On the Eleventh day of Christmas...

Happy Christmas Eve!!! Here's what my tree looks like :)

The Artful Christmas: I'm not sure who this was from :( I can't read the signature..... could someone please let me know in the comments who's it is! ** I just found out that it was made by the very talented Angela Hoffman (sorry Angela)**
But I love the pillow box wrapping!And inside is this sweet fairy! Isn't she cute -- and she has a prime space on my tree
12 Days to Christmas:
Was from me!!!
Here's the wrapping:
And inside was a bracelet that I made from bits of fabric (vintage and new) and vintage buttons and ribbon. even my daughter likes these!!! Here is a little look at the process:The bottom bracelet is just the fabric bits on top of the base. The 4 at the top have been stitched down. (click on the image to see it better)
Then the finished bracelets:

On the tenth day of Christmas......

The Artful Christmas:Brown paper packages are my favourite!!! I LOVE this wrapping from Stefania. And inside was this pretty dress ornament!


12Days to Christmas:
This wrapping is so pretty-- it's German book text, vintage ribbon , and a little embellishment. Very simple, very perfect!
Inside are pretty earrings from Marilyn! (photo coming soon....)

On the ninth day of Christmas...

Martha was sick and tired......
An Artful Christmas:This tin from Rashell is so pretty! Inside was a pretty silver bracelet -- I'm going to attach lots of charms to it and fill it up today!
12 days to Christmas:
Plaid!Pretty plaid.... from Jeanne.Inside, not one, but 2 spectacular gifts!!!! The first one is a shadowbox ornament (bigger than it looks -- it's about 4x5 and has a plastic window and lots of glittery stuff inside!). My tree is looking so beautiful with these spectacular ormanents!But it's the next one that made me cry....
It's a soldered ornament with an image of my blog banner on it. This means so much to me Jeanne, thank you! My art, and Heather's banner wizardry, and your soldering expertise. (What a great way to commemorate our blogs). AND after Christmas I'll keep it out too.

On the eighth day of Christmas.....

Martha was getting sick.......
12 days to Christmas:This was Heather's day! The wrapping was perfect for my mom's chili Christmas, but unfortunately, it didn't make it under the tree!
Inside was an apron! And Heather says she can't sew! Obviously she was out and out lying!!!! This is wonderful! I can't take a picture of me wearing it because it's the middle of the night and everyone else is asleep. But here's a close-up of the collage she did on the bib of the apron:The Artful Christmas:This little bag is from Vivian.... what's inside?This little snowman. I love it! I have no idea how she made it (papier mache?) but it has that vintage german feel that I love (like those grinning jack-o lanterns). This little guy is already on my tree. He looks pretty happy there.

On the seventh day of Christmas....

Martha was very tired......The Artful Christmas: This candy cane wrapped gift was from Pat. I love the snowflake tag! Inside was an ATC book full of ATCs -- this is fantastic -- and so much work! Thank you Pat!


Twelve days 'till Christmas:Donna wrapped it up in plaid wrapping... and inside was the collage! I've already put it up on my wall! It has lots of glitter and pink german scrap. Perfectly perfect..........

On the sixth day of Christmas.....

12 Days "til Christmas:This was a BIG box from Cerri with a window so we got a peak of what was inside. It was so enticing. The wrapping is wonderful! All pink and frothy just the way I like it!! After I finished admiring the tag with the sparkly M, I carefully opened it and inside was this spectacular princess birdie in a nest "Princess Noel" I love her! I had actually seen one of these in Cerri's etsy store and wanted to buy one, but didn't get my act together before it was gone! She looks beautiful nestled in my tree!
The Artful Christmas:
Day 6 was me!!!
I made some quilted pins -- from an idea that I saw in Somerset's Holidays and Celebrations (they were ornaments). I used some vintage quilt pieces (left over from the days when my mom had her antique shop) and some vintage lace and scrim. The text is from a Trixie Beldon book -- I use the Trixie books often because they say such amusing things! The wrapping looked way better when it got a bit distressed in shipping.

On the fifth day of Christmas....

The Artful Christmas:
This one was from Holly -- the hostess of the swap. It was wrapped in a gift bag -- I think that she stamped on the motif on the front -- I'm really likin' it. Inside was a beautiful resin filled tin -- it's a magnet! It's too nice to put on my fridge though....Twelve days 'till Christmas:
This was from Tammy Gilley -- All wrapped up in pink tissue with green leaf ribbon (my favourite Christmas colour combo!) Inside was this gorgeous vial full of wishes. I'm going to glue in the cork and screw in an eye and hang it on my tree. Right Now.

On the fourth day of Christmas....

The Artful Christmas:
Rachael from New Zealand sent this one!!! Wrapped in a beautiful sheet of music was a NOEL Banner -- I have already put it up in my entranceway!!! I was going to bring it to school to put it up -- but I have a student named Noel and there's already enough confusion this time of year about his name!!
12 Day's 'till Christmas:
Holly's gift to me was wrapped in two different pieces of beautiful vintage wallpaper. The picture that I took of it didn't turn out. Inside was a gorgeous beribboned frame. It has wonderful glass glitter around the edges. I am trying to pick the perfect picture to go in it (see the little ribbons in the corners of the rectangle to hold a photo?)

The third day of Christmas (part 2)

12 Days 'till Christmas!
This was from Shoshana. She made this really cool cracker-style wrapping and she did her own flocking on it! She described the method for us and it sounds like it took forever and made a huge mess (sounds like something I'd do) But it was well worth the effort!!!Inside was a little charm/ ornament made from an old souvenier spoon, and then super old paper and a vintage german glass acorn. Then it was filled with resin. How cool is that?

On the third day of Christmas....

The Artful Christmas:
All wrapped up in green celophane...... From Liz in New Zealand....A VERY BEARY CHRISTMAS!
It's a little bear pouch made of felt with an applique of Teddy Bears in the snow -- lots of hand stitching here! With fun little buttons sewn on, and inside is a green and red flower!

Red and Black

Here's my spread in Debby's Red and Black book. It's the last book for Round 1 of the Colour Me Silly Round Robin. Next year, things will change a bit -- we will send individual spreads to people instead of sending a book around. This will cut down on the price, and on the chance of losing books. We're still missing the 2 books sent to me in August. The tracking still says "Entered Canada August 23" Of course, I feel personally responsible because it happened in Canada. We still have hope and our fingers crossed that they will miraculously show up.
I thought that red and black would be so hard to work with. They weren't. It was fine.

On the second day of Christmas.....

First of all -- Lauren comes home from France today!!! Yay!!! We pick her up this afternoon. Although, we are having a winter storm warning. Yikes, I hope that she's not delayed somewhere.... And then tonight, we go to my cousin Lisa's 40th birthday party. Happy Birthday Lisa!This is my pretty little tree. The tree is getting fuller, but what is under it is getting sparser! We'll go and get a real tree tomorrow. I'm still waiting for lots of ornaments from swaps, so I'll need the big tree! And I got lots of ATCs at my ATC exchange last night that I'll be hanging on the tree. (as you may be able to see from the photo -- there is something terribly wrong with my camera. The tops and the bottoms of all of my pictures are blurry. Even if those things are on the same plane. Nikon says that there is no problem, but I think that the lens is tilted or something. I'd send it back again -- but it takes a few months and makes me crabby.

Okay, now the fun begins:
12 Days 'till Christmas:This one is from Karin -- I love brown paper packages (this is actually tissue)-- the ribbon is so soft. Inside is a wonderful journal -- it's so pretty. It has been altered and has lined pages inside. I love the flowers on the front. I'm going to keep this one beside my bed as my idea book.

An Artful Christmas:This is from Melanie Becker in Germany. The clothes pin on the wrapping clips on the tag -- it is very cute. Inside is a gorgeous hand-made book. The binding is made from skewers.The pages inside are blank.

Now I have new journals for the year. One for pictures, and one for ideas!

On the first day of Christmas......

I am in 2 different swaps -- One is 12 Days "til Christmas, one is An Artful Christmas. I was a fill-in for the Artful Christmas because someone dropped out. That's how I managed to be in two!!! (not because I'm greedy, LOL) So, every day form now until Christmas, I get to open 2 gifts. Could I be more lucky than that????????

Here Goes:
An Artful Christmas:
Day 1 Was made by Chris Hoffman.... here's the wrapping .... it's in a box, and it doesn't rattle at all...... it has little gifties inside..... a pack of Christmas ephemera -- paper and the letter M and a wish tag... and then wrapped up was a letter M wish book and a wonderful ornament!! WOW! I can really use that paper -- I haven't made my Christmas cards yet........Thank you Chris! That M wish book is going on my little tree right now. I don't have my big tree up yet.

12 Days 'til Christmas:
This is from Tia , Miz Smoochie Lips....... The package is wrapped in vintage music, and it jingles!!!! It's a little birdie perched in a boot. It's so cute! It will look beautiful with my arrangement of natural holiday decor in my studio . Thanks Tia!This is too overwhelming. It's 7 am and I'm going to be late for work. Starting tomorrow, I'll open one in the morning and one in the evening.....

and the winner is.....

#14 !!! That is..... Dawn Supina!! Dawn -- I'll mail one of the lovely zetti angels out to you tomorrow! Dawn has been very busy lately writing a novel :) [how'd that turn out, Dawn?]-- so this little angel will fly over to her in Edmonton and flitter about until she posts more of her fantastic art on her blog!
As for me -- I've finished up all of my swap commitments for 2007. I just need to make a few Christmas gifts and one RR book spread! and bake cookies. And do the holiday decorating. That kind of relaxing stuff....... I'll be posting images of my Christmas ornaments this week and I'm very excited that the 12 Days gift openings will start at the end of this week -- my blog will be full of fun stuff for the next month!!!!