if you're anything like me you've probably experienced both the highs and the lows of holidays crafting. you start out super excited, almost a crafters high of sorts, writing lists, planning out your supplies and choosing gifts for everyone from your child's teacher to your loved ones. you get all revved up and pump yourself full of "i can do this", "i'm going to save so much money doing this", "i don't need sleep", "i can live off coffee for a month" and so on....until you a) give up half way through and buy gift cards b) have a crafters breakdown c) burn out or d) end up grumpy/stressed and severely sleep deprived on xmas that you don't even enjoy yourself.
what's the point in pointing this out to you? well....i don't want that to happen to any of us anymore. so how do we solve it? i'm not 100% sure what the answer is but what i do know is that i have some tips that i have learned and so do a lot of you. we all love making gifts for our loved ones and we all just love to "make" so how can we, as a group, inspire, support and cheer each other on to make a "reasonable" (and i mean human, not robot) amount of gifts and home decorations.
throughout november and december i'll be writing posts on most wednedsays to open up discussions, project sharing, friendships to be made, shoulders to cry and lean on, and overall just a place you can come each week to keep focused, stay on track and try to make it through the holidays making but also smiling.
|| FOR THE SEWERS & CRAFTERS ||
- this is new for me so i'm going to try out a few things along the way. depending on interest from you fab ladies i'm thinking of starting a linky party on this day where you can link up your posts for crafts/projects you are making for the holidays and their progress or other posts inspired by the theme "holiday crafting support group".
- add your pics to our flickr group to show off your handiwork. we love to see what you're making.
- comment, chat, start discussions, join in the convo. i promise this is all more fun if you get involved :)
|| FOR THE KNITTERS ||
- there will be a topic in our luvinthemommyhood ravelry group called "holidays crafting support group" where you can all chat away, share your project line ups, link to what you're making and also show off those pics!!! i love this part!!!
- feel free to also join in with the rest of us here on my blog post each week, link up your posts on all the knitted lovelies you're posting on your blogs as well.
i want this space to be somewhere you can come during this mostly joyful but also sometimes stressful time of year each week to feel like you have people to talk to who understand you, are making things right along side you, cheering you on, and just plain want to hear about all the fun stuff you have planned for the holidays. feel free to show off all your handiwork and crafting skills! it helps to keep us all motivated and feeling inspired.
i love christmas and plan on making this one as relaxing and as enjoyable as possible for my family this year and i hope you will all join me in this wee journey. so join in! i can't wait to see what you will all be whipping up this year!
to get you started here are some of my fave roundups from previous years for holiday goodies:
|| GARLAND ROUNDUP ||
|| WREATH TUTORIAL ROUNDUP ||
|| CHRISTMAS STOCKING ROUNDUP ||
would you all like to see some new roundups on these topics this year? anything else you'd like for me to round up for the holidays? let me know below and i'll get my lasso out and get rounding em'posts up. have you started your holiday crafting list yet? what & how many projects are you planning on making this year?