The document provides instructions for making different types of holiday garlands and decorations. It describes how to make a simple evergreen garland by twisting lengths of ivy and foliage together to create a swag that can be placed along mantels or above pictures. Optional additions like fairy lights, seed pods, or dried flowers are mentioned. Instructions are also provided for making a table garland using pine boughs and candles or for stringing individual decorations like leaves or rosehips along wire or cotton. The document concludes by describing how to make a snow globe decoration using an empty jar, plasticine to form a snow-covered hill, model trees and figures, water, glitter, and glycerin.

1. Do Something Active
12 January 2015 | The Guardian
The Guardian December 2014
Do Something Creative
The simplest garland to loop along
mantelpieces or above mirrors and
pictures is lengths of ivy and other
evergreen foliage twisted together to
create a sort of swag.
Method: Create a single line of
greenery, joining various pieces if
necessary, so that you have a line
around 2 metres long. You may find
that you need to tie various pieces in
– florist’s wire is excellent for this.
Then make another two lines and
twist them together, as you would do
to make a rope: do this gently so that
it doesn’t look too forced and now
you have your base.
The purist may want to keep just to
ivy; the more whimsical may want to
add in fairy lights. I personally love
old man’s beard, Clematis vitalba,
seedheads woven in amongst the
green. Dried hydrangea flowers or
sprayed seed heads work well too.
You can make a table version using
pine and conifer bough, interspersed
with pinecones or candles, if you
like. I’d advise against these for on
top of pictures or mirrors as they
weigh more than they appear.
If, however, a big swag of garland
is too much, then find the prettiest
autumn leaves, dainty seedheads,
Chinese lanterns and rosehips, and
string them a few centimetres apart
along some thin wire or cotton. A
little repetition can be nice. I’ve seen
lovely ones made with just rosehips
alone, whatever takes your fancy
here as long as it’s done tidily.
These delicate garlands look
lovely over the fireplace, catching
light along a windowpane or edge of
a sill. I love pinecones, so pleasing
at all stages, either open or closed. If
you want them to open, place them
on top of a radiator or a gentle heat
source and after a day or so, they
should pop.
I prefer my pinecones plain, but
clearly they are made for glitter, glue
and sprinkles, so do as you see fit.
String these at regular intervals along
some pretty twine or ribbon. These
look as good hung vertically as they
do horizontally.
Garlandstodrape
Becky Barnicoat’s Snowglobe
This is a lovely,
festive alternative to
chucking yet another
jar into the recycling
bin. Why not create
an atmospheric,
wintry scene of your
own using model
railway figures and
miniature Christmas
trees?
You will need
Clean, empty jars
White plasticine
Model railway people
and trees
White glitter
Epoxy glue
Water
Glycerin
Method
Build up a snowy
hill out of white
plasticine in the
centre of your jar lid
so you can see your
figures over the rim
of the jar. Choose
the positions of your
figures and Christmas
trees, then glue them
into place.
Carefully glue
your snowy hill to
the inside of the
lid, ensuring that it
won’t stop the lid
from screwing back
on. Leave to dry for
around 10 minutes.
Fill your jar with
water, add a teaspoon
of glitter, and two
drops of glycerin
to stop the glitter
settling too quickly.
Stir until the glitter is
mixed with the water
and not too lumpy.
Very carefully screw
your lid firmly back
on to your jar.
Once the lid is
secure, turn the
snowglobe upside
down, shake gently
and watch as the
snow falls.
3 GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG3
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