I Love Handmade

I'm a lover of a lot of things, but there's one thing that I'm quite passionate about and that is the beauty of something handmade. There's something special about knowing that the thing you own is one on it's own. Yes, there may be another one like it, but there will definitely be differences. 

I absolutely love a handmade gift and I was blessed enough to be on the receiving end of a number of handmade gifts this Christmas (The majority being edible, but I'm not complaining!) It was a good job that my friends had caught the 'handmade fever' as I too gave out handmade gifts. 

Handmade chocolates, cookies and beetroot & orange chutney, yum!

Knowing that my husband loves Christmas cake (and the snowman), my mother-in-law even made him his very own cake (I think this turned out to be his favourite christmas present to date!) 

My handmade gifts that I gave included this floor cushion that I made for my daughter. 

The fabric is Designers Guild that I bought from a fabric seconds shop called Standfast and Barracks in Lancaster and cost £5 per meter. I'd also found a huge bag of beans for £7 at Hazel Dress in Didsbury which are usually around £16 in other haberdashery shops. I used half the bag of beans along with the beans from an old beanbag I owned, so it ended up being a really lovely gift for around £10!

For friends and family I made these simple fabric bread baskets which I am planning on showing an easy step by step guide of how to make in another blog. 

We have a plum tree in our garden so I'd made a huge batch of plum chutney for the first time last Autumn. I was a little unsure how it would turn out as it needed until Christmas to mature, but thankfully it tasted delicious!

I put the jar of chutney along with some crackers and cheese in the bread basket and wrapped it in clear wrap. A good eco friendly tip for packaging is to use popped corn. I got this idea from Lush after receiving some of their gorgeous bath bombs last year!

These were really well received and were a fraction of the price of a shop bought one!

So I've almost come to the end of this blog, and my handmade Christmas. The only thing left 

is a small amount of chutney, which I'm sure will be eaten by the end of february!

Thank you for taking the time to read my first Blog. I hope you have enjoyed it and I hope you have been inspired in some way to try your hand at Handmade. I am really looking forward to sharing future projects with you and hope you will find it helpful and easy to follow.

Until next time, Happy Making! xxx