Easy Christmas tree decorations

These gold Christmas tree decorations have adorned my tree every year since 1992. They were made for me by my sister-in-law Lucy and are my favourite tree ornaments.

They look very easy to make - just pieces of corrugated cardboard covered with crinkled paper - added papier mache style and then sprayed with gold paint. Despite being really simple they are very effective and the crinkly surface helps them catch and reflect the light.

For more handmade Christmas decoration ideas look at the MIAMI website

Clare F

Get a Granny knitting your socks

We love this idea. Check out this website www.netgranny.ch - it is a Swiss venture where about a dozen grannies offer their services as sock knitters. You can choose your Granny from the photos on the site and then it takes them a couple of weeks to knit the socks up.


This is great way for these women to capitalise on their skills to supplement their pensions and keep busy, while enabling even those who aren't lucky enough to have their own knitting granny to get a lovely pair of hand knit socks. My own Granny was an Olympic standard knitter and her piece de resistance was tea cosies. She would have loved this.