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Tuesday 29 January 2013

The results of the £20 Christmas Challenge

I have finally worked out how to get pictures from my new phone onto the computer (in a very long winded way!) so I can share with you my Christmas makes. I do have a confession to make though that I didn't manage to make them all as I had a few custom orders to complete which had to take priority but what I did make was under my £20 budget.

The custom orders I completed were wheat bags which were made to a very specific size and weight to replace a much loved (but pretty grim) one! They were scented with lemon and smelt pretty amazing!!


From a craft fair I did at the beginning of December someone also got in contact with me to make them some scrabble bags as a Christmas present. I didn't take pictures of the ones I made but they were based on the one I made my friend as a brithday present.


Now onto the Christmas presents!

I stitched my Nan a little picture of some daffodils as I thought this would look cheerful on the windowsil. The threads I already had so I just spent £1.50 on a mini mirrored frame to put it in.


 
I made my dad a wheat bag from the leftover wheat and fabric so that cost me nothing. I also stitched a Gilmore Girls quote for a friend which I forgot to take a picture of (it all ended very rushed near Christmas!!) which used threads I already had so again just had to buy a frame for about £3.

I have a friend who looooooooves pizza and so I thought I would make her a cushion in the shape of a pizza because that is what everyone needs right?!


This is a picture from before I had finished stitching it up. I am a bit disappointed with the result as I feel I had to rush it to get it finished in time so the toppings could have been more exciting but it looks ok! The materials for this came to about £5 with another £4 on the cushion pad.

I also made an edible gift for my crafternoon friend madeformollyrose! It was using cookie cutters I had from Lakeland and I only had to spend 79p on the flour!


I also made a mini knitted snowman with a pattern from mochimochiland which I thought was so cute for her daughter as a little Christmas present.


I've decided to make it a bit of a mini tradition to give her a little Christmas decoration each year so that she'll have a collection of them when she is grown up and moves out to decorate her house with. This is the one I made her last year (it's been a bit of a snowman theme!)


That is all I managed to make though- oops! I had to have a late night run to a supermarket for the rest of the family presents. But from what I made I spent £14.50ish so within my budget of £20. I am starting my Christmas presents a lot earlier this time!! The one for my mum has turned into her birthday present so you'll get to see that really soon as her birthday is in February- I had better get a move on!

Did any of you have a frugal and thrifty Christmas? What handmade gifts did you give?

Wednesday 9 January 2013

New Year Stitchilations

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm trying to fill you in on my Chrsitmas gift making but can't work out how to get the pictures from my new phone onto the blog so you'll have to bear with me!

I want to make some crafty new years resolutions on here in the hope that I will then stick to them! Do you make resolutions? I quite enjoy thinking about what I want to achieve in the next year or what I want to change for the better.





1. Learn to crochet!! This was a resolution last year and I did manage to crochet one dodgy looking granny square and one actual square looking one. But it all felt very backwards and wrong so I'm going to try it left handed and see if that makes a difference otherwise I'll just have to persevere until it feels natural. I am very envious of the granny a day challenge and want to be able to take part next year!



2. Make entries for the local show. I want to continue my success of last years show. Which can be found here. I want to win the cup again basically its so shiny and I don't want to have to find something to replace its space on the shelf!! I've got a cross stitch half finished I can enter but need to get my thinking cap on for the other categories.



3. Open an Etsy shop. This is also something I wanted to do last year but ran out of time- I thought last year went ridiculously quick! I know what I want to stock it with I just need to get a wriggle on and make it all so I can list it.



4. Comment more on the blogs I read. I read a lot of blogs from people I follow on twitter and on here but rarely leave a comment. I'm not really sure why, I just think to myself what a nice post or great idea and never let the blogger know, but that will change this year!



5. Tweet more. I've been on twitter for a while now and although I read the feed most days a barely tweet myself. Mainly because I think no one is interested about what I'm doing!! But when I'm reading my feed that is what I like reading about other people, I'm nosey I want to know what people are up to and what crafts they are working on so I will try and share a bit more of my boring life with the world of twitter!!


I think 5 resolutions is enough to be getting on with for this year! I can't wait for payday tomorrow so I can buy a new diary for my filofax and start planning in when I'm going to start the resolutions. (reading this last bit back I think I need to get out more!!)

Let me know if you have any resolutions or if any of yours are the same?

Hopefully I'll have my Christmas post complete with pictures ready for you soon!

Xxx