(instrumental Christmas music)
- Hello and welcome to the last week of Christmas!
(gasping) I know, it's very exciting.
Unfortunately, though, we're obviously still
a little bit ill, everyone saw this one coming.
But we do have one very, very exciting thing
(music fading to silence) to talk about today,
and that is-- (Rupert grunting)
Not just your breakfast, Rupert,
although that is obviously very, very exciting for you;
(whispering) he's very found of his breakfast at the moment,
very fond of every meal actually.
(laughing) He's currently just chowing down.
Today we're gonna have
(pleasant music) some fun adventures,
but also I'm gonna talk to you
about the sponsor of today's video, Cricut.
Yeah, I know, I was confused too.
So Claudia and I really love to do little crafty projects,
as you've seen from the channel,
and I decided that it was time I maybe got a bit more
involved in the crafty stuff.
So Cricut reached out to me and said,
"Hey, did I want a Cricut machine?"
And I've only seen these things on Pinterest and Instagram,
and I was like, (gasping) "Do I want one?
(scoffing) Yeah, of course I want one!"
But I'll be honest, I was a little bit scared,
I mean, they're really fancy, right?
Aren't they complicated? They seem like they could be.
They sent me the Cricut Joy
and it was actually a doddle to set up;
I mean, I just plugged it in.
There was a little app on my phone,
I downloaded the Cricut Design app for my laptop as well,
and they just immediately synced up to the Cricut Joy;
and then it's so easy.
There are even projects that are already available,
though I don't have to think of what I would like to do,
I could just say, "Hey, I'm a beginner,
what are some projects for beginners?"
and it will give me lots of very simple ideas.
Thank you so much.
Also, if you're thinking, "Oh my goodness,
but don't I need 5,000 things like all the different mats
(music stopping abruptly)
and all of the different tools?"
Well, not necessarily, because
(pleasant music resuming) the Cricut Joy can be used
with Cricut Smart products,
which means that you can put them into the machine
without using a mat, like the Cricut vinyl.
Oh my goodness, it's so clever, there's little cutting tool
and it just goes (do-do-ing)
(exclaiming) there's a sticker! It is genius.
You just peel the sticker off,
you can just put it on anything, it's amazing!
So I'm really, really happy and excited just learning
all of these new things and I can't wait to try my hand
at some more complex projects as well.
Also great is that the small size is really practical,
and if you're kind of thinking,
"Mm, I don't know if I'm ready for crafting
to really become a huge thing in my life yet."
(music fading to silence) Like,
"I don't have a crafting room,
I don't have space for that!"
(pleasant music resuming) Well, don't worry.
You don't need to get a massive machine,
the Cricut Joy is really cute, it's really neat,
it's really small, and it packs up into a tiny little bag
where you can also be storing your tools.
Honestly, with the Cricut Joy and Cricut Smart materials
there's so much less to buy, less to store,
less to worry about and so much more fun to be had.
It's really great for making personalized gifts,
this year and throughout the year,
and really just building on your crafting skills.
You can use it as a beginner, like me,
or as a really, really high-skilled crafter.
And the Cricut Design Space is so fun,
I love that it gives you all the little options
and kind of stock images that you can use
and make your own thing.
(gasping) My goodness, and what a myriad of materials
as well; every different type of material you can think of
and all of the different colors.
Anything you can think of, you can pretty much make
with a Cricut machine.
Click the link in my description to learn more about Cricut,
and now let's get on with the video.
(instrumental Christmas music)
(music fading)
- [Claudia] Oh man. - [Jessica] Gonna ignore that?
- I didn't weigh out stuff, I've round it to just,
did it by like, eye. - [Jessica] Brilliant.
(Jessica laughing)
It's gonna be amazing.
There's gonna be some noise, prepare yourself.
(blender whirring)
(pleasant music)
(Rupert whining)
Ah let's see, it says a hundred grams of plain flour.
- I'm using self-raising to make it bit more fluffy.
(spoon tapping)
- [Jessica] Do you feel like you added a hundred grams?
- Yeah.
- [Jessica] (imitating) Yeah, she says, yeah maybe.
(Rupert babbling)
Ooh, that looks like a good pancake.
- [Claudia] Ignore that bit. (both laughing)
- [Jessica] It was so well done until that bit.
- It made a satisfying splat-- - [Jessica] Yeah.
Nice, nicely done.
- [Claudia] Rupert's getting impatient, he's like,
"I can tell that you're making banana pancakes."
- [Jessica] Where's my breakfast?
(Rupert gurgling and making farting sounds)
(laughing) Not quite sure what's going on here.
Or why he's blowing raspberries.
Just really loves blowing raspberries, this kid.
(Jessica baby-talking indistinctly)
Excited baby!
(Rupert exclaiming)
(pleasant music)
Some mango puree.
Are you meant to give me two forks?
- [Claudia] Yeah. - [Jessica] How rude of me!
- Well that's your preference. (Jessica laughing)
- [Jessica] Here's my adult version of the banana pancakes,
yum yum, I'm very excited for this.
I mean, Rupert's definitely chowing down through them,
so they must be very delicious.
Hello and welcome to Jessica's Zero Pounds Christmas Haul.
Oh yes, you heard me right.
I didn't wanna do (laughing) a kind of gift list this year
where I show you things that you could purchase,
mainly because I didn't want things; it's a problem.
People keep asking me what I want for Christmas
and I'm like,
(music stopping abruptly) "Nothing,
I would like to get rid of things."
(pleasant music resuming) So instead,
we're going for a zero pounds Christmas haul,
in which we are going to try and be both economical
and sustainable, particularly because we're going to be
reusing most of the materials that you see today.
Also, it's a bit crafty, yay!
So you can have fun whilst you're doing this little haul;
does that make it a haul? I don't know.
Wait, what's the definition of a haul? I'm unclear.
Should also mention I'm iller than usual,
so if I ramble a bit, apologies,
I don't even know what I'm doing.
No, yes I do! It's fine, everything's fine.
I'm aware that there's hair over my blind eye,
it's all right.
One thing that we really wanted to do this year
to be more green was to have a living Christmas tree.
So basically they deliver a Christmas tree to you-
they (scoffing) who is they? Who knows.
- [Claudia] Christmas elves!
- What? (laughing) Christmas elves!
Thank you, yes, Christmas elves deliver a Christmas tree
to you that still has its roots and is living;
amazing, I know.
And you keep it in your house, you keep it alive,
and then the Christmas elves come and pick it up
after Christmas, take it back to the Christmas farm,
plant it back in the ground and keep it alive again
for a whole other year until they just dig it up again
and then take it to someone else's house,
or your house again, except it would be bigger.
You know, maybe you quite like that, maybe you want a bigger
Christmas tree the next year, who knows?
Unfortunately though, (sighing) couldn't find a company
that delivered to my house;
heartbroken, absolutely heartbr- however,
my father-in-law does have a living Christmas tree,
very exciting, so he's gonna give it to us
and we're gonna keep it in our garden and grow it.
So, great thing about Christmas is bringing the outside
indoors and decorating with it, yay!
One of the things I love is pine cones,
bringing in bits of tree (chuckling) that have fallen off.
So thing number one of our zero pound Christmas haul,
(magical chiming) pine cones.
You can find them in your local park
or maybe even your garden.
Also, I know, you're like,
"But that was not zero pounds, Jessica."
I am including things that we already own.
We already owned a bowl and I found these led lights,
which we happened to own from, I think our wedding,
which was five years ago.
I then wrapped them around the pine cones
and they look really festive.
Thing number two
(magical chiming) in our list,
is paper chains!
I absolutely love paper chains,
(laughing) did anyone else, thanks Claud,
make paper chains when they were a child?
(inhaler shaking) Was this just me?
My grandparents were very close to the Victorian era.
(words straining) So it was a thing we did a lot...
(exhaling) as children.
(Jessica grunting)
And they're really great because you can make paper chains
from pretty much anything, any kind of paper,
and they end up being really spectacularly beautiful;
and I really do prefer them to tinsel, I'm so sorry.
(music fading to silence) I'm gonna have to start
the tinsel war down in the comments, I know.
I have a group of my friends, we have a chat in messenger,
and every single year there's the tinsel debate;
who likes tinsel and who doesn't.
It's a back and forth, it's a real thing.
It doesn't spark joy, it doesn't.
It looks, dare I say it?...
Don't crucify me for this but...
it's just a bit tacky.
(pleasant music resuming) All right.
One of the best things that you can do
for your zero pound haul, this is number three,
(magical chiming)
is go on a lovely family walk.
Or it doesn't have to be a family walk,
you can totally go by yourself,
and it doesn't have to be a walk,
you can go on a little stroll, a little jaunt
or a little roll.
We like going for our little family walks
and picking up things along the way,
whether that be the pine cones that you saw earlier,
or it might be finding some very excitingly shaped bark;
(softly) I like this one, you know,
just casually shaped like a Christmas tree.
Or it might be finding some fun little leaves,
we like doing that with our nephew; he's almost four,
so we can be like, "Find a leaf that has points,
find a leaf that is round." All of that fun.
Or it could be going to beaches.
One of Claudia's favorite things as a child
was trying to find sea glass,
which is basically bottles that have been smashed
and then the sea has turned them into these really,
they look like rocks, but they're interesting colors
and they're smooth.
Just have a stroll around your local area,
keep your eyes peeled for stuff
that you don't normally see and notice.
(music stopping abruptly)
- [Claudia] Maybe your aunt Marge would be really impressed
with that empty lilt pan, who knows! (laughing)
- Maybe your aunt Marge would be really impressed
with that empty lilt can, maybe she would.
Thank you, Claudia. (Claudia laughing)
- [Claudia] I've seen people make like,
little cars out of Coca-Cola cans.
- (gasping) Oh my God, yes!
There was a boy who did that in my school.
- [Claudia] You can do like, really crafting into it.
- You know, if you're gonna do that, try and do that safely.
- [Claudia] I mean, with the amount of Diet Coke you drink,
we could make like a whole city.
- Yeah! We should make a miniature city
out of my Diet Coke cans. (Claudia laughing)
Let's go for it. (scoffing)
(pleasant music resuming) Number four, one really good
(magical chiming) gift idea that comes
with a lot of heart and doesn't have to cost the Earth
is baking! Now, you don't have to be
the world's most skilled baker.
I know that sometimes it can seem like a lot just to start
and yeah, we have a whole series called, "Baking Bad"
just (laughing) just stop here.
Can be a little terrifying to start with,
but also not always.
There are some really easy recipes out there
with just very simple ingredients, just a few steps,
and you can make something really delicious
that also looks kind of cute and you can share it
with people who you love.
It's kind of nice just to receive something
that you know someone put a lot of thought into.
(laughing) We decorated these little gingerbread people
in another video which, again, you can watch
by clicking the card right up here,
and we're going to gift them to some people
because according to Claudia, they are absolutely delicious.
And also I think they are rather fetchingly dressed,
like this is Darcy; Darcy is a punk in a Christmas jumper.
Best Christmas jumper I think I've ever seen
on a gingerbread person, A++, rocking it, Darcy,
absolutely rocking it.
Baked goods, try it, see what happens.
At least you'll have fun if it goes wrong.
(magical chiming) Number five,
ivy! Steal it from a wall.
I mean, we took it from our back garden,
it grows over from someone else, I think;
not entirely where their ivy plant starts.
(Claudia speaking indistinctly)
Oh, it starts in our garden! Excellent, didn't steal it.
But, look how fetching it is on this absolutely gorgeous
candle holder, which isn't even Christmasy.
I know you're gonna tell me it's Christmasy, it's not,
it's a year-round, delightful candlestick holder.
(music stopping abruptly) Wait no,
it's not called a candlestick holder,
I'm too old to think of what it's called.
Anyway, it's a lovely centerpiece from my table,
I absolutely love it.
Why is the (laughing) egg thing here?
- [Claudia] To show that anything with ivy around it
suddenly becomes instantly Christmasy.
- Okay. - [Claudia] So if you put
ivy around the egg holder...
- (gasping) Oh, Christmas! Christmas is here.
Oh, ooh I like this, festive.
(gasping) Oh, gorgeous.
Ivy, add it to everything,
full on Christmas decoration time.
(pleasant music resuming) Six,
one really excellent gift idea that we're really excited,
I said really a lot,
(magical chiming) is propagating plants.
Now, since we had our house done,
we have kind of created a little greenhouse which was,
we realized, a bit hot in summer,
but wonderful for our plants,
and they've been doing really well.
Everyone who's seen our plants has said,
"My goodness, amazing, love them,
could I have a bit of your plant?" Oh.
Point of clarification, my wife would like me to clarify,
we did not actually make a greenhouse,
we just extended our house into
what is slightly an orangery;
it has large windows and a skylight.
- [Claudia] I would like a greenhouse.
- She would like a greenhouse.
I got her a potting shed for Christmas last year,
she will get a greenhouse next Christmas;
Rupert has already got her a present this year.
So, we have been propagating our plants (gasping)
and they're actually doing well! Look at it, look!
Oh my goodness, this is the first time
that we've done this and they've not died.
Like, these things are meant to be temperamental, but no,
no, happy as Larry.
It could be zero pounds if you happen to already have some
dirt and a pot lying around, and also a plant;
obviously you do need a plant in order to cut a bit off it.
Seven! And we are on to (snapping)
(magical chiming) using old Christmas cards
to create gift tags.
All you'll need is an old card, a pair of scissors
and a whole puncher.
And to be honest, if you don't have a hole puncher,
it's not the end of the world; something pointed will do,
even the end of your scissors.
(music stopping abruptly) (scissors scraping)
Just get in there.
(pleasant music resuming) Now we can just go
the conventional route, we could just you know,
fully chop down the fold.
We could go out there
and actually do some quite intricate cutting.
All righty, get that little hole punch.
(hole punch clicking)
Hey!
Delightful! Ooh, I dropped it. (scoffing)
And then I will just add this little piece of twine
that is (giggling) actually my wife's garden twine,
so thanks darling; gorgeous.
Oh, I look at that, I'm quite pleased.
And finally, number eight, along the same theme
(magical chiming) is to reuse
your wrapping paper from last year
and wrapping paper that you may get from a florist.
I got some interesting wrapping paper from a florist
that were wrapped around some flowers and I was like,
(gasping) "Christmasy, I'll take it, thank you."
Presents will all be wrapped in uncoordinated paper
because I very carefully pick apart (giggling) my presents.
Don't know how that's gonna work out with Rupert
opening his presents this year, I imagine he's just gonna
tear through everything; we'll see.
But you know, that's the fun for him, isn't it?
It's all in the paper.
(softly) He really doesn't care what he gets for a present.
(clearing throat) And as a un-numbered addition,
but still within the zero pound haul
because it's 99P!
(magical chiming) These bears
that you can hang on your tree 'cause they're chocolate.
Chocolate tree-bears, 'cause my wife
really loves Lindt chocolate.
(music fading to silence)
Welcome to the end of the video.
Thank you so much for joining me in my zero pound haul.
I was just trying to come up with some ideas for things
that didn't cost a lot money but could still be sort of
some crafty fun things that we could do at Christmastime.
So if you've got lots of ideas,
(pleasant music resuming) and I'm sure you guys have way
more ideas than I do, 'cause I know you guys are incredibly
crafty and amazing and generally come up with lots of great
things, please add them in the comments down below
and we can have lots of fun discussing all the excellent
Christmas crafts that we're going to be doing
and just Christmas fun things.
Thank you so much to Cricut for sponsoring today's video,
click the link in the description to learn more about them.
I hope you're having a lovely run-up
to the Christmas season, if you celebrate it,
and if you don't celebrate Christmas,
then I hope you're just having a marvelous, marvelous week,
and I'll see you in my next video. (kiss smooching)
(pleasant instrumental music)
(resonating soft tone)