If you missed last Christmas’s blog, we showed you how to create Christmas wreaths from all the wonderful things you can find in your garden[O1] . So this year, we wanted to show you plenty more Christmas crafts you can create without having to leave your garden.
Christmas is the time for immersing yourself in the sights and smells of the season. Fir cones, holly, mistletoe, ginger, cinnamon, pine trees, cloves, roasted chestnuts – this time of year has an abundance of natural fragrances and things you can find in your garden to make your home a festive fiesta.
If you have a well-established garden, you’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to foliage and herbs that you can use in your crafts but if you don’t, we’ll show you how to get the same look by foraging outside on your local walks and with a little help from local craft shops and garden centres.
Table decorations
There’s nothing like your dining table complete with a beautiful centre piece for Christmas. If your garden has some evergreen plants and trees, or if you’re lucky enough to have a holly bush growing, then you can create some eye catching table decorations.
Gardeners World has a great star design that you can place in the centre of your table or alternatively you can sit your own arrangement in a large bowl with some floral foam to help keep it stable and watered so it will survive the festive season.
Eucalyptus, pittosporum and ivy all make fantastic foliage to use as part of your centre piece along with poinsettia flowers which make a rich red statement in amongst the dark green. You can bring wonderful Christmas scents to your centrepiece by adding cinnamon sticks or oranges studded with cloves.
If you’re struggling to find suitable plants in your garden then your local crafts centre, like Emerald Crafts in Lyndhurst, will have plenty of fake flowers for you to create a similar look and if you have a friend with a mature garden, ask if you can take some cuttings for foliage.
Tree decorations
Simple can often be best when it comes to tree decorations. Fir cones make fantastic Christmas tree decorations and you can often find these out and about on a walk in your local park or green space, so you won’t even need a garden to create these.
Buy some gold or silver glitter spray paint, or some PVA glue and glitter, and get covering. These are often great to make with children because they don’t require any skill level – it can be glittery, messy fun and they’ll still look fantastic on your tree in amongst the branches.
For a more sophisticated look then white spray paint on the ends can look like a light dusting of snow on your tree.
Give it a try!
Mantelpiece garlands & stair climbers
These are a fantastic way to bring some winter foliage inside your house. You can use pine or fir branches, ivy, eucalyptus or any evergreen foliage you can find in your garden. You’ll need some wire and some wire cutters, but you can pick these up easily from local craft shops or garden centres.
This handy video shows you how to make your garland, wrapping plenty of fresh foliage into the wire in bunches and when you’re done you can decorate your garland with anything you want. You might choose fresh or dried flowers, dried berries or orange slices, tinsel, baubles, pine cones or you can spray paint it to make it look drastically different.
Garlands work well anywhere in your house – on mantelpieces, climbing banisters or even hung vertically against a wall.
If you’re stuck for outside space or your garden isn’t yet well established, there are plenty of local events where you can have a go at these this Christmas crafts and they’ll provide all the materials you need.
Wreath Making – New Forest Arts
Willow Star & Reed Reindeer workshops – Itchen Valley Country Park
Christmas Flower Arranging – Montagu Arms Hotel
Wire Reindeer – Southampton City Art Gallery
[O1]I wanted to link to last year’s blog on the website but couldn’t find it!