Handmade Holiday

I didn't make many things this year, especially since the general request amongst the nieces and nephews was for money. There were a few items for the Vintage Stocking swap I did with Brandy...

I embellished a thrift store stocking with some vintage laces, burlap, and a vintage rhinestone snowflake pin. I tried to keep the color palette neutral with whites and creams, silver and mica glitters. Kraft paper and pattern tissue served as wrapping papers and then trimmed out with jute twine. I revamped a cloche ornament I found at Jo-Ann's with a new white deer and bottle brush tree, and added a glittery rosette and star to a bingo card. I bleached and covered with mica some bottle brush trees to top vintage blocks, constructed a mica-crusted snowflake wand, and a papier-mache pine cone box had a vintage ornament and bottle brush trim added to it. Once I got started getting stuff together I really got into it and could have kept going, but was already late in getting my box out the door.

And since I was sending a box for Matt, I thought would try and include a few things for Carol. I had been wanting to make one of those shadow boxes, sorta like Tim Holtz.

Funny thing is that she thought was a really great idea, and had already made one herself...

I like her box better

And the last thing I made was for Rachel's birthday, which is on the 23rd. I always thought that kinda stunk for her since it often got lumped in with Christmas. But we would be there with her to celebrate this year, and I thought a necklace would be nice.

But, instead of using beads I already had, I had to go to the bead store and pick some new things out. There's a bead shop downtown across the street from where I get my hair cut, so I tried there and picked up some stuff. Once I got home and started laying the necklace out, I decided I didn't like what I got. I still had a day left, and went across town to another bead shop and bought some other beads. The guy from the first shop had talked me into trying this beading thread, and when I got everything strung up I decided I hated all the white knots showing, and didn't like the beads I had just bought from the second store. So I ended up going back to the beads I bought from the first shop, and using the Softflex bead wire I already owned. And to make things even crazier than it needed to be, I did this all the night before. I amaze myself at what an idiot I can be. But it all worked out pretty well.