I was approached a few months ago by the British editors the of Stitch/Craft Create book-club to participate in a blog hop style book review. I had a few e-books to choose from, all of them about Christmas. I went with Handmade Scandinavian Christmas by Hege Barnholt, because it suits my aesthetic best and really who can say no to a free book!
This photograph reminds me that we should save a few leaves as we rake them.
The concept of the book is simple: make most of your decorations and don't over do it. I can buy into that (pun intended) as most years I dread cluttering our living space with Holiday decor, and I enjoy storing everything the rest of the year even less. However, as we have just concluded our house renovation and now have a dining room I feel like doing something this year... a big tree perhaps? or a simple branch in a jar. Many if not all of the projects in the book can be made by children, probably 7 and older. I think that children love seeing their own creations on the tree and personally I would prefer if we stayed away from noddle garlands (a French Kindergarten classic).
This Bird and buttons garland is one of my favorite project in the book: I like the soft harmony of whites and natural/beige ribbon. Here is another favorite, handmade candles, which Finn and I will attempt this year once school is out, we will most likely use a soy wax mix such as this one on amazon.
Another section of the book that caught me eyes contains lots of beautiful treats that can be made for the birds. We have a large bird feeder outside of the kitchen window and since we have some extra hooks there it would be nice to vary the bird buffet with some of those beautiful treats:
In this book you will find recipes, advent calendars, homemade gift ideas such as simple knits and decorating tips. It will surprise no-one that I cannot fail to share a few pictures of winter flowers, always a favorite around here:
If you like a simple, low key kind of Holiday, I think you might enjoy this book very much. The projects are not complicated, yes they look homemade and that is the point! By this I mean that you do not need to be Martha to end up with lovely objects born of the lovely ideas in this book.
If you feel so inclined you can get a paper copy from here. Here is another picture to tempt you with!
If you have crafted a christmas decoration already and would ike to share it, you can enter a picture of it in this giveaway:
Share a picture of your own handmade Christmas decoration with the lovely people at Stitch Craft Create and you could win £100! Just add your photo to their share board or use the hashtag #SCCXmas on Twitter or Instagram.
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