Panda Christmas package!

It was funny last year because both Amanda and I sent our Christmas packages to one another at the same time and received them on Christmas Eve!

I wish I had taken a picture of her gorgeous wrapping, but I destroyed it. No, literally! I ripped through all the wrapping paper to get to all the goodies before I realized that I should have stopped to take a picture first! Bad, I know, but I couldn't help myself. Whenever I get a package from my friend Amanda or anyone for that matter, I get super excited and if I don't get a picture first........it won't happen! LOL

As always, my friend Amanda picks out the cutest things to send! And this Christmas she had the help of her mom who picked up a few things in Taiwan ;) This year I was spoiled with lots of bunny themed gifts, book geekiness, craft goodies, and some yummy foodstuffs!

An assortment of adorable bunny items! A Miffy memory stick, bunny stickers, a hand mirror, and some yummy smelling lip gloss in pumpkin spice latte flavor!

Glo stick bracelets! I got so many that I'm going to have to give some to my sister. Amanda also got me a cute set of British fabric cards from a seller on Etsy! Love them! Also pictured is a Starbucks card with Los Angeles featured on the card. I can't imagine what Alabama would put on their card if they had one for the state?!

The pink tube on the right has the CUTEST umbrella ever! The same shade of pink as the tin and it has a cute bunny on it. I told Amanda that I might have to 'retire' my umbrella that I had with me in England and use the bunny one the next time it rains here ;)

Some crafting goodies! Woohoo! Some beautiful molds for making polymer clay borders!

A book girl is not complete without an assortment of book tote bags! I love this one that she included in my package: Books - No Electricity Required. Very true.............well unless the lights go out..........LOL then you might have to break out the candles!

Thank you darling for all the goodies!

Until next time ^____^

An Anime Christmas

My friends and I met up last Friday for our annual anime Christmas party. We had a lot of fun exchanging gifts, watching the end of To The Beautiful You drama, and eating noodles and spring rolls. And we finished with a delicious grasshopper pie! Yum!

Our friend Bonnie is our loveable anime convention junkie. Though the rest of us can't say anything (O_o"), but she goes to a lot of conventions with her friends from college. At AWA this year, she got all of us cute handmade bags and charms from the artists' alley. I love my bag! Perfect size for a purse or to carry around some cross stitch supplies when on the road. And those clay cell phone charms are delicious looking! I can't wait to get a new phone to add them to ;)

From Candace I received a box full of goodies! A lovely fold-able jewelry box with a pair of red bow earrings, a cute zipper bag, and a yummy smelling jar candle! Bonnie was telling me that she read somewhere that lighting candles with scents is a good way to get rid of cravings! I wonder if it works?! 

Kristina knows me too well! She got me the first omnibus volume of the Blood Alone series. I started to read that series when I was in England, but never picked it up after getting back to the States. I can't wait to read it! And you see the book underneath! Knowing that I love Sherlock Holmes, she bought me a SH puzzle book. I can't wait to dive into it ;) 

Nicole bought me a cute assortment of Hello Kitty items including a picture frame, ornament, and tin pail. She also got me an adorable teddy bear ornament with the initial "R" on its tummy. I can't wait to display it next year on our Christmas tree!!!

Thanks for the fun evening and the wonderful presents you guys!

Until next time ^_____^

Puppy Pincushion

Design: Puppy, Unknown Designer
Fabric: 32ct Belfast cream Zweigart
Thread: DMC 167
Notions: small red heart buttons
Start/Finish: 12/26-27/2012
Finish as pincushion: 12/27/2012

So I had made all my friends in our anime group a scissors fob from the Kokeshi doll designs as part of their Christmas gift bag, but I had an extra friend to make something for. I didn't want to make another doll as I didn't want to waste time trying to experiment with different thread colors, etc. to make it look different from the other three designs so I looked online for a freebie beagle design. My friend Nicole LOVES beagles. Looking online, I couldn't find anything that was small enough for a fob finish. So I found a design for a dalmatian puppy and thought I could change it a bit to make a beagle. And viola! here's what I came up with.

Sadly, the design still came out a little too large for a scissor fob finish, but I decided to make it into a pincushion. I added Polyfil stuffing and some doll pellets to give it some weight.

I'm glad she liked my last minute stitching effort!!!

Until next time ^_____^

Christmas pinkeep

Pattern: Happy Holidays by Country Cottage Needleworks, JSC Christmas 2012
Fabric: 28ct Antique White linen by M.C.G. Textiles
Threads: recommended DMC
Start/Finish: 11/12-17/2012
Finish as pinkeep: 12/21/2012

Some late posting of holiday crafting! I finished this design into a pinkeep on the Winter Solstice. I love the backing fabric for this design. I had ran all over town looking for a candy cane themed fabric, but couldn't find anything. When I came home, I was lucky enough to find something that would work. I love the color in the fabric. I hope this year to find a design with gold color threads in it because the fabric with gold braid would look FANTASTIC!

Until next time ^_____^

The Nutcracker Ballet

On Saturday, my friends and I went to see The Nutcracker ballet performed by the Mobile Ballet Company. It was beautiful performance with the added talents of two dancers from the New York City Ballet.

My friend Bonnie had bought a new camera and macro lenses on Black Friday and she got the chance to use it during the second half of the ballet. I asked her if I could share some of her photos on my blog! I'm so glad she said yes because she got some beautiful shots of the dancers.

This is a shot of Clara and the Nutcracker watching the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier dancing. During these scenes, Clara and the Nutcracker are given a 'tour' of the Kingdom of Sweets with each kingdom showing their native dances.

A beautiful shot of the two guest dancers as the lead characters of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

A fun interpretation of the Chinese 'tea cup' dance! I love the chopsticks in the dancers' hair.

Always popular with the audience is the Russians dance scene. The height on this jump is amazing!

Clara dancing with the kingdom's flowers.

The last couple of minutes of the ballet with all the kingdoms doing a dance for the Nutcracker and Clara before Clara falls 'asleep' and awakens in her world.

Overall, it was a gorgeous ballet! I'm hoping to persuade my friends to come with me in March to see Corey's new original ballet, Snow White. You know me and my love of fairy tales!

Thank you Bonnie for allowing me to show off your photography skills!

Until next time ^______^

Yumminess That Glitters!

Lovely, soft pastel colors in an assortment of yummy cakes, cookies, and ice creams!

I'm having fun with Japanese clays this month! The texture of the clays are silky and soft and a joy to work with for sure. I'm in love with the colors and the ability to accent the charms with clay hearts, whip cream dollops, and berries and glittery rhinestones.

I've got to put some varnish on these charms later on before adding them to my Etsy shop.

Until next time ^____^

Winter Wonderland

Design: It's a Kawaii Winter Wonderland by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
Fabric: 28ct tea Monaco by Charles Craft
Threads: DMC
Start: November 2012

This is my progress so far on the Winter Wonderland series from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. It's definitely a work in progress, but I'm hoping to finish it this month if nothing else in terms of cross stitch!

Until next time ^____^

November Recap

Recap:

Read:
1. She by Henry Rider Haggard
2. Ayesha: The Return of She by Henry Rider Haggard
3. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
4. Book Girl and the Wayfarer's Lamentation by Mizuki Nomura

Stitched:
1-3. Kokeshi dolls
4. Happy Holidays by LHN

Finished:
1. Kokeshi doll scissor fobs
2. Egg tart earrings
3. Sailor Moon origami stars ornament
4. Kawaii Christmas tree feltie ornament

It's been a busy month with a few crafting projects and a whole lot of the month taken up with reading Hugo's unabridged version of Les Miserables.

I've been working on the Kawaii Winterland pattern, but I'm far behind on it as all four weeks worth of patterns have been released and I've only finished the first row this week! I blame house renovations and many nights reading Hugo's tome!

Until next time ^_____^

Happy Holidays

Pattern: Happy Holidays by Country Cottage Needleworks, JSC Christmas 2012
Fabric: 28ct Antique White linen by M.C.G. Textiles
Threads: recommended DMC
Start/Finish: 11/12-17/2012

I'm sure some of my readers were wondering where I had wandered off to. As I mentioned before, my family and I are renovating our house so I spent last week helping my mother paint our living room. Our house was built in the late 70s so we have wood paneling and a popcorn ceiling. Which means lots of work! We painted the ceiling and washed the paneling before priming it for paint. We will probably start painting next weekend.

After that.....search for carpeting!! Then on to other areas of house that need work. Definitely a work in progress, but one that is well worth the time :)

With all of that, my stitching time has been limited to after I come home from work during the week and after we are done working on the weekends.

I've got a few more designs to stitch for Christmas. I'm flipping through my back issues of JCS and other magazines to see what catches my eye.

Until next time ^____^

Fun with Felt

Please excuse the horrible photo!

While I was at Michael's this month, I saw a fun kit for making a felt cell phone case! I couldn't resist buying it as I had a great coupon, which made the kit only $3. Isn't it cute? One advantage to these felt kits is that they are perfect for kids who want to learn how to sew by hand or create something using felt. The kit comes with instructions on how to backstitch and blanket stitch.

Definitely check out Michael's selection of felt kits! Well worth the investment and it gives your child an hour or so of fun creating something!

Until next time ^___^