Growing Spaces Christmas Archives

Heather Young December 7, 2014

{Make it} DIY copper pipe Christmas tree decoration

We don’t have our Christmas tree yet (I’m getting impatient, but will hold out for another week or so), but that hasn’t stopped me making some new tree decorations. I wanted to continue the copper theme of my homemade decorations (the copper pipe advent calendar, and papercut wreath) – and copper pipe is definitely my craft material du jour right now. It’s easy to make this cute hanging decoration yourself… 1. Use a pipe cutter to cut 11 1cm pieces of 15mm copper pipe. 2. Tie each row together using thin cotton string or embroidery thread (you could also use…

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Heather Young November 30, 2014

{Make it} DIY papercut Christmas wreath

It’s the first Sunday in Advent, and while I’m definitely not ready to put our tree up (ours doesn’t go up until mid December at the absolute earliest), I do think a festive wreath is a lovely addition to the front door anytime during Advent. My neighbour always has a seasonal wreath up – Christmas, Spring, Easter, Summer, Autumn – and I love her tradition. Having pinned a number of papercut wreaths to my ‘for Christmas’ pinterest board recently, I decided that I’d make the most of my fantastic Cricut Mini, to create one myself. I chose a simple branch…

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Heather Young November 28, 2014

Our advent activities for 2014

Following on from my homemade Advent calendar earlier this week, I wanted to share our list of Advent activities for December. We don’t have a chocolate or gift calendar, instead each day has its own special activity or treat. I try to tie these in with the things we have fixed in the diary already (such as the school nativity play, or the trip to the pantomime), and then I find other activities to suit each day, depending on what else we have planned. Some involve being out and about, others are quiet things that the kids can do at…

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Heather Young November 25, 2014

10 brilliantly creative DIY advent calendars

Thanks for all the love for my DIY copper advent calendar I shared earlier this week, but do you know what it’s lacking? Some colour! So to balance that out I’ve got ten of my favourite DIY advent calendar tutorials from across the web that are bursting with bright colour and fun.. Source: This Little Street Source: A Beautiful Mess Source: Oh Happy Day Source: The Fox And Star Source: The Lovely Drawer Source: Ebabee Source: Rosehip Cards Source: Saskia rund um die uhr Source: Le plus bel age Source: Bonne Maman

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Heather Young November 23, 2014

{Make it} DIY copper Advent calendar

Next weekend is the first Sunday in Advent, and there’s still time to make your own Advent calendar. We always have a handmade calendar, and rather than fill it full of gifts, we opt for a different Christmas activity each day. I’ll share our Advent activity list later in the week, but first I’m going to share how to make a simple advent calendar out of copper pipe – perfect to tie in with the copper trend that’s still going strong. Materials: 15mm copper pipe (I used 24inches in total) 15mm pipe cutter Wooden rod (this is actually borrowed from…

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