Mother's Day is acomin' and there's wrapping to be done. Whether you're forking out for something fancy or handmaking something handsome it always looks better if the packaging is pretty.
That doesn't mean it has to cost the earth or make you feel guilty for not being green. You can make your own gift bows from old magazines and save the planet while still maintaining the pretty.
Craftster member Miss American Pie has posted a 'super easy' recycled gift bow tutorial which takes your once-read glossy magazines and turns them into gift bows galore. It'll make you look at your used mags in a whole different way as you pick out colourful ads and the celebs with the shiniest teeth for trimmings.
She ends her tutorial with this helpful hint. "WARNING: May cause serious addiction. Craft at your own risk." so don't tell me you haven't been warned when you Mum can't get to the present for all the fabulous bows you've fashioned to decorate the wrapping.
Looking for a way to wow your Christmas dinner guests that doesn't involve you setting fire to something or juggling with clove-encrusted oranges? How about a bit of table origami to set off your festive table top?
Gone are the days when a simple triangle or fan napkin would do the job of making your table look trendy. These days it's all about turning a simple square of cloth into something that will make folks reluctant to unfold it so they can dab gravy off their chin.
The Folding Napkin Origanimals by Diana Eng are ever so lovely to behold. They're stitched with coloured-thread instructions for ease of use in four different animal: Bunny, Snail, Bear and Peacock.
The original napkin set was available online though it seems to be tough to track them down now. Helpfully this tutorial on Craft gives great instructions on how to create Diana's Rabbit Napkin without buying the kit.
Add a bit of napkin beast to your table setting. Go on.
Christmas is a time for getting a bit sozzled and quite frankly why not when you've been crafting so hard all year? It's time to kick off your pointy jingle-toed shoes, put on a bit of Bing and shake yourself up a festive Candy Cane Cocktail to keep your Christmas spirits up.
The cocktail features a sweet rim which is encrusted with crushed candy cane to set the drink off, and is full of Christmas spirit in the form of sweet strawberry vodka and creme de menthe. Topped off with a candy cane on the rim of the glass it's so Christmassy sweet it almost makes my teeth ache to look at it.
This festive tipple can be found on the site of homemaking queen Martha Stewart, who is guided through the recipe by the barman at the infamous Four Seasons Hotel. There's also a video along with the recipe so you can watch it being made by the master.
A sweet sip to knock up while you wait for the turkey to cook.
There are probably about a million nativity plays going on this week as the mangers, wise men and donkeys are broken out to celebrate the tale behind the festive season. If you don't get the chance to get your nativity on this year then why not create your own in the comfort of your own home?
The Holy Handcrafters of Antioch's Bible Puppets are a nod in the direction of handcrafting the holy and add a bit of a giggle to learning a bit about all things biblical.
Witness Daniel and his terrifying finger puppet lions, a rather irate felt Moses with a burning bush, Jonah and a fairly sinister swallowing whale and a unsettlingly cheerful Gabriel bringing the good news in sparkly felt.
The Holy Handcrafter can't seem to explain why her whale puppet appears to be blessed with thumbs though. Not sure a person-swallowing whale with thumbs is quite my craft cup of tea but they do make me laugh.
So grab your felt and scissors and start making yourself your own little manger scene for Christmas.
Everybody knows that pirates are just about the coolest things ever so why stuff them into the Halloween pigeon hole (or should that be crow's nest)?
You can be pirately at Christmas too and a scurvy way to begin would be with a barnacle-blasting pirate stocking to collect all your Christmas booty in.
The stocking is as quick to craft as running someone through with your rusty pirate sword so you'll be able to whip it up in no time. It also has a few flowery options for pirate wenches out there who like to lure people into a false sense of harmless girlie security before threatening them with a plank walk if they don't hand over all their chocolate dubloons.
For the full how to see the tutorial on Extremely Crafty and get a bit of yo ho ho into your ho ho ho this Christmas.
OK so it's not the most technically impressive craft 'project' ever to have hit our screens, but I can't help being charmed and amused by this Elmo-shaped tree ornament over on Kojo Designs' blog, which appears to be part gonk, part bauble.
It's actually made from a plain bauble covered in ribbon, a pom pom and finished off with googly eyes, making this a dead easy tree-side project to attempt. So crack open the sherry, ready the mince pies and glue gun and away you go!
Related: decorate a bauble with crochet
Knit knit knit knit knit. Sigh.
Christmas knitting can be a panicky affair as you strive to get everything you promised yourself you would do done. But there is an easier way to get crafty with your yarn for a bit of Stitchmas spirit around the festive season. Why not wrap yourself a fibre-fabulous yarn wreath to welcome folks into your home the woolly way?
The simple tutorial on Craftstylish gives you a list of materials and also gives you an idea of where you can get hold of said materials online (though the links are for Americans, not for us Brits. Still we're a Goggle-savvy bunch).
It's an excellent way to use up that 'what shall I do with these random leftovers' yarn and it adds to your crafty Christmas in a manner that doesn't leave you worrying about dropped stitches and casting off in time.
See the tutorial on the Craftstylish site here.
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