Handmade Christmas

Welcome to Handmade Christmas! I’ve had so much fun creating this publication: coming up with creative ideas, sourcing materials, making and photographing projects, and writing up easy-to-follow instructions. There’s so much in here to share, and I can’t wait for you to get started. As you may know, ‘getting back to basics’ became a national pastime during the lockdown years, with people eager to learn how to grow and preserve their own food, bake sourdough and make clothes. It also saw a boom in creativity, with people learning to crochet, knit and embroider amongst other crafty skills. Essentially, we watched people being drawn to traditional ways of living that rely less heavily on commercial supply chairs and consumerism. It was interesting to observe that fewer people got into large, resource-intensive…

Australian Christmas is so different from the Hollywood-portrayed image of snowy festivities filled with crackling fireplaces and frosty outdoor scenes. Here, we’re more likely to be serving up icy-poles in the pool than sipping hot-chocolate by a bonfire. And these days, it’s not uncommon that yuletide gatherings are held entirely outside, with a BBQ, an esky full of cold drinks, and some twinkly fairy lights to set the party tone as the sun sets. This is what makes handmade garden-themed gifts such a brilliant idea! Sure, you could duck down to the nursery and buy whatever mass-grown, hothouse-tender seasonal plants they have on special, or the latest in plastic-that-looks-like-real-leaves decoration, but how much more special to make and give items that come directly from your garden? There’s a range of…

If you’ve been a gardener for a while, you’ll be no stranger to jars and bags of seeds filling drawers and pockets. Rather than have them sit around becoming less viable over time, why not pack them up in attractive envelopes and give them away? This project is a great chance to re-purpose old calendars, kids’ artworks, book pages, wrapping paper – any kind of paper that’s reasonably thick will do the job. These simple envelopes make wonderful gifts for fellow gardeners – either filled with seeds, or as a stack of empties for them to fill. What you need Envelope and label pattern (see page 124) Heavy card – could be a cereal box, tissue box, thicker cardboard box Paper – magazine, calendar, wrapping paper etc. White is good…

What you need Bay tree prunings. Lots of them Long ivy vines. Ditto Secateurs Thin gauge wire Satin ribbons Sewing thread Scissors Hot glue gun and glue sticks Method To make wreath: 1 Strip leaves from ivy. 2 Make a wreath using the ivy vine. Start with the thickest ones, but make sure they’re not too thick as they won’t be bendy enough. 3 Weaving over and around, over and around, and staggering the woody ends, continue adding ivy vines until you have a nice thick wreath (about 5cm thick). 4 Begin adding bay branches, by laying the first branch flat along the front of the wreath and coiling wire around the branch and wreath to secure it. 5 Overlap new bay branches so the leaves cover the base of…

Whether you want to grow your own soft herbs such as basil, mint or parsley, or you want to keep potted woody herbs like rosemary, thyme or sage, this planter is perfect for housing herbs right on the kitchen windowsill. What you need 1.65m x 12.5cm pine fence paling 90cm half-doweling (I used Tassie oak) Tape measure Grey-lead pencil Saw Hammer Small nails Sandpaper Dark red acrylic paint Medium paintbrush Text template (see pattern on page 125) White paint pens – medium and fine tip Method 1 Measure and cut three pieces of fence paling at 24cm long. These are the front, back and base. 2 Measure and cut two pieces of fence paling at 10cm long. These are the sides. 3 Construct box by nailing the side panels between…

What you need Fresh pine tree branches, at least a good armful 6-10 ivy vines, around 30cm long 8-10 bay leaf branches and 15-20 leaves One large candelabra for centre A pair of pillar candles Battery operated fairy lights 8-12 battery operated tealight candles Red-and-white toadstools (see page 67) 8-10 dried orange slices (see page 47) Various red ribbons Scissors Thin gauge wire Method To make ribbon tufts: 1 Cut ribbons into 60cm lengths, with diagonal ends. 2 Cut wire into 25cm lengths. Cut as many of these as you have ribbon lengths. 3 Fold the ribbons in a concertina fashion so you end up with 3 loops and 2 ends poking out in the same direction. 4 Poke wire through the base 4 folds of the ribbon tufts so…