Preparing for Christmas

Hi, my name is Ruth and this is my first blog for UKcraftfairs.
Now the nights have started getting a little darker I started to think about getting ready for Christmas craft fairs. Every year I like to make a selection of original cards, gifts and decorations which I sell at local events. This year I have been thinking a lot about reducing waste and being friendly to the environment and I am trying to make as many of my designs as possible from recycled materials and scraps left over from previous projects.
At the moment I am concentrating on paper mache as the sunny days make for quick drying in my conservatory. I have made some with wire armatures ( I bought the wire last year so figured that counts) and some completely from old newspapers. I use the travel section a lot as it has lovely coloured photos which I use to enhance the designs. The newspaper keeps surprisingly well if not in direct sunlight and the first ones I experimented with five years ago still look brand new.
There will also be tree decorations from homemade airdrying clay, recycled glass and fabric scraps but while the weather holds I will keep sticking.