Some Things You May Not Have Seen

The last six weeks or so saw me holed up and churning out secret crafts. So glad to be able to share.

First, I finally finished one of my mother's Christmas gifts, a brag book, yesterday. I had hoped to make the twisted cord several days ago, but do you know there are no directions for making three color twisted cord on the internets when you need them? I may remedy that in 2015. 

At the end of November, I was crafting my butt off to get the 12 Days of Christmas gifts prepared for Beth. You may have seen some of them on her blog. Or maybe you're averse to clicking away from my blog. Or lazy. Or busy. I'm going to do a little recap here in case you missed it. (Be forewarned, I didn't take pictures of everything. I was busy!) This ornament was made by applying heat to crayons in a glass ball. Easy-peasy, and I used the crayons left over from craft day with my niece. Fortunately there were lots of blues which is Beth's favorite color. Having a heat gun and a device with which to hold the glass ornament while you heat it are key.

You've seen the "tinsel spider ornament" before in one of my March Craft Madness posts. But this time I chose colors Beth would like. I also wrote up the story because, let's face it, none of us have ever heard the legend of the tinsel spiders.

The glittered dino was something I saw on Pinterest and loved and wanted to try. I found a dinosaur for dirt cheap. (Since I had put a lot of money into the necklace below, I needed the savings somewhere!) It turns out that this can be interpreted as a Firefly reference. Yay! I used decoupage medium to "glue" the glitter to the dinosaur, which I think has held it on better than regular glue. I don't know, maybe I'm sniffing Mod-Podge fumes. I want some of these guys for myself now.

I made a stack of cards. There were birthday cards and thank you notes as well. I made these on such a gray day. They cheered me up then, so I think they can't fail to cheer up someone about whom you are thinking.

I also made this necklace. Beth had admired the one I had made in boot camp (that I gave to my cousin for Christmas), so I did one for her too. The agate slice is a deep blue and I paired it with sodalite, which has nice meaning for writers and people who suffer from digestive disorders. (Like astrology, gems have a sort of catch-all, helps-with-everything-depending-on-how-you-read-it thing going on, but let's just focus on the relevant.) I sunk a lot of the budget here but I don't think that was a bad thing.

I also knit a basketweave cowl (L40005) from the Lion Brand website, finished the Dr. Who ornament, and made a magnetic bookmark. But I didn't take any photos of those. You really do have to go to Beth's blog to see the rest. This all kept me delightfully busy at the end of November and beginning of December. So glad to be able to share the secret projects with you now!