Giving Handmade Gifts Of Warmth And Love
The journey to Christmas can easily feel hurried and overwhelming for both children and adults, slowing down and allowing ourselves and our children to mindfully engage in crafting homemade gifts can help us to feel less stressed and more present. Setting aside dedicated time for crafting together creates a feeling of abundance which becomes part of the care and warmth involved in gift-giving.
For me, Advent Sundays lend themselves to the mood of slowing down and spending time creating with my family. This year, we wanted to think of a way of sharing a sense of love and warmth as our gift-giving theme. In our family we love baking, often each of us has different ideas and recipes we want to try out but one thing we all agree on is how much we love Christmas biscuits, there are some delicious, traditional Christmas biscuits in the wonderfully inspiring All Year Round by Ann Druitt, Christine Fynes-Clinton and Marije Rowling. These biscuits are full of the warmth of fragrant spices making them a perfect homemade gift and go perfectly with spiced warm apple juice.
Creating an attractive container to present your biscuits in can become part of the gift. Finding ways to reuse everyday items which can eventually be recycled, helps to reduce our carbon footprint and hold a caring awareness. A large jam jar makes a perfect container and can easily be decorated to create a glowing lantern. Dipam pure Beeswax Tealights are made in the Netherlands by a traditional candlemaker. The candles burn clean, purify the air and have a subtle warm honey scent and would make a wonderful addition to this gifting project. A selection of fragrant whole spices for mulled apple juice completes the gift.
Materials
- Jam jar
- Compostable cellophane food bags
- A selection of whole spices like cardamon pods, cinnamon sticks and star anise stars
- Tissue paper in a selection of colours
- Star punches in different sizes
- White card
- Ribbon or twine
- Glue
- Pencil
Start by thoroughly washing your jam jar. Measure top to bottom and circumference and cut out a rectangle from the card, I added a 1cm overlap. The recycled Paper Poetry card is a perfect weight for this project, I chose a creamy white with a gold speckle to catch the light. Sketch your design on to the card.
Carefully cut out your silhouette from the card and choose a selection of tissue paper colours, I love these cool wintery blues from Paper Poetry.
Create layers from the tissue paper using the same measurements of the jar as your guide.
Carefully glue the layers together, the OkoNorm contact glue is helpful as it has a very fine applicator which allows for just the right amount of glue in just the right place and doesn’t bleed into the tissue paper.
Apply a ring of glue to the top and base of your jam jar.
Check that the detailed parts of your design are securely glued down.
Starting in the middle, glue your design on to the jam jar and glue the edges securely.
Using the paper star punches create different size stars to add a final touch to the lantern.
Once your biscuits are completely cooled fill your jar, leaving enough space at the top to include your tealight and spice bag. I put these inside compostable clear food bags to keep them separate from the biscuits. Place the lid on securely and cut out three circles of tissue paper in each colour to make an attractive cover for the lid, tie securely in place with a pretty ribbon or twine and add your gift tag with your message of warmth and love and a little description of what’s inside.
I like to image loved ones warming up their apple juice with the spices, arranging the biscuits on a plate and sitting down to enjoy them in the soft glow from the lantern, as the warm scent of honey and spices fills the air.
Sending warm Advent wishes and hoping you find peaceful moments at this busy time of year.
Katherine
@appletree_community
