Stacey Solomon's Crafty Christmas features beautiful and creative home-made gifts. Here's how to make two of her festive creations, without breaking the bank.
An early gift in the Christmas TV schedule this year is the arrival of Stacey Solomon's Crafty Christmas on December 14. Those who enjoy Christmas crafts and are inspired by the likes of creating their own wooden Christmas decorations, are sure to tune in. Stacey will be joined by friends and family to create joyful handmade gifts and decorations on a budget, throughout the course of the festive special.
Stacey's yuletide craft party will see her five gorgeous children, her nonagenarian grandmother, and local WI get to work on their special selection of money-saving makes. If you're eager to get crafting and re-create some of Stacey's pieces, read on for a step-by-step guide to making her Christmas Pudding wreath, and homemade Nutcracker.
How to make Stacey Solomon's Christmas crafts
1. Homemade Christmas Pudding Wreath
What you'll need:
- A swimming pool noodle or similar
- Gaffer tape
- Pins
- Brown ribbon or fabric
- Cream or white ribbon or fabric
- Sequins
- Clear PVA glue
- 3 medium sized red baubles
- Green ribbon for the bow (preferably wired)
What to do:
- Take your pool noodle and bend it to create a circle, attach the ends together using gaffer tape.
- Use pins in a neat line across the end of the brown ribbon or fabric to secure it and wrap the whole noodle. Be sure to wrap tightly so you can’t see the bright colour underneath.
- Once the whole noodle is completely wrapped tuck the fabric neatly at the end and secure with pins.
- Repeat the same around half of the pudding with the white or cream ribbon.
- Glue the sequins on with clear PVA to the brown section of the pudding.
- Glue together 3 baubles and secure them to the top of the wreath.
- Loop the green ribbon around the top of your pudding this will be used to hang the wreath.
- Tie a bow and attach it to the top of your wreath.
2. Homemade Nutcracker
What you'll need:
- 1 empty, stackable crisp tube.
- 2 empty, 3-4 cm diameter cardboard tubes, the inside of an aluminium foil tube is a good size.
- White emulsion or spray paint primer.
- Acrylic paints and paint brushes
- Beads and ribbon for decoration
- Scissors or craft knife
- PVA glue or glue gun
- Bottle tops
- Tape to mask off the sections (optional)
What to do:
- First to prep the crisp tube by painting it completely white with the white emulsion/spray paint primer. Put to one side to dry completely.
- Cut the inside of 2 tin foil tubes in half and glue bottle tops onto the 2 cardboard tubes, these will form the arms.
- Paint all 4 tubes with an undercoat of white acrylic paint and put aside to dry completely.
- Paint your desired colours for the arms and legs.
- Divide up the crisp tube into 3 sections. You can do this using a pencil or for a sharper line you can use tape.
- Make 2 smaller sections at the lid end, one for the hat, one for the face and a larger section at the bottom for the body.
- Paint these in your desired colours.
- Once dry, it’s time to attach the legs and arms to the body using PVA glue or glue gun.
- Now it’s time to get creative. You can repurpose old necklaces, use the gems and beads to embellish.
- For the face, you could glue on a printed face, use a stencil or coloured circled dot stickers.
How to watch Stacey Solomon's Crafty Christmas
Stacey Solomon's Crafty Christmas will be available to watch on both on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 8pm on December 14. The show will remain on BBC iPlayer for a period of time following the air date, to allow anyone who misses it to catch up.
In a statement about the show, Stacey said "I’m so excited to bring Crafty Christmas back this year! Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love to craft. For me, home-made, thoughtful gifts that don’t break the bank mean so much more - and this year I’ve got the whole family mucking in, including a very special guest… my amazing grandma."
Alongside the Christmas pudding wreath and handmade Nutcracker, viewers can look forward to Stacey showcasing her very own festive lanterns, personalised presents, foraged decorations and a very special homemade gift for husband Joe.
For more festive crafts, check out our guide to Christmas patchwork decorations, and origami Christmas trees. For an extra step into a homemade yuletide celebration, our tutorial for stamped Christmas wrapping will give your gifts a special edge.
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