of tinsel, bell and holly wreath...

borrowing from a quote by Madeline Morse pretty much sums up what Christmas is all about. and no, its not the tinsel, bell and wreath, nope. far from it.

its family. its the birth of our Saviour. its love. (never ever forget this!)

but (aherm) going back to the "tinsel, bell and wreath" part, look what i've made for this year's wreath!

like my wreath from last year, this is 100% handmade and home-grown and it is now up and ready for hanging outside our front door :) i made this from extra felt pieces that i had lying around the house but i also had to buy a few for the finishing touches. the gold ribbon i got from a chocolate box from last year. it was wrinkly but a little ironing fixed that in no time :)

before they became my wreath, i had to roll up the felt strips and pinned them to the wreath with a pearl pin like the ones pictured above

and our tree is up too! watched over by the simple plastic angel i found this year at a carboot sale :) would you believe that i bought nothing new for this christmas in terms of decorations and trimmings including wrappers and ribbons? do you remember the £1 christmas tablecloth from Portugal? well, i re-purposed it into a tree skirt! being my frugal self, i up-cycled and repurposed everything i had from last year and made my own ribbons too!

i made these from the extra cloth pieces i had from making my own christmas balls last year :)

every year, after the holidays, the stores always have a massive post-christmas sale, and thats when i stock up my supplies for the next year :) this way i dont have to join the christmas rush and moreso, i dont have to worry about wrappers and ribbons and gift tags. they might not cost much but adding them up can be an extra cost.

i love me a handmade christmas!