Handmade, just not by me.

I knew I wouldn’t get around to making anybody any gifts this Christmas but instead of feeling bad about it I just bought a few things instead; I found all this except for the dino-teddy on Etsy & have re-discovered my love for it. Yeah I like Regretsy, but it has been clouding my perception of what really is a showcase of great artistic & creative talent. Please excuse the clipped pictures, I only thought to take photos when I was upstairs wrapping & there isn’t a whole lot of room up there at the moment!

I have to start with the dino-teddy. I found him at the oppy last week when it was just Spence & I & Spence loved him at first sight. He’s brand new; there were a lot of knitted toys altogether, I think perhaps one of the volunteers made them especially for Christmas. He’s so cute & weird, I am happy for him to be Spency’s Christmas present from Mama.

This brooch is for my Gran, also known here as the brooch addict. She gave me two old hairclips yesterday that have little coloured stones inlaid, when she handed them over I said, “It’s a wonder you’re not turning these into a brooch” & she admitted she had considered it.

An apron, oven mitt & chef’s hat for Punk – something I did briefly consider making but then I saw this set & it was perfect.

And finally Punk’s Christmas dress. Inadvertently Punk’s Christmas outfits for the last 3 years have been handmade… I think that makes it a tradition.

Now I better get out of here… we’re off to see Santa!

It’s a wrap.

I can’t say I’ve bothered too much with wrapping my Christmas presents in the past;

• Tacky Christmas paper? CHECK.
• Sticky tape? CHECK.
• $2 silver ribbon & some scissors to curl it with? CHECK.

Wrapping is my least favourite part of Christmas, it’s too much like a chore usually, since I tend to leave it to the last minute & have a whole evening of of mashing things into crumpled paper & lathering on tape ahead of me on Christmas eve, but I’ve been making the tiniest of efforts this year, both on the gift presentation front & trying to get the bulk of the wrapping out of the way before it’s too late & I just want to go to bed.

My “effort” consists of wrapping in either tacky Christmas paper with a contrasting band of kraft paper, or wrapping in kraft paper with a contrasting band of tacky Christmas paper.

Revolutionary stuff.

I was going to make some Christmas tags but I found a pack of paper doilies & thought they’d look cute instead… then I just started adding random things here & there, ala Pip’s instruction in this super sweet video.

Do you like gift wrapping? Do you go all out or are you like my dear sweet Mr, who’s usual attempt at gift wrapping is folding over the bag that he bought it in?

Re-Gifting.

I received this bag for Christmas from The Boy’s Mother, his Dad & brother brought it down with them on their recent visit, & I didn’t even realise until the day after the presents were opened that I’d got it – Punky had gotten to unwrap it & it was immediately lost in a sea of scrunched up Christmas paper.

It is a combination of wooden beads, woven nylon & red pleather. It has large circles attached that I imagine would flap about in the breeze if it were to ever leave the house.

Now I don’t want to sound ungrateful, it was nice of her to send it, and it IS red, but I will not use it, not now, not ever.

Would you like it? If you would, just let me know in the comments. If, by this time tomorrow, nobody wants it, it shall be on it’s way to the oppy. If, by this time tomorrow, more than one of you wants it, names shall be taken & thrown into said bag in the interest of fair re-gifting & one “lucky” person shall be the new owner.

I honestly don’t know whether she would laugh or be offended if she knew I were offering up her gift on the internet, but to be on the safe side, we’ll just keep it to ourselves, shall we?

Did you get any “gifts” that you are considering shuffling on to a new home already…?

Confessions….

Ah, the time has come to tell the truth!

I told you I was banning myself from the computer! I told you I had things to make & stuff to do! I told you I would be off making those things & doing that stuff…..

But I lied.

It wasn’t intentional, I promise. But I’m lazy. It was hot. The dog ate my homew… oh.

I spent the few days I had given myself away from the blog, erm… reading other blogs (like Lola’s… I HAD to comment on her boots – outing myself immediately…), worrying about the house (yes, we still don’t know fo’shizzle if she will be ours…. and I am dying over here…!), doing uncharacteristically well at my driving lesson because instead of worrying about my driving test I was worrying about the house, shopping, lazing about & shopping.

To answer your question Claire (…and why THANK YOU for asking… I really appreciate you keeping me honest, damn you.), no, I didn’t make The Boy a single handmade thing. He does have something coming in the mail… but other than that… *whistles innocently*

I did manage however, after mooching about for days doing nada, to find myself on Christmas eve with nothing to wear to Christmas lunch & with no Christmas stocking for Punky to leave out for Santa.

I knocked the outfit over in no-time flat, making me wonder why I kept putting it off. I bought a skirt last week at the oppy that was super-gorgeous but about two sizes too small for my big butt, so I removed the waistband, button & zip & added another panel with an elastic waist. I used an old red sheet with a hem, so I didn’t even have to sew the elastic casing…! Lazy much?

.

Lucky for me, my gorgy Curlypops brooch went perfectly with my skirt! (And you can see why I was so desperate to get those boots on… I was planning to wear them on Xmas from the moment I saw them online!)

The wee hours saw me doing a TERRIBLE job of putting together a patchwork stocking for Punky with a dodgily embroidered name patch… I really should not be allowed to craft after midnight… (…that’s when my brain turns into a pumpkin…)

 

What else did I say I was going to do but didn’t…? I can’t remember but I doubt I did it. My family haven’t even had their pressies posted yet…! (But, all of their pressies ARE handmade… so that surely counts for something…?!)

Tra La La La Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…….

You hear that? That’s the fat lady singing. Christmas is officially over for another year, after….

 

….Santa visiting…..

…presents being opened….

 

 

…lunchy munching….

…..and playing.

Ah. It was awesome!

I hope your day was just as great!

Thank you Mummy!

For sending us a crazy amount of presents, the first to go under our tree because I've been slack with wrapping duties....

...letting Punk have a bit of early Christmas playtime fun, courtesy of not one but two massive postage boxes....

...and for being so generous & reliable. I appreciate it, and you, I do!

Luff you Mumma! (And LePunk says "Argooh Dado", which I can only assume means "Thanks Nanny!")

xoxoxo

My Creative Space….

….isn’t what I was hoping it would be. In the spirit of… well… my life, the afternoon I had planned took an unexpected turn yesterday & instead of painting & crafting I was erecting the biggest trampoline I think I have ever seen.

Remember how I told you I was doing the Handmade thing for Christmas, with the exception of a few things for the Punk, one of which was a trampoline? If you don’t call what we were labouring over for three & a half hours last night making by hand….

What an ORDEAL! You even have to sew the damn safety mesh down at the end (which The Boy made a valiant, if unenthusiastic, attempt at)!

Every single part of putting the thing together was worse than the last – every time we moved on to a new step I would declare “OH! THIS IS the WORST part…!” until we got to the awkward & confusing sewing part, which really was the worst.

You may be wondering why we were putting up a Christmas present this early in the game? Well, I have several excuses… I mean, reasons, of which some are;

• Santa had to drop it off early – it would have weighed the sleigh down immeasurably, not to mention a small country or two would have had to forgo presents completely…
• As much as I liked the idea of Punk waking up to a grand surprise of a shiny new trampoline on Christmas morning, I was bluntly informed that if we were to wait, as she doesn’t yet really know what Christmas or Santa is, all we were doing was depriving her of a couple of weeks of trampoline joy…
• Erecting the world’s largest trampoline (…for an almost 2 year old, can anyone say “overkill”?!) is a pain in the ass. There is no nice way of putting it. Better we do it early than be cursing & swearing on what is supposed to be a serene & relaxed Christmas eve….

The size of the thing kind of freaks me out – it’s taller than the back of our house! Not to mention if & when we move, hopefully soon, to a house of our own, who is going to disassemble & reassemble this monster?! Bags not I (& now I have it in writing.)

Punky loves it, naturally (I had a bounce too, of course, and it was very, very fun…). And bounced for the mammoth time of… uh… 30 minutes (it was getting dark!) before we decided we should probably go in & eat, & realised it was 9.30pm. Oops.

Here is a picture of what I had hoped to have finished, complete with pretty photos from artistic angles…. *sigh* (You know this only happened because I told you I had something crafty to share today, right?)

This has been another of Vic’s not so Creative Creative Spaces, brought to you by the lovely Kirsty – you know what to do.

 

Oh! I almost forgot, unless life happens, I think I might draw my giveaway tomorrow, so you better enter if you’ve been procrastinating over which prize you would like!

Wallet Pattern....?

Help!

Mr "I don't want any of your handmade crap" is soooooooooo getting some of my handmade crap for Christmas, and one thing I want to make is a wallet, just a simple billfold, square-ish, with a few card slots, maybe an ID window & slot at the back for notes.

Truth is, I don't REALLY want to make it, but I can't find anything I like (or that he would like, actually) on Etsy - so if you are at all into making wallets & wanna make me a nice manly-man one for under $30, then woo-hoo & yea-haw, email me & I'll be all happy & carefree. Else wise, I'm on the look out for a free wallet pattern, or a cheapish PDF. I put the call out over on Crafty Mamas without much luck, seems there is a pattern out there but it's too expensive & not PDF...

(This one, from here, would be PERFECT if it were in a different pattern, I love that they are made out of an old tie & a suit for a start, but I KNOW the boy & he wouldn't be a fan of any of the patterns, mores the pity.)

...soooooo. What'cha got? Any ideas folks? Surely one of you knowledgeable readers will have come across something, somewhere (she begs, perhaps in vain)? Nothing too labour or thought intensive... it's December already, don't 'ya know?!

CRISIS AVERTED!!! Thanks to the lovely Lola Nova... if you are looking for a super wallet tute folks, look no further than right here!