Christmas Countdown Week 4 (12 Oct 09)

I did post last week, I really did! I made a really pretty post, scheduled it to go up on Monday the 12th and then…nothing. It’s gone – don’t know where, just gone.

So here’s the card for last week …

When I saw “White Out” by Renee Dowling in Australian Stamping and Papercraft Magazine Vol 15 no 5 p14 I thought I just have to copy that one! I love white and pink fro Christmas, so outside-the-square.

I managed to make five of these cards so my tally is now 31.

Christmas Countdown Week 3

Thanks to World Card Making Day I managed to make 7 variations on last weeks theme. That means 8 cards out of the black lace paper (so I don’t feel too bad about spending $4.95 on one piece of paper).

here is my card for this week…

I really like it but I pretty sure I’ll only make two of these – very tedious.

craft road trip booty

I love long weekends – well who doesn’t you’d be un-g’dayed (sort if like de-barking for dogs only with Aussies) if  you admitted to not liking a long weekend in Australia.

My treat for this weekend was to jump in the car with two of my best buddies and cruise down to Berry for a lovely (if somewhat soggy) Sunday.

This is the  travel survival pack provided by Becca. Beautifully scrap-booked outside and filled with essential items – map to get us back home if the sat-nav let us down, tiny shopping list with reminder to buy cool stuff, chuppa chup (in my fav. flavour) glow sitck (for road side breakdowns in the evening), rope - for cliff edge falls (starting to get worried about Becca’s crafting expectations at this stage), super-glue (for MacGyver moments), tiny craft project (mini knitting needles with mouse-sized scarf started) & Christmas candy canes because it’s Christmas season (anytime from August on in Becca-land)

We spent most of our time in Sew & Tell and all of our money!

The Booty…

1. a shawl pin
2. three packs of gorgeous beads
3. Threadworx overdyed floss
4. some raw silk salmon coloured
5. Heirloom Christmas Sampler kit

 

 

 

We ate yummy food (Berry pie shop has to-die-for pies) and talked non-stop all day – as you do1 What a wonderful day and how lucky am I to have such great friends!

I have it on good authority that today is World Card Making Day (Renae found it on Rachel Greig's blog) and I am embracing this event body and soul.

Have told my family who have generously agreed to sponsor (contribute to my addiction) me.

 

Have even put a sign on the door to my craft room (to make it more official-like).

will post WCD show & tell soon…

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…

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… 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!

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

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!

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