Planning ahead - Knitting for Christmas

I got myself into a bit of a jackpot this year.  Normally, I have everything all planned out and work on projects throughout the year so that by the time Winter Solstice and Christmas come around, I'm ready without any last minute stress.  Not this past year...nope...this past year I ended up scratching just about everything off the list, and as a result, I feel like we didn't really celebrate "properly".  No homemade cards were sent, no gifts to the staff at the school (other than for N's teachers), a 6 hour trip to the emergency room eliminated our winter solstice celebration...and on and on.

So, in an effort to get a few things done in advance, I am really hoping to finish up one project every month so the same thing doesn't happen again.  First up, is a little knit tie inspired by this one over at The Purl Bee.

The safety pin is to make me feel better.  It's hard to see the progress as I go, so every night I move the safety pin up to where I am starting from and I knit until I can see that I have done a few inches.

Some nights I only manage two inches, sometimes up to four.  I'm using a ball of sock yarn from my stash so that I have an even pattern without doing colourwork.  I am hoping to have this project finished up by the end of the month, and if I do a few inches every day, it should actually happen.  Then hopefully it will actually make it to Christmas!  A little someone I know doesn't own a tie and needs one from time to time, so knowing me, it is quite possible that it will come out of the "gift stash" at some point throughout the year.  We will see how it goes.

If anyone else wants to play along, we can help keep each other inspired.  Feel free to leave a comment on any posts to share what have planned and/or what you are working on.  Happy crafting!

Linking up with: Fiber Arts Friday over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder

Back from Holidays

We have returned from our "long awaited" holidays and are back into our regular routine as of this morning.

Hard to come back when the view from your campsite looks like this:

 

 Can't wait to go back!

Three things on Thursday - being prepared

1)  With so many people getting ready to travel for whatever holidays they celebrate (even if it's just holidays from school and work), I thought I would use this chance to remind people traveling by car to make sure the car is stocked with a small emergency kit.  Jumper cables, water, blankets, a candle and matches, flares, etc.  You can get a pre-assembled kit or make your own fairly quickly.  Also, if you are traveling in the cold, please make sure you take along a warm coat, boots, hats, mitts, etc.  Even if you are wearing your pretty party clothes, with the lovely high heeled shoes, it might be a good idea to take along your warm things (even if you are not wearing them) in case you get stuck on the road.

2)  I highly recommend printing off this list of 50 last minute things you can do if you have a bit of notice of an upcoming emergency situation.  The kind of thing you can do if you have a day's notice of a storm coming.
I had meant to share this a few weeks ago when I first came across it, but I misplaced it and only found it again this morning.  Print it off and store it in a safe place (where you will remember it) so that if you aren't prepared now, you can take the steps recommended to put yourself in a better situation.

3)  Stay safe, make some memories, take some pictures, spend time with family and friends and have yourself a good time.  Whatever traditions you keep, for whatever holidays you celebrate, make the most of it...you'll be thankful for it later.

Here is one of our favourites:

...And, as a bonus, I received a wonderful surprise the other day.  Someone very near and dear to me has finished packing her and her husband's evacuation bags!  Woohoo.  The best Christmas present I can think of.  Here's to hoping we never have to use them...any of us.

Handmade Holiday - Holiday cards

I think it is finally safe to share the holiday cards I made this year...you could still have time to make a few if you are going to hand deliver them...

I started by drawing a very simple image onto some card stock.  There were more branches in the beginning, but I kept removing some because I was going to have to cut every single space.  Then I traced it onto a bigger piece and cut out all the openings leaving a frame around it.

 I cut large sheets of card stock into 4" x 8" smaller cards and traced the image onto each one.

 ...and then cut them out piece by piece.

 ...until the tree was all cut out.

 I dabbed on little spots of "tacky glue" because I had an old bottle of it and I thought white glue would make it too wrinkly, and hot glue would make it stick out to much...

...and then glued on a light blue background (can't capture the colour it seems, but it is robin's egg blue)...and don't worry, I went back and cut off that edge sticking out the bottom.

 I wrote my little message inside and signed before gluing anything onto the front, and had the rest of the family sign.  I like to put song lyrics in my holiday cards.  And next, the fun part...

 I drew a little chickadee onto a piece of paper.  Just in black ink.  Then, I scanned it in to the computer, shrunk it, and used a mailing label template to paste a whole bunch more onto a "word" document and printed it out in black and white.  Then I coloured in all their bellies and wings with pencil crayons.  Any bird would be cute, but nice chubby chickadees are my favourite.

 Then I cut them out with a tiny pair of scissors, one by one...

 ...72 of them.  Sometimes, I worry about my own self :)

Then, I hot glued them on to the front of the cards so they would puff out a bit from the branches.

I wanted to add some glitter snow falling among the branches, but due to unexpected events that took us out of town for most of a week, I ran out of time.  I think they look a little too plain, but my family will understand, I know.  Feel free to fuss them up a bit if you make some.

See, easy peasy, right?  

Warning...these take a good bit of time if you are making a whole bunch, but if any of you have one of those fancy Cricut machines, this would take no time at all I would think, and making just one for a very special person would be worth the effort, I think.

Oh, and by the way, you might have to make your own envelopes too, as a 4" x 4" envelope is very hard to come across.  Just sayin'.

Linking up with: Crunchy Catholic Momma for Stash Bash