Each of these designs was made from about half a cheap and surplus-to-requirements paperback.The covers were removed from the paperback and then the book split into two pieces down the spine. It is important to have a book that that has been properly glued, you don't want loose pages. For the yule log each page was folded along its vertical axis twice, with the page edge and then the first fold ending up next to the spine. Half a book will provide a semi-circular log - if you want an entirely round one, use at least 240 pages (and you may get away with only one vertical fold). Once folded the 'log' is stuck to a piece of card using double sided tape and then decorated. The holly leaves and robin are little wooden tree ornaments, and the 'berries' are mini pompoms. You could make your own from modelling clay or carboard, knit yourself a robin, raid your box of tree decorations (as I have done) or decorate with real holly and ivy. A glue gun provided the adhesive needed.
The Christmas tree used the other half of the book, with each page having three folds. The first fold takes the top right hand corner of the facing page to the spine to provide a right angled fold. (I've demonstrated the folds in the photo using a single page removed from the book -- but if you want to make the tree all the pages should be folded while still attached to the spine).For the the second fold, take the right hand edge of the triangle and fold again to the spine. Finally make a small fold in the piece of the page that sticks below the edge of the book so that the 'tree' will be able to stand level. (This odd page had a piece cut out of the bottom for some unknown reason.) Once all the pages are folded, add a piece of card to give it a flat back and then decorate the tree. I used some glitzy Christmas parcel string and some of the wooden stars I had left over from last year's advent calendar. Thank you Jennifer Carruthers, I enjoyed learning about this craft!
The downside of spending a couple of hours out of the house however, was that I did miss a delivery - and this time it was unexpected. I returned home to find a bag on my door mat, with a tupperware container of homemade soup, a loaf of wholemeal bread and a packet of Early Grey tea bags. My good friend Jill (who worked with me for ten years, and survived, relatively unscathed) had made a mercy trip from Edinburgh with some goodies to help me through the last few days of my challenge. In addition to two avocado from Steph and the eggs from my stint as chicken feeder, I've certainly been well cared-for this week. In keeping with the spirit of the challenge though, I think I should count this largesse as using up the 'lives' I allowed myself at the beginning of the month. Of course I could have frozen the soup and the bread until after the end of the challenge, but if you had smelled the aroma wafting from inside that bag, you'd have done exactly as I did and had a bowlful and two slices of bread immediately. Not having to do any cooking added to my sense of this being a very lazy Saturday and Sunday!
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