Christmas 2012: Holiday Crafting

Christmas is one of those seasons that inspires many people to decorate their homes for the holidays. I'm not all that great about putting up decorations for other seasons, but there's just something magical about having lights strung up around your house, with Christmas cards hung everywhere, and a tree (albeit a faux one) lit up in the corner. 

To help us decorate this year, SS & AK hosted another Pinterest-inspired party. After a successful autumn-themed craft party, there were more girls than ever interested in taking part in the Christmas-themed get-together.

And what's not to motivate you to be crafty when all the supplies and plans are prepared and provided for you? Take the legwork out of crafting, and I am so there!

I really can't fathom the hours that it took to gather the innumerable supplies that greeted us, from wooden blocks to spools of ribbon to sandpaper and paintbrushes to beads and wire... it was all ready and waiting.

I would have been completely overwhelmed, but our organized hosts had selected specific projects for us to try out, with pictures of completed crafts as our inspiration. That's the whole point of Pinterest anyway, isn't it?

And if you're going to attend a Pinterest party, you also have to assume there are going to be some creative food ideas involved.

Above: Holly sprigs adorned cups filled with cranberry punch. What a wonderful time of year for eating!

We might not have snow, but these snowman spreaders are seasonally-appropriate
even in the Caribbean.

Soon everyone had hunkered down, sanding blocks or stringing beads or wrapping lace, chatting about holiday plans and discussing where and when to get a Christmas tree.

I think I rediscovered my love of glue guns that day. Really, is there anything you can't get done with a hot glue gun? It's basically the handywoman's secret weapon.

I also enjoyed playing with a variety of fabrics. While our last craft party revolved more around paper, this one had a lot more cloth and ribbon. I quickly learned that this burlap was in high demand.

Towards the end of the party, we did a big cookie exchange. Americans are well versed in how this works: Everyone brings a few cookies for each person, and exchanges them with the cookies everyone else brought. So in this case, I brought four dozen of one cookie variety to the party, and left with a dozen different varieties (four of each kind.)  It's a pretty efficient way to accomplish your holiday baking!

Reindeer Snickerdoodles provided by LW.

As we prepared to leave, AK once again gave us take-away bags for our completed crafts. This time, she wrote a poem that was attached to each bag.

She wrote a poem! For our craft party! What a gal.

And speaking of those creations, here's a sample of what we made and decorated our houses with this year:

Wrapped gifts, made from wood blocks, fabric, and adornments.

The Holy Family, made with wood blocks, twine, and Christmas balls.

Christmas tree forest, made out of cereal boxes and fabric.

I love that holiday cheer abounds even here in the sunny Cayman Islands. I'll take any excuse for a craft party, but Christmas is an especially wonderful reason to be creative. So wonderful, in fact, that I didn't stop with this party. Nope; only a few hours later, I had another craft party lined up. The Christmas crafting had only just begun!