♥♥ MSE Organised For Christmas 2009 ♥♥

chocolate.orange_2

Julie_H wrote: »

Thank you i did a disco last year got the room for free and the disco for free so that was a great help. I had tea lights in lovely little glasses and everyone paid a £1.00 for them and they got a lables on the which said **in the memory of** and then they could write the persons name on there and they looked so nice all lit up on all the tables i put on some food and we had a raffle as well i may need help with the sticky lables again this year if anyone can help me with them as i just cant get the hang of them

Please double check that candles are allowed if you are going to actually want to lit them at your event. Some places will not allow naked flames

If you did want to follow this route alot of laces do battery operated tealights that are ok to use... They do cost abit more though. I am sure Wilkinson have them at about 39p each

FreebieRocker

Green or red... Hmmm... Maybe I should use BOTH! Hehe.

paddingtondoo

Blimey choccy you're organised - now I know why you don't do much crafting - just stroke your stuff as you whizz past :rotfl:
Good idea about labelling the boxes - I keep looking at mine and have to think who the stuff is for .

Just checked ebay again item ending tonight is up to £5.75 and it was all free clinique stuff :T

I've done the ironing so now have more stuff to list

chocolate.orange_2

paddingtondoo wrote: »

Blimey choccy you're organised - now I know why you don't do much crafting - just stroke your stuff as you whizz past :rotfl:
Good idea about labelling the boxes - I keep looking at mine and have to think who the stuff is for .

Just checked ebay again item ending tonight is up to £5.75 and it was all free clinique stuff :T
I've done the ironing so now have more stuff to list

:T Padingtondoo

Ive just updated a little bit about my mini ebay challenge on the Thrifty Gifty Money Making for Christmas & Occasions 2009

Yes well pretty papers are for stroking not cutting up unless you buy a big stash and have the intention of keeping one full set totally untouched..... and then even went as far as buying an album to keep them in .....
Hahaha i do sooooo love the Once Upon a Time papers

mhagster

CHOCCY; totally with you on the papers are for looking at.....can you imagine cutting into beautiful paper....arrrgh noooooo!

mary43

choccy - you're so organised..............I start off that way then my notebook gets in such a confused stateI forget what I've bought or made for who
Tried to be better this year but seems I'm not - among my stash I've grabbed cheap I've got more for women than men/boys

Was hoping to go to local boot fair this morning to put the balance right but 'rain stopped play' so tomorrow I'll do the charity shops -again !

pinkladymel

Anglea I usually make really intricate layouts and projects so when I really want to craft but can't be bothered to get everything out I just make some cards instead. What kind of cards I make depends on what papers or stamps I feel like using or just how I feel but at the end of a session i've usually caught up on all my tv and made a batch of cards ready to go in a box Sometimes, I will just sit there and stamp an image 10 times and decoupage it, colour it, add gems and cut round them so they are ready made toppers for cards to make in the future. Love the sound of your card making organiser, I want one of those What were the strange cards in it?? LOL

Oh and on the subject of sealed tins, I used a bucket of popcorn for mine but you could use anything that you can't see into and can cut a hole in.. tubs of Smash.. washing powder box? LOL I dont know

MrsGibbs NO WAY!! that is so brilliant!! What kind of a cross stitch picture was it? Talk about determination and hard work.. WELL DONE xx I bet you feel brilliant today and don't want to see another cross stitch as long as you live lol

LucyLu I am EXACTLY like you.. I find loads of really cheap bargains and then I just end up giving people a ridiculous amount of gifts. The worse thing is that each year you have to top last year so I am ending up spending silly amounts on people. I just always over compensate for my bargains instead of taking them at full RRP.

JulieH I can't get the hang of sticky labels either and I understand it is quite easy in Microsoft Word but I don't even have that on this PC. I am sure there are loads of people who would be willing to help. I love the idea of the tealights on the tables all glowing I think that is so beautiful... what a lovely idea x

Smilelols What we do every year is print out the organisation countdown to christmas book sheets from organizedchristmas.com and make a folder with them. I am so glad you have took the plunge to join us and very impressed you have all your cards made already

...TBC...

Anglea

Hi all,

I don't know about the rest of you but I'd gladly spend all day reading Special Occasions forum, doing organising folders and thinking Christmas - and forgetting that there is a 'real life' as well! I really enjoyed reading your posts and seeing how super-organised some of you are.

Mel, so you're one of the organised 'toppers' people. I must get round to doing that too (the proverbial - one day in the future LOL that we crafters always think when we buy dozens of kits and mags and have more ideas than we need)

Those card folders I mentioned - the cards were photographed in such a way that they looked faded (and nasty)!

I've got a tip about folders for papers, stickers, embellishments etc. I bought some files from Ethel Austin that were very cheap. They are very big, from US and have lots of dividers that are also sleeves you can fit things inside them for each holiday season e.g. Spring, Halloween, Winter etc only trouble is they have 3 holes not our usual 2 so I have to add pages by slipping them inside those plastic sleeves that have lots of holes down the side. They also have a number of white thick pages at the back that you can put stickers directly on them then peel them off.

Sealed tins - thanks for the ideas.

Papers - I don't exactly stroke these ones, more like coo over them! - a little boy in his pyjamas holding a teddy - so sweet and nostalgic!

Notebook/folders etc - here are my tips -Add a section about your home.

Years ago I had a leak in my upstairs bathroom, the water went into the kitchen right at the end of November. The kitchen was in a right state right up to a few days before Christmas. I stored a lot of items behind the sofa and the garage e.g. bowls, utensils I don't use a lot, emergency tools, cleaning stuff. Three years later and they are still there :mad:

The biggest part of my organising lists are around the house. It would be so nice to get them out of the way as whenever I think of my special occasions folders I start to feel guilty.

Another section -Yourself - as we spend all year thinking of others and making everything nice for the special occasions, very easy to overlook ourselves.

So if you've got any health issues, worries, personal goals think how they could affect the festive period and use them as a focus. Try and get working on them BEFORE December. And don't forget outfits, haircuts etc. as often you need a bit of planning about those. (I never follow my own advice :rolleyes:)

I think I'll add a section this year about containers, paper, ribbons etc needed to make those jar gifts etc . And include printer ink and all those items that we forget are necessary and normally take for granted we have them.

Do you find that sometimes you forget the obvious?

mhagster

hello Aurora!

I got my cath Kidston brochure yesterday, I'm another person who could just buy everything .................if only i had the money!

smilelols

Hi all
Made not only myself a Christmas folder, but also made them for my 2 best friends as well!
Have divided it into 6 key sections, they are: -
Presents lists
Christmas card lists
Calender (from Sept - Dec, so we can pre-plan when to do things like baking christmas cakes (I've got 5 to make this year!), wrapping presents, nights out etc.
Christmas food shopping list
Menu for over the Christmas and new year period
Receipes

Have made the templates up for each section on the computer - so in theory can moce all the pages from this years folder to the back and start again a fresh next year with what I've done this year kept as reference!

Now all I need to do is be brave (and have a speare weekend) so get all the stuff I've bought since last Christmas out from under the bed and out of all the cupbaords so that I can work out who I'm giving what!

Phew - only 222 days to go!