Baubles are great. I love them. When Seeg and I were in the Netherlands last year for Sinterklaas with his family (and so he could have a tooth out - not the best trip ever) we went into a shop and I happened to see a big square box filled with 2cm multi-coloured baubles. I loved them. But, we couldn't buy them because there was no guarantee that they'd survive the trip back to England. I was very regretful so that evening I hopped on my little laptop I'd brought with me so that I could continue my writing while we were away (I managed one and a half lines that week) and just had a look to see if I could find anything similar online. I really wasn't expecting much but I found more or less the exact same item from Paperchase. I never found it anywhere else. So I ended up looking through their website to see if there was anything else I could find, and I had a field day. I placed an order with them and it was there waiting for me when we got back to Bristol. I ended up buying the bix square box of 100 baubles that I'd seen in the shop in Arnhem, and I also bought two smaller boxes of 25 of the same sized baubles in specific colour schemes, some glittery deer and other things that I really can't remember now. I loved shopping on there so much that I decided I'd do the same this year, and I was really looking forward to it!
This year, they had similar things to last year - glittery stags and deer were still about, but in different colours this time, and there were more boxes of 100 and 25 baubles. There is plenty of other stuff, of course, but...I couldn't help buying another box of 100 and two more boxes of 25. I have no idea why, it's not like I can hang them all up! Though I can try!! To be honest, I think it's the arrangement and packaging that really draws me in, and the size of the baubles. I see so many round bits of colour at Christmas and I just get excited. It can't be helped.
My point is, baubles are great. And because I have so many (I bought a rather useless box of about 25 large baubles in Hobby Craft the other day because they were £5 and were red and white) baubles that I just can't do anything with, I thought I'd try to find other decorational uses for them besides hanging them on the tree. So far I've shown you how to make bauble place card holders which can still be reverted back to ordinary baubles, and now I'm going to make some suggestions for centre pieces. Sadly I can't photograph them in any fancy setting so you'll just have to use your imagination. So I apologise in advance for the not-so-scene-setting pictures.
I don't know about you, but I have a couple of nice glass things around the house, and my favourite is my lemonade pitcher. I bought it in the summer and it's sat dormant for a few months now and is collecting dust, so I decided that that could be an interesting subject for a centre piece if filled with baubles. Goldfish bowls without goldfish would work nicely, too, as would nicely shaped glass vases.
LED lights don't get hot. If you have battery-powered LED lights you can add them to the arrangement, or if you're willing to drill a hole in the glass you could have mains operated lights neatly included.
Get some thin crafting wire, loop it through the loop on top of the baubles and pierce it into a polystyrene ball/half-sphere until it's totall covered and place it ontop of a cakestand.
Get some wine glasses, fill them with small baubles, place something like a coaster on top of the opening and turn it upside down. Once the glass is upside down on the table, slide the coaster away. The baubles should still be well and truly in the glass, and the glass now upside down. Get a nice thick, tall candle and set it on top of the bottom of the glass like a pedestal. Set it alight and tip it a bit so that the melted wax drips onto the glass, then press the candle into it. The wax dries and hardens fast so you'll want a few drops, not just one, and it'll help to fix the candle in place so it's not as likely to fall over when lit at dinner. Alternatively, you could simply set a tealight on the bottom of the glass instead and find a way to fix it down.
If you're willing to sacrifice a platter/plate cover and some baubles, you could hot glue some baubles over the lid that would cover a plate or platter once it's on the table to keep the food warm and covered. It would add a gorgeous splash of colour over the Christmas turkey.
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