Hi everyone.

It's that time of year again. Christmas is over, Easter eggs are already in the shops and you're wondering how many more games of Monopoly you'll have to endure before the kids go back to school. 

It's also the time of year when you're probably thinking about your hopes and wishes for the coming year.  If you're a crafter, you may already have some plans about some of the products you'd like to buy and the projects you'd like to try.  Well, as a belated Christmas present to you, I've come up with my own list of crafty wishes that I hope will come true for you in 2024.

May You Always...

• Pick up those strips of red liner tape backing paper before they get stuck to the cat.
• Find exactly the right coloured scrapbook paper in your crafty stash that matches your favourite photo...every time.
• Give yourself permission to do some crafting instead of the laundry, dusting, cleaning out the gerbil or picking up the kids from school. (OK, maybe not the last one.)

• Have a good enough light over your craft desk so that red doesn't always look like dirty yellow.
• Get enough spare money together so that you'll always be able to "impulse buy" that crafty kit or tool you simply must have. 
• Take time to acknowledege and admire the project you've just completed before rushing into the next one.
• Receive tons of love and appreciation from your friends, family and colleagues for all your crafty endeavours.

    May You Never...

• Need to pick up the phone when you have a hot glue gun in your hand.
• Realise that the card you've just spent ages making is upside down.
• Discover that the kids have used your favourite crafting scissors to give the dog a quick haircut.
• Feel guilty about all the new craft stuff you've just bought that your husband/wife/next door neighbour/budgie doesn't know about.

• Have to stop crafting before you've hardly started because someone else wants to use the dining room table.
• Receive an ironing board cover for Christmas instead of the craft supplies you asked for.
• Worry about whether your crafty creations are as good as everyone else's.

So now I'm going to wave my (handcrafted) magic wand and try to make sure that all those wishes come true for you in 2024. And if I don't quite manage it, then I still hope you have a really happy crafting year!

Take care.

Melissa x