wrapping up 2012

Hi, I hope each of you had a special Christmas with family and friends! It's such a beautiful time of year where I live! I'm looking out my third floor window, where my computer is, it's a cold sunny day and all the rooftops are covered with blankets of fluffy snow!

I love to make crafts before Christmas, usually they end up as Christmas gifts, but this year I made a couple for myself! The only person who got a handmade gift this year was my sister, I made her this ribbon and felt wreath.

Last year I became obsessed with little pressed cardboard houses called Putz or glitter houses. They were made in Japan for the American market and were really popular from 1928 until 1937. They are covered with sparkly mica chips. They stopped making them in the 1950's. I bought a little pink one on ebay last year and a few little turquoise ones in an antique store. Then I found a reproduction, larger version at Winners last year. This year after being inspired by a magazine article I designed to make a few of my own.

I had so much fun making them. I saved little cardboard boxes, including one Kraft Dinner box, turned them inside out and painted them white. I used sheet of glitter foam I found at the dollar store for the roofs and door and then put clear glitter on all the white parts!

A few weeks later we were at my sister's and she had found cute wooden houses at the dollar store for us to paint. My neice, above, my daughter, sister and I love to make crafts together!

These are my glitter houses and church lined up on my mantel. The green one on the left is the one I bought at Winners.

I have wanted a christmas ball wreath since I first saw Martha Stewart make one many years ago. I managed to find the ornaments on sale and finally made one!

I made this advent centrepiece. You light a candle each of the four Sundays before Christmas and then the centre one to present Christ's birth on Christmas morning.

 I managed to finish a wall hanging for myself before Christmas using a collection of Denyse Schmidt fabrics.

and get finally get this double size quilt I made finished except for the binding. I hired someone to  machine quilt it for me and she did a great job!

My family came over on Christmas day and after llunch we made these minature foam confections, the largest is 2 inches across. They harden and will last forever, what fun!

For the past couple of Christmases, my family has started a crafty gift exchange, the first year's items were made of air dry modelling clay, last year was dollar store canvesses and this year's item had to be made from rocks! Here are some of our creations!

Thanks for looking at my blog. You may remember that I started this last year as a new year's resolution to myself, and amazingly I'm still at it! It may be the only resolution I've ever kept. I hope to keep it up during the next year! I've had 1400 views, totally amazing to me.

Hope each of you have a happy new year, a year of health, hope and happiness!