It’s Christmas Eve.
We’re down at the beach visiting my Mum who lives at Tootgarook. It’s about an hour and a half’s drive south of where we live in Melbourne. The quirky tree ornament greeting us at her front door is made from coat hangers covered in tinsel. Yes, she’s my mum and all that crazy packaging-repurposing and scrap-hoarding crafty goodness has come down to me through her genes.
Just as well she keeps all that stuff – we haven’t wrapped the presents yet so Mum’s stash will have a good going over before the end of the day. I feel quite odd if I buy new wrapping paper. Like I’ve suddenly changed bodies with someone else. It doesn’t feel right somehow. I blame Mum for this. And I thank her. Thanks Mum – love you, love ya work.
I thought I’d spend a little time linking to other lovely crafty mums and not-mums who are great with the re-craft.
Decorations…
Top of the tops for me is my gorgeous friend Julianne who is a mum who crafts and blogs and loves both types of music, country and western. Check out her re-purposed, upcycled craftiness and her glorious re-styled pre-loved vintage glamourousness at Sister Outlaws. In particular I’ve been loving her Coffee Sack Stars ornaments and her shiny shiny Glamtastic Disco Wreath. I should have linked to these earlier – but they’re worth checking out for a little late eco Christmas gawking!
Wrapping…
The Crafty Crow is a fabulous hunter gatherer of the kid-crafty kind. I’ve followed the linky links to Buggy and Buddy’s tutorial on printing your own furoshiki - Japanese wrapping cloth – and a feast of re-crafted wrapping from the Rockin’ Art Moms. I really like Pink Stripey Socks’s interactive poppable wrapping paper made from bubble wrap. That’s my kind of wrap! Follow the Rockin’ Holiday Pinterest board for more.
Presents…
In my Christmas Letter to Santa I directed him to Betty Jo Designs and suggested he make special note of Petal Seasons necklace and the ‘I still call Australia Home’ wall plaque. These glorious creations are made from pre-loved Linoleum off-cuts. I totally adore them, they make me smile. I hope Santa gets my letter on time. I really have been a very good girl. Truly. Betty Jo blogs at the Lino Forest, but sadly her Gleaners Inc shop has closed it’s doors so browsing is online only.
I love finding new uses for the discarded, post-consumed and pre-loved. Wrapping presents, that crazy festive exercise in crafting the most ephemeral of artworks (one excited exclamation, one look, one touch and it’s gone) seems a very appropriate place to use (and reuse) those bits and pieces otherwise overlooked or thrown away.
So today, as we hide in the spare bedroom sorting through the collected papers and bits of ribbon and string and wrapping the odd-shaped presents oddly, we – Mum and I – salute all the parents and not-parents out there who’ve passed on their out-of-the-box craftiness to us all.
Happy Holidays everyone!