Christmas Ornament Swap 2015

Source: www.pinterest.com

By golly folks its 92 days until Christmas. Are you like me? Do you want to be more organised. Save yourself from a mad rush in December. Well here is your chance to get in the Christmas mood with the a green life Christmas ornaments/decoration swap. 

Source: www.bhg.com

Over the past few years I've participated in or organised a Christmas ornament swap. We missed a swap in 2013 but 2014 was great and I'm hoping 2015 will be even better. It is SO lovely checking your letterbox for new homemade ornaments (aka love) for your Christmas tree. 

Do you love a beachy Christmas?

Source: www.h2obungalow.com

Or a white Christmas?

Source: www.blog.etsy.com

Or just plain colourful?

Source: www.attic24.typepad.com

Here's the details:
Participants will be put into groups of five people who you will "swap" ornaments with. That means making four handmade ornaments/decorations, four for the other people in your group and one for you.  I will send the postage details of the others in your group to you. I will not send your address to anyone else. Please let me know if you would like to join in by 26th October. You need to post them an ornament by the 23rd November. This results in five new beautiful ornaments for your tree. 

Source: www.etsy.com

How to Join:
If you would like to take part in this swap, this is what you need to do:

Please email your:

• Name
• Address
• Email address 
• Blog or facebook page link if you have one

to my email address, agreenandsometimesbluelife at gmail dot com by the 26th October

(just go right ahead now and email me back). 

 

Source: www.marthastewart.com














Source: www.becomingmartha.com

What to make: 

For some inspiration please check out my Ornament and Christmas board's on pinterest (you don't have to be on pinterest for this) and look at the a green (and sometimes blue) life blog posts under the name Christmas for ideas. Lots of the ornaments in this post have tutorials. Lots of them are made from felt too as I've been inspired by that medium lately. But you can use what ever you love- paper, wire, beads, buttons, wool, etc. What I'm going for this year when I make my ornament for this swap is that the receiver is going to be so appreciative of the beauty, detail and time that has been put into the ornament. 

Source: www.nancynicholson.blogspot.co.uk

Source:www.worldmarket.com

Lately

Making : knitted peggy squares to put towards a combined kindy blanket

Cooking : bit sick of cooking lately so next question

Drinking : coffee with my new plunger (its the little things)

Reading: Maya Angelou's I know why the caged bird sings. What a woman.

 

Wanting: tools to make leather things

Looking: at my man about the house's new beard. He's never had one and its pretty weird.

Playing: spotify's Indie Folk albums on repeat.

Wasting: the thing I always waste- time.

  Sewing: hand sewing little XOXO onto hotwater bottles

Wishing: that an upcoming course I'm going to do will be life changing
Wishing #2: the camera wasn't broken so I could take photos of my completed hotties. Spring is coming...

Enjoying: Game of Thrones Session 2. Jon Snow is a tad handsome.

Waiting: for the end of the school holidays (confession I started writing this a few days ago).

Liking: all things made of leather. This has a lot to do with the fact I scored big at the op shop with some dark chocolate leather. It's the real deal too as the smell is beautiful.

Loving: the quotes the minimalists put on FB. I do actually bother to read them and try to remember that living intentionally will lead to more. From Josh and and Ryan a week or so ago-
"Happiness, as far as we’re concerned, is achieved through living a meaningful life: a life filled with passion and freedom in which we grow as individuals and contribute beyond ourselves. Growth and contribution: those are the bedrocks of happiness. Not stuff."

Hoping: a new opportunity that has presented itself will lead to something amazing for our fam-dam-ily 

Marvelling: how angelic Storm is after spending 4 days away from us with her Grandparents

Needing: to learn more self control 

Smelling: not much, stiffly nose

Wearing: white pants- always dangerous but there is something about wearing white pants for me that appeals to my inner happy. And appropriately this article was on Stuff today.

Following: the minimalist's (Oh wait I said that already!)

Noticing: how Master Happy is growing up and getting slimmer

Knowing: that we are getting there slowly with looking to buy a home

Thinking: happy thoughts about the photos/memories in this post
Feeling: happier than I have in years

Bookmarking: how to make leather bags

Feeling: pretty content with this winter which is a nice change for me regarding winters

Photos from well 'lately' plus a couple of good ones  I stumbled across 

made my week: quilted chair cover

This is something I made for our home. Crafting is such a soul satisfying thing.  

I used the instructions from my poppet's triangle quiltalong. It was very helpful. My poppet explains that patchwork is when you join all the pieces of fabric together to make a quilt top. Quilting is the technique of stitching the top, batting and backing layers together. 

As an extra time consuming step I matched 4 of the smaller triangles together with similar colours to make one larger triangle. My Man about the House couldn't see what I had done. Can you? I quilted only the one larger triangle. 

I honestly can't remember where I picked this shabby chic chair up from. I think we purchased our staple gun to put a new cover on it and its telephone chair mate back in 2004. If you don't have a staple gun you don't know what you are missing out on. Annoying but they can provide a quick fix to some ugly furniture. 

While I was cutting the smaller triangles I cut larger ones to do the telephone chair. One day I'll get to that. These two pieces have never had a good 'home' in any of our homes. When we have a villa or bungalow they'll fit right in. As will I. 

Degree of difficulty: If you can use a sewing machine and staple gun you can do this. 
Cost: Fabric from my scrap bag and I also raided my friends scrap bag (OK I asked her very politely). It includes 'special' family fabric such as My Man's parents light shade material that my late MIL made into a skirt for Storm which she has worn as a favourite for years. If you don't have a staple gun this kind of crafty thing is a perfect excuse to go get one. 
Time: Truthfully I spent most of a weekend sewing this while still fulfilling the bare minimum cooking and other random Mum "where are my gumboot?" type duties.
Result: Ok so I was pretty happy with the cushions from here. Well times that by about 4. It's now a very good prop for crowns and wands. Double bonus. 

Hello 2015: One Word

Hello, 

Wishing you all a happy, sparkly, shinny, black canvas, full of promise, brand spankin' 
New Year. 

I know for lots of my friends 2014 was just poos but for me it was good, great even. Mostly I have to say because my one word focus for 2014 was ME (see my reflections on 2013 and 2014 here). Generally 2014 involved my health/well-being improving, my a green life business going well (see felt and facebook), my kids being happy at school/kindy, and I've a new venture for 2015 that I'm excited about.

So now I'm getting ME sorted I thought it might be apt for my word this year to be....

Drum roll please

US

PS. Stay tuned as this might even involve some blogging action. 
PPS. Using my awesome- if I do say so myself- image of Pohutuwaka's from last year again. Summer 2014 on the Kapiti Coast has been absolutely beautiful with Pohutuwaka's. 

Linking in with Maxabella 

Christmas Ornament Swap 2014

Hello there, remember me?,

Over the last few years I've participated in or organised a Christmas ornament swap. Last year I felt too busy to organise one but I really missed checking my letterbox for new homemade ornaments (aka love) for our home. So this year it's happening again... Whoop, whoop! 

***

Here is a link to some of the ornament goodness that was swapped in 2011. There were lots of hearts and here's another cute one: 

***

Here's the details:
Participants will be put into groups of four people, and you will "swap" ornaments. That means making four handmade ornaments, three for the other people in your group and one for you. I will be send the postage details of the others in your group and you need to post them an ornament by the 30th November. I will not send your address to anyone else. Resulting in four beautiful ornaments. 

***

How to Join:
If you would like to take part in this swap, this is what you need to do:

Please email your:

• Name
• Address
• Email address 
• Blog or facebook page link if you have one

to my email address, agreenandsometimesbluelife at gmail dot com by the 31st October. 

What to make: 
You needn't be a crafter to make something that you and others will love.  You can use any craft technique as long as it has a Christmas ornament theme. They can be made from anything ..... natural things, wool, felt, buttons, beads, fabric, paper.....I have a stash of crafty stuff so please ask if you need something.

For some inspiration please check out my Ornament and Christmas board's on pinterest (you don't have to be on pinterest for this) and look at the a green (and sometimes blue) life blog posts under the name Christmas for ideas. 

I'll leave you with these quotes:
"Nobody is ever too busy. If they care they will make time."

"Once she stopped rushing through life, 
she was amazed how much more life she had time for." 

Hello 2014 - One word

Hello, 

Just quickly I thought I'd drop in and share a pretty summery NZ Happy New Year for 2014 (see 2013 here).

I spent New Years Eve in a backcountry hut and walked out in the rain this morning wading across a river 6 times. Not everybodies cup of tea but one of my favourte things to do. 

And my word for this year... 

ME

Should make for a good year I reckon. 

Linking in with Maxabella 

made my week: cushion covers

I decided to treat myself this week. I've been more domestic than normal and kept the living area tidy (I normally struggle to do this). This has been good for the soul.* Also during my normal 'work' hours I made these 2 cushions. 

At the beginning of the week it was our 11th wedding anniversary. During our first years of marriage we made each other awesome gifts using the traditional anniversary gifts. Since children not so much. This year its supposed to be steel. BUT...

Our bedroom is my least favourite room in our house. The walls are painted a purple/mauve colour. Which looks bad with our grass green and blue duvet cover. Green and blue colours are in my life ALL. THE. TIME. but I'm really over this duvet cover. We purchased it as a gift for ourselves with our wedding money. So 11 years ago. Lately I took the cover off and had the duvet bare as that looked better to me. 

So for pleasure I sat in front of the sewing machine. First time in a while. Happy, happy feelings. Now I want to make the bed. I used material I've had for years and some a dear friend gave me last week. 

Degree of difficulty: I added zips and I find zips hard to sew other than that it's easy enough if you don't mind using a gazillion pins to make sure you catch the pom pom ribbon. 
Cost: about $3-4 for the pom pom ribbon (which I brought at 30% off from Spotlight), fabric free from 'the stash'.
Time: 2-3 hours each one (that pom pom ribbon was a killer)
Result: 11 year anniversary present tick (for me at least). I keep walking past our bedroom just to look at the bed. Not sometimes blue today folks. The Man about the House reckons he needs a 'metal' CD. 

* Another thing good for the soul is the movie "Gardening with Soul" which is one at the movies at the mo.

Showing and telling (a day late) at Leonies.