Get Crafty This Christmas!

Instead of buying and handing out the same old Christmas gifts this year, why not make your own gifts? Homemade gifts are fun to make and the effort put it in to craft personalised gifts will be much appreciated.

Try something a little different this Christmas!

Personalised bags

This idea is both ridiculously inexpensive and highly personal.

Things you will need:

• Cotton shopping bags
• Transfer paper – the kind used to transfer images to t-shirts
• Pillowcase
• Scissors
• Iron

The more artistically inclined can design you own pictures, but the less artistic can simply obtain images from Microsoft Word Clipart. There are plenty of floral designs that you might find appropriate for the job.

Print the design on to the transfer paper and cut around the design leaving a half-centimetre border.

Lay your pillowcase down a on the ironing board and lay the Totes on top of the pillowcase.

Place your designs (now on transfer paper) down on the part of the bag that you wish your design to be placed and carefully iron on.

Make a Christmas wreath

Things you will need:

• Wire coat hanger
• Newspaper
• Sticky tape
• PVA glue
• Greenery from garden
• Ribbons

Form a circle with your wire coat hanger by bending it into shape, taking care not to stretch out the circle too much in order maintain its strength.

Roll up the newspaper into a cylinder and bend around your circular frame and fasten it on using your sticky tape.

Add the twigs, leaves, pine cones etc by tying them on with your ribbon three times to make all of the materials secure.

Create your own Christmas hamper

What you will need:

• Wicker basket
• Contents of your choice

Wicker baskets can be bought for very little (as little as £5 in fact). Search online for the best deals.

If the intended recipient of the hamper is a chocolate lover fill the hamper with homemade Rocky Road and chocolate cakes or if they are into gourmet foods, then fill up your Christmas hamper like this one from Interflora, with a selection wine and cheeses.

See more crafty home decorating tips here.