Manic Monday

The final items I received in the 12 Days of Christmas Swap

Some extras for each of the kids.  Glows in the dark too!

 

Day 11

 

Day 12 Merry Christmas!

Snowman Magnets

I made these magnets for my coworkers using a kit I purchased from Retro Cafe Art Gallery.  It came with the snowman bases, pre cut paper for the bodies, the hats, scarves, and noses.  I assembled them then arted them up.  I used buttons, a Sharpie paint pen, regular Sharpie marker, glitter, glitter glue, my ink pad, and some festive words.  These were super fun to make and a nice handmade touch to my mini gift baskets.

Christmas Shadowbox Shrine

 

I made a Christmas themed shrine for my partner in the 12 Days of Christmas swap.  I was so happy with the Halloween one that I wanted to tackle Christmas.  I spray painted the boxes and outside gold and then used different papers for the inside of each cubby.

  

The shadowbox has a plastic cover that goes on the front with a lid, here it is with the lid on....

The back of the box has this great piece of scrapbook paper along with a dresden Santa

 

Here is a closeup of the top three cubbies.  I loved all the miniatures I got use.  A tiny mirror, present and gingerbread house.  I tiny brush bottle tree and nutcracker ornament.  The tiny bird house and pinecones are just too cute!

 

The middle three squares have a tiny wreath and snowman, some tiny reindeer, and sleigh!

 

The last three have another brush bottle tree with a star, three tiny angels, and some fun coordinating buttons.

This was a fun shrine to make and I hope my partner loves it!

Embroidered Snowflake Bunting

Merry Christmas!!!!!! I hope everyone has a safe wonderful holiday!  Hug your loved ones close and appreciate the time you have with them as too often it ends up being too short.

 

I made another Christmas bunting!  This one is for my partner in the 12 Days of Christmas swap.  I cut the flag shapes out of wool felt and found three different snowflake shapes online to embroider on them.  Pictured are the three designs I used.  Each was used two times each for a total of six flags.  The flags alternate between blue with white thread and white with blue thread.  I then glued each flag to a ribbon for hanging.

Embroidered Ornament Display

 

Another gift for my partner in the 12 Days of Christmas Swap.  I had bought the kit to make the embroidery piece last year and never completed it.  The kit came with the muslin which was marked for the stitches, the fabric ornaments, and the thread.  I attached the ornaments using a blanket stitch and I used the stem stitch, satin stitch, and back stitch for the other details.  Once it was finished I was having a hard time finding a frame for it to fit in so I found a square piece of wood at Michaels which I painted green then I glued the piece onto it.  This way it can be set on a shelf or hung on the wall.

12 Days of Christmas Swap

 

The 12 Days of Christmas Swap!  Yay!  My partner and I crafted 12 items for each other and we get to open one each day leading up until Christmas.  Here is what I have received so far.  There are two more days to go so I will have to post those ones at a later date and time.

Day 1

 

Day 2

 

Day 3

 

Day 4

 

Day 5

 

Day 6

 

Day 7

 

Day 8

 

Day 9

 

Day 10

 

So far I LOVE everything my partner has sent me and I can't wait to see what the next two days bring!

Happy Birthday Adia!!!

Oh how the time flies!  Seems like only yesterday I was young and pregnant with my sweet girl.  Seems like only yesterday (but thank God it wasn't) that I was up all night feeding her and changing diapers.  13 years has sure flown buy so fast! I am not sure that I am ready for the teenage years but I can say that I am so happy and proud of the wacky, funny, caring, beautiful, animal loving young lady that I have in my life.  Now please everyone cross your fingers we can make it through the next 5 years :)  I love you my sweets!

                                                  

                                                      

  

Foodie Friday (0n Thursday) Pistachio Cherry Meltaway Cookies

 

 The annual cookie exchange that my family does each year is upon us!  For some reason I always feel the need to try something new rather than just making the same thing year after year.  I am not sure if this is a good thing or not...

Well this year after going to Pinterest (of course) and looking through all my cookie pins I found these.  Sounds interesting.. Looks easy enough.... Let's try it!

These were actually pretty easy to whip up and they cook up nicely.  They have a good flavor and remind me a lot of the cherry blossoms that I love so much.  The pistachio isn't super strong and the cherry really helps to sweeten things up.

Making a double batch yielded just over 60 cookies making it perfect for a cookie swap.

If you want to give it a try cause you have a swap coming up or just cause you like cookies you can get the recipe from I Heart Naptime

Articulated Angel Ornament Swap

I joined the Retro Cafe Art Gallery Articulated Angel Ornament Swap.  The only rule was that I had to use one of four different angel bases.  I chose to make two angels and will receive two back in return.  Here are the two I made.

The first one I wanted to go with a vintage Americana look.  So I ordered some supplies and went to work.  I spray painted the angel, her wings, and crown gold to start.  I used an orangish brown paper to cover her arms and sheet music for her torso.  I wrapped and glued down some holly berry type garland around her skirt and embellished with some rusted tin pieces.  She is holding a brown snow flake and has a maroon button for her necklace. 

 

My second angel got spray painted silver to start with.  I covered her skirt in Mica Flakes to give her some sparkle and wreathed her head with a blue dresden cut out.  Her arms are covered in silver star paper and she is holding a dresden snowflake.  I used Stickles glitter glue on her wings and in the end decided to use it on her torso too.

 

Both of these ornaments turned out exactly as I had pictured them when I was ordering the supplies and I had a hard time sending them out.  You can check out all the swap entries at Retro Cafe' Art Galleries Facebook page.

Winter Mug Rug and Cup Cozy

 

This was the first ever mug rug I have made and I included a matching coffee cup cozy to go along with it.  I used some left over fabric that was already stitched together from the stocking I made last year.  This was one of the presents I made for my partner in the 12 Days of Christmas Swap.  I think I also sent along some cocoa to go along with this particular day.                                                                              

Winter Necklaces

I made these two pendants for my partner in the Mini 12 Days of Christmas Swap.  She lives in Hawaii and I was thinking she might enjoy something "snowy" since they don't get any where she lives!

This one is a basic snowflake with two beaded blue dangles.

 

This one has a little silver doe with a large sparkly blue dangle.

 

As usual I quite liked these and would like to have each for myself but haven't yet gotten around to whipping them up.  I am much better at making things for others than I am for making things for myself!

Manic Monday

 

What I received from my Secret Santa in the Secret Santa Swap on Craftster.

A Hoopla from Jack Skellington, A painting from Hogwarts, and a Butterbeer Cookie Mix from Hogsmeade!