From festive lanterns to bath salts, here's Stacey Solomon's best Xmas crafts

13 December 2023 , 19:44

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Stacey gets crafty for Christmas (Image: BBC/Optomen TV/Mark Dolman)

When it comes to making Christmas decorations and gifts that won’t break the bank, Stacey Solomon has a sackful of ideas.

Give her a crisp tube, a pot of glue and some leaves and before you know it, she’s whipped up something magical. In her perfectly-crafted BBC1 special tonight, handy Stacey, 34, ropes in friends and family as she makes budget-friendly treats.

They include nutcracker decorations with husband Joe Swash, twinkly lanterns with son Leighton, 11, seasonal bath salts with sister Jemma and candle centrepieces with her 95-year-old crafting queen grandmother.

Awestruck Joe tells her: “You’ve got so much imagination. You can look at a toilet roll and go, ‘that’s not just a toilet roll’.”

Here is a how-to guide on making some of her best festive creations...

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A wreath from a pool noodle (BBC/Optomen TV/Mark Dolman)

Christmas Pudding Wreath

Essential equipment:

A swimming pool noodle or similar

Gaffer tape

Pins

Brown ribbon or fabric

Cream or white ribbon or fabric

Sequins

Clear PVA glue

3 medium sized red baubles

Green ribbon (wired is great) for the bow

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1. Take your swimming pool noodle and bend it to create a circle, then attach the ends together using gaffer tape.
2. Use pins in a neat line across the end of the brown ribbon or fabric to secure it and wrap the whole noodle. Be sure to wrap tightly so you can’t see the bright colour underneath.
3. Once the whole noodle is completely wrapped, tuck the fabric neatly at the end and secure with pins. Repeat the same around half of the pudding with the white or cream ribbon.
4. Glue the sequins on with clear PVA to the brown section of the pudding.
5. Glue together three baubles and secure them to the top of the wreath.
6. Loop the green ribbon around the top of your pudding. This will be used to hang the wreath. Tie a bow and attach it to the top of your wreath.

With sister Jemma (BBC)

Homemade bath salts

Essential equipment:

Clean jars with lids

Essential oils – Frankincense works well for Christmas

Salts – Epsom Salts and Himalayan Pink Salt

Botanicals, like roses (check your plants aren’t toxic)

Air fryer

Dried orange slices

Mixing bowl

Ribbon to decorate

1. Grab some rose petals and dry them in the air fryer for five minutes on the lowest heat. You can keep them whole or crush and sprinkle.
2. Scoop two parts Epsom salt to one part Himalayan salt into a bowl. Put two drops of oil into each mixture.
3. Dry the orange slices and arrange inside some of the jars or add the dried rose petals.
4. Fill the jars with the mixture and tie the outside with ribbon.

Festive lanterns (BBC)

Xmas lanterns

Essential equipment:

Jars with lids

White or cream fabric

Paint, paintbrushes and spray paint

String

Bunch of celery

Small block of wood

Pack of small fairy lights

1. Spray-paint the jar lid with silver or gold. Wrap the string several times around a small block of wood and secure to create a stamp. Paint the strings with black paint.
2. Press your stamp over a long strip of white fabric (to fit the height of the jar) to give a twig/forest effect.
3. Chop a bunch of celery so the stalk ends look like a rose. Paint in pink and use it to stamp flower patterns on the fabric.
4. Use a pencil top rubber (painted with different colours) to add bauble patterns.
5. After about 20 minutes, the fabric should be dry. Put the fabric scene inside the jar.
6. Lace a small string of fairy lights inside and close with the lid.

Stacey and Jemma with Gwen Nash (BBC/Optomen TV/Mark Dolman)

Keepsake memory box

Essential equipment:

Cheap wooden box

Wooden beads

Family photos

PVA glue

Wood glue

Cloth

Baubles and ribbon to decorate

1. Use the wood glue to stick wooden beads around the top edge of your box. Paint the box and beads any colour.
2. Paint your photos with PVA glue mixed with water (5 parts PVA, 1 part water), covering the images.
3. Stick the photos on to the box. Leave for 24 hours.
4. When the photos are dry, soak a cloth with water and gently rub away the paper on the backs of the photos. You will be left with just the images ingrained on the box. Fill the box with pictures, memories, baubles and ribbon.

Candle centrepiece

Essential equipment:

Foraged foliage, plants,

leaves, berries and twigs

Twine / rattan for wreath hoop

PVA Glue

Epsom salts

Foil

Block candles

1. Make a mini wreath, by covering a circle of twine or rattan with leaves, foliage and red berries. Add some sparkle by painting on some spots of glue and sprinkling with salt to look like frost.
2. Place the wreath on some gold foil. Stick it down at the base. Place two or three candles in the centre of the wreath.

Easy to make (BBC)

Hot chocolate melt sticks

Essential equipment:

Milk chocolate

Saucepan and jug

Small wooden spoons

Any shape moulds

Edible decorations like marshmallows and sprinkles

Cellophane bags and ribbons

1. Melt the chocolate in a pan. Pour the chocolate into the moulds. Stand a spoon into each mould as it starts to cool. Sprinkle with decorations.
2. Place in the fridge for two or three hours. Put into individual cellophane bags and tie with ribbon.

Nutcracker decoration

Essential equipment:

1 empty, stackable crisp tube

2 empty, 3-4cm diameter cardboard tubes, the inside of an aluminium foil tube is a good size

White emulsion or spray paint primer

Acrylic paints and paint brushes

Beads and ribbon for decoration

Scissors or craft knife

PVA glue or glue gun

Bottle tops

Tape to mask off the sections (optional)

1. First to prep the crisp tube by painting it completely white with the white emulsion/spray paint primer. Put to one side to dry completely.
2. Cut the inside of two tin foil tubes in half and glue bottle tops onto the two cardboard tubes, these will form the arms.
3. Paint all four tubes with an undercoat of white acrylic paint and put aside to dry completely.
4. Paint your desired colours for the arms and legs.
5. Divide up the crisp tube into three sections. Do this using a pencil, or for a sharper line you can use tape.
6. Make two smaller sections at the lid end for the hat and the face and a section at the bottom for the body.
7. Paint these in your desired colours. Once dry, it’s time to attach the legs and arms to the body using PVA glue or glue gun.
8. Now it’s time to get creative. You can repurpose old necklaces, use the gems and beads to embellish.
9. For the face, glue on a printed face, use a stencil or use coloured circled dot stickers.

Sara Wallis