Christmas Pinspiration

I have mentioned Pinterest in passing before, but haven't really gone overboard in sharing my pins with you all, or gushing over how fabulous I think the site is. Seriously though, it is an awesome site and if you don't already have an account, get yourself over there and set one up. If you need/want an invite, let me know. You can find all my pin boards on my profile here.

I've got quite a few boards on the go, some are for rather idealistic future plans (such as my wedding ideas board, my travel board and my home ideas board). Others are far more useful in the here-and-now (all the great recipes I've discovered, for example, which will come in handy when I get bored of my cook books but still need to find a new recipe to try out).

But I'm going to share some stuff I've pinned to my Craft board, since this is a craft blog.

Christmas is fast approaching, and I thought it would be fun to make my own advent calendar this year. Searching Pinterest for inspiration, and I've found some great ideas.

Toilet Roll Tube Advent Calendar (source)

Clothes Peg Advent Calendar (source)

Also on my list of things to do before Christmas arrives - home-made tree ornaments!

Button ornaments (source)

A fun twist on the Martha Stewart wreath (source)

Yarn ball ornaments! (source)

Felt bird ornaments. Alas, whoever pinned this originally didn't
pin it in such a way as to link back to the source. It's on etsy, somewhere.

I know I've seen kits in John Lewis for making felt birds like this; every year I say to myself "I will make some of those" and never get around to it. Maybe this year will be different!

I've also been looking for innovative ways to gift-wrap my presents this year. We don't really go all out with present buying, so most people only get a small something. Hunting around, I've discovered a few tutorials on how to make your own gift boxes.

Chinese Takeaway style boxes (source)

Small gift boxes made from toilet roll tubes (source)

I wonder how much of this I will actually get done before Christmas!