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 little bit of giving

December 18th

Sustainable wrapping

Every year since the children were born I have said to myself, next year I will make more of an effort with gift wrapping.  Years ago, I used to pride myself on beautifully wrapped presents and over the past two decades how on earth has the time passed by like that? my wrapping has become quick, last-minute and somewhat slapdash.  Albeit, often the present inside was homemade and made with love and care, the outer packaging left much to be desired.

This year, with both children living away from home term time, I thought surely I would have the time and energy to create the most beautiful gift wrapped presetns...er...no, but I have made more of an effort.   The below ideas are relatively quick, cheap and fun to make than really looking amazing.  What they do is show that I have given my wrapping some time and thought.  Next year, I will get better. Have you noticed a recurring theme here?

Gathering wrapping resources and presents to wrap

A week or so ago, I emptied the fruit bowl of oranges, lemons and limes that were not in their prime and decided to dry them in the oven.   To see how to dry citrus fruit, follow the link to my Advent Wreath as I made my Advent Wreath with the oranges this year too.

I bought cinnamon quills, not cinnamon sticks, the difference being that quills are longer.  I found they were much cheaper bought from an Indian supermarket than online or elsewhere.  Raided my pine cone store, I collect pine cones whenever I am out walking, for just such a crafting moment. And amassed florist wire, scissors, tissue paper saved from a shoebox and cellophane bags that I had bought the previous Christmas but had not used up. And finally, old takeaway food trays washed and saved from weeks ago.  Then I began to play and wrap.  Christmas carols were playing quietly in the background whilst I myself played with faffing the wrapping.  Not a professional wrapped look but none the less better than my usual efforts.  I am at least pleased my wrapping is moving in the right direction and I loved the fact that other than the cinnamon quills, which in fairness I need not have bought, everything was already in the house or reused from something else.  Now that must be the way forward.  Bet many of you remember grandparents as I do, that carefully folded and wrapped gift wrap, saved the ribbon and string and reused it for the next gift they were to wrap.  I think we are coming full circle, don't you?

Norwegian cookies wrapped and ready to gift

Notice the tissue is a little crinkled as it is 
reused tissue paper from a shoebox!

Inspiration comes from all sorts
of places, can you see where
the idea for the gift tag came from?

I love playing with paper and along with hearts, I have a big thing for Nisse too.  The small little
Christmas Norwegian gnome-like figures.  The Swedes call them Tomte and some British people, I believe call them gonks?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me these little fellows are nisse.

Below the white cut-outs show you the basic parts for the nisse gift tags, each one I cut freehand so to give them individuality and to avoid a fully uniform look.  I happen to have a bit of scrap card from previous crafting makes but they look quirky made out of magazine and newspaper and plain paper combinations too.  This is a wonderful activity to do with the small people in your life, create unique gift tags for your wrapping.  Where to write on the gift-tag?  Well, that is up to you, either on the back or take a peep under his beard! 

Basic Nisse cut out shapes

Each Nisse is slightly different from the others

Peep under his beard to see who the gift is to and from

The tissue is rather crinkled but does it matter? 
Better to reuse I think?

The first batch of wrapped gifts ready to be dispatched

And finally bringing several of my blog post ideas together in one gift:  A gift for a family of three.  One of my crochet giant baskets, the paper weaving animals full of sweets and chocolates, Norwegian cookies (the bottom of this cookie link takes you to all 7 baked cookies from Christmas 2019) and a something 'bought extra gift' for the mummy of the family, wrapped in reused tissue paper and home-dried citrus fruit.  I loved gifting this, hope they liked it as much as I enjoyed making it all.

A basket of homemade goodies

♥  I still have much to wrap but this year I am enjoying it more than previous years, what about you? Are you a last-minute just get it wrapped person or are you a let's make it look perfect type of person?  ♥

Scandinavian Paper Craft

December 12th

Papercraft Scandinavian style Origami stars

Some of my earliest Christmas memories are those sitting with my mother and mormor (grandmother) making paper heart bags for the Christmas tree.  I have written several posts on them where you can learn about the tradition and how to make your own. Norwegian Christmas hearts

A huge part of Christmas to me is taking time out of our busy lives, slowing down and making family time or now as the birds have flown the nest creating some 'me' time and pottering away an hour or two each week to fill me with joy of the season and forget about the wows of our world and the commercialism that Christmas is trying to become.

This year I decided to recreate some of the stars mor (as a family, we shorted the Norwegian word for grandmother from mormor to mor which means 'mother') had on her tree.  They were made from shaved wooden strips and had such a natural feel to them.  Mor's tree was full of these stars, real candles and a garland string of the Norwegian flag, all topped with a straw angle with foil wings.

In searching how to make these stars I began on Norwegian websites but the web is full of how to make them in every language you could think of.  They start fiddly as most things in life do, with a couple of mutterings under my breath as I ripped yet another strip of paper but I persevered and am so pleased that I did.  Sure enough, after an hour of frustration, I began to be able to make the stars in ten minutes flat.

You can use wrapping paper,
wallpaper or specailist origami paper

It is important to LOCK in the paper so it holds it shape

This stage begins to get exciting

Stars growing like rabbits, be warned it's addicitve

A festive subtle addition to the French doors

A few second clip to show how the stars just gently move...

A close up of the papercraft stars origami style

STAR MEASUREMENTS FOR THE STRIPS:  
For large stars, dimensions are 80cm x 2.5cm
For small stars, the dimensions are 44 x 1.5cm


A few links to various star tutorials:  

Norwegian, but slow enough to get the gist...

Star video tutorial

Danish but with no volume, a clear exapmle, but you will need to keep stopping it as it is not real time.

Quick tutorial for stars



Here are links to previous posts on paper crafts and how I 'dress' the French windows every Christmas:

Paper baubles

I have also found on amazon yiu can order ready cut strips the ideal length for these stars too. If you Google Danish paper weaving strips you should find it.

♥  Have you made any paper decorations, 

do tell...  ♥

Paper weaving

December 5th

Last year I proofread a beautiful book all about paper weaving created by the very talented Charlotte

Woven animal heads Scandinavian style

Engle.  She had asked me to proofread it as her native tongue is Danish, she was worried that her English may not be up to the task to translate her work herself.  Without generalising too much, I do feel that the continent put us to shame in their command of other languages.  Charlotte need not have worried as her English only needed the very teeniest of tweaks in only one or two places.  And, in addition, the book and the makes were out of this world. 

With the Christmas holidays fast approaching, looking to perhaps keep the small ones occupied, who am I kidding, get down and make these yourself, they are so much fun! these Scandinavian woven ornaments would make a great activity.  All you need is paper or card, glue and scissors, a little patience and you have a whole lot of fun.  As children in Scandinavia both at school and at home we always used to make woven paper hearts (the Scandinavian equivalent of making paper chains in the classroom in the UK leading up to Christmas) and these by Charlotte are a modern take on that tradition.

Here you can find Charlotte's PDF for the mouse template and also a video demonstration on how to.

Woven mouse template

Woven mouse video demonstration

Below are a few snaps of my attempts.  these were whipped up fairly quickly, I had so much fun!

Charlotte suggested playing around with the eyes as that gives
each woven animal their own personality, I tend to agree
with her.  This mouse looks how I feel most days!

The beauty with the videos is you can
stop and pause whenever you need to

It's a tradition with the woven hearts to hand them on the Christmas
 tree with nuts or sweets, so I added some chocolates
to the deer and mouse.  All ready and waiting
for some small visitors over the festive season,
lovely little treat bags.

I've got my eye on making Charlotte's Elves next and she has also kindly linked a PDF and video tutorial here too:  Elves

Woven elves,
next on my list to make

Woven mouse

Woven deer

♥  Do you dabble in any form of paper crafting?  ♥

Scandinavian woven decorations

December 11th 2018 

Scandinavian woven paper craft

I had a good fortune recently to meet up with a talented Dane named Charlotte.  When I say meet, it was of the virtual kind, those that are quite commonplace now but ten, twenty years ago would have been unimaginable.  Charlotte is an inspiration, look at her About Page on her blog, wow, just wow.  All about Charlotte , a small snippet from her about page had me hooked...


I love to inspire creative women who are struggling with the Midlife Blues (or other life transitions) to reconnect with their creativity and true selves so they can live inspired lives

... is that not powerful.

Even my daughter has woven hearts in her student kitchen

I came across Charlotte as she has produced a clear beautifully styled book on paper weaving.  Now here Charlotte and I may have to agree to differ and maybe myself and the world wide web may have to agree to differ too.  Because as far as I am concerned and most Norwegians I suspect feel this too, that the woven paper heart is a
Norwegian tradition.  Every  Christmas I have made them for as long as I can remember, I made them with my mother and she in turn with her mother and I suspect she with hers too.  But for some unfathomable reason, the world and Charlotte think that these Christmas hearts should be called Danish woven hearts. I have even blogged about them twice before now 2013 and 2017

Woven paper craft at it's best, photo from Charlotte's book

So why write about them again?

It's all because of Charlotte, her instructions are clear, the illustrations are colourful and her designs are delightful.  From the simple woven heart to more intricate looking, but really easy animal designs.
There should be something for everyone who is of a crafty mind to find and enjoy.  In these days of mindfulness, this is something you could immerse yourself in for an afternoon or evening and think about nothing else than paper crafting Scandinavian style...Charlotte has kindly allowed me to share a sample from her book to give you a flavour with concise easy to follow instructions.

How to weave a heart

♥  Have a look, have a go and take time out to create your own piece of Norwegian (!) Christmas decoration  ♥

Don't forget to share anything that you make, it seems impossible to post photos on the comments attached to this post but please do upload some on the Eclectic Home Life facebook page:  

Eclectic home Life FB Page

Paper and Scissors

Scandinavian papercraft
December 14th

Norwegian paper hearts 

For as long as I can remember we made paper hearts at Christmas.  As a small child, I recall how difficult it could be but how excited I was to see my finished woven paper heart hung on the Christmas tree holding a few sweets.  Memories are precious don't you think.  In this evocative time of year, it would not feel like Christmas to me if I did not have some paper hearts somewhere in my home.  This year they are to be found on the windowsill in our kitchen.  For details on how to make them click here . Many will argue that these are called Danish hearts, but in my heart they are Norwegian.

Woven paper hearts in situ in my Christmas kitchen

This year I have turned my attention to paper cutting baubles.  I had so much fun making these that the midnight oil was struck a few weeks ago as I just could not stop.  Fun, quick and easy to make.  I followed my pencil literally as I did not have a pattern and made it up as I went along.  All you need is some paper, a craft knife and some imagination.  The baubles are hung up in my study...

Paper baubles on the window. looking from the outside in 

Paper baubles on the window, looking from the inside out

Like snowflakes, no two baubles are the same

The Scandinavians have always enjoyed paper crafts at Christmas and the intricate details that some can manage is astonishing, the next link is for paid paper cuts but I show it here to give you an idea of what the Scandi's get up too... Swedish paper cut mobiles  And pop over and look at Ingrid's blog,
she maybe German but fell in love with paper art whilst in Denmark ... Ingrid    Norwegian artist Karen Bit has an international reputation for her paper art, it is beyond unbelievable.  And to give you some ideas of what you can do at home just look at this page from Pinterest:  paper cut 

♥  Have you dabbled in paper cutting? 

Last minute Christmas inspirations or be ahead of the game for next year

December 13th

A typical example of a vintage calender

Today I share with you many makes that I hope to try if not this year then for next year.  We now live in a world of easy to access inspiration but too often there is too much to sift through, so here I give you my favourite Christmas round up that I have come across this year, hope it inspires you...


A last minute Vintage Calendar to print off and compile from 1899, the dates are exactly the same as 2017, who wouldn't want to receive this.  Brought to you by the very generous Gunnvor Karita:   2017 Calendar 




Again another great post that Gunnor shared were her delightful Christmas boxes in the shape of houses.  These would be gorgeous just sitting on the window sill or as a gift box for a small tiny present.  This would be a great activity to complete with a small one too I should imagine.  I am definitely going to print some of these off and give them a go...  Christmas house boxes

Gift boxes, house shaped

Day 6 of Drops Design Advent Calendar

Last year I shared with you Drops Design Advent Calendar and they are sharing a new one again this year.  Each day you can open an online door to reveal that days yarn design, be it knitting or crochet, it's all so Christmasssy and I love it.  I admit, that I have no time to make anything for this year, but it has me thinking for things I would like to create next year, my eye is currently on Day 6 especially but I love them all really!
Drops Design Calendar


Of course I have to mention Phil over at The Twisted Yarn who claims to not like to think about the C word until around the 20th of December but she has such wonderfully easy Christmas patterns to make that it can entice the most reluctant of knitter and crocheter to give them a try, pop over and see.

Knitted version of a paper chain and
Christmas knitted trees a la Twisted Yarn

Then there is one of my favourite designers on Instagram, the very generous and kind hearted Kate of Just Pootling.  She shares her patterns on blog.lovecrochet.com and her latest Christmas pudding and holly garland is simply Christmas perfect, look...

And finally stuck for a present for that hard to buy for person?  What about knitting your own luggage finders.  I think this is a genius idea and am going to be making lots of these, may even come up with my own designs personal to the people I am still needing to make for... and just a thought what about if you are travelling around Christmas time, how wonderful to make some Christmas luggage tags, holly, mini jumpers or stockings, Christmas puddings even to name byu a few ideas, the list is endless...   Luggage Finders

Knittted luggage finders

And finally today I leave you with a thought from a picture that popped up on my Facebook that made me stop and think.  I whole heartedly believe in this in a time when the world seems to be pulling apart...

Not forgetting today is St Lucia day and I shall be baking my saffron buns later this morning. I'll share them with you tomorrow...