Fall is here and so is the new issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Gifts!!!

On news stands now!

Earlier this week I received a package with my very own copy of CPS's Gifts issue. I LOVE this magazine. I bought it last year in mid November and wanted to make everything in it. I did have a bit of a late start and I'm not sure that I had the time to make anything at all. THIS year, I vow, will be different. There is almost three full months until Christmas and I am so excited to be able to try some of the fabulous lovely gift ideas in the magazine. For instance, there is an article about making little gift bags with contact paper and scraps. They are SO cute! Then Jen Cushman's resin tags caught my eye. I love combining vintage with anything so these completely call out to me (it's a little voice that says "make me- make me"). Then the ornaments from the black and white challenge. The little birdhouse is Jen Crotty's from An Altered Life. So SO cute! There is also this amazing wire and fabric wreath that I think everyone should try (of course, I may be a little prejudiced it being mine). Ok, I was trying to be funny there.  As for me, I'm hoping to get the one that's pictured back in the next month or so. That way I can feel like I have a head start and can check "make a wreath" off of my Christmas to do list.That also frees me up to make some of the other lovelies in this magazine.

My hand stitched wire and fabric wreath

Seriously, we all feel that last minute pinch towards Christmas when we realize that we no longer have the time to make the sweet handmade gifts we wanted to. We end up settling for something that's not quite as nice, and probably found at Target, when it would've been so much more rewarding to give something we invested a bit of time and heart into creating. So my suggestion to myself this year is START EARLY. Make a list now of people you feel would appreciate something handmade. Count up the number of tags you'd like to have made, spend a Saturday morning making a slew of gift bags to have on hand. Try to work out how many gifts for co-workers, friends, and teachers you'd like to have ready. Then break up the tasks you need to accomplish to make that many. Think through the supplies you need so that when you go shopping you only have to do it once. (I'm constantly making last minute emergency runs to Michael's or JoAnn's to get the one or two things I forgot I needed for something). Those are just a few ideas that I think I'll use to help organize my efforts this year.

The wreath I made is actually made from fragments of recipes, music pages, old fabrics and paintings of mine. I wanted the wreath to represent the traditions of my family growing up as well as the one's that I want to include now. Handmade is one of those traditions, both new and old in a way. These are the memories that I want to give to my son for his own. I'd like to know what traditions do you keep? Is handmade a part of that?

A little of this and a little of that....