If you’ve been anywhere near a shop since Halloween you’ll now that Christmas is now in full swing. It almost felt like a protest action when I came out of the supermarket yesterday with a packet of hot cross buns instead of a box of crackers and a Christmas pudding!
I’m trying so hard this year to be organised for Christmas. I know that I say that every year, but I’ve been annoyed with myself these last few years for not actually managing it, so I’m determined that this year will be different. Especially as I’m hosting the family here this year.
So, the first step of organisation has to be lists and I do love a list! This year I’ve made a start at The Works Christmas Shop. I’ve always loved The Works, but they opened a store here in St Albans over the summer and I struggle to stay out of there when I pop into town.
For me Christmas is all about crafting, well the run up to it is, so, here’s my wish list of the crafty things I’ll be hoping to pick up from there this Christmas.
I’m going to start with paper crafts. Ever since I received my Cricut as a gift I’ve been attracted to lots of patterned paper to turn into various card making or other crafty projects. I’m pretty hopeless at actually making said cards in a timely manner, but I’ve never let that simple fact stop me from buying paper all the same. I like a mix of styles so whilst this Traditional Christmas Paperstack would fulfil most of my card making needs, I’d want to supplement it with the North Pole Designer Paper Pack to have a different style too.
At six years old now I think Little Miss C is just at the age now to be able to try a bit more independent sewing and I would hope that this My Ruby Reindeer Sewing Tin would be just right of her. We could really do with a bit of mum and daughter time right now so I think this would be perfect to work on together one afternoon.
I’m always a fan of being thrifty at Christmas and I’ve experimented before with making my own wrapping paper and found that the best solution is often simple brown or white paper which I then get the kids to decorate with something like this Christmas Stamper Set. A fun activity for them (and one that doesn’t require too much supervision) and wrapping paper sorted too. Win, win!
A day of wearing Christmas jumpers to school has become traditional now, but with kids growing each year (why do they do they?) buying a new jumper each year can get a bit pricey. I think I’d rather invest in a Decorate Your Own (Funny) Christmas Jumper Kit instead this year and let the kids come up with a design themselves.
Decoupage is something that I’ve always been meaning to have a go at, but have never actually got round to. Maybe this make your own Decoupage Reindeer would mean I finally get round to trying it out.
Last Christmas I made a wooden advent calendar for Master C and fell in love with loads of cute wooden embellishments. I have absolutely no project in mind to use them on, but I still feel the need to buy these Merry Christmas Wooden Embellishments. Sometimes that’s just what crafters do, buy things just in case they’re needed for a future project!
Last week we had a WI committee meeting where we were practicing making kitch wreaths in advance of our November meeting. I’d had a bit of a long day and to be honest was absolutely shattered, so whilst the others were being super crafty I just to out my collecting of various Christmas washi tape and decorated the wreath base with that. I was rather pleased with the results and I’m always happy to add more Festive Washi Tape to my collection to be able to make similar again, or any of the other million and one things you can make with washi tape. As far as I’m concerned you can never have enough washi tape, so it’s a good job I found more Festive Washi Tape here and yet more Festive Washi Tape here.
And, if washi tape wasn’t quite right for whatever project you had in mind there’s also some Festive Fabric Tapes which might work for a different make.
And just in case I haven’t got enough festive inspiration I might as well pop this book on my list too: Homemade Christmas and Festive Decorations. Like washi tape, you can’t have too many craft books. Well, I don’t think you can. My husband might disagree though…
Disclaimer: This post is brought to you in conjunction with The Works. All opinions remain my own.
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