Envelopes and a #crapfreeChristmas

It's been a while.... I've been trying to write another post but it's not working, so I thought I'd just write a bit of a round up and then go back to it.

Homemade Christmas cards and envelopes

Christmas is coming. I've struggled to feel festive for the last couple of years so this year I'm attempting to be ready early so at least I haven't got all the things I should be doing hanging over me for the whole of  December. That's a manner of working that I've inherited and it doesn't help my Christmas spirit.
Every time my 14 year old plays Christmas music (seemingly on a loop) I just think of what I haven't done yet so this year I'm a) doing less- only what I want to do or what I need to do for the children. Okay, they're young adults but I still want them to enjoy Christmas b) doing it early. It's not like Christmas is a surprise so I don't know why I act like it's snuck up on me each year. I've got to get some presents together at some point so why not do it in good time? Who knows?

Calming Bath Salts, Reviving Bath Fizz and Relaxing Bath Soak

Aim c) a #crapfreeChristmas. I always try to do this really, but a concerted effort this year, mostly to stop the stream of crap into my house. There's a couple of relatives I really need to have a word with.
I usually try to make most of my presents and this year I'm determined to use up what I already have- wax and glass pots to make candles; foaming bath oil base in a pretty bottle with some essential oils; epsom salts and lavender flowers I picked through Freecycle in pots and jars I've saved for bath salts, and lots of hampers with chutney, jam and homemade liqueur. My son is going to help me make a piece of wood we got from a wood recycling project into cheese boards to add to some of them. Others might get some pieces of silver birch branch I've saved made into candle holders.

Small cards from printer's offcuts. The one at the front is one I did last year with a scrap of card.

I've made my own Christmas cards for years, usually a really simple decoupage from scraps of paper and fabric I've saved, on either recycled card or offcuts I got from a local print shop. I make my own envelopes (for Christmas and anytime) from magazine pages, fliers, seed catalogues and old wrapping paper. I've got bags of  nice magazines through freecycle before. I take the good pages for envelopes, then preschool gets some for cutting and sticking and the rest gets recycled. This year I'm using up some embossing powder I got given years ago that was just sitting in a box. Not sure it's particularly environmentally friendly but I didn't think binning it was much better than using it up. The card is recycled A4 card I cut to size as it's much cheaper than buying card blanks. The envelopes are really simple- no templates or cutting out.

Take a piece of paper. This is an A4 magazine page but you can make smaller or larger envelopes to suit.
 Ideally you want the best bit of the picture in the middle third as that will be the front of your envelope.

Place right side down and fold in long edges. A finger's width is about right.

Still right side down, fold up bottom, approx a hand's width.

You can double check size against the card you want to put in it, or tailor the folding to get the best picture on the front.

Open up and glue ONLY the flap from the fold down.
If you glue the main part of the paper you won't get a pocket...

Fold back up and stick, fold down the top corners and glue them too

Turn over and fold over the top- Ta dah!
This can even go through the post, but you may need to glue on a bit of plain paper so the address is readable.

In other news, we've acquired a chicken that needed a new home and she seems to have settled in well. Her name is Speckles and she's like a smaller version of Maureen. She's also laying which is excellent news at this time of year. 

And talking of new animals, husband's job changes in the new year and he'll be at home more, meaning we can get a new dog! Our lovely Saluki X Stan died earlier this year leaving Mabel by herself. I was keen to get a smallish broken or rough coated female lurcher and wanted to call her Olive. So obviously the dog we have our fingers and toes crossed for is a male Deerhound X called Hiccup. We have to phone back today and see if they've managed to cat test him.

We've always had rescue lurchers since we got our first dog and the animal rescue centre said they have trouble rehoming them because people think they need lots of exercise and they'll kill anything small and furry. Depending on their previous life, some do have a very high prey drive, but ours have always been very laid back, the cats are in charge and they're actually pretty lazy, preferring a run around in a field to a long walk. They're also generally pretty dozy, which I like. I don't think I want a dog who is smarter than me...