Christmas 2011 Wrap Up

Apart from most of my family being sick with

a strange out of the blue Christmas Eve cold,

we had a quite but enjoyable Christmas.

The day went too quick. I spent most of

the day in the kitchen but i enjoyed this

as i like spending time cooking and especially

cooking for my family and all their favourite foods.

I rarely get surprised but i did on Christmas day

when i opened a gift and received something i

didn't expect, a Big Shot. Thank you.

You know who you are you naughty Christmas Elf.

So i hope to be showing you alot of projects

 using my new Big Shot machine soon.

Gemma sent me this beautiful card.

I received this card from Denise with a forest full of Christmas Trees.

2011 Christmas Bag

It would not be Christmas without making

a Becky Roberts handbag for a gift.

The colours are very traditional and

i am sure the young lady will love it.

I have put an Itunes gift card and

a small bag of chocolates inside.

Christmas Gift Bag

I made this gift bag to carry a small gift i made for a dear friend.

I made the little box using the Envelope die,

just four envelopes joined together.

It makes a sweet little box.

I hope you are all finished shopping

and can enjoy the excitement before Christmas

with a champagne or two.

Oh Christmas Tree

I have joined the Inkspiration Challenge this week,

http://inkspirations-challenges.blogspot.com/2011/12/inkspirations-challenge-100.html

if you have time you should have a look at all the other entries.

 

After making the Christmas Wreath i had the bug so i went

ahead and made this oh so cute Christmas Tree.

I cut different size strips and rolled the ends and

used more pins to put the strips into place.

I also added some pins with pretty colours to depict

Christmas lights on the little tree.

I also gave the tree a spritz of gold glitter and

added a few pearls and beads at the top with a hat pin.

 

Christmas Wreath

I have joined the Inkspiration Challenge this week,

http://inkspirations-challenges.blogspot.com/2011/12/inkspirations-challenge-100.html

so pop over there and have a look at all the great Christmas fun.

Each Christmas i like to add to our home made Christmas decorations.

This year i have made a few things but the major project being

this Christmas Wreath. There are approximately 300 strips of paper

and pins. I must say i am just getting over having a very sore finger

from pushing all the pins in but it was so worth it.

I am really pleased with how it has turned out.

It has a gold shimmer to it and will be a lovely addition

to our decorations each year.

On a different note i met the lovely Julie Goodwin today.

I loved watching her on TV and use her cookbooks constantly.

I have always felt she is a kind hearted person and now i know she is.

She really does have a special glow about her

and it was a special experience to have time with her.

She has some fantastic Christmas receipes on her blog,

http://www.juliegoodwin.com.au/blog/.

Gingerbread Fun

We spent the day with our Nephew and had lots

of fun making a Gingerbread house.

I did think we were going to run out of sweets

at one stage but we had enough to cover the house.

Textile & Design Major

Over twelve months and many, many hours my daughter

spent on her Major for Textiles.

Her theme was inspired by Vintage wedding gowns.

The photos really don't do it justice.

The bodice has lots of beading, embroidering and Angelina

Fibres sewn throughout. The skirt has five layers, including

a lining, 3 layers of tulle and the beautiful satin.

She also beaded doilies and made two strands of ribbon

to hang from the skirt.

It is so amazing in real life.

She received a Band 6 today for Textiles and

we are so proud and she truly deserves this mark after

all the effort she put in.

After saying all of the above you can imagine our

heartache when it arrived back from the HSC

marking with a black pen mark across the

front of the skirt but this is a long story so i will

stop by saying the issue is still not resolved

but the skirt has now been to the dry cleaners

and is looking wonderful again.

The marker has been reprimanded and i hope this never

happens to another students work again.

An Award Week

The last few weeks leading up to Christmas

seem to fly by. I went to my son's Presentation Assembly

and he received awards and an engraved medal for

1st in course for Timber and an Excellence Award

for History and Geography, a very proud Mum i am.

We are waiting to hear the HSC results tomorrow,

we can have a look from 6am and knowing my dear

daughter we will be up waiting for them.

I also received a nice surprise with the following

card being published in this month's Cardmaking,Stamping

& Papercraft magazine. It's so nice to see a card you have made

in print. I hope you are all going well with the lead up to Christmas.

2011 Christmas Cards

I made two designs this year.

I was inspired by others creations and then

added my own twist.

I did think of using non-traditional colours this year

but i decided to stick with traditional.

I have been enjoying making Christmas gifts

recently but i am looking forward to

creating something else.

Nan's Christmas Card

I have made this Christmas card for my Nan.

It is a large square card but as i am delivering it in person

i don't have to worry about the postage.

Once again i have used various textured embossing folders

on the card. It is fairly simple but the embossing adds that

extra touch.

Christmas Colour

I made a bunch of these colouring folders

for some dear little ones for Christmas.

I was inspired by a similar one that

Gemma made. They were quick

to put together and a nice gift idea.

Boxed Cards

I made 10 cards and wanted a gift box

to put them in and here is what i came up with.

I love how easy it is to use the embossing folders

and when added to your project, it gives

it a lovely textured feel and looks great.

Christmas Shopping & Louis Vuitton

We made our way to Sydney for our annual

Christmas shopping day.

I never tire of looking in the windows of David Jones

at their Christmas displays.

We then had a Huge chocolate covered strawberry,

well, we needed to keep our energy levels high

for all the shopping.

A visit to the Jo Malone counter was a nice surprise

and something maybe going under the tree.

We stocked up on coffee at Nespresso.

Next we were off to George Street hand bag shopping at the new

Louis Vuitton, well browsing more than shopping.

A lot of browsing so many nice things.

It is well worth a visit, even to window shop as their

window displays are amazing.

Below i have posted some photos of our day.

DJ's window.

DJ's strawberry.

Louis Vuitton window displays.

Inside Louis Vuitton.

Elizabeth with a Flourish

I am really pleased with how this card came together.

The Elizabeth stamp is so elegant, it makes a statement

all on its own. I added some texture with a couple

of embossing folders and ribbon.

Kindness Matters

For such a small stamp set, Kindness Matters,

it has so much to work with.

I love this card, so clean and simple and yet

really decorative.

Embossed Layers

A few more cards using embossing folders.

Two different colour schemes, subtle and bright.

A Celebration

Recently we had a party for our daughter

to celebrate her end of school and

Bon Voyage, we gave her a trip

to Hawaii, very well deserved

after all her hard work.

We celebrated with family and friends.

I made a simple invite with an Hawaiian theme

and the theme carried through with the

party decorations.

I also made a cake, that was the sand and sea

with waves. I loved the way it turned out,

even though i looked like a Smurf covered in

blue food dye, lots of fun.

Her Day to Shine

Monday was a day full of rollercoaster emotions.

Our daughter graduated Year 12 in the morning

and was given a Blue Ribbon Award for high

achievements academically and was placed

fourth for the year. She also danced a solo

part and then danced in a duo for the

graduation assembly, yes, i did shed

a tear or two, we are so proud.

Then it was off to hair and make up,

which nearly melted off in the heat.

Of all days did it really have to be that hot!!!

We had family over for afternoon tea and photos.

Then off to Terrigal for photos at The Haven

and onto Crown Plaza for the Formal.

I can share only a few photos as many have others in the

background and i don't have there permission,

we are waiting for the professional photos to become available.

Our beautiful baby girl has grown into the most wonderful,caring

and amazing young lady.

Shiny Silver

So what to do on a quite Sunday?

The teenagers are out and the hubby is at work

and the craft mojo has been on vacation.

So i polished the silver.

Quite, relaxing and totally worth it when

it looks so shiny and bright.

If i am like this now, i don't want to think

what i will be like when the kids leave home.

Well at least i will know that if you drop in for

a cuppa the silver will be clean.

We have Graduation morning

and the Year 12 Formal this week

so it's nice to have time out on

a quite, relaxing Sunday.

2011 Christmas Extravaganza Day

The year really does fly. We had another Christmas Craft day yesterday.

Everyone had a nice time and enjoyed the projects.

The projects all revolved around Christmas gifts.

The morning started with lots of excitement

and before we knew it the day was over.

So onto the photos of what we made.

The photos were taken really quickly on the day.

I enjoyed this day with Gemma, you can check

out her blog here, http://gemmanapper.blogspot.com/.

The finished gifts.

 Chocolate Wallet folder, fits a family size Cadbury block.

 A Card Folder, we made four cards & stamped matching envelopes.

 Two of the four cards.



 A 6x6 Scrapbook page

A Christmas box that fits a fruit cake or puddings.

A Christmas Matchbox that we made tags to go inside.

The ladies had fun decorating the tags how they pleased,

here are a few samples that i came up with.

Heads down crafting away.