Christmas is almost upon us and until then, we have a number of name days to celebrate as well!  What could be lovelier than giving our loved ones handmade gifts made from the heart!

Felt Christmas Tree

Why not gift your loved one a Christmas decoration – like this popular felt Fir Christmas tree for example!

Materials: (For a tree measuring 10 x 8 m.)

Green Felt - width 30 cm, height 25 cm. (For two pieces)

Thick green thread (a lighter shade of green than the felt)

A variety of coloured buttons

Cotton wool

Pencil, wax paper, scissors.

How to make it:

Draw a fir tree on a piece of parchment paper (height 12 cm, with edges not exceeding 10 cm). Use this as a stencil to cut your green felt into 2 identical fir tree pieces.  Next, sew the buttons onto one piece of felt so that they resemble Christmas ornaments. Then stitch the two sides of felt together using a needle and thread, as shown in the picture.  Before stitching it up entirely, push through your cotton wool to give the tree enough volume to resemble a cushion.  Then finish stitching the tree.  Sew on a piece of thread on the top of the tree so that it can be hung as Christmas ornament

Note: You can do the same for a star using yellow felt and tan coloured thread, or even a snowflake and red thread!

Mason (or Cookie) Jar filled with festive sweetness!

A gorgeous handmade gift filled with Christmas sweets!

Materials:

One large mason or cookie jar with a see-through glass or red lid

Red ribbon

Shortbread or any other Christmas sweet or biscuit treat

Optional:

Some white paint

Fine tipped paintbrush

Miniature Christmas decorations, e.g. Christmas tree, snowman, reindeer, etc

How to make it:

Place the shortbread or any other Christmas sweet / biscuit at the bottom of the jar.  Close the jar and tie a piece of red ribbon around the jar. Voila! 

Optionally, to make it more festive, before closing the jar, place miniature your Christmas decorations on top of the sweets. Finally, paint small white dots that resemble falling snow on your jar.  Allow to dry.  Your snow globe is ready!

Homemade Exfoliating rub

There is no-one who doesn’t appreciate beauty products as a gift! Especially when it’s homemade. So let's make an exfoliating cream to gift to our loved ones. They will so appreciate it!

Materials:

1 ½ cup coarse sea salt

4 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of 2 lemons or 1 large

Zest of 1 lemon

2 sprigs of rosemary

Transparent jar with glass lid

Ribbon (any colour of your choice)

How to make it:

In a large bowl, add the salt, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix well. Add the olive oil and stir. Finely chop the rosemary, stir into the mixture and then place the mix into your jar.  Seal it with a lid and tie a ribbon around it. Done!

This scrub will do wonders to your body. Lemon is rich in vitamin C which will lighten any dark skins on your skin.  The oil helps to combat diseases such as dermatitis and eczema and enhances skin elasticity. Finally, rosemary aids in the treatment of skin diseases, and alleviate dry skin.

By the end of the year celebrate:

November 21: Despina, Virginia, Mary,

November 22: Valerius, Cecilia, Philemon

November 25th: Catherine

November 26: Stergios, Stelios, Stella

November 29: Phaedra

November 30: Andrew

December 1: Virtue

December 2: Merope, Solomon, Solon

December 4: Varvara, Serafim

December 5: Diogenes, Savas

December 6: Nick, Nicolas, Niki, Nikoleta, Nikolina

December 9: Anna

December 11: Adamos, Diamantis, Danae, Abraham, Eve, Isaac, Rebekah

December 12: Spyridon, Spyros,

December 13: Stratos, Lucia, Luke

December 15: Eleftherios, Eleftherios, Eleftheria, Anthi, Sylvia

December 16: Modesto

December 17: Dionysis

December 21: Themistocles, Themis, Themis

December 24: Evgenia

December 25: Christos, Chrysa, Emmanuela, Emmanuel, Panayiotis

December 26: Joseph

December 27: Stephen

December 29: Benjamin

December 31: Melani