Ornament exchange package surprises!

Yep, that's right...this was my super creative, awesome idea I came up with ALL on my own... only to research it (after I made some prototypes) and learn that they've been thought of already. :( However, the ones I found on Etsy are not two pieces sewn together like mine. There were all sorts of different kinds using real acorn caps. I like mine the best though. :)

Now that my swap partner has recieved her enchanting package of goodies, I can show you what I made for her...I just COULDN'T RESIST making a couple of cloth diaper covers for her 10 month old. My mom gave me a pattern and instructions, but I didn't like how they were put together, so I changed it. So, Natalie, if there are any issues with these diaper covers, please, PLEASE let me know. I would like to try to perfect how I make them so that I can make a WHOLE BUNCH! I also sent her a few of my favorite teas and a cute little set of notecards I just happened upon while browsing Pier 1.
I made SO MANY of the acorns, in the end I decided to send her the most "Christmas-y" ones. I think the rest will go on Etsy...I'm just debating if I should add the little holly berries and leaves to all of them or just the "Christmas-y" ones. I ended up with several shapes and sizes, I was trying to achieve the pointy tip like the real ones had (in lower left of the photo). Sewing that small was pretty easy, but to get a point like that was a little difficult. Fabric doesn't want to get that pointy when it's that small.

I also recieved Natalie's package for me!!! What perfect timing, we received them the same day! She sent a WHOLE BUNCH of goodies all wrapped in tissue paper and labeled with her recycled labels (I'm gonna do that this year, I've saved my Christmas cards)....just look at it all...There were three ribbon pinecone ornaments, eight felt leaves for decoration (my three year old can't get enough of them, he's constantly wanting to play with them), a pinecone bracelet and one HUGE bar of dark chocolate (my favorite!! and my toddlers favorite too!). We couldn't wait to try the chocolate, I think we opened it before we opened the rest of the tissue covered packages. heehee! It's got a good flavor to it, I can tell it has a different type of sugar than our American chocolates.
I LOVE the colors of the ribbon she used! The green one is AWESOME...She's very good with selecting colors I would say. :)

Isn't this bracelet cool?? I've never seen a bead so pine-coney! It's really neat!

THANK YOU NATALIE! It's all so fun and wonderful!

Cravings? Not so much...

Okay, so I've been a bad, BAD girl...these are what I've been consuming together, a couple times now in the past week...That's right...STRAIGHT from the can!! All 150 calories of it! I took one swig of a bottle when it first came out, and I was instantly wisked away back into my childhood. You know that scene in Ratatouille when the food critic, Ego, takes a bite of the ratatouille and the movie zooms to a scene from his childhood when he was enjoying it in his mother's kitchen?? Well, my one swig a few weeks ago was JUST like that...I remembered the taste from my childhood and now I'm hooked on it again. And I don't drink soda (well, not regularly)!! I've been enjoying the salty sweetness of the Nut Roll right along with it. All 100 calories of it! HA! They taste soooo goooood!!!! When did Pepsi change to high fructose corn syrup?? Real sugar is SO MUCH better for you. :)

Destash-Along & Blog Update

Well, my first project has been completed for the Destash-Along I'm participating in. Until my Year of Enchantment swap partner, Natalie, receives her ornaments, I can't really show them, but I DID use some small bits of my stash for this project. In fact, all of it was from my stash except for the string I used to hang them...I was really picky about the thickness and color, so I had to go by some, so really, 95% of the materials used in making my ornament is from my stash!! Yeay!!

I just learned how to add the percentage bars into my blog t0 show the progress of my crafts I'm working on...Crafting with Cat Hair, the Destash-Along idea generator/hostess blogged about it and shared her info. You can learn about it here and add them on your own blog if you're a crafty, crafter like myself. :) Now you all can see what my current projects are, which are all knitting projects that I kinda have deadlines for. If I'm working on something without a deadline, I don't think I'll put it up. Monthly I'll be changing my progress for each month's YOE ornament. So, this month's is at 100% since it's already been sent in the mail.

I also figured out how to show the number of destash-along projects I've completed. It doesn't show each project, but....well, I guess you can search the post labels to find out what they were. Maybe I'll number them...I don't know...it's early enough in the year that I haven't figured out that detail yet.

On its way to Australia...

Yup...my package is...here's a pic of what's inside:
You can see the ornaments on the bottom there, the smallest items in the box. I know, I know, the pics a little fuzzy, but I didn't want to give it all away until Natalie received it all. And, just so you all know, I really liked how Awtemnymf showed her teaser pic, so I did a quick search online for a free image editor and found LunaPic, which, after playing with it for 15 minutes, I came up with the pic above. And its free! So Natalie, your package is in the mail!

And for you future ornament swappers that will be sending to Australia, you can't do Delivery Confirmation. You can do 1st class Parcel and then Register your package and that will give us delivery confirmation and a tracking number that we can track. And, if you like to wrap your packages in brown paper (AKA recycled paper grocery bag) like I do, then you cannot use the typical clear plastic-y mailing tape, you have to use the "paper tape", which he retaped at the counter with. I have never heard of this, but I think it's also cuz it's going to Australia. AND...if all this information is false or not accurate, it's my post office's fault...not mine. :)

Crafting as of late...

There's only been six days into this new year and I've still manage to get my crafting in daily. Yeay!! I've started another Knitted Gnome Baby, one of several for some friends of our families, I plan on gifting them at Christmas time. I don't believe they follow my blog, so I'm not too afraid to mentioning it. I guess only time will tell if I get them all done AND on time (I've got 353 days to go). I'm also STILL working on a knitted beaded bag that I volunteered to test knit in a Ravelry group I joined. I've run into problem after problem with it, mainly because I keep dropping stitches on the double pointed needles. I'm also a slow knitter and add in the string of beads and my speed has slowed WAY down. I'm farther along than what the pic shows, I just haven't taken a recent photo of it.Other than my constant dropping stitches, it's fun to work on! And I think I beaded the beads to create a spiral pattern among the colors. Yippee!

I've joined Yarni Gras Year of Enchantment which is a year long swap of enchanting Christmas ornaments. This months swap theme is the acorn or the pinecone. I wanted to do something really unique and creative for my swap partner, Natalie (who lives in Australia...SO COOL! I've wanted to go there since the fifth grade when my best friend went for a month and we did a science project on it, which was really just an "informational" project, there was no science involved, you know, the kind where you get a big ol' display board and put up a title, information and trinkety stuff to display along with it, maybe even a flyer for people to take)...anyways, back to unique and creative...I thought about it for a good week, and I always think at night when I go to bed and I'm drifting off to sleep (why do the best ideas come right at that moment in between wake and asleep??) So I had an AHA! idea that I thought would be SO CUTE and I've already got a few prototypes going when Yarni Gras posted her tutorials post here, here and here. One of the posts gave me the idea to look up on Etsy my idea and what do you know...someone had already thought of it, BUT...it's not quite the same...MY design is different...and honestly, I think I like my design better. Well, that's all I can say about that super secret crafty bit. The suspense...what could it be?? Soon you all will see!