me + my boys: DIY Christmas Gift Boxes 🎁🎄

EMBROIDERY

PUNCH NEEDLE

WEAVING

Hey, it's Julie here,

I hope you are having a great week so far! Here's what's happening this week at Clever Poppy.

In today's email:

On the Blog: Which Beginner bundle to gift this Christmas
Zooming Home for Christmas member examples
Member's beautiful Festive Alphabet version
A fun and unique way to wrap your gifts this year
A handy app to help keep track of your social events
Shop Highlight: Day 7 of our 12 Days of Christmas sale
In my world: Summer is here!

On the Blog... Which Beginner Bundle do I gift?

Christmas will soon be upon us... and you know what that means! It's a great time to show loved ones just how much they mean to you.

When it comes to learning a new hobby, we often hear people say that they don't have the time, or can't justify spending the money on themselves. So what better way to provide them with the perfect excuse to have some me time, than by gifting them one of our gorgeous Beginner Bundles?

If you are unsure which Beginner Bundle to gift, we have a great blog article here, to help you choose which craft best suits your giftee's unique personality.

SHOP BUNDLES HERE

Zooming Home for Christmas examples

If you are looking for inspo on some Christmas stitching to try your hand at, then here are some beautiful examples of our pattern 'Zooming Home for Christmas' shared by a few of our lovely members. How fun are they?!

Our founding member Ange had some awesome feedback to share on this pattern - I hope this gives any of you who are feeling a bit daunted a little nudge to go for it too! "I got sooo much joy from this one and my satin stitch has really improved - it no longer terrifies me 😂".

If you would like to give this pattern a go, you can grab the pattern kit from our shop, by clicking the link below.

Zooming Home for Christmas Pattern Kit

Grab our pattern kit here!

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What have our Makers been up to?

How gorgeous is this version of our Festive Alphabet pattern, stitched onto dark fabric, by our member Sally?

She said: "First Teacher gift of the year done. Loved playing around with the colours on this one."

What a lovely and thoughtful way to show your appreciation for your children's Teachers this Christmas!

What's inspiring me on the creative front...

If you are interested in trying something different for your Christmas gift wrapping this year, my DIY Gift bags are a great way to personalise your gifts. These are sooo easy to make and you can use supplies you already have lying around the house! You can check out how to make them over in our blog article here.

Something Helpful...

If you are anything like me and have lots of social events happening this time of year, then this awesome calendar sharing app Amy shared with me recently might be handy! It's basically a calendar you can share with your significant other, or friends and family to help keep track of all of your events and daily tasks. Amy uses the free version and thinks it's soo handy because you can both see what each other have got planned for the day and where things may clash. Check it out below and let us know what you think!

Shop Highlights...

Beginner Bundles: These are the perfect gift to give this Christmas and we have 3 different bundles to choose from! Embroidery, Punch Needle or Weaving... which one will you choose? Use the guide above in our blog article for some help deciding!
Day 7 of 12 Days of Christmas sale: The Gardening Bee Digital pattern: Our ever popular Gardening Bee pattern is available as a digital version for TODAY ONLY! My digital patterns are usually only available to members, so if you have someone in mind who loves gardening - then this is the perfect pattern to make as a gift. Check out this digital pattern here on our website.

Punch Needle Beginner's Bundle

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Woven Wall Hangings Beginner's Bundle

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Embroidery Beginner's Bundle

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The Gardening Bee Digital Pattern

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In my world...

This time of year can be so busy right?! I keep hearing people say how they barely have an evening free in the lead up to Christmas. We are usually like that, but I've made a pretty conscious effort this year to keep our schedule as free as possible over the next few weeks. Of course we have lots of social gatherings we're looking forward to - but anything that I could park or shift to next year I have. And I guess because we work together (for ourselves) we don't have the string of work and client Christmas parties others may have. So as a result, things are looking less overwhelming, which is a good feeling!

We had an awesome day out boating last weekend with mates - it honestly felt like summer with kayaking, bubbles in the sunshine and plenty of swims! Which makes it feel even more strange when I see posts from my friends overseas sharing about snow and chilly temperatures.

Here at Clever Poppy HQ I'm busy getting the next round of our monthly patterns finalised. I spend most of Jan out of the office and that's an important time for me to have some creative freedom without deadlines or set projects. But the flip side is a big workload in the lead up! It's fun though and I am sooooo excited about the patterns we have coming your way in early 2023. One is a guest pattern and it's so beautiful I literally can't stop looking at it….

Ok have a wonderful rest of your week, I hope you can squeeze in a bit of me-time to keep your feet grounded.

P.S. I thought you'd like a peek at some personalised baubles I've been making on some lovely Kona cottons. What do you think of the little bear and owl? I think they're pretty cute!