Handmade Christmas | Presenting presents

You might well remember that last year I did a series of posts on handmade Christmas, where I showed you my efforts at making handmade presents for friends and family, along with lots of brown paper, ribbon and personalised gift tags.  I know that it’s still six weeks until Christmas Eve and for a lot of people that’s too early to be thinking about Christmas, but I tend to start thinking about it now for three reasons – firstly I like to spread the cost of Christmas presents and paraphernalia across two months to make it easier financially, secondly I like to avoid the stress of last minute panics about presents, and thirdly, I LOVE CHRISTMAS and can’t help getting excited!

You might remember my post recently about feeling a bit disheartened about my lack of craftiness and aptitude for sewing, and for this reason I’ll be concentrating more on handmade treats that don’t require needle and thread, including making more teacup candles (I use kits from here) and kitchen treats for food hampers such as fudge, peppermint bark, chutneys, jams and biscuits.

The one thing I enjoy over everything every year however is anything paper-based; from making Christmas cards, to personalised gift tags, to brown paper packages tied up with string (and ribbon!)  You may remember that I personalised my gift tags last year by ordering business cards from Vistaprint and then holepunching them and threading them with ribbon.

I buy my rolls of brown paper from Ikea, though you can also get brown kraft paper from craft stores, the Post Office, eBay, anywhere really! I’ve also picked up this roll from Matalan, I love the idea of mixing classic brown paper with a printed design.

Here are some more ideas for decorating your gifts this Christmas…(as always, links are below the images).

1. I love the idea of giving Christmas decorations as gifts as it’s something someone can treasure and remember for years to come.  This year I’m going to thread some decorations through ribbon and attach them to the front of presents – love these pine cone decorations in particular // Lisa Angel — £3.00

2. Washi tape that looks like Christmas cross stitch? Yes please! // Papermash — £3.75

3. I think these ivy post it notes, also Papermash, would look perfect as labels for presents. // Papermash — £5.99

4. This pack of four festive themed tapes would be perfect for decorating or even as a present for a crafty type // Kiki’s Boutique — £4.95

5. No Christmas wrapping is complete without red and white bakers’ twine // Papermash — £4.50

6. I always love a bit of East of India at Christmas, as items 8-10 show! These luggage tags in particular are lovely! // Daisy Park — £3.60

7. Sass and Belle pom poms, perfect for jazzing up or edging gift wrap or other crafty projects // Corvette Silo — £3.30

8. More East of India – some gorgeous Merry Christmas ribbon! // Daisy Park — £3.00

9. Another wooden decoration that could be attached to a present and hung for the whole year (yes, it’s East of India again!) // Daisy Park — £1.50

10. I love this East of India Merry Christmas tape – even the least crafty of all of us could make a present look lovely with brown paper and this Christmas tape! // Corvette Silo — £3.00

Just looking at all of those ideas is making me feel all festive, I need to snap some up myself! Have you started thinking about Christmas or do you prefer to wait until December to start thinking about presents (and what you might wrap them in!)?  I will try and space out my Christmas posts for all you non ‘Christmas in November’ types, promise.