Do you like creating things yourself? At Qronfla there are many talented people that create floral arrangements and wreaths that leave me speechless, and that’s rare to happen. If you are like me and love crafting and creating original items this blog is for you. I love doing my own bows and painting baubles with the kids, it makes the Christmas season more personal and meaningful. Here are two Christmas crafts you might know already but, always good to refresh our minds.
An Easy and Traditional craft – Vetches
Grade 3 kids doing Vetches at school
Growing Vetches might not be a craft but, the way we use them definitely is. Many Maltese people decorate using Vetches (Gulbiena); a stringy, noodle-like shoots of a particular seed. I remember my Grandmother showing me how to do it and now children do it at school like in this situation at “Our Lady Immaculate School”. To get the right colour you place the seeds in a container with some water and damp newspapers or cottonwool, in a dark cupboard. Doing this the plant grows silvery white an it lasts longer. Traditionally you would place it in the cupboard on the first of December and remains unseen till the 20th. At this time it would be ready to use as a decoration around the holy crib (il-presepju) and baby Jesus.
Another Christmas Craft
If you are not into Maltese traditions but would still like to try making your own craft ingredient, why not dry some citrus fruit and create a wreath or chain with cinnamon sticks, pine cones and other winter wonders? Below find the method to dry your citrus fruit. At Qronfla you will find fresh leaves to craft this wonderful modern twist of a wreath but we can also find many other items for you to use in your creations.
How to dry Oranges and Lemons for your crafts:
1. Heat the oven to 180C
2. Cut the oranges and other citrus fruit up in thin sliced circles
3. Place on a grid tray for 4 – 6 hours, flipping them every hour or so (this can also be done during the night on a lower heat)
4. Leave the fruit dry and even if they are still a bit sticky they will dry out with the air.
The best time to make them into your Christmas crafts is actually a day or 2 after drying in the oven because the centres might still be a bit wet after they come out. Giving them a day or 2 to further dry out on a countertop really makes sure they’re nice and completely dry, but depending on how thinly you sliced your oranges, they might be ready to go right out of the oven and into your crafts.
Natural decorations along with a festive bow and some candles created by our designers at the Christmas Shop
If you find any difficulty please contact us and we will get back to you. For more decorating information see our previous blog. If you are short on ideas on how to decorate for Christmas come visit us at Qronfla Christmas Shop, we are open all day, every day till Christmas. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram so that you can be up to date with what we have to offer and also any giveaways that might be going on.
