12 Months of Christmas, or Homespun Christmas Challenge

Hello there! How are you? I can't believe 2014 is almost over, can you? It's actually Christmas evening as I type this. The presents have all been opened, the food has all been eaten, (not really, we have lots of left-overs), our company for the day have all left to go home, our littlest and my handsome hubby are currently playing a game together on their computers, and I am just relaxing.

All-in-all, it was a great day, and I will write more about it on our family blog, but leading up to it was just too hectic for me. As usual, I planned lots of fun things to make for family and friends, but I planned them too late, and spent the last several weeks in a flurry of busy-ness that I just didn't like. There were many other family oriented things I would have like to have done, but just didn't have the time to do it. I didn't even get Christmas cards out this year. I have quite a few made, just didn't get time to sign and address them, or write our annual letter. :-( Here's a picture of some of the projects I did get done this year.

While speaking with a couple other friends, I found that I'm not alone in this. Without planning ahead, the year just goes by too fast and once December hits, there's so many other things going on, that there's just not enough time to do all the fun, crafty things for others. I would like this next year to be different. I want to plan ahead and work on things a little at a time, month by month. I sat here this evening and made a list of things I could do ahead of time to make life easier next December and divided it up into month-by-month challenges. I find that I work better when I am challenged and when I have someone to hold me accountable, so, at the beginning of each month, I am going to post my challenge for that month, and then come back at the end of the month and let you know how I did. You are welcome to play along with me if you'd like. You could post ideas and projects you are working on, and let us know whether you met the challenge or not. Keep in mind that your challenges each month may not look just like mine. For instance, I plan on making 10 Christmas cards each month. That way, by the end of November I will have 110 cards ready to go. I don't need that many, but I can use the extras for gifts. You may need more than that, or a lot less.

Anyway, since this is December, and not officially 2015 yet, I am going to give you a pre-challenge. Get out there and take advantage of the after-Christmas sales. Stock up on some things that you are pretty sure you can use next year, whether it be for a handmade gift, or just a gift in general. I personally am hoping to find a bunch of fuzzy socks on sale since it seems like every little girl in my life right now LOVES fuzzy socks and I can use them for gifts throughout the year. I also make ornaments for my nieces and nephews every year, so I stocked up on some blank ceramic ornaments at 66% off yesterday. I think I may do something like this with them. I would love to show you the ones I made this year, using Stampin' Up's Simply Pressed Clay, but, as with many other things, I didn't have time to get pictures before I mailed them off. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) Well, since I think a post with just one photo is kind of boring, here's a picture of one of my past ornaments.

Don't forget that Stampin Up! is having a Year-End Closeout. There are quite a few holiday stamp sets, papers and embellishments on sale right now, some of them up to 80% off!

I have one other challenge for you, and that is to help me with a name for this challenge. My original idea (actually, it was my daughter-in-love's idea) was the 12 Months of Christmas Challenge, which I love, but I also like the image Homespun Christmas conjures up. What do you think? Any other ideas?

Well, it looks like my family is ready for bed now, so I will close here. Please let me know if you'd like to play along with our challenges this year and help me with my name of it. :-)

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!