Stocking & Card Making

Greetings dear friends & readers,

I hope the lead-up to Christmas is treating you kindly ... not long now, we are almost there 

I finally finished my grandsons christmas stocking 2 days ago

I decided that I wanted to make it big enough to fit my gifts into but not so big that I would require a small mortgage to fill it each year . . . so size was important

I thought long & hard about my fabric choice

I decided that seeing as Alec's parents are both modern minimalists, it would be up to his Granny Julie to introduce him to all things vintage

I found this lovely old fashioned vintagey looking fabric at Spotlight which I quilted

Seeing as he was blessed with a short name, I appliqued his name onto it then sewed some tiny christmas charms to the top

The gorgeous Reindeer braid was a gift from my dear friend Amy 

The strip of fur was in my stash .... I thought he would enjoy the tactile nature of the fur while he is still little

Everything, apart from the fabric, was already in my stash, hence the addition of some remnants of braid across the toe of the stocking

For the back of the stocking I just used up some quilted calico I had

When it was lined & finished I decided I had better try the parcels IN it to make sure they did actually fit

And then we got to try it under the christmas tree, where it is currently sitting waiting for little Alec, who will no doubt be far more interested in the wrapping paper this year I am sure

Yesterday my friend Lorraine popped in to say Happy Christmas - she had been out in her garden working & remembered me mentioning how I loved lilac trees, so she bought me this generous bunch from her tree

There is just the most delicate fragrance of lilac perfuming the house as I sit here typing.

My friend Jane had lent me her stamps a wee while ago.

As my friends & I no longer exchange christmas gifts, I decided some handmade cards might be well received this year

I had no idea what I was doing but I knew that I wanted the card to be like a little gift in itself  .  .  .

I made a little pocket on the inside & tucked a gift tag into the pocket ... below are just some of the ones I made ...

The primitive style ones I made had lovely little brass charms tied to the fronts ...

My daughter-in-law Nicole loves all things black/white & hot pink.  I felt that christmas didn't necessarily have to be traditional reds & greens, so I tried to make them one in her favourite colours

I had no black embellishments but I DID have black poster paint, so the white doilies & butttons got my paint brush waved over them.

Then I thought ... well what about envelopes Julie??

I found some vintage wallpaper & just sewed up square pockets for them with a simple luggage tag attached

I really enjoyed my day of card making ... I could get quite addicted to paper crafts
(I think it would be an understatement to say that the house was a complete bombsite by the time I had finished!!!)
Of course, I had a supervisor to make sure I stayed on task & glued everything in its rightful place 
(tho' the supervisor did get a little weary at times!!!)

Yes I KNOW ... DON'T SAY IT ..... WE SEE THE BASKETS STILL ON THE TABLE JULIE !!!!!!??????

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful, joyous festive season & to thank you with all my heart for your visits to my funny little Threadbear life & listening to my rambles
I appreciate each & every one of you that stops by.
Bless you all this festive season

with much love, kindness & friendship to you all,
Julie, Blackie & Pippi Longstocking x0x0x0