Homemade by Hail title pic

Homemade by Hail title pic

Tuesday 22 December 2015

DIY Festive Place Names

I'm hosting Christmas Lunch for the first time this year. We have 8 guests (including ourselves), and I want to make it really special. My mum and dad are coming and they have supported me and Hubby so much over the last year, I want to give them something amazing. I will post my finished Christmas Table layout after the big day. 

I have made Place Names for the table. I experimented with cutting out Christmas Cards, but settled on cutting out bits of wrapping paper. It depends what designs you have at home!


Then I stuck my little circles onto card and wrote each persons name above. 


Once I had cut these out, I simply used blue-tac to attach them to note holders which I already had from my wedding last year.


And here they are:


They look quite cute I think. I am going to put Mini Christmas Stockings at each place filled with a few different varieties of chocolate. 

Have you got any Christmas Table ideas?


Monday 14 December 2015

My First Stocking!

My step-daughter asked for a stocking with her name on it this year. I had already bought an iron on letter A (this first letter of her name) from Cath Kidston, with the view to making something for her, but didn't know what. Perfect - a stocking! 



I was going to do this as a step-by-step, but as it being my first stocking, it was very trial and error. I used red and white felt found on the remnants table in C&H - always worth looking there first. Here are a few pics of the process:


I started with a cardboard template. When I make more stocking they will all be the same size.


I drew a line around the template onto the material, but with the template facing the same way. This means that the line on one side of the stocking will show. Like I said - trial and error. 


I'm pleased with the result for a first time though, and will definitely make more in the future!


Let me know what you think!





Sunday 6 December 2015

Christmas wreath

Looking around shops for a Christmas wreath this year, I couldn't find one I liked or thought that they were very expensive for what they looked like. So I made my own this year!

I bought a plain fake wreath from B&Q for £4:



My hubby and me then went to a few country lanes, only 5 mins from where we live, and picked some holly, fir and ivy:


I started by adding the fir around the back of the wreath, then I added the holly around the front of the wreath and the ivy closer to the middle. I attached a red bow and some gold sprayed fir cones which, again, we kept from our Christmas wedding last year. I took the fir cones out of the table displays and the bows were decorating the room in various places. I actually used a bow on the mirror above my fireplace as well - very satisfying that the inside and outside decs match! Anyway here is the completed wreath:




This is my first ever attempt at a homemade wreath, so I'd love to hear your opinions!

Here is a wreath that you can buy from Homebase for £12.99 (and the link to buy incase - got to be fair!) and my wreath next to it. Dont mean to be biased, but I much prefer mine!