Paper craft place names

Paper craft 

Scandinavians love to craft with paper at Christmas, the Danes have become particularly known for this but let me assure you the Norwegians have been paper crafting for decades too.

Last year I shared with you how to make these lovely paper stars, see here I shall be making some miniature ones this year too and back in 2017 I showed  how to cut out paper baubles here as well as a fun take on the age-old Scandinavian tradition of weaving paper hearts to put on the Christmas tree here

I have always been a sucker for stationery from a  small child, collecting stickers, notebooks and even having a vast collection of paper serviettes, things have not really calmed down and in almost all of our cupboards in our home you will find some form of stationary still unused, waiting to be loved and many waiting to be made into something.  I have a block of design sheets about A4 size that I decided needed using this year and with a little bit of folding became these lovely little Nisse.  I am going to use them as name places.  I've decided that this year has been pants enough and it's time to even dress up our everyday dining experience and have a bit of fun, I could do with some more cheer and joy and small things like this do it for me. 

You can use fancy paper, wrapping
paper or plain paper to make these
Father Christmas place names,
but the thickness of the paper matters

You will need:

2 sheets square paper any size, either different colours or different patterns OR 1 sheet of square paper that has a different colour of patterns on the reverse

The thickness of the paper is important, too thick and the folding will not work, too thin and the Nisse will not stand up.  Best thickness is that of origami paper to give you an idea.  I first practised on normal A4 (cut to a square) photocopier paper and it worked well

 

I took several photos along the way but I cannot compete with the clever video that I found on line. If you are tempted to make these, watch the below video clip, see how simple and quick it is and have a go. Fun for adults and children alike. 

Video tutorial

I also tried making these out of serviettes and although they will not stand up look good on a plate and a little festive.  I used two paper serviettes here to achieve the two pattern look.

Festive serviette folding

We are using these for every
day place name settings 

♥  We are in the week of Christmas and wherever you are and although this maybe not be the Christmas you had hoped or planned on, I wish with all my heart some cheer and joy your way.  ♥

Gløgg toppers

It's the season of gløgg (mulled wine) and pepperkake (Scandinavian spiced biacuits). Both often drunk and eaten together. Normally house visit after house visit by the end kf the winter most Norwegians are ready to call it a day on bith these foodie delights.  It's a bit like putting the decorwaway after Christmas, you loved having them out but its time to have a minimalist feel back in the home. That sais we are still goimg strong in the wintwr season so why am I blabbering on about having too much of a good thing. 

I decided it woukd be lovely to combine the too in a slightly different way and to create a gløgg topper.  Im nit thr fitst to think of this, it is a bit akin to how tapas began, putting thefood as a lid on red wine to combat the flies.  Well we dont have flies as its not hot but its a fun way to present a cookie.

 

Gløgg cookie topper

Glogg cookie toppers

You will need:

310g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

180g butter, softened

200g sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

♥  Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl.

♥  In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

♥  Add the eggs one at a time, continuing to mix.  

♥  Stir in the vanilla extract.

♥  Add the flour to the mixture and mix until the dough comes together.  It is really important not to over mix as the cookies will be tough.  So stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together.

♥  Divide the dough into two equal parts and chill in the fridge for a minimum of an hour.

♥  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius and line a couple of baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

♥  Roll out one of the dough balls onto icing floured worktop, into as close as you can get to a rectangle about 5-6  mm thick.  Then cut out long strips about 5 mm wide.  I used a pizza wheel to cut the strips.

Use a pizza cutter for speed and straight(ish) lines

♥  Layout half the strips in a vertical direction with a couple of mm gap between each piece.

♥  Fold over carefully every other strip, so that the strip is folded down over itself when folding be careful not to crack the dough.  See photo for clarification., folder over strips are B. 

Fold over alternate vertical strips
each time you place a horizontal strip

♥  Next, take another strip and lay it horizontally (see photo and the green hand-drawn strip) into the empty space, so that it lays on top of the remaining vertical strips.  Flip back the folded strips so that they now lay over the horizontal strip.

♥  Now fold over the remaining strips, shown as A in the photograph, and lay the next horizontal strip down.  Repeat this process until you have used all your strips.

♥  Very gentle roll over the lattice formed strips to help them adhere to each other, but do not press too hard.

♥  Take the cup or glass that you will use for serving your gløgg in and use it as a cookie-cutter. See photograph.  Please each cut out gløgg topper onto the lined baking sheets.  These should not swell on baking so can be placed fairly closely next to each other.

♥  repeat with the second dough ball or leave in the fridge for another time, will keep for a few days.

Use the cup or glass you are going
to serve your gløin as a cutter

Gently tease the pastry out from the cup
and place on the lined baking sheet

You can place the gløgg toppers quite
closely together on the baking sheet

♥  Bake for about 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.

Bake till golden brown

♥  Cool on the baking sheets, do not remove to a wire rack.

♥  These gløgg toppers should hold in an airtight tie for about a week or could be frozen for about a month, remembering to thaw completely before serving.

Just as you are serving your drinks pop a gløgg topper over the warmed gløgg.

♥  The gløgg toppers should not be over the gløgg glass for too long or they will become soft and soggy!

Skål! as they say in Norway

A festive tray of gløgg, gløgg toppers and Norwegian
Brent mangler ( burnt almond) more on this tomorrow 

Hope you are all feeling the festive cheer 

❤️What are your festive plans this weekend?❤️

Christmas drinks

Winter months need winter warmth and we need to create it in the northern hemisphere whenever and  wherever we can. The Scandinavians are very good at creating warmth where you would think none can be found.  They manage to eek out and to take pleasure in the smallest of moments and it is this that I think helps them combat the dark and the cold, it is a part of what the overly used word hygge is about but only part as this word is so much more.  

Here in the UK, we have mulled wine and we associate it with the run-up to Christmas, in Norway and in the wider Scandinavia it is drunk and enjoyed throughout winter.  The warmth it brings with a mixture of sweet with spices makes it very different from the English mulled wine.  These drinks are not the same, similar but not the same.

Cranberry Gløgg ~ My favourite with or without the vodka or red wine, great for non-drinkers and designated drivers as well as the young ones.  This is such a good all-rounder.

Cranberry gløgg with cranberries and an orange slice

You will need: makes a litre

1l cranberry juice

100g sugar

1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom (if you struggle to source this use 2 tsp of cardamon kernels crushed)

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

8 cloves

large stick of cinnamon

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

100g cranberries or 80g raisins and a handful of chopped almonds

Vodka or red wine ~ optional

Pour 200ml of the juice into a saucepan with the sugar and spices.

Bring to the boil and simmer for a 3-4 minutes.

Strain the liquid and return to the pan with the remainder of the cranberry juice.

Bring back to simmering point adding in the chilli flakes and cranberries.

If using the vodka or red wine of the vodka or a bottle of the wine and warm back up without boiling.  add in a good splash now.

Serve.

Apple Gløgg ~  My husband finds Norwegian glogg a tad too sweet so he prefers the lesser-known but equally Scandinavian gløgg with an apple base.  

Top with a thin slice of apple, here I used a
cookie cutter to remove the centre of the apple slice

You will need: makes a litre

1l good quality apple juice

4 tbsp honey

2 cinnamon sticks

1 1/2 tsp cardamon kernels, crushed

1/2 tsp whole cloves

2 star anise

orange peel

Brandy, a good splash or two~ optional

very thin slices of apple for decoration

Pour 200ml of the juice into a saucepan with the honey, spices.

Bring to the boil and simmer for a 3-4 minutes.

Take the pan away from the heat and add the rest of the apple juice.  Allow the gløgg to rest awhile, the longer you leave it, the stronger the spice taste will be.  

Strain the glogg and warm the gløgg back up, add the brandy if using but do not boil.

Pour into glasses and add a thin slice of apple.

Here you see my gløgg topped with a gløgg cookie,
more on this tomorrow!

Your gløgg can be topped with any garnish, traditionally Norwegians
add chopped almonds and raisins, but here I have a
slow oven-baked orange slice and a
slice a passion fruit to add a more modern edge

Apple gløgg on the left and Cranberry gløgg on the right

 

 ♥  What is your favourite Christmas tipple?  ♥

Christmas light

My first married Christmas we decided to hunker down and not spend it with family.  We did not want to begin a tradition of one year at his parents and one year at mine.  

It was a strange yet magical Christmas, 

Salt dough heart ornaments for the Christmas tree

made all the more special because John sat with me to create our own ornaments for our very first Christmas tree together.  It set the tone for all the years that have followed.  

That year, 26 Christmas' ago we made heart-shaped troll deig (salt dough) ornaments and hung them on the tree with red ribbon.  We made them with love and laughter and who knew they would last for more than ten years.  We are now on our third set of red troll deig hearts and every year as we hang them, enough to fill the tree, my heart leaps a little in joy.

One of the many things that I love about the winter and the lead up to Christmas is all the lights, so many cultures have the same idea, light at this time of year is so important.  Adding that much-needed cheer and lightness to otherwise dark difficult and daunting months. 

Using troll deig and inspiration from a tealight holder that we have had for many years, I decided to try my hand at 3D troll deig and see if I could recreate my own tea light cone tree.

The tealight cone tree that gave me the inspiration

You can clearly see the two I made but in the dim
light of December days, I think I can get away with it

Troll deig (salt dough)

You will need:

250g plain flour 

125g salt 

100-150ml water 

template or design your own 

cardstock 

pen 

ruler 

knife

small cutters or a straw

sellotape

white acrylic paint

 

Template for cones

For the template:

♥  Cut out the template for cones onto heavy-duty card stock, the large cone needs sides of 15cm and the small cone needs sides of 9cm.

For the dough:

♥  Mix the flour and salt thoroughly.

♥  Add the water slowly until the mixture begins to form a dough and you can make it into a ball.  You do not want the dough to be too dry nor too wet, unhelpful of me I know, but it should be pliable without cracking and not sticky.   

The salt dough needs to be pliable without
being sticky or cracking too much

♥  Divide the ball into two pieces and then on a floured surface roll out one piece to about a thickness
of 3-4 mm.

♥  Place the template on the dough and cut out, I used a ruler to create straight edges and a sharp knife.

Use the template to cut our the cone shape

♥  Carefully cut out shapes for the light to be able to shine through, I used a very small cake decorating star cutter, but you can use a straw or cut out shapes freehand.  Remember to not cut out too many as that will reduce the stability of the 3D shape.

♥  Where the area is for the fold/glue line score some little marks on the salt dough to aid adhesion when forming into a 3D shape.

♥  Shape the template into a 3D form and secure on the fold glue line with sellotape.

♥  Next carefully repeat the template process with the salt dough, forming it into a 3D shape and carefully joining the seams together with a little bit of water and some gentle pressure.  The salt dough cone is fragile at this stage, so carefully place it over the 3D template and place on a baking sheet.

♥  Bake in the oven on the lowest setting for about 3 hours or until solid.

Bake the salt dough on the lowest temperature
of your oven for about 3 hours

♥  Once completely cooled, paint with acrylic paint, remember to NOT paint the inside!

♥  I have been using a real tea light inside mine but it would perhaps be safer using an electrical battery operated tea light instead.  I never leave mine unattended.

♥  With any spare salt dough, you can make ornaments or anything you like.  I made some star and heart cocktail stick toppers, they can be used for food or for jazzing up your house plants for Christmas!

Add salt dough decorations to your house plants

Homemade Fimo Nisse, salt dough
tea light Christmas cone trees and
plant decorations made from salt dough too

Can you spot the shop-bought cone and
my two homemade cones in the dining room?

A trio of Christmas tea light tree cones

♥  Happy hump day to you all, 

only 9 days till Christmas day!  ♥

Neighbourly Gifts

Yesterday I received some very upsetting news and after a good cry (I often do that) and a vent on Facebook, (I so rarely do that) I am trying to be a little more philosophical and am hoping that as we live in times where the sand is quite literally shifting underneath us and changes occur daily from one

A gift of red roses just when I needed it, thank you 

announcement to another, I hope that the current situation I now find myself in, will be resolved and quickly.  

What is the issue?  

I can not visit mamma in Norway from January 1st for as long as the pandemic is upon us, as the UK will have left the EU and so Norway has no agreement with us and one is not yet on the horizon.  As I am sure you would know from reading this blog where my feelings are at, I voted very firmly to STAY IN THE EU.  I did not foresee this problem and none of us foresaw the pandemic, but still, I am smarting even more so now that we are leaving, it brings back all the emotions of four years ago when we woke up that fateful morning to the news we would be leaving the EU.  It was a tough day and I felt bruised and battered then but nothing to how I felt yesterday.   So many lovely comments were received on Facebook and chocolates and flowers were received (you know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart)  So I am keeping everything crossed that tomorrow or the next day or even the following week, we will hear the news that this issue is resolved and that I can visit mamma.  Never in my life did I think I would not be allowed to travel between our two countries.  How much I have taken for granted and how privileged I have been.

Home made envelope for gifts

This brings me to today's post which is all about giving and sharing with those that we cannot meet up with for a coffee and a chat as we would normally leading up to Christmas.  I have begun to deliver a few cookies here and there and many more to still be delivered, just as a little cheery hello from me to you to say I miss you, have a Norwegian Christmas cookie on me and think of me whilst you sit a while with a cup of something warming.

I have often used the see-through food bags that you can purchase and tie the cookies up in ribbon but now trying to be more aware and responsible about the use of plastic, I have more latterly sent cookies in tins which can be reused and indeed will send out some still that way this year.  However, encouraged by the class I work with and their current paper crafting challenge to make advent boxes, 3D Christmas trees and hanging paper decorations, I set myself the task of creating a paper vessel for gifting my cookies.  

The paper envelopes are not of my design and on google, there are so many different versions and many the same so I jumped right in and here is the version that I used and came up with.  It is so easy, quick and effective, give it a try, easy for young and old...

Home made envelopes for cookie gifting:

♥  All you need is a square of paper and ribbon if you have.

Take a square piece of paper

Fold it in half keeping the design on the outside

Take one corner and fold it across, so that the top of the
fold is horizontal.  DO NOT fold it so it touches
the other side, leave a gap of 3-4mm

Fold the other side over, this time,
this fold can just touch the opposite edge.

The envelope should look like this
when you have folded over both corners.

The apex at the top should have two sheets.  Take
the inner sheet and fold it so that it fits snuggly
into the front folded over corner as in the above photograph.

Insert your cookie...

or three!

Fold over the top and tie up with ribbon. 
All ready to gift as a cookie hug.

♥  Thinking of those today that I cannot see, know that you are in my thoughts and I send you all my love until we can be together again  ♥

A Christmas window

Growing up in a mixed-race household was a privilege and one I did not really appreciate until I was much older.  As with all things in life, much from my childhood has seeped into who I am as an adult.  The December days and the joy I feel about them most certainly come from my mother and her mother too.  

Long before it was trendy to dress the windows my mother added crocheted snowflakes to ours and although I have not asked her, I wonder if that was to bring a piece of her winter homeland back to an often wet and windy December in the UK.  When I began this blog seven years ago, one of the first blog posts was all about snowflakes on the window and I shared many patterns as well as for those who could not crochet an alternative, see here.  Most years thereafter I have thought of other ways to also treat a window at home to some Christmas dressing.                                                              This year is no exception and my French windows in the study have been subjected to their quickest makeover to date, all I needed was a white chalk marker.  So quick and so effective.  I am not nor have ever been someone who could draw but if I can do this then I am sure you can and those of you who do have an artistic flair I am sure can come up with some wonderful creations.  Below are my efforts, it was like giving myself permission to Christmas graffiti all over the windows.  It felt naughty but was so much fun and we are really enjoying it.

And for those of you worrying or wondering, I bought markers that wipe off very easily with water and a gentle rub with a cloth, I tested it out before I let my Christmas artistic streak loose...

A quick test to make sure the markers clean off ok

All it needed was a damp cloth
and it wiped away quickly

I used these markers but you can, of course, use 
any you like, just make sure they will clean off easily

A Christmas Window

♥  Do you get excited for Christmas?   ♥

Christmas trivet

Knitting consisting of lots of bobbles

So much happens in the kitchen at Christmas it can be warm and cosy and just me in there pottering about with my Christmas makes and bakes or it can be raucous when everyone is finally home with so much news to share.  Leading up to Christmas day itself the kitchen becomes even more of a hub of the home than normal.  And the day, itself with so much cooking taking place, pots and pans are literally flying all over the place whilst we all go about our designated cooking chores, of course sipping on some tipple or other such like trying not to bump into each other in our rather narrow kitchen.  

I came across the potholder pattern whilst thinking about my Christmas kitchen and thought it would be both a practical and festive addition to the red theme I have every year.  Having also not knitted bobbles before I was keen to challenge myself and try something new. This is a pattern I wish I had designed, it was fun to make and relatively quick.  Both my sister and mother having seen this would like one.  I'll add it to the to-do list...

Does anyone else forget things quickly, misplace things or walk into a room and have absolutely no idea why you entered?  It seems to be happening to me with more and more regularity... I'm not even going there by saying it's my age, but it is my age!  So as I sit here typing away to tell you about this pattern, I cannot remember how I did it at all, I even had to just watch the little clip to remind me how I knitted the bobbles, here it is for you in case you are interested... Knitted bobbles video

As long as you can purl and knit then you can make this trivet.  

Again with anything felted it is made in 100% wool, knitted larger than the required size and shrunk in the washing machine with towels to aid the rubbing and friction on a normal 40-degree cycle.  It is IMPERATIVE that as soon as the cycle is over you remove the trivet and lay it on a flat surface and pull it into shape.  The corners may want to curl a bit but with wriggling it you will get them to lay flat.  It will take a day or two to dry out completely.  Since I have made it, I've used hot pans from the hob and baking sheets from the oven and it has protected my work surface.  I'm rather pleased with this and if I remember to I may not because of my age! after Christmas will make a couple more.

The back of the knitted trivet
makes me think of a shaggy beard

Each bobble is knitted back and forth individually on the right side of the work and each bobble row is bound with a row of purling on the wrong side.  It's quite a therapeutic knit once you get into the swing of the pattern and it's incredible how the bobbles felt into thick balls, it is such a clever pattern.

To ensure the red bobbles do not pull the whole piece,
each bobble has it's own beginning and ending thread,
with no carrying over to the next bobble.

Finished knitted piece before machine felting

Close up of a knitted bobble before machine felting

Another great name from GarnStudio find the pattern here: Hot heart ♥

❤️ The youngest has returned from university so we are now all under one roof ready for Christmas but we will be thinking of those we cannot catch up with in person this year . Hugs to you all  ❤️