Advent calendar 8

Dear readers,

Today I am straying a little from the DIY Christmas tips and taking you on a short stroll in one of our much treasured neighbouring villages. Yes, you have seen it featured many times before here on my blog, but I just can't help myself - it is a very bloggable village! (Remember - if you would like to view the images better, and not strangely cropped, click on them.)

I am of course talking about Lacock, where Christmas wreaths now adorn the already beautiful old doors and where I never tire of strolling up and down the old streets, breathing in the history of each building stone and every little corner of loveliness...

If you ever find yourself here in Lacock, you simply have to go for a Cream Tea at King John's Hunting Lodge, a k a "Tearoom & Garden" above, where part of the building stems from the days of King John, i e the 13th century! Indoor cosiness by the fire and with a typical English dresser full of blue and white china and yummy cakes, and in the summer, outdoor seating in the gorgeous English cottage garden.

Love the moss-clad little roof above the entrance to the bakery! 

The tiny village shop in Christmas costume too...

Wishing you all a lovely Saturday!

Tomorrow, I will be back with another small craft tip for the festive season.

Helena

Advent calendar 7

Being a big fan of word play, the obvious title for today's calendar flap ought to be "It's a wrap!", but I suppose I risk losing readers over my bad sense of humour, so perhaps I should just get on with telling you what it is all about... 

On my beloved dolly tub (which I made into a table with some leftover floorboards a few years ago) you may spot two little Christmas presents, wrapped and ready for the large man with silver beard and a ho-ho-ho laughter to put in his sack and keep safe until the 24th (yes, according to Swedish tradition, we open our gifts on Christmas Eve).

Two music-packed gifts wrapped in two normal A4 sheets onto which I have copied two of my dresses (!). The one to the right you will most certainly recognise by now, and the one to the left is one of my favourite dresses, whose colours are not at all as dark brown as they turned out in my printer (it is more of an olive green, but I think I am running out of coloured ink!), but which I thought looked rather stylish anyway, albeit somewhat dark. A few of my salt dough stars from the other day's "baking session" and voilà, two presents with a personal touch!

Thank you so much for all your kind comments here on my blog. I am sorry that I am still so invisible on yours. Wishing you all the best for your Christmas preparations, or whatever December holds for you!

Helena

Advent calendar 6

"Well...", you might say, "how many cushions does one need...?" 

To that, my friends, my answer will always be: 

"You can never have too many!"

I know, I am probably borderline cushion-o-holic, but so be it, because when in my head I suddenly saw this spicy number, I just had to make it. Thinking (hoping) it can be used other seasons than just for Christmas, as I use cinnamon all year round, I set to work with some leftover fabric from a dress I hardly ever wore, bought for £ 3 some years ago in the sales, and which has previously served another cushion-y purpose you might remember from...:

...and:

So, there we are, the Swenglish cushion family keeps growing and 

has probably not seen its last family member yet...

Now, what else might one make on the theme of cinnamon, I wonder...

... time for some spicy pondering!

Warm regards to you all, dear readers!

Helena

Advent calendar 5

Behind door number five are a few recycled photos from last year, where again I have turned to Mother Nature for some decorative input. A branch chopped into small pieces and with holes drilled in the middle makes perfect little "pots" for the smallest Christmas trees in the world...

An old funnel is one of my trusty, rusty companions, and its new purpose, 

after having retired from its "funneling" days, is as a proud candle holder.

Hope your days are filled with joy and gingerbread biscuits!

Love, Helena

Advent calendar 4

Christmas is the time when you can go all out, think away any less is more missions, and just decorate yourself into a colour-exploding tizzy... 

However, should you still prefer a more modest approach to the festive season, perhaps this could be something for you...

A small branch, a rusty bucket (oh how I love my rusty buckets!) and some expensive ceramic designer stars  dangling from the twigs... Now, hang on a minute, you did not believe that last bit, did you!? No, that would not really be me, now would it...? Before you scroll down, can you guess what the stars are made from?

Making these was indeed a trip down memory lane..! As a child, I made innumerable "master pieces" from salt dough, which we in Swedish called "troll dough", perhaps referring to its inherent "magic powers" to create all sort of shapes. And yesterday it was time to revisit this childhood activity, as I wanted some small stars to hang on the twigs and could not be bothered to go to the cold shed in the garden to cut some out of wood.

***

I used 1dl salt, 2 dl flour, 1 dl water, mixed it all and kneaded it to a dough, then rolled it thin and cut small stars with a cookie cutter. I poked holes for the thread to go through and used one of my wooden stamps (see the image below) to create a pattern on some of the stars (some were left plain). I dried them in the oven, 100 degrees Celsius, ca 4 hours (the time can depend on your oven, the stars should be completely dry). When the stars were dry and had cooled down, I painted them with leftover wall paint (and yes, the perceptive among you will see that I was too lazy to take out the thread I had already tied to the stars...but no one will probably look close enough to notice this and shortcuts are allowed!).

***

(Above: The wooden stamp in an oriental-inspired table setting in the garden - if you want to see more, click here.)

Even though the branch in real life did not look as "minimalist" as it appears here (the stars seem to disappear in the photos here), I still felt it was missing a certain je ne sais quoi... so last night I added some...

... larch cones, which work really well as nature's own festive baubles.

Thank you SO much for stopping by and for your kind comments!

Warm regards to you all,

Helena

Advent calendar 3

Welcome to the opening of door number three.

So, let me ask you this... What does one do with an empty Nutella jar (that is after one has stopped mourning the fact that it is, indeed, empty)?

Well, one possibility is of course to wrap it in hessian/burlap fabric, stamp a dragonfly (or something else) on it, wrap some string around it, place a tea light inside and voilà, a small votive that lets out a lovely warm light when lit (even if the dragonflies can't be seen very well when the candle is lit).

Now, these look quite nice in a group, so given that I first made them with Christmas presents in mind, I am now quite happy that my Nutella consumption is rather... ehm, impressive, as this has allowed me to make some to give away and still keep a few!

Now, let's get munching on that next jar, shall we? All of a sudden, I can think of quite a few friends who might just need some votives for Christmas...

Helena

Advent calendar 2

Today, we are letting this pomegranate hold the first of the four advent candles, resting - and might I say it looks like 'nesting' - on a part of some old scales hung above the dining table and filled with... yes, you guessed it, moss, some rose hip and other treasures from the forest.

Tomorrow, door number three will reveal... no, must not say too much! 

Well, I will give you this clue: 

Some truths about yours truly's Nutella consumption might be revealed...!

Wishing you all a restful Sunday!

Helena

Advent calendar 1

Ladies and gentlemen,

'Tis the season... they tell me...

I feel I have neglected you, dear blog readers, as my time has been 

demanded elsewhere for quite some time now...

So, I think 'tis the season for an Advent Calendar especially for you.

Behind the different doors in this calendar, 

you will find small Christmas ideas that are either recycled, 

inspired by nature or simply 'on a shoestring'...

Most of the photos will be new, but some "recycled" photos of previous 

years' favourites might appear as blog stocking fillers too...

First up are more "lollipops", as they seem to be my theme tune at the moment. This time I made mini trees (lollipop-shaped) out of moss and small twigs, stuck them in recycled sweet corn tins clad with decoupaged napkins, made sure they stayed in place by adding gravel from our drive, and finally covered the gravel with a layer of rice. I thought these might be used when laying the table for Christmas, perhaps with one tree by each plate...

As I am a big fan of carrying a particular theme a little further if possible, I made a star cushion to go with the red star theme, using an old inner cushion I already had, some white sheet fabric, and made the star and the piping from my old maternity trousers that were just the 'right' red. 

So, there we are. First door opened and more to come. Some doors may be small, some seen before, but I hope that somewhere along the way, behind one of the calendar flaps, you will find that one little idea that might inspire you this December. Welcome back tomorrow, to peer behind door number two!

All the best,

Helena

Ps. Please remember that all images look better (and not so strangely cropped) if you click on them.

Hannah Turner Ceramics

The Hedgerow Collection

Dear readers, today I would like to introduce you to a ceramicist whose lovely tableware, playful patterns and cheeky birds are bound to cheer up the gloomiest of November mornings. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Hannah Turner! (To view sharper images, please click on them.)

Owl Eggcup

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of playing around with some of Hannah's items for some lifestyle photos, and with characters as charming as these, I could sit back and watch as they practically styled the session themselves...!

Owl

Owl Creamer Jug

Owl Creamer Jug, Owl Tall Jug & Owl Teapot

Every item in Hannah's different collections has its own unique personality, SO full of character, and you may think I am losing it now, but I could have sworn I heard one of the owl eggcups scorn the other for dropping its egg...

Birds

    

Peacock Eggcup

Some of you may be surprised to find this rather commercial blog post in what is normally an "ad-free" blog. However, I thought some of you might be curious to see one of the things that has kept me busy in the past few weeks, and if this means drawing some extra interest to Hannah Turner's funky ceramics, well I am very happy to do so!

Birdlife Collection

Birds & Birdlife Tableware

Should you feel your bird nerve twitching at the sight of these beauties, 

you may browse Hannah's webshop 

here.

 

Birdlife Collection

Again I would like to thank all of you who visit The Swenglish Home and 

an extra warm thank you to those of you taking the time to leave such kind comments. 

You make my day!

Wishing you a great start to the new week!
Helena

Lollipop love...

To better view the larger photos in this post, please click on the photos.

***

 - It's very dead, isn't it? 

The man in the house nodded towards what used to be a delightful olive tree, but what had, for a long time, been a rather sad sight...

- A-hem...well...

Having for some time refused to accept the sad state of my beloved tree, I was trying to buy time, not sure where this conversation was going.

- Isn't it about time you bought a new olive tree, because that one is really not pretty...

This ought to be good news, as there was an actual suggestion for the introduction of another olive tree in the house, but as I was busy feeling quite defensive about the attack on my green friend's appearance and knowing fully well I would not be able to find a new one this time of the year, I was not singing and dancing.

- Don't throw it away! I have a plan...

Now, this is not the first time these words have crossed my lips, and they were met with no surprise, even if I think I may have caught, out of the corner of my eye, the man in the house rolling his eyes...

***

So, armed with a bag of fresh moss, I set to work... and now, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce my new friend, the Green Lollipop! 

(I used the "skeleton" of the old branches and twigs of the olive tree and simply stuffed it with moss. To "reinforce" the lollipop against attacks from various paper aeroplanes, I used some this green sewing thread, but most of it seemed to stay in place just with the help of the little twigs on the tree.)

On one of the side tables rests the result of another nature walk recently: a star made from fallen down twigs. Could I possibly be getting into the Christmas spirit already...???

The tea light holder on the other side table is still one of my favourites, even though I am sure it will not  appeal to everybody in its rusty, quirky glory: an old chimney cap (to protect birds from falling down the chimney) with a small votive dangling in a rusty chain..

Otherwise, nothing new in the dining area...

 Even the walnuts are last year's harvest...

The last image was captured from the car on my way to the forest. Beautiful old stone houses climbing the green hills... through my Swedish eyes a VERY English view indeed!

Wishing you a great start to the new week and hope you stay 

warm and safe from hurricanes and treacherous icy roads!

Helena