Rochdale business Craft Delights is kick starting the Countdown to Christmas on Thursday 4 October from 7pm – 9pm with a Christmas Craft Evening at the Urban Gallery, Meadowcroft Mill, Bury Road, Bamford, UK.

There will be craft materials on sale for card makers and scrapbookers as well as ceramic crafts to decorate and personalise as gifts.  There will be plenty of craft project ideas for stocking fillers and for children and for the not as creative, ready made gifts and cards.  All are welcome, entry is free and there will be refreshments. 

Anyone wanting to have a go at making their own cards for the first time is also encouraged to come along and will be sure of a warm welcome with plenty of tips of how to get started.

Craft Delights, run by Castleton based Ruth Percy, will also be celebrating its first birthday after a year of successful trading.  Ruth decided to set the business up after working in marketing for ten years.  She has a permanent display at the Urban Gallery and also sells on the internet.  As well as the business, she still works part-time for Sure Start in Rochdale. 

Ms Percy said: “On the day of the fair, it will be only 79 days to Christmas.  Card makers usually start around now to make enough cards for Christmas, so we are offering the opportunity to stock up on this year’s festive craft delights!  Christmas is my favourite time of the year, so I am looking forward to kick starting the season early with follow crafters.”

Christmas Season is over. You enjoyed some great time having guests at home. However, it may be possible that you encountered some slight problems, such as one of your guests or their child, accidentally dropped your fave snow globe and it seems that it is broken. Is it possible to repair a cracked snow globe you may ask.

Well, a broken snow globe is not easy to mend, but if you have an antique or sentimentally valuable piece, it may be worthwhile to enlist the help of a professional who can fix it for you. A snow globe usually consists of figurines encapsulated in a glass or plastic sphere. This globe is filled with a mixture of distilled water and glycerin, which helps the glittery “snow” float, and attached to a base.

Since the late 19th century, when snow globes were first produced, the snow has been made of ground rice, bone, ceramic or porcelain, and the figures fashioned from bisque, stone or metal. These days, the snow is more likely to be composed of granular plastic pieces, which are textured to aid buoyancy, simple plastic glitter is used in inexpensive models. The majority of today’s figures are also plastic.

Most modern glass globes are as thin as eggshells and will probably shatter if dropped, says a snow-globe repair specialist. Vintage globes have slightly thicker glass and aren’t quite as fragile.

For about $15 to $50, professionals, search online to find one, can replace a glass globe, add new snow, refill liquid that has evaporated or become cloudy, and so on. However, have in mind that plastic globes cannot usually be repaired. More extensive fixes, such as repairing chipped figures, will be pricier.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been naughty or nice, just take this quiz and check it twice.

1. What is Santa Claus’ name in Italy?
 A. Pere Noel
 B. Kanakaloka
 C. Babbo Natale
 D. Ded Moroz

2. Which holiday is known as the Festival of Lights?
 A. Christmas
 B. Winter solstice
 C. St. Lucia Day
 D. Hanukkah

3. Jim sold his watch so that he could buy Della what in “The Gift of the Magi?”
 A. Set of combs
 B. Diamond ring
 C. Earrings
 D. Puppy

4. In what year was Kwanzaa founded?
 A. 1965
 B. 1966
 C. 1975
 D. 1976

5. Who sings “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer?”
 A. Elmo & Patsy
 B. Adam Sandler
 C. Al Yankovic
 D. Elvis

6. What is the name of The Grinch’s dog?
 A. Spot
 B. Max
 C. Crunch
 D. Fluffy

7. Why can’t Ralphie have a Red Ryder BB gun in “A Christmas Story?”
 A. He’ll shoot his eye out.
 B. Randy would be jealous.
 C. It’s too expensive.
 D. He’s getting a decoder ring instead.

8. In “Christmas Vacation,” what does Clark receive in place of his Christmas bonus?
 A. A promotion
 B. An invitation to the holiday party
 C. A knitted sweater
 D. Enrollment in the “Jelly of the Month” club

9. Who directed “Home for the Holidays?”
 A. John Hughes
 B. Holly Hunter
 C. Jodie Foster
 D. Ron Howard

10. What year were electric tree lights introduced as an alternative to candles?
 A. 1880
 B. 1881
 C. 1882
 D. 1883

11. What do The Chipmunks want for Christmas?
 A. Red Ryder BB gun
 B. Recording contract
 C. Two front teeth
 D. Lots of nuts

12. Which character does Kevin Pollack play in “The Santa Clause 2?”
 A. Santa Claus
 B. Father Time
 C. Tooth Fairy
 D. Cupid

13. Who wrote “The Nutcracker?”
 A. E.T.A. Hoffmann
 B. J.R.R. Tolkein
 C. Maurice Sendak
 D. A.A. Milne

14. In what department store did David Sedaris work as an elf in “SantaLand Diaries?”
 A. Bloomingdale’s
 B. Alexander’s
 C. Lord & Taylor
 D. Macy’s

15. According to Dutch tradition, how does Sinterklaas deliver gifts?
 A. He delivers by horse-drawn carriage.
 B. He rides in a sleigh and flies to all the houses.
 C. He sends out a UPS truck on Christmas Eve.
 D. He travels by ship on Dec. 6th.

16. How many ghosts are there in “A Christmas Carol?”
 A. 1
 B. 2
 C. 3
 D. 4

17. Which of the following is not a principle of Kwanzaa?
 A. Unity
 B. Creativity
 C. Responsibility
 D. Honesty

18. Which reindeer is not mentioned in the poem “The Night Before Christmas?”
 A. Cupid
 B. Rudolph
 C. Vixen
 D. Blitzen

19. For how many characters does Adam Sandler provide the voice in “8 Crazy Nights?”
 A. 0
 B. 2
 C. 3
 D. 4

20. Instead of putting out cookies and milk for Santa, what do German children do?
 A. Leave out shoes to be filled with candy
 B. Leave a present under the tree for Santa
 C. Put out carrots for the reindeers
 D. Write a thank you note to Santa for the gifts

An idea for the holidays > a cookie sheet Advent calendar

To make it, you will need these materials >
Large cookie sheet
1 12-by-12 inch sheet of patterned paper
1 12-by-12 inch sheet of green textured paper
1 8-1/2 by 11-1/2 inch sheet of solid colored card stock
Ribbon
Drill with 1/4-inch bit
Scissors
White glue
3/4-inch circular magnets
Hot glue gun
Hot glue stick
24 mini Christmas ornaments

Directions >
1. Drill two holes centered in the top edge of the cookie sheet.
2. Trim the patterned paper to the width of the cookie sheet. Glue the piece to the back side (bottom) of the cookie sheet. It should cover approximately two-thirds of the cookie sheet.
3. Draw or use your computer to create an eight-by-three grid table. The finished sized of the table should be approximately 4-1/2 by 10 inches. The boxes in the table should be numbered from 1 through 24.
4. Glue the table directly under the patterned paper on the cookie sheet.
5. Cover the seam where the two papers meet with a length of ribbon.
6. Draw a tree pattern measuring 12 inches tall and 8 inches at its widest point. Once satisfied with the shape, transfer the pattern to the green textured paper and cut out.
7. Glue the tree shape to the cookie sheet. Add a yellow star shape on top.
8. Glue each mini ornament (available at local craft stores) to a 3/4-inch round magnet with your hot glue gun.
9. Cut a 10-inch length of ribbon. Thread it through the two holes at the top of the cookie sheet. Make a small bow, allowing a loop of ribbon to remain in the back of cookie sheet to act as a hanger.
10. Place each magnetized ornament on a numbered square. Take one ornament from the square each day and place it on the tree.

The faux route >
Some artificial wreaths are still indescribably cheap looking, but in general the makers of faux wreaths have raised the standard in the past three years.
The faux offerings include a spruce wreath that has subtle differences in tones of green and a white pine wreath that includes the brown needles one associates with pines at this time of year.
A fresh, conditioned wreath may remain that way for two to three weeks indoors; its decline is hastened in hot, dry rooms and near fireplaces or heating registers and by a lack of sealant. If you want a fresh wreath for a party in early December, consider replacing it near Christmas with another you have purchased early and kept cool.
You can find wreath frames that will keep live greens watered, but generally those are not found in ready-made wreaths. Haynie says one of the most effective forms is a ring of Oasis foam that is moistened and then wrapped.
It is also worth noting that a fresh wreath sandwiched between a door and a glazed storm door will cook in its own greenhouse. Put it on the outer door or to the side.

On wreaths >
A wreath loses its cheer once the needles curl and the berries start to fall. Keep it fresh with these steps:
• Cut greenery now before it dries in the cold December winds. Or buy it early before it dries out on store shelves. Hose the greens well and keep them in plastic trash bags in a cold room until needed. The day before use, re-cut the stems and soak for several hours in warm water.
• Soak a ready-made wreath and store it in a plastic bag, as with fresh greens, until time to decorate and hang. Soak and allow to drain before use.
• Deciduous holly (sometimes called ilex) berries hold up well, especially if the stems are stored in water before use. American holly soon dries and drops its berries unless treated: Remove the leaves and spray the berries with a florist’s glaze. Allow to dry and repeat three times.
• Dried or fresh, herbs add fragrance and natural beauty to wreaths. Buy young fresh herbs in small pots, shake off much but not all of the soil, place the root ball in a small sandwich bag secured with a rubber band, and work the plant into the wreath in a way that hides the bag. Lavender, rosemary, sage and tarragon are all good candidates for this. Check their root balls weekly and add more water to the bag if needed.

Wreaths and, for do-it-yourselfers, the makings of wreaths are everywhere.

Fancy greens and embellishments arrived at garden centers and florists, and even at mass merchandisers. Christmas tree lots, where wreath greens are a thriving sideline, are setting up, and soon every supermarket in the land will offer greenery of some stripe.
For some, late November is too soon to hang the fragrant and abundant boughs so evocative of the Christmas Season. But even for those purists, now is the time to at least gather the greenery.

Concerning Christmas trees, the experts offer this advice: Buy one now, make a fresh cut when you get it home and place it in a large container of water in a cool area. Then bring it in a couple of weeks later. If you wait until mid-December to buy it, that same tree will have been in a cold, windy lot, out of water and getting drier by the day.

The same counsel goes for wreath greens. Cut greens can be re-cut and kept in pails of water for a couple of weeks. Although it is impractical to re-cut the stems of ready-made wreaths, soaking the wreaths in water and keeping them in a cool area until ready for use will extend their life as well.

The wreath world falls into two camps. One of them sees the crafting of wreaths as a creative release from the humdrum of daily life, a way to embrace the holiday spirit. The other group sees it as just one more burden of perfection in a harried existence.

The wreath rebels have a couple of choices (three if you include a boycott): Get an artificial wreath (from the tacky at $3.99 to the marvelous at $399) or buy a simple fresh wreath and add the finishing touches yourself.

To a basic wreath of white pine, boxwood or yew, Don Haynie, an herbalist and  florist  expert, suggests adding dried and fresh herbs and some nandina berries. Or adding Spanish moss, sheet moss or lichen called reindeer moss, with some rose hips “and even some pieces of curly willow.”

To gild the wreath, he suggests taking some dried yellow yarrow, a summer perennial, and combining it with pine cones and oak leaves that have been pressed and lightly sprayed with gold paint.

However, you can personalize a wreath any way you want. Feel free to forage from your own yard or, with permission, a neighbor’s.

What’s more, no one is stopping you from adding artificial material to the mix. In fact it might be prudent, because live fruit and berries can be notoriously difficult to keep from falling, especially if the wreath is displayed indoors. But do pick good fakes; there is a distinct difference in the look between cheap “berries” and more expensive ones.

How to do embossing > Use store-bought cards, or make your own from card stock.

1. Press a rubber stamp onto an embossing pad. Position the stamp over the card, and apply firm, even pressure to transfer the design. Clean the stamp with a paper towel, then a stamp-cleaning pad.

2. Place the card on a paper plate, then sprinkle embossing powder over the stamped design. Tap the card to remove excess powder, and reapply as needed to coat design. If there is stray powder on the card, very gently spray compressed air from a can fitted with an extension wand.

3. Working in sections, hold a heat gun 2 inches from the design and move the nozzle in a circular motion. The powder-covered areas will melt, creating a glossy finish. Continue until the entire design has melted.

Gently wave the card 3 or 4 times to set the design. If the paper begins to curl, heat the back of the card, and fan it again. Then place the card under a heavy book for 5 to 10 minutes (this will not smudge the design).

Photo cards > You can make a border using a frame-shaped stamp or “photo corners” using a triangular stamp.

1. Emboss your design on a folded card by following the instructions above.

2. Using a utility knife, cut an opening into the card that is slightly smaller than the photograph.

3. Center photo over a piece of card stock (cut to the size of the card) and secure with double-sided tape.

4. Tape the card stock and photo to the inside of the frame.

Sparkling cards > Landscapes and architecture are ideal subjects for cards, and they look great with a dusting of glitter. Many computer programs offer antiquing functions that “age” a photo in seconds. 

1. Working in sections, use a fine-tip brush to apply white glue to an area of the card. If there is snow in your picture, you might glitter those areas. If not, you could glitter spots where snow might fall, such as tree branches.

2. Place on a paper plate and sprinkle with glitter. Shake to remove excess glitter. Let dry.

Making a deckle edge > This gives paper a charming, handmade look.

1. Place a sheet of card stock face down on a flat surface. Align a ruler parallel to one side, about an inch in.

2. Pressing firmly on the ruler, rip the edge of the paper along the length of the ruler. Repeat on the remaining three sides to create desired size.