The Last Four Days of Christmas (belated!)

Well I had a lovely two weeks away - so much packed into a fairly short time and I am in major catch up mode as we got home Sunday afternoon and had to go back to work on Monday (yesterday)! Never again - next time I am going to leave myself at least one day to unpack and catch up on "stuff"!

The photo above is from my friend Jude's December 22nd wedding in the Swan Valley at the Upper Reach Winery - Joe took the photo on his phone so it is a "make-do" shot until we get to see the real photos! It was a fabulous day and one filled with love and happiness. PS I am the shortest bridemaid.

But right now the priority is to share the last four days of the "12 days of Christmas" exchange.

The Ninth Day of Christmas brought this lovely bird mobile from Samm Menzies - so sweetly made and packaged in an equally darling drawstring bag! Have a look here to see all of Samm's birdies together! They look wonderful - all made from recyled kimonos.

The Tenth Day of Christmas was my day and I made everyone a small notebook with fabric covered laminate chip covers. Probably a bit too bright and cute for an arty exchange but I really enjoyed making them in all their brightness!! Here they are en masse and in their fabric and frangipani wrappings. (The first photo is accurate colour-wise - not sure what happened to the pink fabric in the other photos!!)


The Eleventh Day of Christmas brought this gorgeous "wish" necklet from Jen Crossley which included such a wonderful little bird nest complete with eggs! It came all wrapped simply in calico - such a contrast to the creative metallic richness inside!!

The Twelfth Day of Christmas (the last day - so sad!) brought a superb ornament from Gaye Todd. Now this ornament was very special anyway but it also came in a special knitted and embellished pouch as well!

In the next couple of days I'll post all the other wonderful mail I have received over the last couple of weeks and some photos from the last couple of blissful weeks!

PS If you haven't already, check out Susan Lenz's Cyber Fibre Exhibition - there is a lot of wonderful fibre art candy there! And, if you are a stamper - Suzanne at Oxford Impressions has released a new plate of stamps - and they are really sweet!! Mine arrived today so you know what I will be doing this weekend.

The Sixth Day of Christmas

The sixth day of Christmas gift was made by the very clever Celeste Santin - she has created this gorgeous little piece of hanging art! It is extra special because it is a "green" gift too as it recycles a jar lid in a very inventive and arty way. I just love it!

Celeste packaged her gift up beautifully in one of those little puffy envelope package things (do they have a name or have I just gone blank????) that she had stamped and then tied up with some exotic mesh, ribbon and tags.

Day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas

I have been away for the last three days with work so I am a bit behind posting the wonderful gifts I have received as part of this fantastic creative swap!

Day 4's gift came from my wonderful friend Sue Smith down in Albany. Sue made a gorgeous piece of hanging art featuring a quirky angel in her signature style - beautiful soft colours, a lovely variety of papers and fabrics, stitching, beaded trim and lots of attention to detail!!

And look at the packaging - how beautiful is this?! Love the way Sue stitched the gift into its sheet music package!

The Second Day of Christmas

And on the second day of Christmas I opened another beautiful packaged gift. This one was from Dot Christian and inside I found this delightful little Dotee winged-being nestling on a bed of beautiful copper shreds. (Dot - those gorgeous little velvet leaves make the sweetest wings!!)

Needless to say I am sitting here with a smile on my face and thinking about the wonders of art friendships that have come about and grown as a result of the web! Just amazing.

I also have to apologise for all the lovely bloggers who have passed on awards and tags to me over the last five or six weeks - I have been very remiss in acknowledging them. and passing them on. I really do appreciate them and I have to apologise for finding myself in a situation where I just don't have the time to do anything about them. Hopefully your other nominees were more organised!!

What happens when...

I think I have forgotten how to blog!! This is what happens when (a) you just get TOOOO busy, (b) your computer dies and (c) you are mostly working on stuff you can't blog about!!

BUT I am going to blog about a 12 Days of Christmas project that I am participating in this year - I think the first art exchange based on this concept was started by Lelainia N. Lloyd and you can see her current year's project here.

Anyway the project I am involved in is based in Australia and I am one of the lucky participants. We have each made gifts for the other eleven participants so that we each have a gift to open on the 12 days before Christmas Day. Unfortunately I am going to be away from home and without computer access for some of the days but I will catch up with the gift opening when I get back!

The picture at the top is what the other eleven gifts look like all sitting pretty in a basket waiting for the 1st day of Christmas (I haven't wrapped my own gift which is for day 10 although I did make myself one!). Don't they look gorgeous?!

We start opening them tomorrow and I promise to post a picture!!