Getting crafty for Christmas

It’s even wetter and windier today! I had to cut short my walk, don’t worry DogS got her usual long one with MrS while I was at my Zoom Yoga class.

So after getting into dry clothes and finishing off yesterday’s soup for lunch I settled down for an afternoon of craft.

I’m not a specially crafty person. I always admire other peoples’ projects but mine usually fall far short of my concept. I’m a bit too impatient, can’t knit or crochet, and have never mastered threading a sewing machine. I can sew on buttons and do a bit of embroidery but that’s it. But every January when I take down the Christmas cards I think it’s such a pity to put them into the recycling. And every December when I look out the decorations I find a pile of last year’s cards which I then recycle.

This year with plenty of time on my hands I’ve actually had a go at up cycling them instead.

I bought myself a craft knife.

and various sticky things

and have had lots of fun cutting out bits of the old cards, and rearranging then into new pictures.

They are looking quite good, now my main worries are, have I made them non recyclable by using the sticky things, and can I resend someone their own card repurposed? I’m still a bit concerned about the former but I’ve decided that I might even make a virtue of the latter. After all it shows how much I liked the card they chose for me. And I’ll only send them to people I know very well. There’s also a niggling worry that I usually buy charity cards and they’ll miss out, but there’s no way I’ll be able to make enough so I’ll still buy charity cards, and I can make donations separately.

I’m thinking about Christmas a lot earlier this year, I was speaking to MasterS today* and he said the same thing. In fact he’s planning his first Christmas tree**. I think there we’re all looking for some sparkle in our lives. And I fully appreciate it’s not just Christmas which will be celebrated differently. Lots of religious festivals have already had to adapt to changed circumstances, and there are more to come. I write about Christmas because it’s the tradition I grew up with, and one I celebrate in a secular way.

So there may be more tinsel and glitter to come***