Holidays - Christmas Books (crafting variety)

Hello! Today I went through my shelf of Christmas craft books - I probably have more than I can ever use, but they're fun to look at and I've even made some of the projects - how about that. :)

Here's a small pile representative of what I own. All but one from this stack were thrifted, so by and large they are inexpensive inspiration!

From bottom to top, a bit more about each book: (the dates represent when the book was published)


At Home For Christmas, Carol Endler Sterbenz. Projects range from simple to complicated, but I particularly liked the beaded ornaments. 1998. 


Christmas With Victoria 2002 - Beautifully photographed and I've earmarked several projects I'd like to try. Recipes for food gifts and menus as well.(of course you know when it came out!)


Making Old-Fashioned Santas, Candie Frankel and Beverly Karcher. The projects are modern-day adaptations of Victorian-style Santas. Years ago I made the Santa on a Swing Ornament for my siblings, plus one for myself as seen in this post. A little fussy to make but they turned out pretty well. 1994.


Christmas Decorations from Williamsburg's Folk Art Collection - a wide variety of ornaments loaded with old-fashioned charm. 1976.


Folk Art Christmas Ornaments, Maxine Kenny. Similar in scope to the above book but in this case the ornaments are from folk art traditions the world over as well as from different time periods of US history. 1985.


Christmas With Mary Englebreit - Here Comes Santa Claus - a very colorful book in the spirit of the late, great Mary Englebreit Home magazine. I was thrilled to find this at a thrift store a couple of years ago. Crammed with crafts, gift ideas, decor and recipes. 2002.


Home For The Holidays - Hallmark - a very classy, beautifully photographed book that makes me want to try every project! Recipes too. 2006.


Christmas Book 13 - Gooseberry Patch - I'm a sucker for the Gooseberry Patch Christmas books, which, depending on the format, are either mostly recipes, or else have a mixture of crafts, decorating ideas and recipes. This particular book is in the latter category. It's the only new book of the bunch in my photo, but at least I bought it discounted at Sam's Club. Lively photography and text and again, I want to try a project from every page! 2011.


Handmade Christmas - Country Living - some country-style crafts look pretty dated now, but even though this book is over ten years old much of it still looks relatively fresh. For example, the wool-scrap garland, made with pieces of felted wool sweaters, would fit in fine today. 1999.


The McCalls' Book Of Christmas - this was published in the 1970's but has a number of crafts that could easily be updated  - or even made as directed and still look good. 1975.


From looking through these books while writing up this post, I had half a mind to try some of the projects as last-minute gifts - but probably should focus instead on the holiday baking I still have left to do. Maybe next year...