GARDEN BAUBLES & GARLAND

These baubles are all really simple to make and look wonderful hanging from a mantelpiece or shelf

MATERIALS

(from left to right) Bauble 1 Moss and old man’s beard: pliers, chicken and stub wire, ribbon Bauble 2 Nigella seed heads (360 x 1.2mm): stub wire, jar, ribbon Bauble 3 Crab apple and rosemary (360 x 1.2mm): stub wire, jar, awl or pair of compasses, ribbon Garland Nigella seed heads: bodkin or tapestry needle, ribbon

TO MAKE

Bauble 1

Cut chicken wire to 12 x 20cm and form a cylinder. Crush the top and bottom inwards to form a ball of around 8cm diameter

Using pliers, pull out and twist a loop for a ribbon. Cover with damp moss. Secure with florist’s stub wire bent like hair pins

Attach the stems of the old man’s beard into the moss with wire Bauble 2

Take two 36cm pieces of stub wire and wrap them around a jar to form two rings. Thread the nigella onto one, then thread the second ring through the bottom seed head at 90 degrees

Add seed heads either side of the fixed bottom one and twist the ends of the wire together to make a loop for the ribbon Bauble 3

Make as Bauble 2 but thread with alternating crab apples and rosemary, having first pierced them with an awl Garland

Thread the ribbon through a needle. Put a small hole in the centre of each seed head, then pass the threaded needle through

Arrange them along the length of the ribbon. If they slip, loop the ribbon around each seed head