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.

Hedgehogs in Chocolate and other creatures...

I received the latest Plow & Hearth catalog today. Flipping through it tonight, the first page I landed on had chocolate hedgehogs. I thought these were adorable enough to share. While I do think they are incredibly cute, you get four of them for $9.95 - pretty pricey! I may have to try and make some myself. I could see using a truffle recipe. I'll let you know if I end up experimenting with it. Maybe I'll poke around the web and see if anyone has a hedgehog chocolate mold. If anyone finds one, please let me know.

They also had great brush animal ornaments. Every woodland creature you could want. They appear to be a good size (4" - 6" H), all 13 animals (this is just a few) would be approximately $120. I'll stick to admiring them in the catalog.

Ornament Swap

I've signed up to participate in this ornament swap. I've never done one before so I'm looking forward to seeing what I receive. I think I've come up with the ornament I'll be making but it's still too early to show anything. Once I finish them, I'll show them off before they get mailed out.

I haven't cross stitched for about two weeks but signing up for this exchange has fueled my creative energy.

I've done a little side project

I have put all my regular WIPs aside to work on some Christmas gifts. Here's the first one I finished. My wonderful friend who will be receiving this gift regularly checks my blog, so she's getting a sneak peak at one of her gifts - she just doesn't know how it's going to get finished up (and I already have her main gift so I don't mind sharing the little extras I include!). I'm planning on doing a few more. I think they are just beautiful and so elegant. I hope she likes it as much as I do!

Marie Claire Idees

Point de Croix

Abecedaire ancien

Stitched on 16 ct. Cream Aida

DMC Floss - purple (226)

I Love Etsy!

I'm constantly making lists and I usually have a small notebook in my purse or tote. If given 5 minutes of quiet time (standing in a line, waiting for the light to change, etc.), I will usually pull it out (if I don't have a sudoku book on me) and start making lists. Things to do, projects to start/finish, groceries, etc. I'm sure you get the picture. Well, I love cruising around Etsy and looking at all the wonderful things to buy, when I came across this seller. She makes covers for the size of notebooks I usually tote around, so, I bought one. It arrived today and it's really cute. It even came with a new notebook. There's nothing so wonderful as a fresh pad of paper! I just had to show it off.

(The pictures are from her shop.)