Lovely crafty bits for my homemade home!

With the house coming along nicely, I'm trying to put time aside to make things to really put my stamp on this place!

I recently got hold of some crafting goodies which I'm intending to use to transform it into something personal to Mr Chatter and myself. What should it be? The crafting goodies came from this cracking little shop run by a fab lady called Christine. She herself is an experienced crafter and so you can trust she knows what she's talking about and selling.

Her shop stocks lots of lovely things including jewellery making supplies and haberdashery bits and bobs like these...

...all the way up to finished pieces of jewellery and accessories like this...

...so if you're running low on time to grab a gift for someone but want to get your hand into crafting you can kill two birds with one stone! Ideal!

I was inspired to mention this shop in light of re-watching an episode of Kirstie's Homemade Home. I'd taped it to see what a young couple in the same position as Mr Chatter and myself would do with a 'previously loved' home in order to make it super-duper. I got loads of make-it-yourself ideas and I reckon I could execute them with a bit of help from Planet Events Direct!

Have yourself a very frugal Christmas

As I've mentioned before, I'm saving up or a house so I'm having a frugal Christmas this year. That doesn't mean I'm skimping on thought or quality. It just means things might cost a bit less! So here are some ideas I'll be adopting this year.

• Bake biscuits and/sweets and give them as gifts.
• Cut up clothes that you don't want anymore and use them to make something patchwork or cut them into heart or flower shapes of different sizes and make brooches!

• Make a scrap book of happy memories of your family or friends to give as a really thoughtful gift.
• Buy a bog standard notebook and write in the nicest and funniest memories you have with that person. They can continue to add their own memories in the future and enjoy the ones you have reminded them of!
• Any gifts you do buy, should be bought in plenty of time so you don't spend more when you're rushing at the end!

Any other skills you can bring to the party will vastly improve your chances of doing more with your money and your raw materials!