Just under the wire

It's not yet twelfth night so I think I can still legitimately use the c word. It was the first time I'd hosted Christmas and of course the first Christmas in our new house so we wanted to do a couple of things to make it extra special. Now let's set the record straight; I can cook, honestly I can, but faced with a big lump of expensive meat and more than a dozen expectant faces hoping for a delicious feast I confess that I handed over to head chef - thanks Mom! She cooked up a storm which isn't easy when you're not working in your own kitchen with your own hob and oven and don't know where anything lives! With the food in safe hands I focussed attention on the table. It's tradition in our family for whoever's hosting to give a little table gift to every visitor. Jamie and I printed everybody their own mini Christmas sack to hold their presents. The bags are about 8" x 11" and I designed them in photoshop using some copyright free images and my favourite fonts. Jamie printed them onto plain cotton and one mad evening I sewed them all up with calico backs and cut pretty ribbon ties. Even the smallest, simplest little gift is made really special with some nice wrapping and they worked a treat as place name settings too. Hopefully they'll make an appearance next year too!

So that was the presents done, but I wanted to make sure everyone was entertained while they were here too. To seat everyone at once we set up tables in the studio space and I needed to make it feel more festive. What better than a Christmas tablecloth! Using my tablet and pen I drew some simple Christmas motifs in Photoshop. I set them as a repeat and we printed miles (well, 8 metres) on plain cotton. Cut in half and seamed along the long side it made the perfect tablecloth. But the real point? Well I thought it would be fun if it was a giant colouring book. I put out pots of permanent pens and as everyone took their seats they were invited to colour in around their placemats!

The beer and fizz was flowing and maybe that added to the carefree style, we have zebra-skinned reindeer and Father Christmas is sporting some rather fetching ensembles! All our visitors got into the spirit brilliantly. It's a big cloth though so it'll be coming out year after year until it's finished.

I hope you all had a fun time with your family and friends.
With love and best wishes for a happy and creative 2014.
Laura
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