One of the things I look forward to most about this time of year is all the lovely craft events and the homemade Christmas goodies. For a number of years now, I have been involved in the running of a ladies Christmas craft evening with our local church New Life Church Letchworth. Each year we gather together in a local community hall with some festive treats, a seasonal Christian message and spend the time around tables crafting and chatting together. Over the past months with the COVID restrictions we have had to use technology and hosted a a number of fabulous craft Zoom calls, Macramé, Needle felting and crochet face scrubbies, just to mention a few.
2020’s ladies Christmas craft evening was over Zoom and this little Christmas tree Macramé pack was one of three fabulous crafts that we put together for the evening. I’d seen the Macramé idea a few times on YouTube and I adapted it to make the it fit what we thought would work for the evening. The kit comes with a keyring already made up and inside the hessian jute bag everything that is needed to make another one: keychain, Macramé cords cut to length, a bead, a template and instructions.
The cord I used is is a green Macramé cotton that is single twist. All this means is that it is twisted in one direction that makes it easy to comb out. The macramé beads are wooden, the key chain is metal so it is a gift with no plastic making it a lovely eco idea, either on its own or with the kit to make one too.
Gifts can be thoughtful without having an impact on the environment.
Based on making up 30 kits, they costed in at around £1 each which means that they are also a low cost gift too. For me, being ‘eco’ isn’t necessarily about being ‘cheap’ as that indicates there could be a lacking in some way. Part of the reason for doing this blog is to break down this stereotype of the word ‘eco’ and show ways that gifts can be thoughtful without having environment impact. ‘Eco’ doesn’t have to mean stripped back or basic, it can also mean making something beautiful even if from very little. Adding the keyring gives it multiple uses, for example as a tree decoration or as a present topper for a gift wrapped in brown eco paper. I sent this kit wrapped in some tissue paper to a number of my creative friends that would enjoy making this keyring. It fits into a small envelope with a a large letter stamp can be just put in the post box. I hope you enjoy this gift idea and perhaps might inspire others to make some little eco gifts too.
Little Eco Gifts 