A little irony here.  An advent card within an advent card!  I have cut 3/4’s of the way around the 2 numbers using my Exacto knife and folded back the numbers.  Then I lined the number with some gorgeous paper from the equally gorgeous girls at Love Mae.  I confess I bought every roll of their paper at Magnolia Square because I could not find one that was less lovely than the next.  We have a really practical set of drawers in the caravan annex and I am going to line the drawers with all of the different patterns so that I can see them lots!

I love polkadots.  I really, really do.  Lots of people do too.  Did you know that you can make polkadots out of washi tape?  You can if you have a single hole punch on hand.  It is a two step process.  Firstly you have to tape a stripe of washi tape to some medium weight card (use recycled smooth Jatz boxes or something like that).  Then punch a nice hole through both layers.  Collect your circle in your punch catcher, peel off the tape circle and stick away.  It is a bit fiddly – but you know what I do for a living so I kind of like fiddly!

Glitter gone mad.  This was an experiment with school glue and fine glitter.  I worked in two different directions with the glue ( I used this technique when I made some gingerbread cookies to take to a party last Sunday, using icing made with egg white and icing sugar).  Then I sprinkled liberally with fine green glitter – (the number not the cookies).  This is Little Miss Viking’s favourite so far.

What IS that you ask?  It is my attempt at flocking.  I used the red and white Baker’s Twine from no. 11 and a lot of scissor action.  Flocking or flocking powder is very, very fine fluff that you can make yourself by cutting very closely along a piece of cotton twine or wool.  I have glued the flock to no. 14 with school glue.  This was Miss Viking’s favourite.

These techniques are all lovely and vintagy.  Back when I was signed on to teach some Creative Collage with Notebook Magazine (which sadly folded and so did the classes – it was kinda one of those years) I purchased some really exciting products.  Things I had never tried before. Like crackle glaze, a thick craft paint that cracks like old paint on an old door when heated with a heat gun.  And Tim Holtz’s Distress Ink pads, which you rub into the dried crackle paint to give it a really worn effect.  Finally here, I have stamped an old fashioned text print stamp over the top of the crackle paint.  I like.

Stamping.  Love it.  Small effort = great effect I think.  Which is perfect for this time of year when we are all rushed and silly.  I used a set of Kikki K number stamps that Mr Viking gave me for my birthday back in July.

So, this is how I got so behind.  3 x end of year Christmas concerts, 3 Christmas parties, 3 doctor’s appointments (nothing to worry about), 1 x U2 concert, 2 wholesale orders, some last minute Christmas shopping, 1 x hanging of Christmas decorations night and 1 episode of Op Shopping reaping 4 lovely vintage swivel Sebel dining chairs for le Caravan.

I also watched Kirstie’s Homemade Christmas (on Foxtel) late at night when the little Vikings were fast asleep and got all inspired about cross-stitch and Christmas making.  I love Kirstie.  My dear friend Michele paid me a huge compliment when she was visiting the other day saying she thinks I might be the Aussie version of Kirstie!  (if you haven’t seen the show, Kirstie Allsopp is a bit of a Sloane Ranger type, who’s main job is presenting ‘Location, Location’ a UK TV show where she is as a Real Estate person who roams England finding perfect properties for people).  In her Homemade series, Kirstie shows you how to have a lovely home using second hand finds and crafting lovely things.  Well, I am not Kirstie, hardly a Sloane Ranger type, and we do not have a country house in Devon or a townhouse in Sloane Square.  What I do love is that Kirstie really is a genuine and lovely presenter, she has a fabulous eye for vintage, and she tries lots of things and is very inspiring.  Prehaps I should do the series – how to Craft your Caravan??

No.11 was so much fun to do.  I cross-stitched.  To get the crosses nice and neat, I drew a faint grid of squares approx. 1/2cm wide.  I pre-punched the holes with a needle.  Using a single strand of red and white baker’s twine, I cross-stitched from bottom left to top right, then bottom right to top left.  You could use stranded cotton, wool, twine for a different effect.

Hello.  On the ninth day of Christmas no. 9 got all dressed up and went to his work Christmas party, drank too much egg-nog and they found him in the broom closet fast asleep at the end of the night.  He had lost his bow-tie!

The button jar was on the table because Craft Group was in session this morning and Kristen needed buttons for her ornaments.  Buttons are perfect for little ties.  Stuck down with craft glue and a hand drawn bow-tie was added.

It is a real scorcher in Sydney today.  I believe there is more rain on its way though.  Today I washed the front door and put the Christmas wreath up (I re-used the white and silver one I got at Ikea last year).  Come to think of it I haven’t even thought to go to Ikea and look at the Christmas decorations this year – an ode to Dottie Angel’s pledge or prehaps I am just a busy bee with more important things going on.

Today’s card is loosely based on the concept of Zentangle, which is a fancy kind of doodling art that I really enjoyed doing.  You can read more about it here.