ornaments

Christmas decor

Thursday, December 12, 2013








This weekend we put up our decorations. This is our first Christmas in our own home and we haven't gone over the top. We've got a small 4ft tree, brought second hand, and a few decorations. I'm not really feeling all the tacky bits I usually love. So this year is about simplicity. 

Christmas lights do make things cosy. I can't wait to watch Christmas films lounging on the sofa with a mug of hot chocolate. Perfect.


post signature
1 Reply

Christmas twig tree

Tuesday, December 10, 2013






I've seen and pinned so many of these beautiful twigs trees and I thought there's no excuse not to have one. We had bad weather here recently, floods and high winds so there's a lot of fallen trees/twigs. The other morning we popped out to a flee market and on the way back came across a fallen branch. I put the Mr to work and he broke me off some branches. After he had finished being a reindeer!

 Not only are we recycling (or stealing depending on how you look at it) we're making our home look pretty too!

So off you go, gather some twigs and decorate. You may have noticed I've used my salt dough ornaments on mine.



post signature
2 Replies

Salt dough ornaments

Friday, December 06, 2013







Salt dough ornaments bring back so many memories of childhood. My mum would always make a load of dough and let us cut out lots of different shapes, paint them up and put so much glitter on them. They would then take pride of place on the Christmas tree. In fact I'm pretty sure that my mum still has some of them still.

This is such a cheap and easy way to decorate your home this Christmas. It's also perfect for the kids. I know my niece and nephew would love these! But I've made some for tree. I'll post more details about that soon. 

1 cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of salt
1/2 cup of water
(Please note that these are not edible! I imagine they taste foul!) 

Mix all the ingredients together, if you find the mixture too sticky add more flour. If you find the mixture to dry add more water! 

Cut out any shapes you like! Remember to make a small hole in the tops so they can be hung.

You can either leave to air dry (this takes forever around a week!), oven cook them on the lowest heat for 3-5 hours (too long!) or do what I did. Zap them in the microwave for 3 minutes. If they're not done or are still sticky after the 3 minutes, keep microwaving until dry.

Once the shapes are dry you can paint them or leave them natural. Thread a coloured ribbon or thread through the hole and they're ready to hang!





post signature
2 Replies
© Little Paper Swans. Design by Fearne.