Recycled Rosettes

I love craft magazines, one of my favourites is Crafts Beautiful because the projects are always so straightforward and the freebies are brilliant making it really good value. Now I'm not on commission for the magazine so I had better move on.
Today is my day off and as such as a treat, after jobs around the house are done, is to indulge in a cuppa and my favourite magazine. Before I even got past page 19 I had to stop and trial an idea.
Now as my avid readers will know I'm a hoarder and as such although the recipe called for card I had a piece of wrapping paper left, too small for a present but too big just to throw away so rather than cut into my treasured pretty Christmas card I decided to use this as an alternative. A mock-up if you will. I'm also lazy, so seeing as I didn't have a button to hand but I did have a bunch of card making bits I used card and transfers to make a Christmas Rosette.
You might not agree with me but I think it worked a treat. I did however make the booboo of using the wrong colour for my tree decorations so I decided instead to decorate a rather plain gift bag in order to make it more festive.
I hope my favourite magazine won't mind having their recipe played with and I'm sure one of my favourite people won't mind the addition to her gift bag.

Handmade cards

I'm full of cold, my lips are chapped and my nose could compete in a rudolph lookalike competition with really good odds but today arrived at my door two envelopes to make me smile.
Most crafters love Christmas because of the endless opportunities for creations, one reason I love Christmas is seeing the work of other crafters appear to brighten my day. The first two cards I received for Christmas have been handmade and I love them both! Mine haven't been made let alone sent so clearly I'm late to the party.
What makes these cards so special is not just the thoughtful nature of the cards but that they have been addressed to my whole family: me, my hubby and our very grumpy pooch. Why does this make them so special? Because it reveals just how precious these friends are, they know I'm bonkers about my dog, I very much treat him as my baby and have not only taken the time to make me a card but embrace my bonkerdness - again not a real word and I won't use it again I promise.
To these lovely ladies - love ya!
To others - follow their lead with the Christmas assault: make cards and embrace the crazy.

Christmas Bunting

This is just a quick blog to share with you my afternoon's efforts.
I was really touched to be asked to make some festive bunting for my church and thrilled that bunting has found its place in the festivities. Originally accepted as a decoration for summer bunting has become so popular that it's springing up all over the place. My next challenge is to make bunting appropriate for all seasons. I can't think of a season where it isn't appropriate so I should be onto a winner.
Here's hoping my friends like the addition to our walls, I've even snook in a couple of wool wraps for good measure.

If I can do it anybody can

I'm a Christian and as we've established this means a few things, Jesus is God, the Bible is His word, and the Godhead is lord and creator of all things. Being a crafter it's easy to admire a creator. It does not mean I will hit you with my Bible on your way out.
Another awesome thing about being a Christian is that I get to celebrate Christmas with unbridled joy. This doesn't mean I spend millions on the people in my life (I wish I had millions to spend on them but let's face it I would just buy craft instead) it means I celebrate the birth of my saviour and jump with both feet into caroling, tinsel and yule log.
On the other hand a few pet hates of mine include Bah Humbugs, argumentative relatives and most of all the term 'Xmas'. First of all it doesn't work phonetically - you'd be forced to say crossmas or exmas and what has that got to do with anything. Secondly if you need to remove Christ from the Christmas forget celebrating it. Thirdly Xmas features in no Christmas carols. Fourthly X just means no, bad or wrong to me as a symbol so why celebrate that?
For all those people out there that use Xmas as a shorter version of Christmas I have a message - don't! The attached picture is a wool wrapped word which I will be selling this year to all Xmas to Christmas converts at a reduced price but prooves if you can wrap and bend wire to make 'Christmas', a pen should be able to draw holly and tinsel and snowflakes and candy canes and rudolph with no bother at all and the full word not a shorter apology for it.
Take that Bah Humbugs!