♬♫ Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree! ♬♫

 

♬♫ Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree! Why are your branches so bushy? ♬♫

♬♫ Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree! How can you be more customisable? ♬♫

We, the Twisted Sheep family, have been having fun with Christmas trees.  We have designed a flat motif tree that is available in 6 different sizes. 

The tree itself is cut from 6mm sustainable poplar wood.  The poplar has a smooth, pale, soft wood appearance which makes it ideal for decorating so this blog is about some ideas that we have practised to show what we mean.

Starting simply, paint will transform the trees into colourful gems to hang at a window.   I had some old tins of gold and green spray paints so in a few moments I had coloured these.Our smallest trees come in a set of 5. 

These are the perfect size to use as tree decorations in themselves.  We coloured ours with felt tip pens, which is quick and effective.  I also cut a window into a piece of card - perfect for a greetings card with a little keepsake.  This idea is going to be our go to for teachers this year.

 

Next I used some wood stain on some star shapes cut from the spaces on the sheets of wood we use. I attached the stars to the tree with a glue gun but any water based glue such as PVA would work as well – it just needs the drying time.  Our larger trees can be sent with some of these small shapes or can be decorated with a string of battery operated LED lights for some extra twinkle.

Tree decoration is a family activity and our trees are no different.  Our little girl decorated this tree with watercolour pencils, buttons and a little bit of glitter.  She turned ribbon into garlands for a really festive feel.

Next, we got out the decoupage glue.  While this is a little more fiddly and time-consuming, the results are really stunning.  We both used paper that was left over from another project but I topped mine with degradable glitter while my daughter used Christmas wrapping paper to decorate her star.  The larger the tree, the easier the decoupage is to weave it into the branches and spaces.  Why not combine several of the ideas we thought of, or come up with your own from materials in your houses.

You can purchase a selection of our wooden Christmas trees to decorate on the Twisted Sheep website here. 

Christmas Centre Piece

 

Today I'd like to share these photos taken by one of our customers who requested personalised Christmas table centre pieces. Please contact us if your would like one for your Christmas table. They come in two sizes and can have any message or decoration you like on the side.

This is the smaller one that takes a single oasis block on a tray.

This is the larger version that takes two oasis blocks and trays.

Please get in contact with us if you are interested.

Christmas is on the way

We have started publishing our Christmas range with these festive earrings. We hope you like them.

You can purchase them from our site here 

How to block?

 I learned to block using the Techknitting blog. They created an excellent post about it. Essentially, the process is to make the item wet, squeeze but not wring out the water, then shape the garment.

For socks, the best way to shape is by using the blockers. There are then a whole other set of techniques depending on the item and the size and shape you want to achieve.

Using plain water will work well enough but if the yarn is a little scratchy then using wool wash or a conditioner can help soften those fibres too.

We sell a variety of sock blockers on Twisted Sheep. You can see our range here