Done, Done, Almost Done

I'm so proud of myself for making sure all of my handmade holiday crafts were finished & shipped out on time! Ok I lied, just 1 project went unfinished which was our Christmas stockings. But no biggie, at least no one was waiting for them to arrive in the mail. I am however disappointed in my efforts to keep my blog up to date. So, my new years resolution is to keep this baby running!

Here are the 10 ornaments that i made for the ornament swap. I'm so excited for how they turned out. I wish i could have kept them all for myself!

My friend Jamie's ornament made it to the flickr pool of some of the ornaments that were swapped....yay!

jamie's pompom mitten :)

These are the ones i received from all over the world....I loved finding a package in my mailbox everyday and not knowing what was inside.... what pleasant surprises!! I can't wait to do it again next year!






Since I was having so much fun making fabulous ornaments, burgerboy asked if i would make an ornament for each one of his 40 employees at Five Guys. Delighted, I accepted the great task and here's how they turned out...a plush soft drink cup to hang on their trees!

Now that the holidays are finished, i just need to finish my stockings and i can cross all my handmade christmas projects off my list...hooray!!! But they'll have to wait til i return from my trip to brazil. The beach, hammocks and waterfalls are far more important than handmade stockings...ill post the pics once they're done!

Ribbon & Fabric & Ornaments...Oh My!

Sunday I stopped by Gethsemane to pick up some plant food for my dying orchid plant and was pleasantly surprised that their holiday open house was going on. Of course I couldn't leave without peeking around every corner of the store to see all the wonderful things that they have....upside down trees, glittery acorns, hand blown ornaments from poland, ribbon, ribbon, ribbon, garland galore! did i mention ribbon? I couldn't help myself but to buy 2 glittery acorn ornaments & a surprise ornament for donald. and of course the reason for stopping, the plant food! Although I don't see the sense in spending $35 on an ornament that i'm just going to drop or step on while trimming my tree, they sure are pretty to look at...for hours! I had to keep telling myself "it's ok if i don't have lots of pretty ornaments on my very own tree this year...just wait til the end of the season and buy them on sale!" If not, there's always hope that I can win the $250 raffle and splurge on one before christmas!

After searching online yesterday to find a cute Christmas stocking pattern, I came across an amazing swapping website (swap-bot) that's hosting a handmade ornament swap. Once you sign up, you're given 8-10 names that you will need to make an ornament for and in return you will receive 8-10 ornaments. How cool is that?!? Maybe my tree won't be lacking pretty ornaments after all! I just couldn't wait to leave work and run to the fabric store to buy stuff to make my ornaments. After spending $22.91 I have enough fabric, ribbon, pom-pom balls and jingle bells to make 100 ornaments! Good thing I'm getting a head start on my holiday crafting! Here are a few pics of what I made last night:

A Headache & Blisters

My head is pounding and my fingers are covered in blisters. Why you ask? A late night of crafting with a glue gun! I need to work on my gluing techniques so I stop burning my finger tips..it makes it very hard to type the next day!

Tuesday I received a call from a Barbara Glass from Lake Magazine to see if I would make bouquets for a wedding photo shoot this weekend. I was delighted for the opportunity to have my work published in a magazine so I had to get to work fast to meet the deadline. The past 2 nights I've been up very late making bouquets, boutonnierres, flowergirl baskets & headwreaths...hence my pounding headache!

Here are a few pics I took last night. Once I get the pics from the shoot I'll post them on here. Til then, I need to get my etsy shop up and running!!!

Thanks to Erin Casey from Bella Bridesmaid in Chicago for the referral!