Have yourself a very handmade Christmas

But one crafty mum is making Christmas her own this year – quite literally – with help from her two young children.

Better still, she's showing you how you can make your own personalised decorations too, using this very newspaper (once you've read it, of course!)

Jennie Sandford is about as crafty as it gets. The 44-year-old is one of the Crafty Muthas – a collective of handy mums based in her native Bearwood – and an organiser of Bearwood Handmade.

Bearwood Handmade hosts a number of successful fairs, designed to showcase homemade wares and champion the beauty of hand-crafting.

And for Jennie, crafting isn't just a hobby. Day-to-day she works as a community manager for www.handmake.me, a website where other creative types can share their customisable goods, helping people to make money from their hobbies.

Along with her children Sonny, 10, and Scout, seven, Jennie is creating her own Christmas this year. From the decorations that adorn her tree to the snowflakes hanging on her window, Jennie is taking the 'make do and mend' ethos to heart and doing Christmas her way.

She says: "Making things just makes you feel good. Using your hands has a beneficial effect on you, both mentally and physically in a way.

"Christmas is so commercialised. To me, it's about wanting to do something nice together, as a family. We sit down and put Christmas songs on and make our decorations together. We've done loads this year; my window is full of things.

"I make a lot of presents, but for things I can't make myself, I've bought them from makers on the website.

"I just make things up as I go along a lot of the time. I love the handmade look and I'm not big on tinsel, so I involve the kids and we get creative. We've made felt balls on bunting, triangle flags of felt . . . I even got some paper doilies from the pound shop and cut that up to make decorations!"

As a special Christmas treat for Weekend, Jennie carefully crafted some seasonal bunting for us to stick up next to our stockings.

If that hasn't put her on Santa's 'nice' list this year, we don't know what will.

How to make Jennie's special star bunting

• You will need: An old newspaper (make sure everyone’s read it first!), A4 paper, pencil, ruler, scissors, glue stick, hole punch, wool or string

• Cut an A4 piece of paper in half lengthways and then cut it into four equal pieces

• Measure a 2cm deep V into the bottom of each piece and cut them into flag shapes

• Cut a contrasting shape into a piece of newspaper, such as a diamond or hexagon and stick on to the flag

• Print off letters (or cut out the letters from our headlines!) and stick them on to personalise the flags

• Using a hole punch, pop holes in both sides of each flag and thread with colourful wool or string. Voila!