Crafted with Love Christmas Countdown Continued

Ok...it's been three weeks since we last conversed about getting organized, getting creating and working our way towards Christmas prepared with what we have planned for heartfelt handmade gifts.

Have you made your list of whom you will gift? I have but knowing how busy these coming months are for me and my family I have decided not to make the usual 30 gift boxes this year and have drastically paired down my list to half of it's original size. I hate being realistic when it comes to creating but I know I want to be 100% involved in my gift making and 100% successful in completing everything I've set out to complete. Every year we give gift boxes to our family and friends full of handmade goodies. Last year I canned 30 jars of spiced peach butter and baked over 25 dozen (yes you read that correctly) cookies. I made 150 handcrafted Christmas cards and created a handmade ornament to top off all the boxes. 

Now the real work begins. Its time to calculate the remaining time left until Christmas (132 days) with how long it will realistically take to finish the decided project(s). For my project I have lots of experience with timing. I will use it as an example on how to calculate the time. I know it usually takes me 2 months to make 150 Christmas cards. So I need to start those in October. I've already decided on the design and what supplies I will need and I plan to place the order September 1st. Over the years of doing these gift boxes I have set aside the tried and true recipes for the baked goods. I need to in the next 2 weeks choose what recipes I will be making this year and make a list of the grocery items I need to prepare. I premix those recipes that the dough can be frozen. Usually I will get that done by mid November. I still need to decide how I will be packing the gift boxes. 

What are the breakdowns for your project? What needs to be accomplished first? How much time do you need to get each breakdown finished? 

TIP: Document your progress and turn it into a scrapbooking opportunity. Just another Journaling Prompt Scrapertunity!

Follow Nina's Art Spot on Instagram and get monthly, weekly then daily countdown reminders to help keep you on track to your Crafted with Love Christmas! 💟

Crafted with Love Christmas Count Down.....

Crafted with 💟 Christmas count down

It's official, today is midway to Christmas and the first day you need to start thinking about those home-made, hand crafted, one of a kind, specially made from your heart kind of gifts. I'm a planner so everything I do I plan out to make sure it gets done...with as much ease as possible. I of course have a planner for this. You do not need a planner but a pad of paper is helpful.

I would start off with making a list of those people you would like to bless this year with a 💟 felt gift. Then to decide on what you are making for them. I generally go with one type of project for them all. That way its only one set up etc. For example. Let's say I'm going to make a mini album for those I'm blessing. I can cut the same size base pages out for all the albums at the same time. Even if all the pages are different types of paper its a lot faster if they are basically the same size/type item. 

The next step is to create a project supply list. This is a full list for all the gifts. Once the needed supply list is created I would then start pulling out what I already have on hand and make a new list of those things I need to purchase. 

The next step is fun. It is to purchase the items that still need to be purchased. 

Then comes the hard part, calculating the remaining time left until Christmas with how long it will realistically take you to finish the project. Generally I usually break it up into sections. How long do I think it will take me to for example the mini albums, cut all my card-stock, design, correlate photos, cut photos, journal and actually bring it all together into the final pieces.

For the first 3 steps I would give yourself 1-2 weeks only. You can really get lost in the decision making if you let yourself.

Here are some ideas for making decision's on what to make:

• Close to my Hearts Annual Inspirations (Catalog/Idea Book) is choked full of ideas
• Make it from your Heart Vol 1 & Vol 2  are very inexpensive ($7.95 ea) go to idea resources on gift ideas for home decor
• Pinterest ~ Has a ton of ideas for craft projects and gift giving ideas.
• YouTube ~ Although we only have one tutorial up now there will be more going up and there is so much out there now.
• Periscope ~ Start following people who show tutorials.
• Michaels/Hobby Lobby ~ Take a tour with your phone to get ideas. Take pictures of your ideas. Hobby Lobby usually has project cards you can take for Free!

If you are doing something using pictures here are my top three photo printing places:

• Groovebook - It is a sign up app on your phone. It is $2.99 for shipping 100 4" x 6" pictures off your phone or tablet only. It is printed in a book format each month on a fairly thin glossy paper. However the date that each photo was taken is printed on the binding edge just prior to the perforation.  Use Code FICKETT21 for your first book of 100 prints FREE. To Redeem: Download the Groovebook app, sign up, then enter the promo code.
• Shutterfly - Is a good one as well although they are more expensive at $0.15 a print. However, sometimes they have additional coupons you can use. Their paper quality is a bit higher. They have both an app for android and you can upload photos from your computer.  When I'm using photos for scrapbooks and other projects  I still prefer the functionality of Groovebooks book style with the dates printed in them over the upgrade on the paper.
• SnapFish - Has a Free 100 prints with sign up bonus. They also have both an app and you can upload photos from your computer. Cost of their 4" x 6" prints are $0.09 each. However, I have felt their quality vs functionality is the lowest of the three options I've listed here.

There are more out there like Free Prints (they give you 80 Free prints a month, but you pay a lot for shipping), Walgreens but their website is full of glitches and I spend too much time hassling with their website....and many more.

I will keep the count down coming with tips, tricks and check in's here on the blog and more frequently on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with the basic count down!

Happy Planning

Nina