A Christmas Weekend in Essex.

Lots of photos coming up!

Super busy attending various Christmas events around Essex this weekend. Yesterday we went to a Christmas food and craft fair at Cressing Temple Barns, which was OK, but nowhere near as good as the one we went to in the summer. We also went to the ‘Making Maldon Magical’ Christmas event I designed posters for, which was, in a word, shit! I don’t know if we missed something, because there was a lot of people there, but there just didn’t seem to be anything going on :S there was a parade thing which was so, so embarrassing to watch! Haha it was the ‘christmas court’ from various Essex towns. Oh dear. I saw my posters on display though and the AfFC stall looked to be pretty busy, so that’s good.

Today me and my mum went to RHS Hyde Hall, where there was a Christmas Craft Festival. That was kind of average, but the real highlight was the Christmas Tree Trail by branches of the Women's Institute from across Essex :) On first glance I thought the trees were all decorated by children, but it turns out the 70 trees were all decorated using recycled materials. Some of them were a complete mess, but some of them were very creative, and have given me all sorts of new ideas!

Due to the shape of the garden and the fact that it was a 'trail' I couldn't get a photo with all the trees in, but these should give you some idea:

(my mum really liked this tree, decorated with natural materials, covered CDs and with presents hanging off the bottom - so the only one that would pass for a normal looking tree!)

There were some brilliant tree toppers, including several granny angels and even a Barbie:

Things like yoghurt pots, bottle lids and drinks cans were used to make the decorations:

(a Whiskas cat food pot used to make a christmas kitty - cute!)

(I really loved the use of mini Tiptree jam jars with sequins inside them as decorations)

I've also been hard at work on products for my Folksy shop, Wishcatcher Crafts, so keep an eye out for a post about that soon! Feeling very inspired right now so I want to get crafting!