasonably priced, these are from Precious Parcels

Finally, this is a garden centre staple I think and I have seen Gisella Graham everywhere, it is really good stuff though and I think one of our best ones is by her! I particularly like this one...