Christmas... already?

How are you all this week?  Do you feel those Christmassy feelings of warmth and goodwill sweeping over you yet? The burning desire to get the tinsel out and the mulled wine cooking? No?? Well who can blame you, Christmas is fast approaching but with some lovely sunny days I must admit I am being consumed by Autumn loveliness! The stunning autumn colours and the falling leaves.  All that aside however as a crafter we have to think about Christmas far too early.  I know many who have been making since way before the school holidays!  I thought I would share my latest Christmas venture with you all.

I was introduced to Christmas Eve boxes a few months back. It seems something that originated in America and goes hand in hand with the 'Elf on the Shelf'.  Don't worry if you are new to Elf on the Shelf too.  The general idea in a nutshell, is you have a small toy elf who arrives on the 1st December.  He watches your children everyday and reports back to Santa every night to tell him if they have been good or not! When the elf returns in the morning he gets up to a little mischief.  He may spill cereal all over the counter or tie your shoe laces together etc. (this is where parents have fun and get creative!)  Then on Christmas Eve the elf leaves to go and help Santa sort out the toys and load the sleigh.  When the elf goes he leaves behind a Christmas Eve box, a box full of treasures.  Usually these treasures seem to consist of a Christmas film, book, slippers, new pyjamas and a few yummies to enjoy while watching your film.  Well my pondering took me to... what if the Christmas box contained lots of crafting goodies!!! How about instead of being full of food and dvd's etc that it contained tutorials and craft supplies to create some Christmas crafting memories.  So I give you the Crafty Night Before Christmas box!

Each box contains at least three tutorials, all the crafty supplies you need to complete them and lots extra and a small handmade gift from me to you!  I have designed 4 different boxes based on ages.  There is the under 5's, 5+, teenager and adult.  I am also more than happy to personalised.

Well I'm off to carry on planning my boxes. If you want to found out more or take a peek at my brand new kit box v visit www.craftywhatnots.com

I'm stopping off to visit all those lovely blogs at Handmade Monday so why not pop over and see what others have been up to.

 Xxx

Bit of a doodle!

Well this week has been a little creative,  but more as I had intended.  I've had quite the busy work load this week and by the evening it was all I could do to collapse on the sofa.  I have been craving to draw for ages and often carry my sketchbook around but been too tired to draw.  OH suggested just drawing without intention or need for perfection.  Oddly enough this little gem of advice made such a difference,  I started to doddle... Houses. (no idea why).
Here is my little creation.

Once I stopped worrying about the outcome I had so much fun,  I stayed in the bottom left with the little house,  each house got more elaborate as I went along.  I started using pencil and working my way back into the distance.  Here are some progress shots add I started to ink in the details.  

Last night I thought I would try something else,  I'd seen a video on Pinterest to draw a similar colouring sheet,  I took it as inspiration and created this... 

It's so mesmerising!!  The video suggested adding patterns to sumsome of the loops bit I loved it like this and thought playing around any further would ruin it. 

What do you think??  Do you love to doodle? Do you enjoy colouring?

I have also been expanding my portrait idea and I'm offering a personalised photo booth illustration to the winner of my colouring competition!! 

So if you fancy winning, message me and I will send you a pdf to colour in anyway you wish.  Entries need to be in by 30th September. I will create a collage of them and put it to my lovely likers and followers on fb, instagram, twitter and of course on here to choose the winner!!  

Hope you have a lovely week folks and remember that sometimes lovely things happen when you stop trying!  

Xxx 

I'm popping over to

Handmade Monday to see what lovely things fellow bloggers have been up to this week.  Why not discover some new blogs and pop along.