Homemade festive decorations

I decided to make a couple of presents this year, little extras for family gifts and easy to post away to uni friends.

It soon became apparent that knitting is not my forte, in fact I'm pretty cack handed. If I make a mistake I have no idea how to correct it and inevitably shout "MUM!" and thrust it in her face. Crocheting, on the other hand, I can manage. There's only one needle/hook so if I drop a stitch it automatically goes back to the previous step. Easy. 

I found the tree pattern through Tea at Weasel's which, along with the star pattern, originally came from The Royal Sisters blog. The wool I used was a bit thinner so my trees and stars look a bit different to the tutorials. 

Despite being a complete crochet novice (well, I crocheted a beanie hat five years ago) I found her tutorials very clear to follow. So basically, if I can manage it anybody can! I really enjoyed these decorations and I've rediscovered a crochet book Mum gave me for Christmas years ago (just after I made the hat) which has sat on the bookshelf unused. Next year, I will use it!

Check out all my festive fabrics, oooooh!

I might string these stars/snowflakes together, although I don't know whether to use thread, ribbon, or wool (maybe even crochet chain them). Any suggestions?

And lastly, do you collect old Christmas and birthday wrapping paper because it's pretty but don't know what to do with them? Yes? Well turn them into Christmas decorations! Cut into festive shapes, laminate (so much fun!), string them up and you'll have your very own colourful, shiny, cheap decorations! We hung ours across the kitchen blind and it casts lovely shadows in the evening.

Has anyone else been making last minute decorations? I really need to stop crocheting and start baking mincemeat pies! Hopefully tomorrow will be a productive day in the kitchen.