hoping that this post isn't

rubbish christmas presents volume 5 😉

I’m trying to plan homemade presents for family and friends. We’ve done this with moderate success in previous years (last years not quite set truffles weren’t brilliant to tell the truth 🙁 ) and I’m trying to get organised enough to get started now if not sooner (in other words, I’m also scouring the cupboards and stacks of stuff to find things I’ve bought to do through the year that can be reassigned iyswim).

With this in mind, I’m also wandering the web. Today I’ve found French Memory boards and Kids Journal in a jar which both feel like they have potential. I’m fairly sure I’ve seen cheap artists canvases in various places, and an excuse to buy a proper staple gun has almost got to be taken up 😉 I’ve got cotton fabrics and polyester batting, and ribbons and buttons won’t cost a lot so that could be a couple of aunties very happily set up. There’s a particular one I have in mind, who year in year out buys my children lovely carefully selected presents (last years for Small was a Thomas T shirt, not a big present, but one he loved). The thing that makes this so ironic for me is that she is actually no relation at all – she is the ex-wife of my stepfather’s eldest brother, and yet she takes time and energy to buy these lovely gifts for children she never sees.

Every year I swear that I will make the effort to go see her, and each year somehow the months fly by and I don’t. So I’m determined that I will put time and effort into a present for her to show how much I appreciate the thought she puts in to hers.

So does a memory board seem suitable? Or is it too twee for words?

I’m considering a kids journal for Big – with a suitably pink and sparkly book to write in, it could be a hit.

I’ll keep on digging though, and no doubt be back with more suggestions. We’ve started crafting today with a big pack of handmade recycled paper that I picked up at the Works yesterday for £4.99. I’m quite pleased with some of the effects I’ve achieved. I’m going to be spending the evening preparing yarn dolls for the school’s autumn fayre next Thursday – I’ve promised a variety of things for a home made stall. Might whip up a few more crocheted necklaces as well, it’s all for charity after all.