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With the big day arriving in just over 2 months, I thought I would put together a list of what has been popular so far in the Shoppe. I have a few friends who would rather swim in an active volcano than shop for Christmas so this guide was made for those who feel the same way :)
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The one trend I am seeing so far is that anything personalized is HUGE right now.
Recipe Towel
The biggest seller in my Shoppe for this year is this recipe towel. It's such a beautiful way to bring a loved one's recipe to life especially with their own handwriting. My favourite order was a Christmas dinner prep list that was pressed into a towel. Personal notes about who preferred which brand of pies and shrimp rings were noted which made it a wonderful keepsake.
Personalized Coaster Set
Another great option is this personalized coaster set. It can turn into whatever you want it to be. Perhaps you have photos of a memorable vacation, wedding photos that you want to turn into a gift for your spouse, photos of the kids for Grandparents or special signatures and messages of love from past family/friends. One of my favourite orders was putting together a coaster set with photos of a childhood family home that had recently sold. This home was in the family for many years so a coaster set was made to give to their parents for Christmas.
Santa Mug and Reindeer Food Bundle
When the kids were little, we used to sprinkle oatmeal and glitter onto our lawn so Santa's reindeer would find our home and also, for the reindeer to get a snack. The excitement of them running out into the cold in their PJs to sprinkle our lawn, on Christmas Eve is something I will always remember. This set includes a mug to hold Santa's milk that is personalized to your kiddo (s) names and a Reindeer Treat Bag all ready to go for Christmas Eve.
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Baby's First Christmas Bundle
Is there a baby in your family/friend crew that is celebrating their first Christmas this year? It's such an exciting time. Even if they have no clue what is happening, it's a milestone event to be celebrated by everyone else.
Included in this bundle is a baby onesie and ornament to commemorate their first Christmas. Find the link below to purchase this set. If you don't wish to purchase the bundle, then I included links for each product instead.
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Festive Wine Totes
If you are planning on attending Christmas dinners or parties, then arrive with a bottle of wine, in festive style, with these handmade wine totes. Each tote will fit a standard bottle of wine.
Black and Red Checkered Wine Tote Link
Black "Wine" Christmas Wine Tote Link
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DIY Card Kits
These kits are a great idea for the crafter in your life. I highlighted the festive card kits that are available but the link below will take you to all of my available DIY card kits. Such a great way to dip your toes into making cards but without the pressure of designing them yourself.
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Apron Sets!
Make way for the most adorable collection of the year! If you have a little lady who loves to match her clothing to her doll, then this adorable apron set is a must have. For now, I just have festive options available but they are here ijust n time for Christmas baking season!
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Calling all Tea and Coffee Lovers..
There is something about sitting down with a cup of tea on a snowy, cold day. Even better if that tea is shared with a friend. Pair up a mug or tea cozy with their favourite blend of tea or coffee for a thoughtful gift!
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Movie Nostalgia...
Ah the classics! Every year, I have a stack of festive flicks that need to be watched. For the Griswold and White Christmas fans on your list, there are a few items below that are necessary to have!
The summer lovers reading this will not like what I have to say however, I always think of August as the lead up to fall. It's usually when I start getting the kids ready for back to school, the nights become cooler and there's just a "feeling" in the air. The other night, I was sitting in the living room reading a book (with my trusty glass of wine - YES!) and the way the light was coming in, it felt like fall. It's hard to explain but if you know - you know! LOL
A friend of mine recently asked me how our summer was and compared to the last 2 years (boo Covid), it was busy! We jumped on a plane a couple of times to visit family, went to a few Blue Jays games, attended concerts, and had BBQ's with friends. It felt wonderful to finally gather with our people as we hadn't seen since most of them since before Covid so that rocked. I guess you could say we made up for lost time!
Now that we're in back to school mode, I can't help but reminisce about the past. When the kids were little, it was a flurry of buying new clothes and shoes, new backpacks, and school supplies. Things are a bit different this year as our oldest is now working full time, our middle one is heading in to her last year of high school and the baby of the clan is starting high school - like what? Between all 3 kiddos, we spent 16 years at their elementary school and it has started to hit me that we won't be returning there in September. It means that my days as a parent volunteer at different school events and being a part of parent council are over.
While I mop up those tears, I'll be celebrating the fact that I'm done making lunches and I'll have more time to devote to my business given I am ramping up to the busy Christmas shopping season!
If anyone else is in this season, I'm right here with you. Hopefully your back to school week is a great one and just think, Thanksgiving/Halloween treats are just around the corner....xx
My love for Christmas far exceeds any other time of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love Spring where everything comes back to life and I absolutely love Fall with cooler weather and Thanksgiving. However, Christmas is just the best. (Notice how I didn't mention summer? That's because summer is absolutely rotten with heat waves and brown/dead grass - lol)
I love everything about the festive time of year. The sound of Bing Crosby's velvety voice coming through my speaker, tearing up at the old classic Christmas movies, groaning (and secretly loving) the cheesy Hallmark movies, putting up our Christmas tree (s), making gifts or shopping for that perfect gift, festive lattes, falling snow and reading a book under the glow of Christmas lights.
As a handmade business owner, one of the best parts about my job is that I usually starting playing with Christmas products in June. I spend the summer getting all of the festive stuff up and ready for the Christmas shopping rush so I absolutely love it.
It's only July but people are starting to think ahead to Christmas with some of the orders that have come through as of late. Better to be organized than not right? Follow the link below to find my Christmas collection and check back often as I will continue to add festive things as they are made!
Link: https://thecraftshoppecanada.com/collections/christmas
When I started my business, I began with making handmade greeting cards. To this day, I love cracking into a new package of card stock. Some friends had expressed interest in learning how to make cards so I decided to start holding workshops out of my home.
Each month, a number of ladies would take over my dining room where laughs, jokes, and chatter would happen. All while creating a set of cards that they can use for future events. Over time, I think it became less about making cards and more about getting together and escaping life for awhile. I remember one night, one of my friends came in the door, plopped on a chair and said "It has been a week". By the time she left, she was visibly more relaxed.
In Feb 2020, we had a card night where we made Birthday Cards. In the midst of being covered in glue dots, we talked about Covid and how it was starting to become a "thing" but we weren't sure what that "thing" would turn out to be. We found out a month later when the entire world shut down.
Seeing as we were told to stay inside, and limit contact with everyone, my workshops turned into card making kits which I delivered to everyone instead. What I love most about this is that even though Covid shut the world down, we still made cards. This was especially important given that for the better part of two years, we weren't able to go into a store to buy cards.
Last week, I finally opened up my doors and welcomed everyone back in again and we made cards. Everyone felt a little rusty (myself included) but it felt good to gather and gab....and make cards at the same time.
Take that Covid!
Let's take this back a little bit. We're going back to September of 1993 to be precise. I had just moved 1500km to attend University and as you can imagine, I was nervous and unsure of how to manage all of that. This was before the days of social media where you could "meet" fellow university students and pick out your courses and access your schedule online. Back in my day (as the older folks would say), I stood in different lines for an entire day just to pick out and register for my courses. Of course, there were a couple of times where I picked the wrong line which further delayed the process but I live to tell my story!
The program I was in (Honours Bachelor of Arts, Music) was in a separate building on campus and consisted of a smaller group of students. On the first day of classes, I remember it being a rainy, grey day. I walked in but I wasn't sure where my first class was located so, I sat in the common area and watched as other students walked in. As I stood up to follow the crowd, I heard a voice behind me ask "Do you know where we are supposed to go"? I turned around and was met with a friendly face who probably looked like I did - confused and unsure. My new friend and I figured it out and we made our way into our first class and over time, a couple other zany gals joined our friend crew.
These proved to be the best years of my life. We bumbled our way through the program, tried to figure out what post University life would look like, developed friendships, met our future husbands, and leaned on our Prof's for advice along the way - making them our unofficial "University Dad's".
After University we moved to different cities, started working, got engaged, planned weddings, and started having babies. Some of us moved again and settled in other towns but through all of the changes that life brought us, we kept in touch and got together where we could. Over the years, the bond grew deeper and what started out as great friendships has grown into a closer, sisterly bond. We chat, we laugh, we cry, and we open ourselves up to each other to share the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
Next year, we'll be celebrating 30 years of our crazy friendship and we decided to book the trip of a lifetime - we're heading to Scotland! In addition to being tourists, we will be walking the West Highland Way over an 8 day period. The sights and sounds are something my Scottish ancestry is craving and, it will give me a solid year to whip my behind into shape to accomplish this without dying (lol).
If you have friends like this, never let them go! Hold on to them for dear life and book the damn trip.
The first scrapbook (s) I made were for my bridesmaids as part of their gift packages I made for them. All of us met in University so I had A LOT of incriminating photos to add to their albums.
A few years later, I attended a Creative Memories party where we played with pretty paper and cool scrapbooking tools. My son had just turned 1 so I bought all the things to start working on his album. However, a move across the province and adding 2 more kiddos to the pile turned my scrapbook ambitions into the dust that my books were collecting (raise your hand if you have been there lol).
Lo and behold, I finally dove back into it all about 6-7 years ago when a friend said "hey, I'm hosting a few gals at my house for a scrapbooking day, do you want to come"? Ever since then, paper scraps and photos have been flying and albums were slowly getting filled.
In February 2020, I was at a scrap weekend with my friends. Covid was dominating the headlines with the virus spreading all over Europe. I think we were naive in thinking the virus would stay over there. Then March came along and well, we know what happened there.
I tried to work on my albums during lockdowns. It was a perfect isolation activity but my business took off so I had to put the albums aside for a bit. This past weekend, we were finally able to gather and honestly, it felt good to laugh, pig out and be with friends again. I even managed to get some pages done although, I did spend 4 hours on one page lol!
If you are looking to get into scrapbooking, connect with a local Creative Memories consultant. They may have inside scoop on scrap events happening in your local area. Grab a friend, and your scissors and grab some much needed "me" time!
What the heck is happening with 2022? I was thinking the other day that I actually miss those early days of Covid when it was all new and we were told to hunker down and stay inside. Now, the world is just angry and divided and it doesn't look like an end is in sight. It's ok to feel overwhelmed, it's ok to not be ok and it's definitely ok to shut the news off and go for a walk or read a book to take a brain break.
One thing we can do is reach out to family, friends and neighbours in our community and do a check in. Everyone is feeling the weight even if they don't openly talk about it. Covid taught us to utilize whatever means necessary to reach out to our loved ones during lockdown. We connected more on social media, sent text messages, and set up Zoom/FaceTime calls. I grew up in the days where we had a rotary phone so if we had to go through a pandemic back then, it would have looked very different (VHS movies are NOT the same as watching Netflix - lol)
I sifted through my greeting card pile and started randomly sending them off to my people. I knew it would put a smile on their face during an "ugh" time and it was a great excuse to get rid of the growing card pile. I feel this is a movement we should continue to do even though life is semi normal again. I mean, I get cards from a friend who lives across town and I see her on a regular basis - and I love it every time!
Here's a link to my Greeting Card section if you want to send some mailbox love! Spreading a little kindness can go a long way!
