Crafting Christmas & Co.

The plan...to craft some for Christmas (and birthdays).

Pros...
crafting can be a money saver,
gifts can be personalised,
crafted gifts can bulk-out bought gifts,
I enjoy crafting and have umpteen supplies to hand and
Christmas gifts can be created throughout the year as and when I have time since I'm starting so early in the year, (negating any time-pressure element to crafting).

Cons...
crafts are certainly not time-savers, they take a lot of man hours,
I'm not the world's greatest crafter and have very limited skills, (read I can knit squares and rectangles - ta-da and cannot cut a straight-line to save my life),
not everyone likes handmade, (unless you bought someone else's handmade goods) and
despite the long year ahead that I have in which to craft, I could easily leave it all until the last minute if I'm not careful.

I've actually already started, I've knitted a scarf for my niece and a matching one for her dolly Anna and am part-way through another for my friend's daughter and another for her son, (I keep switching between these as the wool for the wee girl's scarf is quite hard on your hands). I need to embroider a tractor design or similar onto the boy's scarf once it's been knit and I'll do another matching scarf for the wee girl's dolly and a second matching scarf for my niece's other dolly - Holly.

Plans are also afoot for crafts over the next three weeks, for my Hubby for Valentine's, which include framed wedding vows which I've already completed.

The rest of my plans are as follows:
Hubby's Valentine's - framed wedding vows and a matching Valentine's card,
Hubby's birthday - a brag book of Bundle,
Hubby - a wedding album (finally), tree skirt with our family's handprints,
Bundle's bday - play kitchen, chef's hat and apron,
Bundle - his own photobook, scarf and tyre swing,
Mum's bday (mine) - homemade massage oil in upcycled bottle,
Mum (mine) - tree skirt of all the grandchildren's handprints,
Mum's bday (his) - homemade peanut butter fudge and coconut and chocolate fudge wrapped up in a pretty jewellery box (used),
Mum (his) - tree skirt of both granchildren's handprints,
Mothers' Day (x2) - handprint artwork from Bundle,
Dad's bday (his) - homemade fudge (chocolate and coconut - as requested),
SportySis - fancy wool scarf and tree skirt of her boys' handprints,
SportySis' birthday (Feb 14) - mr and mrs stencilled cushions,
BERM boys - surname and no. stencilled pillowcases (one/two each),
Mr and Mrs Thing - mr and mrs stencilled pillowcases,
SIL - fancy wool scarf, tree skirt of family handprints,
SIL's bday (June 13)- homemade cake/cookie mix and mr and mrs stencilled pillowcases,
BIL - homemade hot chocolate mix,
La-la - scarf, matching ones for Anna Doll and Holly Dolly and an apron for her tea-shop,
Angel's bday (Jan 14) - fancy wool scarf and homemade hot chocolate mix,
Angel's girl - scarf and matching one for her doll,
Gerta - fancy-ish scarf,
Gerta's Girl - scarf and matching one for her doll,
Gerta's Boy - scarf with plain design embroidered on,
Belle - scarf and matching one for her doll and
I'll also be crafting my Christmas cards through recycling last year's received cards as well as composing the Chrismas letter and including a family photo/one of Bundle.

Phew!

N.B. The play kitchen and tyre swing shouldn't entirely be on the list as my Dad will make the tyre swing with Hubby's help and though I'll plan the play kitchen, the making will be down to Hubby and the two grandfathers.