Father Christmas Plate And Pom-Pom Christmas Puddings For Handmade Monday

Its October tomorrow and there's a rumour going around that they've started playing Christmas music in Sainsburys... the band wagon is rolling and i'm going to jump right on and share some festive makes with you today!

Okay, i know i started last week with my advent calendar (thank you all for your lovely comments by the way! x). This week though i'm stepping it up, prepare yourself!

Who Ate All The Mince Pies? Father Christmas Plate

It may seem odd to be thinking about Christmas already (although perhaps not to my fellow crafters who probably started humming jingle bells to themselves around June... :)). This was the first of my Christmas makes and i have vivid memories of painting it with the olympic dressage on in the background... strange but true!

I love the humour of Christmas and believe that at its best it is all about family fun. Part of that fun generally involves eating large amounts of delicious food so i wanted to make a set of plates with different Christmas characters happily over indulging. The idea is that these characters can easily be equated to family members.

Santa is like a big, jolly 'Dad' (or Uncle/Grandpa).

Despite painting him way back in August, i haven't begun the others yet as my early start on Christmas was interrupted by other demands and i'm only just starting to catch up now... However, i can tell you that Mum, kids and dog (or rather their Christmas equivalents) will all be featured!

I felt that this plate could happily stand alone though as it would be perfect for leaving out mince pies or other tasty treats for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve! It would make a fun gift for a Dad/Grandpa/Uncle too i think and they can be tricky to buy for :)

Its 16.5cms across and resistant to careful dishwashing. Its available now from my Etsy shop (priced £10) where you can also see more images and details.

Christmas Pudding Pom-Pom Decorations

If you're a regular visitor to my blog then you'll know i am a big fan of wool. I can't knit but i can make pom-poms, in fact i looooooooove making pom-poms! They are just so squeezabley soft and cosy looking - right up my street and perfect for wintery and festive crafting (expect to be seeing more pom-poms from me in the coming weeks :))

I made these cute little Christmas puds this week from super soft chocolatey brown wool yarn, with hand cut wool felt for the icing and holly. The button/cherry holds it all together nicely and these are sure to last many Christmases! I'm loving their rustic charm :) i hope you do too!

I'm selling these in pairs (like the real thing, one portion is never enough :)). The price is £7 and they are available from my Etsy shop.

In Other News...

Links Page

If you dropped by for my Handmade Monday post last week you may remember me mentioning the idea of creating a page on my website to put links to the websites of other British designer makers - the idea being to support the handmade movement by helping shoppers browse more easily and also to help the SEO of the websites involved. The good news is that there are now thirty websites listed on my links page - yay! I feel much better seeing some of the familiar and gorgeous goods of my fellow makers displayed on my site as well as my own :) If you are happy for me to add your website do let me know, i'd love to have you on there! (This particular page is for British designer/makers with their own websites but i'm working on other ideas to showcase the work of more fabulous crafters)

Handmade Monday

I'll be working on some more Christmassy items this week. Here's a peek of some pressies i've been wrapping...

... and i've got something cosy and wintery on the go too - pom-poms may be involved.... :)

Before i get to work on all that though, i'm going to pop over to Handmade Harbour and see what everyone else has been up to. There is some fabulous crafting going on over there so its well worth a nosey!

Have a wonderful week! x