On the Eighth day of Christmas my true love made for me…
Fingerless Gloves
We got hit with a nasty storm today. I walked to a restaurant for lunch today completely unprepared for the weather. It was raining sideways and the wind was whipping. I should have worn these to keep me warmer.
If you love them like I do, you can get the pattern here.
Keep crafting!
On the Seventh day of Christmas my true love made for me…
Paper Stars
When I moved across the country 11 years ago, we were broke. We had just moved in October and I started a new job in the middle of November. We were living in a one bedroom furnished basement apartment. We didn’t have Christmas decorations, and couldn’t afford a Christmas tree. We bought a string of lights for the tree that came with our furnished apartment, and decorated it with paper cranes. It was simple festive and inexpensive.
These stars are in line with the cost of the paper cranes from our first Christmas. I bought a book with 100 sheets of patterned paper for $7.00 and the ribbon at the dollar store for $2.50 (2 spools with 5 colours each). You also need a glue stick which I borrowed from my son, and a glue gun which I had. With many hours of binge watching labour you can make 100 ornaments for $9.50.
For instructions there is a visual tutorial here.
Happy Crafting
On the Sixth day of Christmas my true loves made with me…
Glowing Trees
As you can see sometimes I rope the whole family into my crafting adventures. We have done clay workshops a few times together, and it’s always a little stressful, but a lot of fun. These clay trees were easier than the mugs we made in the last project. I think that they turned out pretty good, and the kids are super proud of their creations.
Until tomorrow.
Keep Crafting
On the Fifth day of Christmas my true love made for me…
Cousin Hats
This project started with a trip to Michaels’s with my six year old shadow. He saw the yarn with the pom pom’s attached and it was too soft to walk away from. I bought three balls of yarn, one for him, and one for each of his young cousins. Then my older son wanted one, then I asked my other sister if her kids would like hats. The next thing you know I was making a range of hats to fit 6 months to 13 years old. I knit 8 hats in total in a variety of different colours for all of my nephews, my kids and my single niece.
I can’t wait to see the pictures of all of them in their new toques. But first I have to take a trip to the schools lost and found to see if I can’t find one of my kids hats. It’s been 8 days and it’s missing already!
Pattern to follow.
Happy Crafting
On the Fourth day of Christmas my true love made for me…
Quilted Fabric Ornaments
Many, many years ago my Nana used to make these quilted fabric ornaments. She made the red one pictured above. I love opening the boxes of ornaments each year and reminiscing about past Christmases.
I thought that I would try making a few quilted ornaments and put my own spin on them. My quilted ornaments are made mainly from my husband’s old dress shirts. I am up-cycling, and adding a little of his personality into our decor and Christmas.
Every year I make an ornament for each of my kids so that when they grow up they will have ornaments from their childhood for their trees. They both chose their own fabrics, the red one is for my oldest, and the black one is for my youngest.
I found an excellent video tutorial here.
Materials:
Happy Crafting.
On the Third day of Christmas my true love made for me….
Teacher Toques
When I go out Christmas shopping I always see things that I love too. Often I get one to gift and one for me. When I am making gifts the same thing happens, but I like to think it is a necessary part of the process. The one for me is a pattern tester ;).
I got this great pattern called Tin Star from Ravelry and made these with Loops and Threads Cozy Wool.
Happy Crafting!
Until tomorrow.
Sarah
On the Second day of Christmas my true love made for me….
Star Ornaments
I took the day off of work today to spend the day in my oldest son’s class making yarn star crafts. It’s like heaven to me, an entire day making crafts and attempting to influence the young people to make things. It’s going to be chaotic with 25 grade 4-5’s and a number of craft stations. But it’s Friday, and it’s bound to be significantly less stressful than my day job.
My office/craft room is like a craft store. I had everything that I needed to try this out. If you don’t happen to live in a Michaels’s the list of supplies is below and I found a great tutorial here.
Materials;
Have fun crafting
Until tomorrow.
Welcome back!
I started this blog many years ago at Christmas specifically for the 12 days of Christmas, and each year I have continued the tradition. Let’s kick off the 2018 holiday season with a little crafting.
On the First day of Christmas my true love made for me……
SOAP
I enrolled in a soap making class at a local recreation center. This soap was made in the cold process method, it is vegan and smells so delicious. This was my first attempt at soap making and I loved it. It is so satisfying to turn a bunch of ingredients into a useful product. It’s a bit different than the typical crafting that I do, because chemistry is involved.
I really wish you could smell how amazing this soap smells. I scented it with lavender and tobacco. I know it sounds like a very strange mix but the scent is a bit masculine and a bit feminine which makes the perfect combination. The black is activated charcoal, with a pink swirl and a few gold flakes because who doesn’t love glittery soap.
I am wrapping up a couple of these bars for a few lucky recipients! We can all smell the same 🙂
Happy Crafting.
Until tomorrow,
Hi! It’s been a while. I started a new job in January and then another new job in June. My days have been blurring together meeting new people and learning my roles within both organizations. But I have been crafting too.
I’m married and share a bed with my husband. My husband sweats in the middle of winter sleeping in his underwear, and I wear a toque, gloves, wool socks and long underwear and am still cold. This poses a little issue for us. How do we share a blanket?
I knit this 10 stitch blanket to solve my problem. It’s a blanket only for me which is a wool blend and goes only on my side. 
It’s been 3 years since the day that I was diagnosed with a meningioma brain tumour. March 18th holds a special place in my life, it’s a day that my life changed. It’s a day to celebrate life and be thankful for my circumstances. I woke up this morning feeling a little underwhelmed, I had planned nothing to celebrate.
I dragged myself to the gym and while I was running I started thinking about the 18th of March. What was I going to do to mark the day? And then I realized that I was doing it. I was running, something that I couldn’t do 3 years ago without debilitating pain in my head.
I was very lucky that I had a quick uneventful recovery after surgery with minimal side effects. That is what I celebrated today with a trip to the gym and a game of laser tag to celebrate my oldest son’s birthday.
My last scan was in December and it came back clean so I have a lot to celebrate! My next MRI is in December of 2018 until then I will LIVE. I encourage you to live too, don’t wait until tomorrow to start that new thing or go on that adventure. Sign up, show up and do it.
Making A Life 
