Friday 21 December 2012

Crafty Christmas Surprises

One of the best things about Christmas is the opportunity to catch up with friends and family. It's been a busy week of preparations, punctuated by joyful interludes with welcome visitors, the delivery of newsy letters from faraway friends and many phone calls with long-overdue chats.
It was while engrossed in such a phone call that my daughter nonchalantly threw a large white envelope onto the bed - today's post. Barely glancing, I continued with the phone conversation and when that was done, went off to do something else, having forgotten all about the envelope.

It wasn't until later in the day that I 're-discovered' the lonely plain white envelope.
(Surprise no. 1: "Aah! I wonder what this could be?")

As I picked it up I could feel something heavier than a brochure, not as thick as a book. I racked my memory quickly to try and think of what the contents might be.  I was sure there were no outstanding pre-Christmas postal orders to be delivered.This was very intriguing.

It never even crossed my mind that it might be related to a competition entry earlier in the month - after all that competition had closed on the 16th and the winners were going to be notified by telephone on the 17th and nobody had notified me of anything in any way on that day. (I remembered the date because it is shared by a loved one's birthday.)

So, there I was, totally dumbfounded as to what might be inside the mysterious envelope and then I ripped it open to discover I had won a prize! What a lovely surprise! (Surprise no. 2!)

I was quite chuffed because according to the competition rules, entrants had to write something in 25 words or less and the winners would be chosen "based on the skill and creativity of their entry". Now, I never win those sorts of competitions and I am always in awe of the talent displayed by the winning entries, but for some reason I still entered and I'm glad I did.

The prize was a new craft booklet from Australian Country Spinners, called "Crafty Christmas". It has some great projects for Christmas decorations, with a real mix of crafts - sewing, knitting, crochet and general crafting that even the children can do. Pets are not forgotten either.

So if you are especially fond of crafting for Christmas, you will love the fun things to make. Here are links to...
Australian Country Spinners website: http://www.auspinners.com.au/
The ACS "Crafty Christmas" booklet: http://www.auspinners.com.au/products/new-book/panda-crafty-christmas.aspx
the Facebook competition page: https://www.facebook.com/auspinners

Do you like crafting for Christmas? Do you like receiving hand-made items? If so, what are your favourite crafts and hand-made things? Feel free to share your thoughts in a comment below.

May your Christmas be full of happy hand-made surprises! Seasons greetings!

4 comments:

  1. Yay! I'm finally following you.

    I haven't in a couple of years but I really like to make edible treats for Christmas. In the past, I've made chocolate chip biscuits - I've got the best recipe ever - miniature Christmas puddings and Mars Bar slice as gifts.

    As far as the crochet goes, the nana rug I began four or five years ago is still a work in progress but that progress is forward.

    Welcome to the blogosphere. xo

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  2. Thanks, Rachel, for your encouragement and for teaching me a new word (blogosphere) for my "World of Blogging Dictionary". Excuse my ignorance as a newbie, but did you need to do anything especially technical in order to 'follow' me? Do I need to do anything technical to make it easier for you or others to 'follow' me?

    Your edible treats are definite crowd pleasers. If you ever want to share them I won't argue (!) but I respect the need for confidentiality with secret family recipes. I had planned to do some easy baking today but have been too tired after an unsettled night (MCTD thwarts plans again). Instead of cooking, I have been sleeping. Never give up hope though - there are still two days to go between this writing and Christmas Day.

    Don't give up hope on your Nana Rug either. Wow! Be proud of your progress so far. A rug is a big project and it can be a challenge in these busy times to fit crafting into the schedule. Big projects are not exactly portable so it's not as if you can do them while out and about. It doesn't matter how long it takes to achieve your goal, as long as you don't give up. You will find a way to get there. (Reminds me of the 'Fab Four' project of a previous blog post!)
    May you be inspired with your crochet, as your support inspires me in my blog.

    May you receive some yummy treats this Christmas!

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  3. To follow your blog I had to click on "add" on my blog homepage and then when the box came up type in the URL of your blog. Now each time you write a new post it comes up on my homepage so I can read it.
    I think the method I use is tedious and I bet there's an easier way; I just don't know what it is.
    Hope you had a great Christmas.

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    Replies
    1. Rachel, I had to go through the same procedure of manually adding a URL to the blogging homepage/dashboard to follow other blogs.
      I think there is a gadget which I can put on the page so anyone can 'follow' the blog by clicking on that. I hope to have that installed shortly. Thanks for the feedback.
      I had a lovely Christmas with family. There are 18 of us now ranging in age from 18 months to 85 years! It is so special to have all the generations together and I love it. I also received a lot of 'crafty goodies' this year including some very unexpected surprises. I have posted a new entry about them.

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