12 days - part two

Here is installment two of the wonderful gifts I received in the 12 days of Christmas swap...

A machine embroidered needle case from Wendy in shimmery subtle colours. Pretty and useful - I will stitch more in 2011.



Fiona also did some clever fabric work, making this glorious brightly patterned purse.

From Annie, a fabulous embroidered felty covered note book - looks and feels almost like tree bark and moss.

Lyn sent me this bejewelled decorated candle - too nice to light.

This ray of summery sunshine is from Jessie to take my mind off the horrid snowy weather. Scrummy texture on the frames and diddy shells to embellish although flash glare is hiding them in this shot.

This mega paper clip from Liz, with a wonderful large and glittery snowflake tag to hang on the tree as a bonus.

And these little faces peeping are the crazy cats I made, waiting to be wrapped and posted.


I want it to be Christmas again now so we can swap some more!

12 Days of Christmas - part one

Whilst 12th Night might not strictly be upon us yet, in our 12 days of Christmas swap we started opening gifts to finish on Christmas day(ish). So, now everyone has seen all their pressies, it won't be spoiling the surprise to show you what we all got....

A polymer clay brooch from Mawgan - very festive but sadly delicate and fragile so it didn't survive the postal journey in tact.

A mixed media brooch from Claudia.

and a metal on card brooch from Hilda who parcelled it in a box cleverly folded from sheets of paper.

Next a pendant made from a domino from Jean.

and a friendly plastic necklace from Pauline. I won't be caught wearing the same thing twice this season!

And finally for this installment, an altered photo frame from Adrienne, with lovely texture and in her trade mark copper and turqouise colours.

Blog giveaway

Just the quickest of posts to say pop over to Linda's blog and you can enter a give away to win Tim Holtz goodies - and see her beatuiful art work too of course.

I'll be back over the long weekend with 365 journal updates - 2010 is nearly finished (well the journalling bit anyway) and I'm already thinking about a 2011 format.

Sometimes real life gets in the way

I've been falling further and further behind on crafty things of late. Pressure of the day job has been increased by the bad weather multiplying my normal hour each way journey and by long term and unexpected serious illnesses in the family detracting from time and inclination to create pretty things. As a result I don't have much to share just now.

I've been working on a 12 days of Christmas swap where all the participants make 12 of the same gift, send them to the coordinator who packages them up with one of each item to a parcel and sends each player a set back. We open these one each day in the run up to Christmas and because we don't know what each of us in opening it is a secret what we have made until everyone has opened all their parcels. You'll need to come back after Christmas day to see what I've been up to.

I have just about kept going with my 365 day journal challenge.

My completed pages for October and November are here - not wonky in real life just in the super quick snap shots:

And my December page ready to start (well nearly) is here:

If you'd like to keep a journal like this next year check out the wonderful Kate Crane's article in the new issue of Craft Stamper magazine for step by step instructions and inspiration.