Last minute panic

Its the time of year when I always ask myself why on earth I don't just buy all my presents and cards like everyone else instead of putting myself through the last minute panic of getting everything finished before the 25th. Of course I would much rather make a gift for someone than rush around the shops grabbing things that "will do" for family and friends. But it is hard when handmade is not appreciated by everyone and something I've spent time and thought on is tossed aside with hardly a glance. However when someone really is pleased with their gift it makes all the indifference of others fade away. I'm sure all you other crafters out there feel the same so rant over! And it is partly my own fault for not being organised enough and leaving everything to the last minute every year instead of taking my own advice and starting in September - like I always mean to!
I've managed to finish and post my cards this weekend at least - and I made some items for my charity shop last week too. I really enjoyed making these Christmassy bookmarks and packaging them up attractively is almost my favourite part of the creative process now that I've collected together all this lovely stash with the help of my lovely proxy Papertrey shopper in Hawaii. All the stamps I've used on these projects are from Papertrey or Waltzingmouse Stamps. Now back to my knitting needles!

A 1950s Christmas

As I what I've been up to recently is mostly Christmas 'top secret' stuff and can't be shown here, I thought I would do a scrapbook page to at least have something new for you to see. This time of year always makes me think of the past and the happy times we had as children. Here we are circa 1956 posing for our Dad with some of our new toys - Dad made the school desk for us and we played with it for years after. I just love these doodled Christmas lights from Jenni Dipzinski at 2Peas in a Bucket. They remind me so much of the lights we had on our Christmas tree at that time and are perfect for this page. Do you remember how exciting it was when the tree arrived and at last Christmas really was nearly here? Of course in those days we didn't start Christmas in September as it seems we do now, and the tree and decorations didn't go up until a couple of days before Christmas Day. Here we are again a year later with our tree and me in the nurse uniform Father Christmas kindly brought me!

Wrap up Warm!

Here's another birthday card I made last week for one of our knitting group. Very apt for the weather we are enduring at the moment. This image (from a copyright-free book I have) would also make a sweet Christmas card I think - especially if it is accompanying a handknitted gift. You can copy the image at the bottom of this post.
We've been suffering below zero temperatures for over a week now and there is no end in sight according to the weather report I've just heard on the radio. Although the snow is beautiful when the sun shines we are now all rather fed up with trying to get about and keep warm. Sitting still crafting is very uncomfortable unless I wear about 5 layers and wrap a blanket round my legs. But this is nothing compared to the suffering of my garden birds. I'm feeding them every day of course but imagining how they manage to survive the long night - if they do - is not something I like thinking about. I was rather pleased to find our local pet shop had sold out of bird seed and peanuts last weekend - its nice to think so many people still want to help our birds in these difficult economic times. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this Collared Dove's partner hasn't succumbed to the cold as I didn't see it in the garden today!
Here's the image I used on my card - click on it then right click to save to your computer.

Edit: Just thought you might like to know the Collared Dove's mate is safe and sound and has been visiting over the past few days - which have been much less cold thank goodness!