Getting To Look a Lot Like Christmas...

With the snow on the ground and so many outdoor lights in town, it definitely is looking like Christmas.  

I put my tree up today and decorated around the house, all I have to do now is complete my shopping.  Emily's been helpful by giving us her Christmas wishlist.  

Have you emailed your list into the store so that we can help your personal Santa with their shopping for you?  Much as we know you all well, we can't remember what tools etc. that you have or hope for.  Be it a Silhouette, Cuttlebug, some dies, stamps, Cropadile or a variety of crafting supplies.  It's really easy to fix though.  

From your newsletter Linda has provided you with a link that takes you to a wishlist with many suggestions and open spaces for those things we didn't think of for you. So don't delay go and fill it out now.  If you're not sure what you'd like, why not send your Santa in to buy a gift card for you. That way you can come in after Christmas and shop until your gift card runs out.

What a lovely time the "girls" in our family had on the Bracebridge Christmas House Tour and how generous are the homeowners who open their homes to assist the Hospital Auxiliary in their fund raising.  

They were anticipating approximately 400 people going through the homes in the few hours on Saturday. I enjoy being able to view both the older homes that have been renovated back to their original state as much as possible, the newer homes that are decorated for the season, but enjoy too meeting up with old friends that we haven't seen in a while.  If you haven't taken the opportunity of the tour in the past, keep it in mind for another year.                   

Help your hospital and enjoy the tour too.

Easy Luminary Tutorial

How's your Christmas crafting coming along? Here's another quick idea for that last minute gift for an acquaintance or friend.  Inexpensive and quick to create, it works perfectly for many people.

We created in class a lovely parchment luminary with star on the top and a box to hold the battery operated candle.  This luminary is a simple and quick cone of parchment paper that can be decorated or left plain.  I chose to use my stylus to create a white on white pattern all over my cone.

For this craft you will need 

one piece of 8.5" x 12" parchment paper which we carry at the store.

If you choose to create an overall design then you will need a stylus and soft mat below the parchment.

Below is the cone shape to cut out of the parchment paper.  I've drawn it to display five different sizes so you can have a grouping of luminaries. 

 Print both of these patterns, overlap and match the writing to create the one pattern.  Note it won't print out on one piece of computer paper as that's only 8.5" x 11". The largest size of luminary requires 8.5" x 12".

You may have to enlarge the pattern to size it correctly.  

The side with the dotted lines should be 7.5".  

The solid line side should be 7.25".

If you have any difficulty with this, drop into the store and we'll help you.

Having cut out and sized the paper pattern, transfer the outer lines to your parchment paper at the height you want.  Remember I said there are 5 different sizes, you cut according to the height you want your luminary to be.  

It's at this point that you could either stamp a design of your choice on the parchment paper and maybe even heat emboss it, or as I did using my stylus and soft mat beneath, I transferred my design choice onto the parchment. Here's the design I found and used. I needed to move it around the cone to get the coverage I wanted, turning it to fit nicely together.  

When using your stylus, take care not to press too hard or you will pierce the parchment.  To get the white lines, I simply went over the design first and then enhanced the lines by pressing a little more firmly the second time. This took me about ten minutes, so far the whole craft has taken about 15 minutes. You are now ready to place double sided tape along the dotted line on the one side of the cone. Take care as you join the two sides to line them up well so that the bottom is even and the top is nicely tucked together. Place your battery operated candle on a table, place the luminary over the top and that's it, you're done.  Now you may want to repeat the process and make a grouping of luminaries.

Here's my finished luminary.  To take this photo, I simply sat it into a wreath and placed some pine cones around the luminary.  If you made more than one luminary, it would make a nice grouping on a table or counter top with a buffet spread.

Hope you enjoy making one or two of these very quick crafts.

Did you see the beautiful embroidery work that Linda created on felt? The photo just doesn't do it justice at all and you should take a moment to see it in the store if you can. When she showed it to me on Sunday I thought it was such a shame to only have the opportunity to look at it at Christmas time. Today it occurred to me how lovely it would be worked onto a sweater or fleece top.  I'll have to suggest that to her. The beads make such a lovely sparkle on the tree and she said it didn't take her very long to stitch.  It could be worked on a larger piece of felt or fabric and framed too...so many options.

I often wonder what I can put in the blog that may be of interest to our readers.  Without feedback from you I don't know if the content is of interest or not. 

Do you like what you read here?  

Do the links and suggestions that I offer interest you?   There are some comments that come back to me from customers coming into the store, but not many, so still I wonder. 

Last week we received an email from Marta asking me why I hadn't put the quote of the week in last week's blog.   Quite honestly, it was because I hadn't heard from anyone that they were interested in words as they interest me, so I decided to omit them.  

This blog is for you, about what is hopefully one of your favourite crafts, but I don't presume to know what content will be of great interest to you, so would be happy to have your input in the comments at the end of the blog.  It's very easy to do.  

If you look below this blog entry where I sign off, there are usually a few photos from previous blogs. Below that is a tan coloured block and to the right edge it will say "No comments"  click there to your comments.  There are a number of choices as to how you may post, but you will likely want to use the "Anonymous" option, but PLEASE sign your name in your comment box so that I know who you are. 

If there's anything you would like me to add to the blog, let me know there and I will do my best to accommodate you.  I'll look forward to your feedback.

So here you are Marta, words for this week.  I think most of you will feel the same way I do about this, particularly at this time of year............

    

                                                      

Until Later....Happy Crafting

Lilian