Your Home Christmas Made Easy

After a difficult year, we’re determined to help you make this your best Christmas ever. So we’ve crammed this issue of Christmas Made Easy with everything you need to make your festive celebrations really special. We’ve got craft projects galore to help you give your gifts, cards and decorations a unique homemade touch. You’ll also find this year’s must-have decorating trends along with lots of easy styling ideas to make your home look stunning. We’ve also got plenty of practical advice to help you steer smoothly through the season, from our expert guide to buying a Christmas tree, to our top tips to help you cut the cost of your Christmas dinner, presents and parties. And of course, you’ll find plenty of delicious recipe ideas, from our ultimate festive feast,…

October Get crafting If you’re hoping to ‘wow’ friends and family with some homemade gifts and cards this year, now is the time to get stuck in, before things get too hectic. As always, we have plenty of inspiration – check out pages 80-85 for our home-made gift ideas and pages 18-21 for cards. We’ve also discovered this super-cute hamper kit, £9.99 from Ginger Ray, which includes a hamper, 60cm of gold glitter ribbon, shred for packing, a Christmas tree tag and two metres of acetate film. INTO THE WOODS Plenty of fresh air is vital for our well-being and this is just as important during the winter months. The whole family will enjoy a visit to the local woods, whatever the weather. Children in particular will love hunting for…

This Scandi-style Advent calendar is stunning in its simplicity and can be reused year after year. Pack it away carefully and, the following Christmas, you can just replace the treats inside the envelopes with something different so it’ll last forever. It also doubles up as a wonderful festive wall hanging; just add pretty baubles and extra decorations. Designer Becki Clark show us how to create it… Materials • Large branch• Twine• Mini envelopes• Treats to fill your calendar’s envelopes with• Pencil• Brush lettering pen• Foliage• Hole punch• Scissors Becki’s tips Make sure your branch is wide enough to fit 24 tags on. You don’t want them to get tangled up. If you’re short of time, you can replace the words with numbers. String fairy lights through the branch to make…

What attracted you to the art of brush lettering? I was actually working as a greetings card designer back in 2014 when brush lettering started to become popular (mainly in the States at that time), so my boss asked if I could try and learn how to do it. After watching lots of YouTube videos and experimenting I found I really enjoyed the process of brush lettering and realised just how calming it can be. What essential tools do you need to buy to begin brush lettering? The most important thing is your pen and paper. That’s why it is such a great craft because there aren’t loads of essential tools to get out and pack away each time. Once you get started though, buying pens becomes addictive, I have…

Share a SPECIAL STORY Treat your little ones to a new Christmas-themed book (and maybe some new pyjamas too) and read it together each night in the run-up to Christmas. Make a note of the year you gave it to your children inside the cover so you can keep it and look back on it in years to come once the kids have grown up. FORAGE IN THE FOREST Wrap up warm and head out to your local woodland or hedgerow and hunt for some festive foliage, such as holly, ivy, mistletoe and pinecones, which you can turn into homemade decorations. Just remember to only cut a few sprigs and leave plenty of berries for the birds. Have a garland competition Keep the kids amused on a cold winter’s afternoon…

SHOPPING LIST Penguin template Coloured cardstock Festive papers Oval, heart and circle dies (optional) Snowflake embellishment Adhesive gems Buttons and pompom Beading wire and ribbon Craft knife or scissors Pencil and ruler Glue pen Foam pads Penguin pals This snowy pair of feathered friends are so simple to make using just some basic nesting dies and festive papers. If you don’t have a die cutter, just use scissors to cut out the shapes for your penguins. TO MAKE THE BOY PENGUIN… 1 Take a 14cm square card blank. Line up the template with the fold and cut out. Cut the template from black and white lattice card. Glue to the front of the card. 2 Cut the heart-shaped body centre from white card. Create the eyes from small nesting circle…