Welcome to DIY December!

December is here again tomorrow in Australia and I've been preparing my craft room and social media accounts for my daily blogging of Christmas craft making, generally Christmas cards, up until Christmas Eve. Follow for the inspiration or take a look at the DIY posts.

I like giving handmade Christmas cards to neighbours, friends, and family as they often look cooler than bulk store bought cards and gives that element of going the extra mile for that person.

I had a lot of craft items left over from last year, but I still had to go out and purchase new things to make cards for this year. This can sometimes be costly as bulk craft item buying tends to be, but it doesn't have to be too bad. Shop around in different places for different products and prices and you can build up a well-rounded collection. 

This year I bought from The Reject Shop, numerous "$2" stores, Kmart, Big W, Target, Spotlight, Lincraft, and Riot Art and Craft. eBay is also great for finding craft items but for this unless you won't need it for awhile it's a good idea to start buying early or for next year in mind, as the time frame of bidding and eventually postage can be quite long.

As for the "extras" .. the craft tools and other things you'll need aside from the Christmas themed stuff, I keep it really simple. The usual suspects: scissors, and blank cards and envelopes. But my absolute favourite items to use are double sided tape, and double sided foam. With tape this generally eliminates the need for me to constantly use messy glue, and is much more precise. With foam it's a great way to create "3D" or pop out bits on your card.

Let me know what your favourite crafts are to make (mine are cards) and if you're doing Christmas themed items this year!