Monday, September 28, 2009

Christmas Countdown Week 2

So far as good…last week I managed to repeat the week 1 template 6 times so seven cards last week – not blow-your-socks-off crafting but better than I’d been doing.

This is my card for this week week…DSC_0001

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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

how do you keep track of it all

Isn’t it frustrating when you have lots of gorgeous handmade pieces of jewellery, designed to compliment your wardrobe and the piece you want is at the bottom of the pile, in a tangled mess.

I was finding it impossible to keep track of my jewellery (and the two daughters who share the wearing weren’t helping) so I spent many sleepless nights on a mission for possible solutions. It needed to be cheap (rather spend money on beads or glass), practical and possibly pretty; when I found some adorable little hooks at Lincraft over Christmas I was inspired. I planned and I measured (well not really but I had a serious attempt at eyeballing it) and this is what I came up with…DSC_0020 My best friend reckons I’ve made an artwork of my jewellery and I was very flattered by that appraisal. It is very pretty especially at night because it’s right under a down-light. It’s so simple: two hooks, a venetian blind wand (because it’s stiff enough to stay taut yet clear so as not to distract your eye from the bling), and a row of the little hooks. I’m so enamoured I’m going to hang the next one near a window – how pretty will that be!

It works well in another way because each item has a dedicated hook so an empty hook means something’s missing…G-I-R-L-S!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Christmas Countdown

Yes …that’s right Christmas…again how did that happen? I love Christmas and, yes I do go over the top, and yes, making all my own cards (over 100) to send out is probably excessive but I started 2009 with plan to avoid being overwhelmed by Christmas preparations.

In a nutshell I planned to make 10 Christmas cards a month (quite do-able I thought) and then by November I’d have a stockpile of 110 cards. “hmmmm” I hear you say “I wonder how she went with that plan".”

Simple answer not so well, how many cards should I have in September? 90. How many do I have? 8 (and they’re all left-overs from last year!)

so my new plan is design one card a week (on the weekend), mass produce multiples during the week and record my progress here so I have some accountability as motivation – I expect merciless teasing if I don’t perform!

Week 1

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Inspired by the gorgeous simple cards in a book Becca showed me at work and also by a work colleague who said “I just put pva glue in the shape of a tree and dumped glitter on it for my cards last year". I thought I can do that and this is what I came up with, so simple I made 5 cards in under 10 mins!

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I love these iridescent pastel, heart shaped beads they bring a whole new emphasis on loving Christmas!

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