Christmas Cracker Swap 2016

I took part in Mad About Bags Christmas Cracker swap again this year and was partnered with the lovely Glenda from New Zealand (she doesn't have a blog, so this post is for both of us.)  I have taken part in this swap for a few years now and it is always fun to see what you can fit inside a kitchen roll inner!
Glenda and I chatted via email and found out a bit about each others' likes and dislikes and then got going.  Our swaps arrived safely and we decided to wait until Christmas Day before opening them.

Glenda's parcel was wrapped in cheery red and white stripes, with some gorgeous ribbon bunting holding it all together.  

There was so much inside - it was really exciting!

 She had filled a pocket folder with all kinds of goodies - nail files, a bookmark, tags, Christmas sayings, sequins and a tape measure.  As well as all that, there were some sweets and chocolates from New Zealand and a hand knitted dishcloth, a snow globe bottle stopper, a tissue paper flower decoration and a kiwi bird keyring!  Wow!  A BIG thank you to Glenda for her kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity in putting these lovely gifts together.

 Here are my parcels ready to go into their brown paper wrapping.  I had bought some things that wouldn't fit into the cracker, so wrapped them separately.

I sent a ball of Shetland wool from a Lincolnshire flock, some stationery, some UK sweets, washi tape, a polymer clay decoration (made using a Blockwallah stamp), a felt heart, some pearl earrings, a bracelet and some embroidery thread.

Thanks to Tracy for organising the swap and to Glenda for being such a great swap partner.

Stitching Sundays 4

Are you sitting down?  I only ask because...

...here is my finished embroidery - yes, I have actually finished!  The bark pattern took me a while because I tried a couple of different stitches with a couple of different numbers of strands of thread, but in the end, decided on one strand and stem stitch again, so undid it several times before I got it right.

You can still see the purple pen lines but these will fade in a day or two.

 Then I started on making it into a decoration.  Here's the underside (I was surprised by how neat this ended up).

 Here's the finished decoration from the front...

 ...and the back, using some vintage fabric (originally used for curtains by someone, but given a new life by me in this project).  Chris and I both felt that the colours suited the tree very well.

Here's the decoration on the seasonal tree, alongside some woodland animal pegs (excellent and unexpected find at Wilkinsons).  However, I think I need to make some felt leaves to add a bit more interest to the tree, which still looks a bit bare.
I am delighted with the finished decoration and have really enjoyed this little project.  I have a few more in mind, so will be continuing Stitching Sundays for a while longer yet.

Sort of Easter-y?

Here you see an attempt to create an artistic-looking photograph (which I'm not sure is entirely successful).  On my travels to other blogs, I am often struck by the professionalism of the photography.  I am of the 'point and click' school of photography, and if you start talking to me about shutter speeds and ISO, my eyes glaze and I drift away...  So, I have always wanted to be able to take lovely photos, but without all the 'geeky' stuff (apologies to real photographers out there).  I have recently upgraded to a very easy 'point and click' camera which does everything for me, short of choosing the view, and I am happy with the quality of the images.  This picture shows a primrose, part of a glass candlestick, a beheaded tulip (thank you Mr/Mrs Snail/Slug) and a lovely little Easter decoration which I bought at the National Centre for Craft and Design. 
I think this is about as artistic as I'm able to get, but it is sort of Easter-y, isn't it?