Tiny Christmas gifts

With Christmas fast approaching I have been busy crafting gifts for friends and family.  These tiny bundles of sugary biscuits are perfect for work colleagues, friends or neighbours – a pretty token of Christmassy giving.

I made these quite simply, using small cardboard cake boxes, brown paper, twine, and red bells.  The biscuits are designed for dunking - so quite hard and perfect for dunking into tea and other hot drinks because they don’t dissolve or go all mushy.  You can find the recipe over here on my other blog.  I used a cute bunny rabbit shaped biscuit cutter but you could use any shape you like.

Once you have baked your biscuits and let them cool, simply cut out a square of brown paper and arrange it inside the mini cake box (I bought mine from Lakeland but I’m sure other good cookery shops will sell them).  Pop in a handful of biscuits and arrange nicely.

Take a length of twine and wrap it round the box as you would a present.  Tie the twine securely in a knot.  Take two bells (bought from Paperchase) and thread one onto each piece of the twine and then tie in another knot to hold in place.  You could either tie the remaining twine into a bow or unravel it like I’ve done here for a more rustic look.

I just think it looks so Christmassy – brown paper, bright red bells, and golden biscuits glistening with sugar crystals.  Give out to good friends and lovely neighbours as a Christmas treat.

A greener guide to wrapping wedding gifts

Image: The Natural Wedding Company

A wedding gift list is a lovely opportunity for family and friends to give a present that will last a lifetime.  But all that mass-produced shiny paper and glittery tags can pose a dilemma for couples planning an eco-friendly wedding.

Don’t despair!  Encourage your guests to wrap your wedding gifts in reusable or recyclable materials using some of my top tips and advice on greener ways to wrap presents.

Wrapping with fabric

Image: Persimmon & Pine

The Green Giving Company produce a beautiful selection of kerchiefs that can be used to wrap presents.  These kerchiefs are handmade in the UK and come in variety of fabrics.  They provide easy-to-follow instructions on how to tie your kerchief which can be downloaded from their website.

Also known as furoshiki, these traditional Japanese wrapping cloths can be used to wrap all kinds of gifts.  Mandy at Persimmon & Pine, who is based in Seattle, handcrafts artisan furoshikis in eco chic designs which she sells in her Etsy shop.

Another lovely idea is to ask each of your guests to wrap their gifts in a scrap of fabric that you can then have sewn into a beautiful keepsake patchwork quilt.  Not only will your quilt be a lovely memento of your wedding day, but it will likely become a treasured heirloom that can be passed down the generations.

Image: The Natural Wedding Company

Some great ideas for natural and eco-friendly present wrapping

• Brown paper
• String, twine and raffia
• Recycled tissue paper
• Homemade cloth tote bags
• Luggage labels
• Handmade paper
• Hessian bags
• Old maps or sheet music

Image: Red Stamp

Top Tips for greener gift wrapping

• Sticky tape is not recyclable, so why not fasten your wrapping paper with twine or string
• If you want to use wrapping paper look for recycled options or support a good cause and buy it from a charity
• Avoid using metallic and glittery papers that are not always recyclable
• Brown paper, used newspaper, or old magazines can be a lovely alternative for wrapping presents – tie them with colourful ribbons or raffia
• Natural foliage like ivy, hawthorn berries and pine cones can spruce up an ordinary parcel
• Why not skip paper altogether and use a pretty tin, bow or willow basket to package your gift that can be used again

Image: Survival International

Gorgeous eco wedding dress on Etsy

It’s been a wet and wild Saturday here, so this evening N has been watching the rugby and I’ve been browsing the beautiful ’shops’ over at Etsy.  Handmade heaven if you’ve not been before.

I was delighted to see that Morgan Boszilkov who is listed in the directory in the wedding dress category, also sells her gorgeous eco wedding dresses via her Etsy shop NaturalBridals. 

I am most in-love with this dress.

Image: Morgan Boszilkov at NaturalBridals

 

 

Paolo Nutini *Candy*

This song is just so beautiful, I could listen to it over and over.  It would certainly be in my Top 10 for consideration if we have a first dance.  And I just love the wedding featured in the video – so relaxed and so romantic.

Stunning giant tipis – an alternative wedding reception

Image: The Stunning Tents Company

So as I mentioned previously N and I went down south to kick-start our wedding planning.  We went to the Beautiful World Tents open day in Horsham, West Sussex.  Beautiful World Tents provide a gorgeous range of big and small tipis for wedding receptions and events. 

Ever since I first saw images of these tents a couple of years ago when researching for the Directory, I fell in love with them.  Now that N and I are starting to think about our own wedding, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go and view these tents.

Image: Beautiful World Tents

Sadly, the day we went was some of the worst weather ever – a howling wind that rattled the poles holding the tipis up and horizontal rain.  In all their time setting up the giant tipis,  they had never seen weather so bad.  The day was pretty much cancelled as it was too dangerous to go inside the tipis.

Having travelled all the way from Cheshire, N and I weren’t about to leave without seeing as much as we could of the tents and speaking to Jo, the director, about all the different options and costs. 

As if by some miracle, just before we left the wind died down and the rain stopped, the sun came out and we were able to go into the full set-up of tipis and get a proper look and feel for them.

On the way home we also stopped off in Berkshire to see The Stunning Tents Company, who offer the same giant tipis and are the original importers of these stunning tents, which come from Sweden.

I left the south feeling totally wowed by the giant tipis and confident that they would make a stunning wedding reception venue.

Our gifts of love should not fund hate

An email from Greg Valerio over at CRED Jewellery popped into my inbox today with the subject line ‘Our gifts of love should not fund hate’.  Here’s what Greg’s email alerted me to:

Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is selling blood diamonds on the world market.  His army has seized diamond mines, 200 civilians have been murdered, and profits are used to finance political militias.  

I’ve just signed an urgent petition urging international regulators meeting in Namibia this week to ban Zimbabwe diamonds, sending a clear message that we do not want the rough diamond trade financing war and violence as we have seen in the recent past in Angola & Sierra Leone.

We have just 24 hours to persuade regulators to act.  Join me by signing the Avaaz petition below and let’s get a massive petition together that will be delivered directly to the meeting in Namibia.

I too have headed over to the website to sign the petition, so please take a moment to add your name to the list and support this petition. 

If you are looking for ethical wedding rings you should take a look at CRED’s website as they use ethically-sourced diamonds to create their beautiful jewellery.

Image: CRED Jewellery

Winter berry buttonholes for a cosy Christmas wedding

Recently I have seen so many beautiful ideas for buttonholes that I have been inspired to design my own for this month’s *creative project*.  Sometime soon I will pull all the images together and showcase them on the blog as they are well worth sharing.

I have created my buttonholes for a cosy Christmas wedding, choosing some of the vibrant red berries that there are in the hedgerows at the moment combined with dark glossy greens. 

On Sunday I could be found stuck in hedgerows on the country lanes of Surrey searching for a selection of berries that I could use in this month’s project – with N sat in the car reading the newspaper wondering what on earth I was up to. 

Anyway, I opted for a sprig of plump, glossy hawthorn berries and one of blood red rosehips.  I have paired the rosehips with a small branch of bay leaves found in my garden (and many of yours I’m sure) and the hawthorn berries with some variegated ivy. 

Using some floral tape (I must confess I only had sellotape in the house but I wouldn’t recommend it for a wedding as I don’t think it would hold!) simply bind your chosen selection of berries and leaves together into a small posy.

Next, choose a complimentary ribbon or twine – I chose a moss green and a Christmassy tartan – and wind this round the tape a couple of times.  Secure the ribbon at the back of the buttonhole and you’re finished!

Sneak peek: November’s creative project

So I promised November’s creative project would be posted yesterday, but our plans changed around and we didn’t get home until after dark. 

Tonight I shall post the project and pics in full, but for now here’s a sneak peek:

Also coming soon details of my weekend and the start of our wedding planning!

Happy Hallow’een

A weekend away

N and I are off for a weekend down south to visit some friends, grandparents and to look at some very special wedding tents…

More about it on Monday along with November’s autumnal creative project!  In the meantime, check August and After a lovely wedding blog I only discovered yesterday, but I spent an hour or more reading through every post.  Truly lovely. 

All image: Sarah Neal Photography