Craft your way to an Ideal (Home) Christmas

Way back in the height of Summer (you recall – those three months a little while ago when the UK was submerged under monsoon rainfall, following the Spring where the UK was, um, submerged under monsoon rainfall) I found myself, as you do, ensconced in baubles, wreaths and crackers galore whilst working as Feature Writer and Festive Crafter on Ideal Home’s standalone magazine, Ideal Home’s Complete Guide to Christmas. Under the fantastic editorship of Heather Young, we popped crackers, crafted advent cones and sampled a whole host of Christmas culinary creations to bring you a comprehensive guide to Winterval. The tone of the magazine throughout is of hankering down with friends and loved ones for a cosy, traditional family Christmas, with a slight homespun, crafty spin to keep things contemporary – perfect for these chilly, cash-strapped times.

As well as several shopping features, I produced and styled a wall hanging advent calendar project, using some good ol’ loo roll tubes, candy-striped gift wrap and numerous strips of double-sided tape, plus showed different styling ideas for customising some DIY cracker kits and arranged a right-lovely display of kitchen cupboard food staples. There are also some fab festive styling ideas for getting your Christmas dinner off with a bang courtesy of Ali Bradshaw, plus sweet ideas to customise shop-bought gifts by Selina Lake. Available in all good newsagents now – go buy a copy and get your craft on!

{Image credits} Photography by Emma Mitchell and production/styling by Joanna Thornhill, for Ideal Home/IPC Media

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