Christmas Crafts and Lists

This week, I finally opened one of my Christmas presents from last year. Of course, I unwrapped it on Christmas day with my other presents, but I haven't opened it to use it since then. It's been lying on a shelf in my closet waiting for me to take it out of the package. With this Christmas approaching I decided that I needed to get to work if I wanted to hang them on the tree this year. Here they are: http://www.michellesneedlecrafts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=6519

Every year I ask for a new cross-stitch sampler for Christmas, but last year I asked for a sampler and the ornament kit. I thought these ornaments were sooo cute. Now I have to finish all six in time to use them. I'm also trying to decide which sampler to ask for this year. There are so many beautiful scenes to choose from. I think I might go with either this one http://www.michellesneedlecrafts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=7044 or
http://www.michellesneedlecrafts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=6582.

We have been out Christmas shopping twice already. Once was for my dad. We picked out a couple of dress shirts and ties for him. The second time was yesterday, when my mom wanted my sister and I to try to pick out some clothes for ourselves, but I couldn't find anything. I have my shopping list made up this year (for once), so when Gabrielle and I go out on our annual all-day shopping adventure after Thanksgiving, I will actually know what I want to buy and which stores I need to go to. Last year was such a nightmare. The traffic was so heavy it took 45 minutes for me to drive just from the stoplight in front of the mall, through the parking lot, and find a parking space. That's not even counting the rest of the time we spent driving. Then, when we got inside the mall, neither one of us could decide what we wanted to buy our parents, so we spent hours going through every store in the mall trying to make a decision. After that, I promised myself I would be better organized this year and so far, I've succeeded. The only problem is, if we get to the mall, and they have sold out of the gifts we're planning to buy, we are going to be in the same predicament we were last year. I really hope that is not going to be the case!

Scrapbooking Again

I've decided to try to finish my scrapbook. I started it three years ago, worked on it for a while, and then gave up on it. It's totally unlike me to give up on a project, but I gave up on that one. I didn't know exactly how to construct scrapbook pages, which was completely frustrating, and all the how-to books were waaaay too complicated with die-cuts, rubber stamps, pop-up pages, origami, embossing tools, and transferring images from photos to paper. Their pages looked really cool, but I didn't want to put that kind of time and money into a scrapbook page. I still made about five pages using my own ideas, but it was so much trouble to search through all of my mom's photo albums to find old pictures, make copies of them, buy papers and stickers that coordinated with both pictures and album and put them altogether that I finally just quit. I still kept saving lots of little things in case I ever finished my scrapbook and I took them out last week to look at them. I have lots of programs, invitations, and pictures from my high school graduation that I would love to use and I've collected all kinds of things from the tennis tournament we go to every year that would make a great page. I also discovered that I copied lots of pictures that I never used and besides that I now have lots of digital prints to work with. So I decided to get my scrapbook back out and start making plans. Most of my pages with family pictures are finished, but I want to make pages for my graduation, tennis tournaments, piano music, and artwork. The great thing is that I already have most of what I need. All I have to do is buy few new supplies before I can get started. My birthday is Friday, so I told my mom I wanted to pick out the other things I need from the arts and crafts store for part of my present. I love having something new to work on, even if it is just finishing an old project.

A Graduation Present

My cousin Kristen graduated high school this May. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go down to NC for her ceremony like we had planned. That did give me more time to work on her present, though. I love to make things -- cross-stitch samplers, quilts, drawings-- and usually if I have a present to give, I like to make it. So I decided to make one of her presents from us. It took me a long time to decide which scene to use for the sampler, but I finally decided on this one. She has just redecorated her room in pink and other bright colors, so at least I know it will match. Choosing the mat-board was another challenge. There isn't any green in her room, but the framers assured me green was the best color for the background because it makes the other colors jump out of the picture. Now the scene is stitched, the stitchery is matted, and all of it is in a frame which I think will coordinate with her new bedroom suit. The question is.....will she like it?