12 days to Christmas - sending Happy Mail

sending Happy Mail to my penpal...
(if you're saving it til Christmas Marleen, stop reading now!)

I've had a penpal since the beginning of this year - we take it in turn to send a newsy letter in a small parcel of goodies. Usually chocolate or sweets are included, sometimes tea and always something interesting like a Lego Harry Potter blind bag, a small craft kit, or a decorative object. I seize the opportunity to practise my Happy Mail skills (seriously, it's a thing). This month we both decided to send each other something. I made...

a Night Before Christmas zigzag book

(with lots of reindeer)

       

Presentation counts so I also made 2 little card bags to hold some goodies and embellished them too. Baker's twine comes in really handy to stop things meandering.

mmm...chocolate...

goodies to open...

and some bunting (link below)

A nice newsy letter rolled up like a scroll to place on top, and a little tree decoration. It's all decked out with festive tissue paper and the box it's in has lashings of Happy Christmas tape on the outside...'tis the season. 

12 days to Christmas - decorating my planner

12 days to Christmas - Trollbeads Share-a-Christmas-Card

12 days to Christmas - making bunting

12 days to Christmas - Jacquie Lawson advent calendar

12 days to Christmas - Christmas/Winter quote book

12 days to Christmas - decorating

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12 days to Christmas - decorating

decorating...bah humbug

This year, for some reason, I found decorating to be difficult. Normally I can't contain my excitement, have already planned what colours I'm going to use (I have a lot of decorations) and have the house decorated by the beginning of the month. But it was already past the third weekend in December and I hadn't even taken the tree out of the trunk. When I was little we probably didn't put up the tree until the week before Christmas, it wasn't the done thing to have it up for very long. Times change. Perhaps this year I've reverted to times past.

This year it's all teal, pinks, white and silver - I decide the colours I'm going to use whenever I'm packing the decorations away after the previous Christmas. The colours I choose are put away separately in easy reach. I had loads of white and silver, a few pink and teal and thought I'd pick up some more in the January sales. One pack of tiny silver and teal baubles, that was it. But this November I did find two lovely pale pink glass baubles, quite large, in Poundland. I bought them and then smashed one on my stone floor when I unwrapped it. Finding other pink baubles was difficult but I settled for a fish and a jellyfish from Tiger...now floating aimlessly on the the tree between the polar bears and the reindeer.

Baubles on and I stood back to admire my handiwork. Something missing - the picks and the ribbon. There was no way those baubles were coming off before January. I stuffed some ribbon and a few picks between the branches where the tree looked a bit bare. This was not the fabulous tree I'd envisaged after watching Rebecca Robeson on YouTube.

It's up, it's lit, it's decorated (bar the angel). The bannisters which usually have decorated swags might be done later this week. Ho ho ho hum...

12 days to Christmas - decorating my planner

12 days to Christmas - Trollbeads Share-a-Christmas-Card

12 days to Christmas - making bunting

12 days to Christmas - Jacquie Lawson advent calendar

12 days to Christmas - Christmas/Winter quote book

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Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit

All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

12 days to Christmas - Christmas/Winter quote book

making a little Christmas/Winter quote book...

When I watch movies I'm itching to be doing something so this becomes the perfect time to sit and invent. I already have my Christmas/Winter papercraft stash out, organised and at hand, so it's easy to set to work. I'd found some little plain book kits and decided I would decorate them - ideal for using up offcuts from larger projects. I like to use washi tape to bind the edges of journal pages - it seems to make them look more finished. 

And as I was tying the cord to bind the pages to the covers I thought of writing some Christmas/Winter quotes. This is how quite a lot of what I make happens, things evolve into objects even though I hadn't planned them. A couple of tassels tied onto the cord ends and it becomes a tiny Christmas decoration - one to be picked up and flicked through. Just add a cup of hot chocolate with a dash of brandy.

12 days to Christmas - decorating my planner

12 days to Christmas - Trollbeads Share-a-Christmas-Card

12 days to Christmas - making bunting

12 days to Christmas - Jacquie Lawson advent calendar

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All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

12 days to Christmas - Jacquie Lawson advent calendar

Jacquie Lawson advent calendar...

Each year for the past few I've bought myself a Jacquie Lawson online advent calendar. It's a little cutesy but it's a bit like having my sister around as she used to send me JL e-cards throughout each year in celebration of holidays and birthdays and sometimes just to say hello. There were always inspiring and loving words attached to them. I was going through old emails and I did a search and found every e-card she sent me. I'm thinking it would be nice to download them onto a memory stick. 





The advent calender this year is based in Edinburgh and has scenes (with added teddy bears) from the city and online games to play including the chance to decorate a Christmas tree and to design a tartan. If there were a clan called McWabbit then this might be suitable, a nice grassy green. So far there's also a tree to decorate, a coat-of-arms to design and snowflakes to create - your chosen designs will appear in the living room, which is also interactive.

There's glimpses into Edinburgh's historic buildings including artworks from the National galleries of Scotland with a good mix of art styles. And occasionally there's a teddy animation just for fun. If you're looking for a paper-free advent calendar then this one's a sweet choice...

12 days to Christmas - decorating my planner

12 days to Christmas - Trollbeads Share-a-Christmas-Card

12 days to Christmas - making bunting

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All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

12 days to Christmas - making bunting

making some Christmas bunting...

What's a celebration without a little bunting? Give me an excuse and I'll make some. Last year's included phrases like 'Ho Ho Ho' and 'Jolly' but this year I left off using alphabet letters and went for colour and pattern instead. 

Sometimes I buy Christmas cards in the cheap shops to use, picking those that have plenty of sparkle and embellishments as they'll go further. Larger sized cards are worth getting too, especially if they're less than a quid each. But as I had prepared for a crafty Christmas by buying packs of holiday themed card I used 'Traditional Christmas' paperstack by Make & Create instead.

I have a method - use my triangular master to cut pennants from a variety of similar coloured sheets, the add contrasting card to a corner. Use 2 different washi tapes to break up the shape. Then a sticker, a die cut and a 3D embellishment. Finally a pre-made word embellishment and some sparkly gemmies. And I back each pennant with some plain coloured card - I think it creates a good finish.

Some baker's twine threaded through punched holes at the top 2 corners and bob's your auntie. This is the perfect idea for using up last year's cards if you don't have a stock of scrapbooking materials.

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12 days to Christmas - decorating my planner

12 days to Christmas - Trollbeads Share-a-Christmas-Card

12 days to Christmas - Trollbeads Share-a-Christmas-Card

Trollbeads Christmas event...

It's December! Which means Trollbeads are giving away silver, gold and murano glass charm beads. They were the first bead charm makers, based in Denmark, and have been designing and making beads since the 70s. The draw prepared in mid November with entrants being sent names and addresses of other entrants from across the world. I've sent cards to Europe, USA, Canada and Mauritius. 

And I've received cards from Lithuania, Australia, Italy and Singapore. Raffle tickets are also earned by registering cards received. Two years ago I won a silver woven heart bead (in picture at top).

I have a nice little collection of beads, started almost a decade ago when my sister bought me a silver bracelet with two beads and each following Christmas and birthday she'd buy me another bead. Some she chose, some I chose. And each time I'd sell artwork at a solo exhibition I'd buy a sterling silver bead, its design related to the work I'd sold -  Spiral, Ball of Yarn and Venus (based on Venus of Willendorf). 

My favourite is a OOAK carved amber bead I won, with another bracelet, after my design was a finalist in the Trollbead annual People's Bead competition. The overall winner is sent a copy of their bead design made up in gold and the design is included within the Trollbead range. 

Do I need more beads? Probably not...Would I like more beads? Of course.

Fingers and toes crossed. 

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12 days to Christmas - decorating my planner

12 days to Christmas - decorating my planner

decorating my planner...

 

I use a Webster's Pages personal planner and inserts from SimplyPlanDesigns at Etsy. I've stopped using decorative planner stickers and instead use washi tape to decorate the tops and bottoms of the pages...it's a simpler way to decorate and I like turning to a new week and seeing different colours and themes.

It's all about making the to-dos and the apts a bit more jolly. Yes, my planner looks like it belongs in Santa's workshop but it's fun decorating and each time I open it I smile! 3D stickers, fancy paperclips and embellished dividers provide a blast of seasonal colour. 

I include a gratitude page - room for a note about something good or positive that's happened or that I've experienced. When it's too easy for me to get bogged down by what I don't have or aren't able to do then writing something, no matter how small, is often enough to lift me.


And this year, instead of making a separate Christmas planner I again simplified things, buying an insert from the same Etsy shop, to keep track of spending, shopping lists, gift ideas to make, events and a Christmas card record. It suits me as this year I've cut right back on expenditure and on stress. But I still enjoy detail in decorating my home, crafting and making the day ahead one of comfort.

...and that llama think he's a reindeer...

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