Done & dusted Part 3

Now this is where it all falls apart as I didn't take photo's of all the cross-stitching!  Am kicking myself now but hey-ho ... no point in stressing about it!

Made 27 little stockings - just from the Mill Hill kits.  Make something similar each year and always put a woven label on the back with the year ... I love getting them out each year and reminding myself just how long I have been doing these little tree decorations now.

They hang from a ribbon.  Going to have to get back to this post tomorrow with better photo's!

Done & dusted ... Part 2

Following on from the cards I made for this Christmas I also made 21 wooden hearts ... each one different but all using the same range of papers from Kaisercraft.

Hubby cut them all from a sheet of plywood for me (would have preferred MDF but couldn't get any!!!) - plywood not ideal due to the way it splinters but the end result was just fine and everyone who got one seemed to like them.

For the third year running I made just 7 keepsake tags ... the idea stemmed from memories from being a little girl when each year out came some cardboard Father Christmas designs that my mommy had had since she was a child.  Each year they became a little more damaged until eventually they fell apart.  I love the idea of getting stuff out each Christmas and then carefully packing it away again just to get it out again the following year and I hope the keepsake tags will prove to be equally sentimental to the people who receive them.
This year's tag had to be totally different to the previous two years so, yet again, the poinsetta die came into use.

And then there was all the cross-stitched gifts ... appearing in Done & Dusted Part 3!

Done and dusted

Oh golly gee all that effort! All that panic!  The stiff neck and sore fingers and aching back and STRESS trying to get all the crafting done in time for Christmas and now, here we are, with Christmas three days behind us and I have to ask myself if it was all worth it?  

Have already had The Conversation with myself not to get into the same position next year when you try to do so much you end up almost hating what you are doing and it becomes a chore ... but then you hear back from people who got a little pressie and they are so kind and appreciated what you did and, well, let's just say I probably will do it all over again for next Christmas ... just need to remind myself to start in June!

So, in all I made around 72 Christmas presents but forgot to take pictures of some of them ... duh!  I fully planned on laying everything out on my dining room table and getting a general overview shot of it all but had to get parcels wrapped to send abroad long before I had finished stuff needed for closer to home so that plan went by the wayside.

Do have a few photo's to put here to record the marathon crafting session so here goes.

The card blanks did EVENTUALLY arrive but just caused more stress as all the toppers I had ready to attach were too big!  Quickly decided to make them my preferred "postcard" style of card and just matted them all onto white card which I printed a little festive verse and they were then ticked off the To Do list.  I did two colourways ... red & black & a navy blue / pale blue combination.

I did get a little carried away with the Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsetta die this year and did various colour combinations on various cards for special friends and family.

Then I made a few cards on a *S*N*O*W*F*L*A*K*K*E* theme :

Then the final few cards saw a return to a design I did a couple of years ago but just loved :

That sees the cards covered here in blogland.  Going to put rest of the Christmas stuff in a separate post or this will just be way too long!

The panic continues

Really really REALLY starting to get stressed now ... crafting around 16 hours each day and still the To Do list refuses to meet me halfway and start to diminish.  No idea what I am going to do.

STILL waiting for the card blanks to arrive but the fronts for them are all made ... well, minus the little gems to stick on as I figured it would be easier to attach them to the cards without the gems in place ... thinking ahead, see!

It has occurred to me that even if I get everything made and bought I will have no time left to wrap it all so am getting in a tizz about that.  There is no way the parcel to Australia is going to arrive in time for them to open on Christmas Day now ... it will still be mid-flight at this rate.

Ho Hum!  The jolly festive season has a lot to answer for.

WOYWW 235

How can it be a week already!  Don't blog for months and then suddenly here I am again having even managed to blog in between all this WOYWW'ing.  

For anyone new to my blog then WOYWW stands for What's on your workdesk Wednesday and is the brainchild of the wonderful Julia Dunnit who, each week, gives us the chance to pop over to peek at the workdesks of fellow crafters.  Want to join in?  All those other workdesks can be found here at Julia's STAMPING GROUND

Mr Postman from my previous post let me down BIG TIME (guess it's not really his fault!) and I am STILL waiting for the card blanks to arrive for our Christmas cards BUT the fab - u - lous IndigoBlu stamp did arrive yesterday so I was able to crack open the pots of embossing powder and make a start on the cards ... never, ever, EVER been as late as this but won't repeat myself as to why because last week's WOYWW covered all that sorry tale!

So was up at stupid o'clock in order to Carry On Crafting (hey, that should be a film!!!) and then remembered it is Wednesday so here is my workspace to share ... just the dining room table today as I was SOooooo cold recently and need to be by the radiator.

OK ... first two are a sort of left side / right side of table kinda shot ... I can craft but am a dreadful photographer so bear with me please.

After much experimenting I decided to go with silver for the message ... half the cards will be a dark navy blue with pale blue ribbon and gems and the other half will be black with red ribbon and gems ... will try and add a photo' later today if I ever get as far as the black ones!

And finally a close up shot of the shine on the embossing ... a technique I continue to love to do even though it is time-consuming.  Was going to leave the stamping un-embossed but ... well, did one as a "let's see what it looks like embossed" ... and that was it really ... no contest!

Right, now I have to go and do that linky thing again and then back to the coal face or these cards simply won't ever get made.

Happy Crafting ... Happy WOYWW'ing 

xXx