Top 5 Blogs for a Home-Made Christmas

Top 5 Blogs For A Home-Made Christmas

'Tis the season, once again. Big woolly jumpers, crackling fires and the smell of roasting turkey mixed with Christmas tree; old movies and shiny ribbons, mulled wine and mince pies. Christmas is absolutely my favourite time of year and I love getting into the holiday spirit as soon as December rolls around. Spending quality time with my family and friends during the festivities is the best part by far, and one great way to do this throughout advent is to all get together and try out a few festive arts, crafts and baking recipes. I love getting creative and trying to come up with different ways to surprise my loved ones over Christmas - whether it's by sending a bespoke card for a change, or popping round for a cuppa with a batch of home-made Christmas cookies.

If you're like me and want more of a 'Home-Made Christmas' this year, then I would definitely recommend that you visit the following 5 blogs. I've hand-picked these specially as being the most current, inventive, easy-to-navigate and wide-ranging websites for getting quality tips, tricks and techniques for all sorts of different Christmas activities that you, your friends and all the family can enjoy.

1. Seasons of Joy

This blog is self-titled ‘Seasons of Joy’ and it certainly offers innovative craft ideas for important festivities all year round – from Christmas decorating tips and Halloween costume ideas to inspiration for Easter and Mother’s/Father’s Day presents. Brenda focuses on a lot of sewing, quilting and crafting projects which combine traditional, time-honoured techniques with modern ideas to keep your homemade ventures current. I’m desperate to try out her pattern for these classic cuffed stockings – they seem really original and quirky, and I much prefer the look of these to the store-bought stockings that can be a bit generic. I’m hoping to try this pattern out for the first time this year for my little niece and nephew and, if they’re a success, I might just keep going all year round until I’ve made enough for all the family!

2. Keeping The Christmas Spirit Alive

You can tell that Natasha at Keeping The Christmas Spirit Alive has a real passion for Christmas and everything that comes with it. She seems to really love preparing for the holiday season with cool Christmas crafts, cooking and carols and shares everything that she has learned throughout her own journey with her readers. She’s also open to sharing the tips and tricks of other like-minded bloggers, which I think proves her genuine love for this special season. I tried out her recipe for Christmas Cake Pop Puddings last year and they were incredible! Plus they looked so cute that my little niece and nephew absolutely loved them!

3. My Christmas

Nicole and the team at the My Christmas Blog describe themselves as the ‘Christmas specialists’ and I wouldn’t say they’re exaggerating all that much. This blog is filled with exclusively-Christmas decorating, planning and entertaining ideas: from making your own festive staircase garlands and discussing different Christmas tree colour schemes to helping readers stay on top of all their festive jobs with the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. As to be expected with the blog of any online shop, My Christmas do tend to push their own products more than anything else, but don’t let this put you off. A lot of the items on their site are really great value, but if you don’t happen to like a certain item featured in a blog post then there’s always bound to be suitable alternatives out there.

4. Best Christmas Ever

This blog is a really great all-rounder! It offers advice, inspiration and helpful suggestions on everything from gift ideas and decorations to discussing the ‘best smells of Christmas’ and help with holiday overeating. Rather than being over-instructional, this blog seems to just celebrate everyone’s input and likes to come up with conversation-starters to encourage reader engagement. My favourite section has to be the Best 10 Holiday Romances of all time: I absolutely love watching ‘While You Were Sleeping’ all curled up in front of the fire with the family at Christmas!

5. PartiCraft

This blog isn’t just for Christmas, however it is all about decorative paper crafting: and what better time to look into the art of home-made cards then during the festive season? PartiCraft is updated daily (which I always think is a really positive sign) and includes links to everything you will need from cutting dies and embossing folders to spellbinders and ‘cosmic shimmer’ – all while providing you with various tips and techniques to inspire your inner creativity. There are also weekly card giveaways, if you really like the look of one of their designs.

A lot of the designs on here are really sophisticated and are often multi-layered; when they’re finished they always look really elegant. Your recipients may not even know that they are home-made! I really love this Shimmery Channel Card, (pictured above) which looks so in keeping with the brand’s overall design. I’m definitely trying this one out myself - a lot of my friends would absolutely love to receive a card like this, (as would I!) So pretty, intricate and stylish.

Crafts are always a great way to get messy and creative with the whole family during the run-up to Christmas. But what’s great about these cards is that they have a genuinely refined look to them. With PartiCraft, you can get all the fun of making them, whilst still getting the polished appearance of any store-bought card.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope this round-up of my Top 5 Blogs for a Home-Made Christmas have helped and inspired you to get creative this holiday season with your loved ones. If you've come across a particularly great craft-related Christmas blog that I haven't mentioned then please get in touch - I know I'm always looking for new inspiration! Please let me know what you think about this post, what projects you've got lined up for Christmas or how you'll be spending the holidays in the comments section below. Merry Christmas everybody!