Tempus Fugit

Never have I been so pleased about a year ending and a new one starting. 2012 has been one crazy rollercoaster ride for me, so need a fresh plate to draw on. I do not dare to make New Year's resolutions, but rather "Carpe Diem" and make the most out of every day, as one never knows what tomorrow brings.

 

Happy New Year 2013 - may your wishes come true in the new year.

Whoops I Forgot My Camera.....

.... oh wait, there is a camera in my iPhone, hence not so good quality.....

OK, not as exotic pictures as yesterday's - but could not resist taking the photos. Mr. Heron was less than 3 feet away from me when I took the pictures. It is his usual spot watching passers-by on a little bridge in one of the local parks - as long as people are not loud and do not try to touch him, he just sits there quietly.

Seizing the Unexpected Chance

I am one of those people that can spend a LOT of time in museums' Egyptian sections amazed by that old civilization that created those huge structures - and loving Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" because of the scenery (both at land and on the boat).

When suddenly getting the chance to actually stand in front of pyramids - being able to stretch my arm out and just touch the lover stones, feeling incredibly tiny and humble - I seized it. This was merely a couple of days ago and the experience has not completely sunk in yet. It was so hectic and the surroundings likewise, but never felt uncomfortable one single moment.

December Tea Swap - Part 1

When Fran called the December 2012 Tea Swap, the following was announced:

Optional color for December Tea Swap: Christmas colors (red, green, gold)

Optional theme for December Tea Swap: Anything but a card

 

I had just bought several boxes of Celestial Seasonings' SUGAR COOKIE SLEIGH RIDE holiday tea so my mind immediately started to figure out how to use this for the optional theme.

Now you might think that I ended up doing a card anyway - actually I did, but this was on THE creation - noel sentiment from Lost & Found Christmas - design paper from Panduro Hobby and digi Santa stamp is from Birdie Brown's Happy Santa stamp set.

No, not a card, but a box cover for the tea, where you can slide the teabox off/on the tea box.

Some details.....

The only thing I regret, or see as a beginner's mistake, is that the edges around the little openings in each side (enabling you to grap the tea box and gently pull it out of the cover) is that the edges should all have had a thin white edge around the cut out.

Glad that the creatin has finally savely arrived Melanie's (this month's swap partner) mailbox and that the chosen tea was unknown to her and the box made her dream of snow.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

My Santa Music Box (Twelve Days of Christmas)

Santa Clause has the right idea: Visit people one a year.

Victor Borge

Waitng For Christmas

Schools are now closed for the Christmas holiday - and for most kids it is going to be a long waiting time to the night of the 24th (our Christmas - dinner - dancing around the Christmas three and then the presents).... I was no different back then, so was always hunting ideas to make more Christmas decorations.

I stumbled across these cone guys the other day by Mr. Printable - just look wat you can do with a computer, printer, paper, scissors and some glue...... I bet it will spur some creative thoughts with some kids and they will try to make their own unique designs. There are actually a couple more cone guys on that webpage

When snapping the top photo I saw a little resemblence with one of my favourite Christmas ornaments - think he is inspired by Father Frost, and now he has got a new friend :o)

Where Did All the Snow Go?

... well it melted.... :o(  Hopefully we will get a new batch, so we can have our white Christmas. I did get a little snow in the shape of this sparkling card from Karen

Not only does this card have the cold winterly look outside, you should see the inside!!!

Karen, love those winter dies used inside and the glossy paper, can see that your Sizzix founds it's purpose to the fullest.

Got some goodies with this card, one of them in particular made me laugh and are now in use on my noteboard :o) Thank you Karen and Merry Christmas.

 

Rudolph the Red Nosed Rein.....Duck

Think photo says it all.... and this little fella is now bringing that old song some changed lyrics :o)

Timely Santas

 

Two things lured me to buy these: Love the green colour of those Santas and After Eight is my favourite chocolate flavour - do not eat chocolate very often, but these were indulged very quickly :o) A true Christmas treat.

The Fir

Spotted this on December 1st. Must admit that I was stunned to see a yesteryear's fir on that balcony.... it's all brown and most likely shedding a lot of needles if moved.

H.C. Andersen's fairy tale "The Fir" sprung into my mind - and so did a thought; Maybe a child lives in the appartment behind those windows, and that child have heard/red the fairy tale thus refusing to let the fir on the balcony face the same destiny as it's fairy tale counterpart?

It's Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas

 

When I saw this add two weekends ago, I did not believe my own eyes: Christmas scented dish washing liquid??!! Had to ask friends from both the US and New Zealand to find out, if this country was just late in adapting this - the answer was a "no".

Must confess, that my curiosity won, so those two bottles are now to be found in my kitchen. The gingerbread one smells wonderful when using it, the other only have a faint scent of Christmas spices. I can not help me wonder, if these are introduced, since a lot of people are too busy to make homemade cookies etc. - the store bought ones simply does not add the Christmassy smell to your house - and they miss the wonderful scents connected to Christmas?

 

I have not done any Cgristmas baking yet, but the scents from my Christmas teas fills up my appartment with wonderful scents of Christmas.....

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

When I woke up early this morning, it was the upstais boy(he is 3 years old) that was up and about playing - well living in an appartment building, that is just part of daily life, but comes in handy when you have actually planned to get up early and work on those Christmas cards. Then realising, that something was missing.... it was very quiet outside...

SNOW!!! :o) Suddenly I felt like a giddy 3-year old and rushed with the breakfast, so I could get out in the snow with my camera. What a wonderful way of starting a day with a 1 hour walk, feeling the crispy snow under my winterboots and with Christmas music in my iPod.

 

Below picture is actually the same street as the first snowy picture in this post captured yesterday afternoon.

 

AnneMarie - wanna come play with me in the snow? Will share :o)

 

Time Management?

Have soo many projects in the air right now, that my calendar has a hard task of accomodating enough time.... but with the holiday season rushing towards us, I have to get those Christmas cards done soon.

Card Crafter's Circles challenge this week is about bearing gifts - and this Santa from Birdie Brown's Happy Santa stamp set seems to be looking for the receiver of the gift in his hands :o) As usual colored with COPICS. Design paper is from Panduro Hobby and layered sentiment from Lost & Found Christmas.

 

Also entering the card to this week's Winter Wonderland Challenge: Santa Claus is coming to town.

November Tea Swap - Part 2

 

Living in Denmark and loving snow, a lot of winters are actually dissapointing as we do not get much snow despite being a country of the north - when we do get it, we get lots of it.

 

However white frost (rime) is very common and can make a lot of things look stunning. Wonder if Merle knew that, when she sent me the November swap? Just look at that edge of the papers.... getting the frosty feeling, ehh??

 

 

Second tag makes me think of some of those red Christmas flowers available - here framed by that frosty feel again..... Learned something new today, never thought of Hawaii getting any snow at all, being situated in the Pacific Ocean, but some online news articles proved me wrong as some of the islands high peaks does get snow.... my little winter universe just got improved with that new knowledge.

 

Tea from the Hawaiian Islands Tea Company - one of them a new flavor for me: strawberry lychee, looking forward to taste as lychee tea is not new to me, but this combo is.

 

Merle, thanks for being my swap partner in November:o)

Friendship Bracelet

Let me reveal something: friendship bracelets is about knots. Lots and lots of knots......and keeping those strings of embroidery yarn straight. Did not finish a bracelet today, but I did learn how to do the left and right turns and grasping the essential of THE ARROW pattern - consider above as my training piece, as there are some mistakes to be spotted. As soon as I get the Christmas cards needed this year finished, I will start making what should hopefully end up as my first friendship bracelet :o)

The National Museum of Denmark is currently hosting the exhibit POW WOW and had invited Helene from SMYKS to hold this course (she was also the instructor on the lucky bracelet course I went to a couple of weeks ago). We were a little group of five, and I seem to be the only one signing up without the intention of being able to learn kids how to do this - but it was interesting to hear about their approach to a course like this, as their daily professions are so different from mine, an still we were all eager to learn something new.

Holidays Are Coming......

Received this season's first Christmas card today, so what better than mentioning a nice holiday read.

Pre-ordered this book, so received it in my mailbox on publishing day, and could not wait start reading it. It should come with a bit of a warning though, as you will find scrumptious recipes for Christmas bakery that will fuel cake cravings while reading it.... but help is not far away if you have the ingredients needed, as it is packed with recipes.

 

Austin is going to New York pursuing a good work opportunity leaving Issy in London, where she is considering her future: Should she remain in London with her beloved Cupcake Café that she has worked hard on creating or should she pursue new dreams in New York as surely, they need cupcakes too in the big apple.

 

One ca not help thinking about the phrase: "The grass is greener n the other side" - which you can encounter if you change jobs. You might get that strange feeling and thought "Did I really make the right decisiom?"

 

All this, recipes and then preparing for Christmas you have a story entertaining you for hours :o)

November Tea Swap - Part 1

 

 

What no card this month?! When Fran called the November swap it was not with the task of creating a card to the 2 teasamples, but 2 holiday tags. Once again time to go out of my comfort zone and create something new for my swap partner this month, Merle.

 

Santa used on left tag is from Birdie Brown's Happy Santa Set - love at first sight spotting that stampset - colored with copics. Snowflakes on right tag are created with some SIZZIX dies from Tim Holtz. Paper and ribbon used is from Panduro Hobby.

 

My "usual" tea pouch - all papers matching the two tags. Red and white are considered to be Nordic colors - but also happens to be my favourite Christmas colors.

 

Had to make a card - could not resist - playing with the different papers again and adding some bakers twine. Know that the swap has arrived at Merle's house so I can share my creations with you.

America Speaks

Newspaper frontpage fom Election Day  2008.

Today America (US) decides, if Obama should be re-elected or if it is time for a change. Hopefully those who are eligible to vote will cast their votes no matter if they have picked their candidate or casting a blank vote.

 

The front page above is from 2008 where I was in the US on Election Day, interesting to see how campaigns are run, as they are so different compared to my little country. The election has been covered by local news for months now, and one of our news channels will more than likely be dedicated to the US election all day.

Something New

In the pursuit of regaining my creative mojo, I stepped out of my comfort zone again - so yesterday I created this:

According to the instructor, this is a Cinese style lucky bracelet... hmm lucky: will that help me get the mojo back? :o) During the first hour, fingers on hands were all thumbs - then they started to co-operate and the process were suddenly fun. If I had not been way behing with the Christmas cards needed this year plus the birthdays coming up, I just might have considered taking some more courses, and done some extra homemade gifts this year.... But alas that is not going to happen.... but maybe next year.

 

Intrigued by the pattern you can make with some string and learning something new is always fun - and you get to meet others that are crafty too - you may never see them again, but during a few hours creative ideas were shared.