Oh, mushroom farmer gnome, how I love you! These wreaths were my non-knitting Christmas craft of the year, and since they’ve been received by friends already I can show them, because there have got to be more gnome/toadstool freaks out there who’ll love this.

And his closeup:

Links:
The gnomes and trees are from A. Bell Emporium. Amanda’s AWESOME.

Vintage spun cotton mushrooms from D. Blümchen & Company. This website has so much good stuff, I freak out a little.

I got my wreaths from Save-On-Crafts.com, but I suspect big craft stores would have them.

The snow is wool, of course!

Somehow, between finishing up the fiber club and Christmas, I have to make my usual hot chocolate mix (This is a new recipe, so no word on how good it is. I did make the vanilla sugar and we can’t stop putting it in our coffee, so I’ll have to make more. UPDATE: The hot chocolate is excellent- kind of Swiss Miss-y in a happy, cheesy way, but with the yummy vanilla flavor added.), marshmallows, and toffee, plus Parmesan Black Pepper biscotti. I’m totally making recipes I haven’t tried before to give away to people I like. I’m brave bonkers like that. It’s comforting to look back and realize I was this mental last year, as well, because I survived!

Fiber Club People:
Your packages will ship right after Christmas.

Everyone:
Happy holidays!!

Wow, that server move was (is) bad. I’m terribly sorry for inconveniencing anyone. Everything, I think, is back to normal, except the shop, where you can look but not actually purchase anything. Good times. It’s being looked at right now, so hopefully that will be resolved soon. For the health of my stomach lining, let’s hope it is.

To keep my mind off my troubles this weekend, I made some terrariums. Odd choice, since caring for plants isn’t my strong suit and I usually end up feeling terrible when I throw their lifeless corpses in the trash, but it was worth a shot. A friend turned me on to these terrariums made by Paula Hayes and that was it. This is all her fault!

*see them all in my Flickr set*

*an inspiring terrarium from Ann Wood*

My containers were all found around the house (my granola and teabags had to find new homes) and the moss was all dug up in the yard and the woods and beaches where Mr. HelloYarn takes Shambles at the weekend. The only purchases were some activated charcoal from the pet store (it’s for aquariums) and a couple of small plants. I’m no expert in this, but I can tell you how I made these. They’re still alive after 3 whole days, so maybe I even did it properly.

Choose plants that like the same treatment. Since I wanted moss, I chose ferns to go with it. Put some stones in the bottom of your container for drainage, then a layer of activated charcoal on top. The charcoal will prevent cooties (scientific term) from growing in the still water. Layer some sphagnum moss to keep the soil from getting down into the rocks and muddying the water, then put the soil on top. Put your plants in, and, if you like, cover the soil with moss. Water thoroughly. If you make a covered terrarium, you won’t have to water it much. If you don’t, you won’t need to water like crazy, since there’s no drainage, but you might have to mist, depending on what plants you chose. My open one has moss and a fern in it, so I’ve been misting it a lot and it’s not dead yet!