As the festive season comes to a close, I found that precious blogging time was lost amongst a mass of crowded shopping centres, online trawling and festive chaos. However, as always, I find Christmas to be the perfect time to let my creative juices flow. Endless presents can be made more personal with a simple homemade touch. And this year was no different.
My first creative present was inspired originally by ideas for my mother’s present. The reality quickly escalated to be my favourite accompaniment to any/every small present. Introducing the storage jar:
Although I have found my favourite filling to be chocolate or sweets, this adorable little jar with a homemade cover can be home to many items – be that teabags, pot pouri or even stationary. All it takes is some choice fabric and matching ribbon 🙂 Oh…and it did give rise for the need to purchase my own pair of Pinking Sheers 😀
My other creative present was, indeed, for my mother. On her Santa list this year were some new tea/coffee/sugar containers and as my first idea (above) was vetoed due to the impracticality of overlapping fabric, I began my search for the perfect set. I quickly found that nothing was taking my fancy and so it was time to think of creation number two. After spotting some basic clear containers in Next Home ware, I decided I would decorate these accordingly so that the present was as unique as possible. The finishing result can be seen below:
Both creations are beautiful now finished, but when I first attempted both they did not go as planned. I often find that an idea will form in my mind and what seems simple in principal, always produces inevitable yet unforeseen problems. For my first creative present, I did not envisage the difficulty in finishing the edging on a circle. Luckily this problem was solved with a little clever input, to use pinking sheers to create a simple yet effective edging. I quickly acknowledged that this particular utensil would be a valuable addition to my own crafty collection and, the rest is history 🙂 For my mother’s present, hours were spent battling with font type/size and printers in order to achieve the desired effect. It was only after I pushed and pulled the paper into/out of the printer (with perhaps a little more force exerted than necessary), that I discovered a special selection of ‘thick’ paper can be specified. Oh well, lesson learnt!
Consequently, if there was one valuable piece of advice I could pass along to any budding creator, it would be this:
Any amount of time you envisage the task taking, double it – for any hope of creating the desired product
All in all, I have made some wonderfully unique and adorable presents this Christmas however, I hope that even I, in future, will heed my own advice 🙂
Seams & Sounds 