Handmade Homemade Holidays – December Update

Do any of these sound familiar?

You start the year with the intention to hand make gifts for some or all those on your gift list. Then two weeks before Christmas you only have some of those gifts made. Maybe even none of the gifts?

So you spend those two weeks frantically making gifts for as many on your list as possible, don’t have time to enjoy the lead up to Christmas and are exhausted on the big day itself. Or you give up and buy gifts again this year (which blows your budget completely.)

Or perhaps you decided you want your home to have that old-fashioned handmade holiday look but never got around to making anything to add to your decor.

Believe me, I get it. Life has a tendency to get away from us despite our best intentions. 

That’s why we created our membership, Handmade Homemade Holidays: Your Guide to a Debt Free, Stress Free Christmas. We welcomed our first members in August of this year.

Upon joining, they each received a starter Christmas Planner to help them create a spending and savings plan so that when the holidays rolled around they’d have the money to pay for them without reaching for their credit cards. Then every month they’re provided with additional planner sheets to make getting ready for the holidays more organized and less stressful.

Members also received patterns for projects to get a head start on their Christmas crafting.

You can find out more of what was waiting for them inside the membership when they joined in our post announcing Handmade Homemade Holidays.

Today I thought I’d show you what we’ve been up to in the membership in the months since we opened.

What Members Received Each Month

September started off the first of a three part series of embroidery patterns that I designed to be turned into a wall hanging I named Santa Works His Magic.

The first pattern in the series was called Ready for Santa.

Members also received the pattern for these Easy Drawstring Gift Bags in three different sizes.

Santa’s Last Stop was the second in the three part series of embroidery patterns.

They also received the pattern to make Easy Envelope Pillow Covers.

Adding pillow covers to your existing pillows is one of the easiest ways to add a pop of holiday cheer to your decor.

Fabric requirements and cutting instructions for standard square cushion sizes from 16″ all the way up to 24″ were included in the pattern.

The completed pillow cover is fully lined to give them a professional looking finish.

Unlike a lot of envelope style pillow covers, these won’t gape open on the back showing the pillow inside.

Then in November, members received the third and final pattern in the series; Santa Was Here!

As you can see, Santa was very busy on his last stop.

They’re all brought together in the Santa Works His Magic wall hanging for which members received complete instructions to sew together.

We kicked off December with a Virtual Cookie Exchange. Members are encouraged to share their favorite Christmas cookie recipes and then I’ll compile them all into a mini e-book that they’ll all receive.

A video tutorial was created to demonstrate how easy it is to make your own outdoor Christmas planter. It’s available to view in both our membership’s private Facebook group and the membership site.

And there’s more yet to come this month!

What’s Coming to Handmade Homemade Holidays in 2020?

I have exciting things planned for the coming year!

An all new Christmas planner will be provided so that members can begin planning and saving early. No more putting Christmas on the credit card and then spending the following six months to a year paying it off only for the cycle to start again the following year.

There will also be planner sheets to help you plan out your handmade gifts well in advance so you have time to get them done.

There’s a Block of the Month starting in the spring. Members will be making blocks for a Christmas quilt. It will be mostly pieced blocks with a little bit of applique and simple embroidery.

Complete instructions will be provided so that even an advanced beginner can complete the quilt with confidence. Basic sewing knowledge and a willingness to try new things is all that’s required.

There will be more embroidery patterns. Another three part series, this time to make a Redwork Advent Calendar is just one pattern that’s on the schedule.

More sewing patterns for holiday decor and gifts are also planned.

If there’s enough interest, I’ll begin including other crafts.

I hope to bring in guest speakers as well to share their knowledge and talents.

So it’s going to be a fun year of planning for and making ahead for the holidays.

The membership will be open again to the public in late January but I’ve decided to hold a 48 flash sale this week just for those who are on the wait list.

So if creating a handmade, homemade, debt free, stress free Christmas sounds like something you’d like to be part of, head over to Handmade Homemade Holidays, scroll down and get your name on the list!

I’d love your help to get the word out about our membership. Please pin this post to your favorite holiday Pinterest boards.

I’d also love it if you shared it on Twitter and Facebook as well. 🙂

I would be so pleased if you chose to share by clicking on one of the buttons below!