Want to do a little something different for your Christmas dinner? I've not got a big budget to spend on Christmas this year, and it feels a bit mean to give a small inexpensive present. But one way to make the gift special is to turn it into a home made cracker. That's what I've decided to do. Partly to be able to give all my guests a little something, but also because this year we have a new dining table. So I've decided to dress my dinner table for a change. It is possible I've been spending a bit too much time on Kirstie Alsopp's website though.

It also occurred to me that home made crackers would make a brilliant gift for my son to give to his teachers. I really must remember that for next year!

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Or, about as close as you might be able to get to making your own porcelain! But this stuff is a lot hardier, as I found out when I dropped my son's precious ornament on our (not-carpeted) floor. Making this stuff is a lot harder than making salt dough, and I probably shouldn't have tried it as a novice 'crafty mum'. But it is also one of those crafts that, the more you do it, the better you'll get.

Just to fill you in a little bit, my son has a physical problem that makes it very hard for him to do anything with his fingers. He's always avoided doing things like colouring in or painting. It is something that can be easy to miss because you think, well my child's not artistic, or doesn't have an interest in art. But when they can't write either it becomes more of a concern. I'm not at all a crafty person, in fact I am pretty useless at it. But as part of my son's therapy, we have started to do crafts at home. So hopefully, you'll get to learn from my mistakes!

What I've discovered is that far from having no artistic interest, he absolutely loves it. The problem was that before, he just couldn't do it. Now he can and it makes a huge difference! In fact I'm beginning to wonder just where he gets his eye for design from as it is remarkably well co-ordinated and neither of his parents have an eye for colour.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about having a Crafty Christmas. In there I came across a site by Earthenwitch, and I loved the cornflour clay ornaments she made. I used her recipe but unfortunately she hadn't said how to put the dough together. No matter, I figured you just mixed it up right? No, not right. Not at all. The result was a horror of a bizarre compound that hardened almost straight away but turned into a liquid as soon as came into contact with the air. So what you got was a hard-as-wood bit underneath and gloopy stuff on top!Actually, as far as a science lesson goes, this was a pretty good one. You can see that first attempt pictured on the right!

If you're going to have a go at making cornflour clay, I would recommend following this recipe here. One change I might try next time though is that Earthenwitch used essential oils in her recipe. This stuff has a rather unpleasant odour when it is cooking.

After our first attempt, I waited until the boy had gone to bed to try again. This isn't really the sort of dough that you can make with a small child. He had asked for a diamond so that's what I made him.

On Sunday he decided he wanted it to glitter like an icicle. So we got the PVA glue out, and the glitter. I was suprised at the colours he mixed together. A little bit of blues and purples in there along with the silver actually did make it look more like an icicle than just silver!

I have to say that this was one of the scarier crafts I've tried. I didn't quite get the same polished white porcelain effect that Earthenwitch did, but I think I had my oven set at too high a temperature. As suggested in the recipe, the rest of the mixture I made is stored in an air tight container so I think we'll have another go this weekend. He wants to make a Christmas star next!

I am credit crunching this Christmas. It is the new 'in' thing. Co-ordinated decorations bought ensemble from department stores' Christmas shops are sooooo last year. Home-made is the hot look for this year. Which is just fabulous news because frankly, that's about all I can afford!

In fact it was what I was planning anyway. Having kids is the perfect excuse for covering your home in stuff that's been cut up with scissors and pasted together with PVA glue. It is cheap, it helps occupy the kids during the build up to Christmas day itself and this year at least, it'll mean you're keeping up with the latest trend! Here's a little secret for you though and PLEASE keep it to yourselves. I love making all this tat but honestly I am so useless the end result looks like a child made it. So I can just pretend that the child did make it!

Inspiration

As we get closer to Christmas, keep an eye out in magazines and newspaper supplements/lifestyle pages. They'll be full of ideas for decorating, and as I've mentioned, the homemade look is in this year. The internet is of course full of fabby ideas.

"I make paper chains every year out of Christmas wrapping paper. I got the idea from a magazine, although it is a simple enough idea," Audrey, mum to four boys, told me. It is also her secret indulgence. "What I like to do is to splurge on a roll of really expensive wrapping paper from a posh shop. By expensive I mean, say, £5 for a roll. It is such gorgeous stuff and I'm never going to spend that much on wrapping up presents. But for a single roll it is OK, it makes wonderful paper chains, and you get to enjoy the lovely patterns for a lot longer than you would if you'd just used it for wrapping a pressie!"

Even though we're only half way through November, the time to start planning is now. You can look out for cheap deals on all the stuff you'll need like card, glitter, sparkly bits, paints, fake snow etc. I'm not covering homemade Chisrhristmas cards here as really there's not a lot to say! You get some card and then let your child's imagination roam free. It is surprising what they come up with. However, depending on how many cards you want to make for family and friends, it is a good idea to get the little ones started now. I know my son has the attention span to do about one card at a time!

Gift Idea

Here's one for gift giving though, that's really lovely, easy to do and inexpensive. Something for the grandparents maybe, or god parent. Or you could help your children do for the other parent! I can't claim any ownership of this idea, it all belongs to PlayPennies mum Ellie. Pictured is a plaster  cast of my son's hand that we made in her back garden. The idea is actually really simple.

Before you start, get some strips of firm but flexible cardboard. Cut a notch at each end and slot it together, so that it forms a circle. Next, choose a piece of ground in the garden that's been dug up, and is suitably wet but not too soggy. Get each child to press their hand into it firmly. Tag each hand with the child's name or write it on the cardboard circles.

The cardboard mould is placed around the handprint in the mud. Now pour in the plaster mix. Stick a ring in the back so you can hang it later, and let it dry.

When we got them out of the mud, they were, well, muddy! Very very muddy with a lot of it stuck in the plaster itself. A good scrub removed most of it. I used plaster paints from a set my son was given to let him decorate. In hindsight though, I think a nice bit of primer and some gloss paints would be better. We might still do that - have a few months to go!

Decorations

"Cranberries and popcorn" recommends PlayPennies mum of one  Sarah. "The perfect decoration for adding Victoriana to your home. Just need a thick, large needle and thread it through the popcorn and cranberries." But wouldn't the cranberries go a bit, well, mouldy? "Not at all" says Sarah. "They dry on the line. Probably wouldn't want to do it too far in advance of Christmas though."

Then there's the tree decorations. Salt dough has, apparantly, been around since the time of the Egyptians. It's kind of like play dough in the way it can be moulded. Then you bake it, and you've something hard enough to be painted and kept for years. I found this site on making dough ornaments for kids. Which is similar to the recipe I found on EarthWitch's website here. Plus she has what looks like a really fabulous recipe for making shiny sparkly decorations using cornflour, as pictured here. I think I 'll definitely be giving that one a try. Will update you on how it turns out! Don't expect any artistic masterpieces from me, although my son is showing a surprisngly good eye for design in the last few projects we've done!

The other really Christmassy things you can make for yourself are a wreath for the door and an Advent candle wreath. Using far safer fake candles or tealights, naturally. But we've run out of room here, so if it isn't too much craft for one month I'll take a look at that next week.

Untill then, what else can I make in the way of Christmas decorations/interior design? You tell me. This is the first year I've seriously got into this so please, any help you can give on the cheapest ways to make your house as festive as possible are more than welcome!