It’s 12th December and I still haven’t had any mulled wine. This is a travesty! Where is my mulled wine? I intend to rectify this terrible oversight by the end of the weekend, hopefully whiling away a chilly Sunday afternoon in a pub with sofas. I did achieve my other favourite winter drink this afternoon; after tramping over Wimbledon Common and through Wimbledon Village (the shops of which were beautifully festive but still way out of my price range), I treated myself to a decaf skinny gingerbread latte – mmm, pointless coffee.

Although our flat is too tiny for a proper Christmas tree, I’ve been doing my best to make it look festive. My birthday orchid dropped its last flower a few weeks ago, making it the perfect hanger for a few sparkly baubles; last year’s fairy lights are still twinkling in the alcove, and my attempt at dried orange decorations are catching the light in the window. I also have a tiny poinsettia nestling in with Frank and the other cacti. Just one more present to knit and I’m ready for Christmas!

Photo: mulled wine, by briukva

- Learn to use my sewing machine properly. A few frantic long-distance calls to Kerry and a lesson with an LA friend did help but I have to give myself ‘could do better’ for that one.
- Embroider something nicely. Hmm, I’ve done bits and pieces but I still haven’t explored embroidery as much as I’d like. Kerry bought me some gorgeous embroidery scissors for Christmas though, so I have an incentive!

And I think that was all I resolved for 2008. This year I did make excellent parkin cake, learn how to make some really pretty decorative plates, and fix my own clothes competently. This Christmas I got some excellent presents of a crafty persuasion and so I’m going to try:

- knitting scarves again. It makes watching television feel so much more useful.
- hosting a proper tea party because now I have a tiered cake stand (hurrah!)
- improving my embroidery and sewing more bits and pieces on my machine. Even if they are mainly square.

What are your resolutions, crafty or otherwise?

Today’s post is a fantastic idea – a print-out-and-keep gift guide for anyone wondering what to buy their sewing-obsessed friend, relative or loved one. The suggestions are all great, practical things that any sewer would love to receive, and the guide is clear and helpful – perfect for the non-sewer who may be a bit intimidated by the whole thing. I’ve already circulated the ubiquitous Amazon list to my relatives this year, but I’ll definitely be bookmarking this post for next time around.

It’d be nice to find similar lists for other crafts, too – heck, maybe we could even get round to it (just in time for next year)! I’d be happy to come up with a wishlist for jewellery making types (glue, weird pliers you don’t know you need yet, that sort of thing), and I’m sure Kirsty has some great tips for muggles looking to buy for knitters…

So, I’m thinking a lot about gift packaging. Two reasons, really:

1) Somehow, it’s December already. Seriously.

2) I’m taking a fresh look at the packaging I use for my jewellery over at misskerryturner.com. Since I started running a business I’ve been through a number of changes of image, but I think I’ve finally found one that I’m totally happy with. Call it serendipity or fate, but I happen to have run out of my old pink bracelet boxes at just the right time.

With that in mind, I’ve been hitting up Flickr for inspiration. I’m into quite traditional stuff at the moment (brown paper, ribbons, that sort of thing), so I started looking there. The image on the left is a great example of a modern take on this sort of traditional style – inexpensive and using recycled/recyclable materials, but so chic and stylish. I especially love the button centrepiece.

Of course, me being me, I quickly found myself getting into much fancier waters. If this is your sort of thing, I suggest you check out this group: Nice Package. Although there are a few spammy entries in the pool (shame on you, crappy internet sellers!), I’m honestly amazed at the time, care and ingenuity on display – I can only imagine how thoughtful the gifts inside must be…

Of course, I doubt I’ll get around to lovingly wrapping everyone’s gifts in quirky old sheet music, hand-tying each with vintage satin ribbon and finishing them off with a personalised bauble, but I’ve certainly got some good ideas, both for myself and my business… Anyone else feeling inspired this year?

Photo: simple, by lilfishstudios

The Cute Book is by Aranzi Aronzo.

:: milk chocolate and baileys truffles*
:: dark chocolate and whiskey truffles
:: decorated gingerbread christmas trees
:: gingerbread cupcakes with red and green icing
:: gingerbread holly leaves

I didn’t make the candy cane, but I thought that it was a nice finishing touch.

* these turned out a bit sloppy because I over-baileysed them and I had to encase them in tiny cupcake cases – oops!

I’ve been listening to it loads whilst wrapping presents and cooking up more batches of chutney, and myself and the husband are both loving it. It’s sort of Christmassy, without being too Christmassy, if you know what I mean. You can download it yourself here.

If you haven’t read ReadyMade before have a look. It’s the only mag I have a subscription to and I’m thrilled when it arrives on the doormat and can’t wait to see what cool craft and DIY projects they have included. This issue’s DIY letterpress machine is pretty amazing but rather beyond my handyman skills I think. I might stick to their marshmallow recipe instead.

I screen printed my mittens in white onto brown recycled card and paper. For the cards I cut out the mittens, hole punched them and threaded them onto white wool, so that they could be hung up as little decorations. They are supposed to bring to mind those childhood mittens threaded on strings through your coat sleeves.

I’m sure they’d look lovely on different coloured card stock as well. If you do make your own from this pattern, I’d be so delighted to see how they turn out.

Here is the PDF file that you can just print out yourself: Mittens pdf

For gift tags A4 size will work ok. If you want to make cards or decorations it is better enlarged 200%, which is the size I used.

Whilst we are at it, there are quite a few talented bloggers sharing their wrapping paper and gift tag tips. Here’s a few favourites:
- Angry Chicken’s witty gift tags
- Derek and Lauren’s DIY ink stamp gift tags at Design*Sponge
- Not a blog, but some rather lovely wrapping paper for you to print out at Blueprint. Such a shame the magazine is no more.
- Who thought popsicle sticks could make stylish tags? Patricia from Little Hut did. And also cute tags with handwriting lines for children, a lovely fabric and paper ribbon, and a very elegant one using punched paper. I think Patricia wins!

Happy wrapping!

Fortunately he was also pleased with his Road Trip Kit…

I’ve yet to work out how Stephen made the wall clock… but the Road Trip Kit is a modified artist’s box, filled with road trip goodies – Spiderman plasters, a multi-knife, air fresheners, a chocolate bar and so on – and a book (part of the lid) with ideas for road trip games and former road trip mementos. And! I was lucky enough to have a sneaky mum who conspired to have a sewing machine bought for me over here which I opened today – so 2008 will be all about the learning to sew!