We made the place settings and Christmas crackers for the table. Each cracker had inside a green and blacks organic chocolate, a small packet of seeds that could be grown in pots, like sunflowers, chives etc, a joke (handpicked by Malcolm and not vetted by me first, mistake, - the only Aussie in the group got the Aussie joke, but was fine about it and no one else seemed mortally offended) and some origami paper and the instructions for an origami creation. I used my little tea light candle holders for the centre of the table. All the place names were just hand drawn on Microsoft Paintshop, which made me feel like a kid again. So much fun. It did get a little silly, I mean, what does a moose have to do with Christmas?
If I made the crackers again, I think I'd use a more fragile paper, as these were so hardy we couldn't pull them apart very easily! Oh well. I am gradually learning that research before you embark on a project is time well spent, though my bias is toward learning in action, I'm impatient and want to get on with it. Which means I get lots done, but not always with the best results!
While I'm posting, here's some of the fruits of my most favourite projects of late. I've been making mini-collages on offcuts of hardwood. Drill a hole and
put a little hanging loop in the back (like the ones you hang mirrors with) and voila, mini ready to hang art for your wall. So much fun. I source the pictures from everywhere, mostly charity shop second hand children's books. Then I spraypaint a textured background onto the wood block, lay down a layer of very thin tissue paper with watery PVA glue on top of that, or pieces of old dressmaking patterns, and that's my base onto which I then build the rest of the collage. Once finished, i apply several coats of PVA varnish and trim off the edges. Each collage is only about ten cm by 16 cm big. And original and loveable. Delish.
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Amanda, these are awesome, they look great. I might borrow the idea some time and give it a go. Ronan
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