Instant Christmas Centrepiece

When I started reading English-language decorating and interior design magazines, I could never get the whole fuss around the "Centrepiece". For each and every dinner occasion, the lady of the house would need a thematically suited "arrangement" - flowers or candles or whatever. Geeez, Germans are so straightforward - none of that fuss for us. Sit down and have your meal! 

However, I have come to like that kind of careful decorating - even though I never really bother to do it myself. (Although that is due to lack of occasion *excuses*...) Here is an idea for a last-minute Christmas centrepiece. Not original, I guess, but it's a show-and-tell of my own Christmas centrepiece.

I actually came upon the idea when sorting through my Christmas ornaments in order to organise my tree decorations. About ten years ago I was given some antique, silver-coloured Christmas baubles. According to family lore they were bought by my great-grandparents when my granny was born in 1918. My granny passed them on to me when I moved to Ireland. They are very precious to me and for that reason have not been used on my Christmas trees very often. 

However, when I saw them I thought that they should really be put on display. Safely. So I grabbed a simple Ikea glass bowl and a block candle. I put the candle into the centre of the bowl and placed the baubles all around it. There were also battery-run, white Christmas tree lights which I wound around the candle, too. Instant centrepiece. I think it is very festive, very simple, very ornate and very nice...

Well, I am off to celebrate Christmas now. Frohe Weihnachten everyone! Happy Christmas!

Falling for Autumn

I hate to admit it, but I think summer is over. The days start really dark again and the weather has turned. Here in Ireland we are humble again, wishing for nothing else but that it stays dry.

As I will be away for the weekend, going to a fantastic open air festival with a lot of music, art, theatre, poetry, food etc. etc., I thought I should update craft-werk with something ready-made. Also, I like to be seasonal and topical. And with my intro above you can guess what it is: autumn decoration.

Now, let me say first of all, that I am not a "centrepiece girl". And I am also not exactly a gifted florist. I subscribe more to what might be called "The Gumby School of Flower Arranging" (please, please click this link if you like Monty Python - it explains my relationship with floristry pretty well...) As you probably have figured out if you are following my blog on a regular basis: The Queen of Crafts does not like lengthy projects and detailed instructions. Same applies to my attitude towards flower arranging. And therefore my centrepieces are the easiest projects ever.

Here is last year's autumn deco: (Really sorry, by the way - for some reason blogger always shows this image sideways... Ah well, you get the drift!)

Assembling it was great fun, because it involved a nice walk in the little park opposite my house. Myself and the daughter went over and collected as much autumn material as possible. I had great aspirations for a sophisticated arrangement. Back home, however, when thrown into a wicker wreath, the coincidental arrangement looked pretty good without further tweaking. So I left it that way.

The year before I did something similar: Gather as much stuff as you can and then throw it all in a bowl of some shape or form. Mine was actually a wrought iron basket with four candles, which is really meant as a type of advent wreath (traditional German affair where each of the four Sundays before Christmas you light another candle). Nonetheless, it looked good in it.

I placed a saucer or desert plate in the basket so the smaller bits didn't fall out. Isn't autumn surprisingly colourful? Spot all the things I put in there - berries, ivy buds and leaves, chestnuts and leaves, acorns, a dried up artichoke flower.

So - get out there, go for a walk, pick up lots of colourful nature stuff and start arranging, ladies (and gents)!

Mr Gumby will be disgusted!!!!