I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a Christmas Craft workshop hosted by Laura Ashley in Manchester. We all know I love Christmas so of course I leapt at the chance to go, especially as I enjoy crafting too.
We got to try our hand at two different crafts a paper craft, and a fabric craft. They were crazy enough to let us loose on sewing machines! Ministry of Craft were there to give us instructions while we were crafting.
The first craft I tried my hand at was the making of a present sack, if you have the time I think this is a really cute idea. It doesn’t save on having to wrap presents but it makes them look extra cute when you deliver them plus the bag can be used for another purpose such as a lunch bag. It was really simple to make the present sack, one large piece of fabric folded in half makes your sack. You need to sew your design on first before stitching the fabric together to make a bag. We also popped a drawstring in to fasten the bag, which is why I think you would still need to wrap the presents inside. Little fingers would soon be opening the bag and taking a peek in!!
After making the present sack it was time for a spot of canapés, there was gluten free bruschetta and smoked mackerel on a little bread thing. I liked the bruschetta, but not so much smoked mackerel as I discovered! All of the canapés I couldn’t eat also looked amazing, and from what I heard tasted delicious too.
It was soon time for the paper craft, which was super easy to make. All you need is some spare wallpaper, scissors, a ruler, pencil, and some double sided sticky tape, and you can make a beautiful box and bow! I am really impressed with how my gift box turned out, and I will be using it for my mum’s birthday present, unfortunately I’ve already wrapped my Christmas presents so can’t use it for Christmas.
I think next Christmas I will be making present sacks and wallpaper gift boxes to share the presents I’ve bought. I’m pretty sure I’ll use the gift boxes all year round for birthday presents, it doesn’t take long at all to rustle one up.
If you want to have a go at making your own gift box then take a look at the Laura Ashley blog post from the day as they have included instructions for making your own gift box.
The afternoon flew by and as we were leaving we also received a goody bag, inside mine I had a Laura Ashley bauble which when straight on the tree, some Laura Ashley Christmas cookie cutters, and some Laura Ashley dinner candles. I can’t wait to get baking so I can use my cookie cutters. I had a fantastic day, and it’s an afternoon I would be more than happy to live again!!
Beth x
All images courtesy of Joe Bloggers.
