ho ho jingle jangle

Thanks for your comments and thoughts about my hair-dorama's. I decided to delete those 2 posts, because I really don't want negative posts here, and I really really didn't want to see myself each time I looked at my blog! (I don't post very often, so I forget what I've done...)

I am finished with swapping this year! YAY! This is what I sent to Silvia for the Christmas Kaleido-swap. Silvia has 4 cats and is a huge cat fan!



Yesterday I received the mini christmas card swap from Anne. Anne made me a sweet little stationery set. The swing tags are great! So are the envelopes!! I have never been so successful making my own, but Anne has the technique down pat. Can you tell from this photo?


My lovely friend Annette surprised me the other day with these 2 little embroidered ornaments. Aren't they fantastic! I love the colours and the beading.


I've been spending the last couple of days cooking and getting ready for Christmas. Here's this years rocky road - I put silver balls on top to make it look more festive. This is wrapped and ready to take to my sister's tonight. I posted the recipe last year.


I've also made my normal Christmas cake too. Not photos this time - they look remarkably similar to last year!

I've tried a new recipe today. It's spiced biscuits or gingerbread, I suppose. The recipe is from this months (i.e. Dec 07/Jan 08) Delicious magazine. I may be inspired to share the recipe soon - but not today.

I can vouch that they're very tasty indeed.

doing something crafty

WOW - first day of holidays for me and the house is a pigsty with buttons all over the loungeroom floor; the glue gun is out in the kitchen; the dining room table is covered in paper, stamps, xacto knife, and WIP's waiting for the sewing machine to make an entrance and crochet cotton and hooks dumped at every comfy seat around the house.

Sheesh - I have to tidy it all up tonight because we have a cleaner coming through the house tomorrow! It does, of course, take longer to tidy the house than to clean it. Well, once I've been having fun it does. I DO believe it's worth it - hubby isn't convinced. (Hubby doesn't have a very high rating care factor either).

I've been busy making sets of 4 crocheted coasters in christmas colours. They'll be on their way to new homes tomorrow. (This has been my work in progress over the last week - not just today BTW. I've made 3 sets so far.)



Today I have been making cute little vintage button and buckle brooches. I can't decide which one/s to keep for myself. hmmm. They are also for gifts. The colours didn't come out too good in the photo. Maybe because of the dull stormy weather that's happening here in Sydney.


Oh. My. Goodness. Kajsa sent me this bundle of goodies in a little ornament swap I was doing. It was supposed to be only an ornament! But heck - take a look at the fantastic ornament!!! I LOVE Kajsa's things, and this really blew me away.


I'm hoping to finish off lots of projects over the next 2 weeks, which should mean actually posting on this blog - something I've been pretty bad at this year.

Oh yeah, and I really want a bundle of colours of this. I can feel a blanket coming on next winter....

serious swap goodness

I've been so very lucky recently with the swaps I've participated in. I have been very slack, however, at posting the wonderful stuff here on my blog. If you look at my flickr photos at all - you'll see everything there. I've been finding it so difficult to get my act together posting here as well.

So - my apologies to my wonderful swap partners who've been incredibly thoughtful and generous.

Starting from the most distant swap I haven't posted...

The September Kaleidoswap theme was "back to school" and I was partnered with the organiser Isabelle. I received the most amazing box full of great things - sweets, notebooks, pens, perfumes, games. I absolutely love everything. Isabelle really took notice of all the things I like and dislike and everything was great. I think she has a real talent for choosing gifts for her partners!



I had posted the wrapped parcel of the things I sent her, so here it all is now before I wrapped it. I also tried to make sure I put things together that Isabelle would really enjoy.



Here's a close up of the sterling silver and czech glass beaded earrings I made for her. They seem to go perfectly with one of her favourite necklaces! Perfect!


The next swap I received recently was in the Sweetpea "Something Old/Something New" swap. I was matched up with Julie (aka sewitsforyou). Julie has a shop in Etsy which you must check out too.



The teatowel Julie embroidered for me is so perfect - to the extent that the teapot is eating a DONUT! Wow - I didn't realise my 'Homer'ness' was so evident on the internet...And the buttons are just beautiful! And the embroidery patterns are so cool - in fact I'll be starting a tshirt project today if I get the time.

Here is what I sent to Julie. I must admit that time was an issue for me and I didn't get the time to make something for Julie to post with this. However, I did find the cutest Japanese print fabric, and over did the chocolates to (hopefully) make up for it a bit.


The final swap I am posting today is the "Vintage Christmas Stocking Swap" organised by the wonderful Jo and MaryAnn. Unlike the swaps above, this isn't a direct swap. I was sent a parcel from Beth, who has a really beautiful blog and shop on Etsy.

I was completely in love with the beautiful handcrafted gifts I received from Beth. The style of vintage Beth made for me was (again) just perfect! The Christmas Angel is adorable - and my grandmother was very impressed with her. Here's a photo of all the good stuff.


The stocking is just beautiful.


Here's a peep inside. The fabric lining the stocking is very cool. I wish it was easier to see it/show it!


And finally, the beautiful corsage. I can't wait to wear it! I've decided to wear it to all the Christmas parties and Christmas drinks I go to as well as on Christmas Day.


I have sent my Christmas stocking and goodies off to Cheryl nearly 2 weeks ago. So far it doesn't seem to have arrived. Of course I hate the waiting part - I hope it gets there soon and all OK! Once I've got her confirmation it's there, I'll post photos I took.

Happy Season Swapping everyone!

the speed of life

This is going to be a crap post, because I haven't put any thought into it, or done anything lovely and crafty recently. I've been working hard and trying to find time to plan for our rapidly approaching trip to Turkey. Anyone want to go on the postcard list?

I've been keeping in touch with Flickr, so I'll post some recent favourites. It'll be like looking into the magic mirror on Romper Room. Did Miss Kim see you today?

1. L and Wawa, 2. Pincushion thrift, 3. rodney 012, 4. Green cup, 5. Fethiye, Turkey., 6. chickie, 7. Simon the sock monster, 8. Presley's homework book, 9. ATC, 10. Tea Towel Swap, 11. bear collage, 12. summer bunny collage, 13. dragonfly spring collage, 14. needlefelted gang, 15. My creation, 16. Favorites 4-30, 17. crazy with the pincushions, 18. Embroidery, 19. thinking in color, 20. Running around...

embroidery blog for EVERYONE

I am lucky/silly enough to have become involved in a very cool new blog with some very talented crafty women. It's quite humbling to be a part of this new venture, which has really made me feel like a real contributer to the online craft community.

Flickr Embroidery Blog is only about a week old - but if you're interested in embroidery, I think this site will be a great resource for inspiration, ideas and mentoring of creative embroidery. There's a lot of stuff out there. This blog will help sift through what's good in embroidery - resources, useful links, tutorials, etc.

My job is to post on Wednesdays. Sounds so easy, but my day job is creeping into any/all my spare time at the moment. Resulting in a really huge cold sore on my bottom lip which looks very much like a raisin stuck on my face. Very attractive. I'm a walking billboard of stress and exhaustion. I'm going to have to get up REALLY early to do my duty this week! [yawn - it's making me tired already]. But I want to do it, so I'm looking forward to it!

Here's some Flickr favourites from the last few days. You might catch some of this over at the new blog tomorrow...

the bag matches the shoes

The actual photo of the bag is thankfully not representative of how excellent the bag is. I'm not a very experienced sewer, but I'm very pleased with the final result!

I was inspired by 2 different bags in a couple of Japanese craft books I have. So I kind of just put it together as I went.

I'm surprised how similar it looks like Amanda's (Soulemama) new bag.

where have you been?

wow - exactly one month since my last confession. I've been doing crafty stuff too! I guess I only have time to do one or the other... I can't craft AND blog.

I made a really cool bag which go with my new shoes....

I wore them to a wedding. I love camper shoes.

I've also been keeping up to date with what's going down in flickr. Here's some of my recent fav's - there's been heaps though.

1. It's spring time at my place!, 2. blue_flower_skirt1, 3. Wilbur Likes Leaves, 4. Kup,Kup & Chloé, 5. Sukie, 6. Inspiring houses on flickr, 7. The diver - zippered pouch, 8. 13 birds detail, 9. table linens - day 8, 10. Scout the Shmerpi (#22) - Cuddle Arms, 11. Untitled, 12. cup of the day : feb. 21st., 13. hot chocolate, 14. Owly tea for me, 15. mini.hug#25, 16. It's Winter Time, 17. tea, 18. rewind-button, 19. Tea set, 20. "my cup of tea".

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
I'm also participating in 2 swaps. A seasonal swap and a 'you're my cup of tea' swap. They're both being organised through flickr and I'm really looking forward to both of them!

Swap parcel extravaganza!!!

Yesterday I got home from work to find...
1. a large parcel from Kristen stuffed behind our stone house number

Can you see all the amazing things I received? It's awesome! I love it all - and even used the bag today. It got many compliments...

and

2. a fat parcel in the letterbox full of goodies from the oh-so-charming valentine ATC swap organised by the AMAZING and GENEROUS Mary Ann

Look at all the fantastic ATC's the were chosen for me! I got lucky - not to mention all the other things that were included in the post. I had no idea they were going to go to so much trouble. It was so wonderful to receive both these parcels.

Do I feel special? Yes, I do!

I love rice pudding

...and all versions of it that I have tried so far....mmmm. Just had a tub (150g) of sticky black rice pudding with coconut cream. Please don't ask me about how my new diet is going.

Friggin unbelievable NEWS. GREAT news! I received a parcel from Sara. We exchanged some emails last year about it - it was postmarked 27th October 2006 and I got it on 31st January 2007. Ripped open and re-sealed with 'inspected' tape - yet again. With a brochure inside telling me that Australian customs had searched my parcel because they thought there was something suss inside, but didn't take anything because THERE WASN'T ANYTHING SUSS. Crafty people are victimised! Of course she's not stashing ice or coke inside the lovely craft magazine, or injecting something noxious into the m&m's that were a sweet addition and total surprise.

The parcel was worth the wait! Sara sent me such a lovely bundle of stuff, it's really made me feel bad for my general grumbling late last year, when I was feeling sorry for myself...

This pic shows inside the cute craft book AlternaCrafts. You can get it at Amazon here.


Here's the entire loot. I had to wait for a few days for time and light to take this photo - please note the mints were not eaten and the m&m packet is still sealed and full at time of photo (I can't necessarily say that's still the case). Again, don't mention the diet, please. I love the little crochet booklet, and this is my second copy of readymade magazine. Nice.

Turning to crafty inspiration, I just logged into google reader tonight after not looking all week - there's over 100 posts to read - lordy doody. I looked at a couple though. I can recommend checking out the instructions for gorgeous trim boxes here and look at all of Geninne's wonderful hand carved stamps here.

swap, new furniture and inspirations

A weekend trip to Ikea for my sister, of course ended up costing me over $100 on stuff I didn't know I needed until a shuffled through the maze of rooms with 100,000 other Sydney-siders. What's new, huh? Besides, because it takes 3 hours minimum to get through the shop AND it always costs so much, you never end up going too often. The crowds frustrate and anger me no end. I have no patience for crowds. Ask Paul. So I got a few 'essentials' including 2 new little tables for convenient 'eating in front of the telly' time. Also convenient crafting and blogging table too, may I add!

I've finished putting together the parcel for Kristen for Ellia's Sweet Pea Valentine Swap

oooh. Wonder what's in there...I was so over the moon about how perfectly everything fitted into this recycled box I had been saving. Wonderful!

I have been so busy reading so many great blogs. Recent inspirations include (but not limited to):

This fantastic crocheted scarf at Bella Dia. When it gets colder....

Jess Hutch is now screen printing her sketches onto large pieces of fabric. Soo lovely.

Fooooood. Jennifer at Mama urchin has made the most delicious looking pizza from SCRATCH. I so want a pizza stone for our oven. I truly believe it would motivate me to make my own pizza. true.

Being the basic sewer that I am, I have not yet attempted zippers, or anything zipper related - like cute little pouches. This may change now with a little help from Claire at needle book, who has recently plunged into the zipper pouch world herself, and provided links to useful tutorials she found.

Sally (nice name) at Shim and sons is sharing with us the most beautiful pin boards - no. sewing. required.

today's inspirations

I'm really loving the gorgeous and simple style of the smock tops Amanda (Soule Mama) has created from a vintage children's smock she has. I'd love to think I could work out a reasonable pattern to make some for myself.

Also lots of photos on her Flickr page.

Then, when I was checking out everything going on over at Whip Up I loved this recycled bag made by Liza from a rice sack. Why don't I ever buy my rice in such large quantities that they come in cute printed hession sacks, complete with a red ZIPPER.

So much cool stuff out there. Love it.