2008 Holiday Ornament Swap

Hosted by Freshly Blended and Cake + Pie

Would I participate again? Absolutely!

Will I encourage my crafty friends to sign up? Absolutely!

This is the first swap I have ever done and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. I'm even thinking about what to do next year. The talent that is out in the world is so amazing. It inspires me to be more creative. Here's a photo of everything I received. I even did side swaps (participants contact each other and swap on the side). I received 9 out of 10, but I'm hopeful that the 10th one is on the way.

There is also a flickr group that almost all the participants have uploaded photos to. Check it out - it's a great source of inspiration.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/holidayornamentswap08/

Kids Ornament Swap 2008 - Recap

Would I do this one again? Absolutely.

A big "Thank You" to The Crafty Crow for hosting this swap. As you can (hopefully) see by the photo, we received 7 very creative and charming ornaments. It was fun sending out our acorns, but it was more fun for my son to receive packages in the mail. If The Crafty Crow is willing to host a 2009 Kids Ornament Swap, I encourage everyone to participate.

There is also a flickr group set up to view everyone's ornaments. Check it out!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/925869@N24/

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow. After all the opening of presents and such, I'm hoping to get in a few hours of cross stitch. I'll let you know if I'm successful.

Umbrella Trees

These umbrella trees were in Martha's magazine last year. I always thought they were cute, so I came up with my version. I still need to figure out something to put around them. Martha used fake snow but with a cat in the house, I think it would be too tempting for her to play in. This little tablescape is sitting in my entry way.

I ran out of ribbon, so I need to buy more and finish the bow on the tree in front.

(FYI, the picture hanging on the wall is a watercolor of the church we were married in. It was done by my MIL.)

The umbrella trees at night. I have used battery-operated LED lights. It looks a bit pink in the picture because the threads that hold the umbrella together are all red. A very fortunate accident.

2008 Kids Ornament Swap

I was also able to get the Kids Ornament Swap completed today as well. My son and I worked on glittered acorns to send out to my swap group.

My son stamped the envelopes containing the acorns with a branch stamp.

The acorns are all wrapped up.

I finished by getting them ready to mail and I was also able to mail them out today. I hope everyone enjoys their acorn!

If anyone is interested in a side swap, I have a few more that I could give away. Just let me know and I would be happy to swap with you.

2008 Ornament Swap - Mailed

Today I got everything packaged up and mailed off. I was so happy to have it done. I really hope that the people in my group like what they receive. If you've never participated in a swap, I highly recommend it. This is the first one I've ever done and it was great fun.

2008 Ornament Swap

Well, I've completed the stitching on the ornaments I'm sending for the swap. I think they turned out really well. I chose to cross stitch snowflakes and hang them using 3 inch hoops. I used Navy Blue Aida cloth and white DMC thread. A tremendous shout-out to The Floss Box because she has created wonderful cross stitch snowflake patterns and makes them available as freebies on her site. I used her snowflake patterns 8, 11, 25, 30 and 31 (I made two of each pattern). If you ever just want to look at some great embroidery or the freebies she offers, please check her out.

I'm hoping to package these up and ship them out tomorrow.

P.S. I've already received one ornament from each of the swaps I'm particpating in. They are really wonderful. Once I receive all of them, I'll post them.