So there’s a week to go before Christmas day and for once, I feel on top of things. The six foot pile of wrapping has been conquered, I have made one batch of mince pies and I’ve written and distributed this year’s Christmas cards.

This year was my turn to design and create (we take turns – last year’s had a witty poem which was truly brilliant), so unsurprisingly, crochet was involved since that’s been my big thing for this year. I had an idea and tracked down a handy free pattern for making crocheted Christmas wreaths, which you can take a look at here – thanks planetjune!

The grand design was a door, with the wreath hanging from it by a brad, which could be detached so people could keep and use the wreath as a decoration – bonus gift! I have roughly 20 people who receive cards from me each year, so that’s 20 letterboxes, 20 miniature envelopes to look like they’re being shoved through the letterboxes, 20 wreaths, 80 raised rectangles to give the door a 3D effect and 20 bits of card candy for door knobs. Craft knives, sticky fixers and guillotines are my friends.

The finished product looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

And this is a proper one that I made myself out of fresh moss, holly, evergreen, orange slices and cinnamon sticks, with some bows and bells for that bit of Christmas jingle. This is the first “real” one I’ve done and I quite like it. I miss having lights on it though, so there’s a point for the future if I decide to do it again. It’s the only decoration I have up so far – let’s hope I get a chance to actually put up my tree sometime this week!