Tin Can Tea Light Holders

I've come to realise that crafting is one of the things I do to prepare for things - Christmas, Easter, birthdays - and that doing something creative just adds to my feelings of anticipation and the gradual build up to the event.

I've seen these tin can tea light holders/luminaries done a few times in magazines and on pinterest and was keen to have a go as it seemed like a fairly easy and inexpensive way to add a bit of Christmas sparkle to the house, and they just look so pretty. All you need is a few empty cans, a hammer, nails, and paint.

This is how I made them. First, collect your cans, washing them out and removing the labels and as much of the glue as you can. Then fill the cans with water and then freeze them, to stop the metal getting too dented when you create the pattern. 

Draw your chosen design onto some greaseproof paper, cutting the paper to roughly the size of the label on the can.

You could also draw directly onto the can with a marker pen if you prefer. Use a couple of elastic bands to keep the design in place on the can.

Transfer the designs onto the can with hammer and nail. Wrap the can in an old tea towel to stop it rolling around while you work and also to catch the drips from the melting frozen water inside the can.

Firmly and quickly tap the nail with the hammer, following your pattern. You could try varying nail size for different hole sizes if you like. You can see my can dented a little here but it doesn't really show when it's painted.

Let the can defrost in the sink and, when it's completely dry, you can paint it. I used spray paint because I already had some in the garage leftover from other projects, and it's very quick and easy to apply although do make sure you use it in a well ventilated area.

They look nothing special in daylight, but at night, with a tea light inside, they are transformed into something beautiful.

I also sprayed four cans copper to spell out the word "Noel". (It was quicker than tapping out "Christmas" onto nine cans.)

These look so festive and pretty by the stove and the warmth of the copper is lovely against the black hearth.

The bottoms of the tea light holders do get hot, so take care which surface you put them on. For the three white holders which I keep in the porch, I use those little battery operated fake tea lights which are lovely and also safer. I use real tea lights for the ones in the living room where I can keep an eye on them.  

I love that you can take something as everyday and utilitarian as a tin can and with very little effort and a few tools you can transform it into something so sparkly and pretty! Things like that make me very happy.

Gingerbread Dala Horses

Last Christmas, I was given a dala horse cookie cutter by a good friend of mine. I like Dala horses, like their stocky shape and colourful patterns, their roots in Swedish history and folklore, and find them totally charming. 

I have a couple I brought back from a holiday in Copenhagen a few years ago; a little bright red one bought at the airport in a tacky souviner shop, and a classier blue and white one purchased in the glorious Illums Bolighus department store in the city centre.

I wouldn't say I collect them, but if I were to see one in a charity shop I'd snap it up. I have for a long time wanted to make some iced dala horse gingerbread biscuits - partly to give as gifts, but mainly for my own amusement - and so today, while it the weather was vile outside, I baked.  

The plain gingerbread doesn't look particularly inspiring. First I tried white icing on brown but as you can see, it looks like a child did it and I actually tried really hard here. Those people who bang out 48 identical iced biscuits on the Great British Bake Off while under time pressure...well, hats off to them. 

So I covered each biscuit in while fondant icing. Rolling and cutting these shapes out was sheer pleasure after the icing pen traumas and they instantly looked...less brown.

And then out came the red icing tube and while I attempted to draw on some horse related decoration. 

They don't look quite how I imagined they'd turn out, but I rather like them. The red and white is Christmassy and the simple shape and decoration is enough. But most importantly they were fun to make. Not everything has to be perfect (this is a revelation for me!) and sometimes it's just enough to spend an hour or two in the kitchen making something nice. 

When the red icing has hardened, they can be piled up and put into cellophane bags or boxes to be given as gifts. Or you can just eat them - they keep really well in an airtight container. We'll be giving some away and eating the rest.

And while all this was going on, Bella and Angus were engrossed in their own biscuit decorating. After I'd showed them how to roll out the fondant icing, I just gave them total free reign to decorate their gingerbread hearts with whatever they could find in the cupboard.

I think you'll agree that they outdid themselves here. A close up is necessary so you can appreciate just how fully loaded these biscuits are.

There are personalised ones too...M&D for mum and dad. Lucky us.

It was one of those rare harmonious kitchen moments; the children shared the rolling pin and did not bicker, I did not shout, the radio was on quietly in the background. The kitchen was a complete disaster by the end of it, with icing sugar over every surface and cake decorations crunching underfoot, but we had a lot of gingerbread to eat and that is always a good thing.

Joining in with Jennifer's  Winter Project Link Party.

December

I'm still not ready for Christmas. Presents still need to be bought, made and wrapped, cards remain unwritten, but I'm feeling pretty calm about it all, amazingly. It will be another few weeks before we buy and decorate a tree but I am sneaking bits and bobs down from the Christmas boxes in the loft; a snow globe here, a few miniature pink cable cars there. I'm decorating by stealth. An Advent Calendar is strung along the banister and chocolate is now eaten before breakfast.

A while back I came across a Dala horse letter holder on eBay. I know! Who knew such things existed? It's only at this time of year that I actually need a letter holder so it's really quite useful and just the right amount of kitsch. 

I have bought stamps, of the Christmas variety - and goodness me stamps are expensive! - and also a poinsettia, which was gratifyingly inexpensive. Little traditions to get me in the mood. Soon I'll be buying the Radio Times. 

Bella's homework this week was to make some Christmas decorations for the tree in her classroom. Out came the hama beads in what was one of the most enjoyable homework sessions I've ever contributed to.

I've been doing some festive crafting too, making some tin can tealight holders. They were great fun to make and I'll share them here soon. 

Something rather exciting happened this week too - our home was featured in January's edition of Style at Home! I find things like this very surreal and always feel awkward about sharing them, but of course I am thrilled to bits, not least because we are very normal and live in a normal house with UPVc windows and a leaky roof, rather than a period cottage or something, and so it's nice to think that people find that interesting or inspiring. I am endlessly interested in how other people live and decorate their homes and so I suppose it comes as no surprise that others are too. 

I took some photos - you wont be able to read the text I'm afraid, but I thought some of you might want to see how it all looks.

And no, my house is never that tidy. No-one's is. But it was altogether a really enjoyable experience, and of course fascinating to watch how the stylist and photographer "build" a room, tweaking this and smoothing that, adding props and creating a look that matches the magazine's brief.

I love Friday nights, with the thought of the weekend ahead. Tomorrow Bella and I are going shopping together in Chichester while Angus spends the morning with my mum and John works. Tomorrow night I'm going out for drinks with some mum friends from school, and on Sunday I plan to bake and potter. World events and government decisions have caused me to feel sad and frightened this week, and made me want to stay close to home surrounded by family and warmth, cooking and crafting and snuggling. We are so lucky to live as we do, in relative safety and security. 

I wish you all a happy weekend my friends. 

Make, Bake, Sew, Grow

{ Make }

I've been making the mantel a little more festive with the addition of some battery powered fairy lights.

How did I not know about these? They're brilliant! No wires trailing everywhere...I hid the battery in the yellow tea pot.

I'm pretty bored with the mantel arrangement to be honest. I'm looking forward to festooning this slab of oak with every single Christmas decoration we own in a couple of weeks. 

In the mean time, this rather beautiful bare branched tree is lovely. I found it hidden away a few weeks ago in a drawer. I might hang some mini baubles on it if I can find some.

I have made two rather fabulous additions to my bowl and cookery book collection, neither of which are small and both of which always need to be added to. We spent this weekend with my (oldest and best) friend Abigail and she gave me this incredibly lovely Ken Eardley bowl and a new cookery book Life is Sweet as late housewarming gifts. 

I haven't cooked from it yet but I have two other Hummingbird Bakery books and they're very good and well used, so I'm keen to try something from this. The recipes for Oatmeal Spice Cake, Lemon Chiffon Pie and Cornmeal Cookies all need my urgent attention.

{ Bake }

In preparation for this Deep-South themed baking onslaught I have purchased tinned pumpkin and molasses. I'd thought molasses was like treacle and was surprised to find it's just like darker, stickier demerara sugar. I didn't know where I'd get these two items either, as they're not exactly widely used in the UK, but I should've known: Waitrose.

The novelty of having a branch a ten minute walk away hasn't worn off yet. I have an urge to make Pumpkin Pancakes, just to see what they're like. 

My other new obsession is Chai Latte hot drinks. I love this stuff. (On a side note - the December issue of The Simple Things is a bit good! It's the first issue I've bought in about a year and I'm enjoying it.)

Sugary drinks and baking aside, this Chickpea and Preserved Lemon Stew from A Modern Way to Eat was outstanding. Definitely one to make again -  quick, easy and cheap too, using store cupboard ingredients. Apart from the preserved lemons that is. Again, thank you Waitrose.

{ Sew }

It's all about the crochet lately. I don't know why, but I'm enjoying it and I like the results so who cares. I'm steadily increasing the border on my blanket and it's a little repetitive, but a nice project for those evenings when I just want mindless crochet.

I'm also making Bella and Angus a toy each from this book. This is my first attempt at amigurumi-style crochet and so far so good, although the constant counting does get a bit boring sometimes. This headless creation will soon be a polar bear for Bella 

{ Grow }

The only times I've been in the garden lately are to put something in the bin or chuck ash on the compost heap. There's nothing going on out there. But we do have a holly tree and a lot of fir trees, so in a couple of weeks I plan to drag some of that inside and attempt to do something creative with it all. 

There ends my round up of what's going on. Life is hectic. People keep asking me if I'm "ready for Christmas". I'm not, and the amount of stuff on the calendar over the next three weeks isn't helping with that, but that's the way it is at this time of year and I wouldn't really have it any other way. 

{ Make } Something for the home.

{ Bake } Something from the kitchen.

{ Sew } Something crafty.

{ Grow } Something in the garden.