April Craft Day...

L-r: Linda P, Me, Sara, Adrienne and Marie

Our monthly craft day was this past Saturday. We had a fun project using vintage doilies to make cute sheep. As always, each participant's personality showed through.

My Project

My piece is symbolic for Jesus as the shepherd in the story of the shepherd who left his flock to find the lone, lost sheep. 

Marie brought a crafting paper book with hymns on them. I was singing each of them in my head as I paged through to find the perfect one for my theme. It became the base of my piece. 

The butterfly symbolizes God/Jesus and the shepherd, so when I added the heart to my sheep, I used the material from one of the extra butterflies to create the heart. My final touch was the tag that says, "He left the many to save the one."

Once I completed mine, I knew it would be my Mother's Day gift to my mum. I had plans to stop at her and my stepdad's before I went home from Portage, so I asked her if she want her gift early, or if she wanted to wait. Of course, she wanted it early. 

She loved it, and before I left, she'd put it on the wall. She liked the symbolism, too, when I explained it to her. In fact, just as I had, she started singing the hymn (out loud) when she saw it. My gift this year was a home run!

It's another busy week. Bread day today, work tomorrow, classmate dinner (already) on Wednesday, lunch with Mom Grace's daughter (Sis Deb), and work again on Friday. 

In between, I'll be making this month's artist trading cards, and adding more items to my shop. Like I said, it's going to be a busy week. See you tomorrow.

Becoming Jewelry...

This is what my entire hooped linen looks like before I remove it and cut out each individual oval. 

These will all come pendants. Hollyhocks and a single sheep. 

Clover and another sheep.

...and one more sheep. One sheep will be chosen by the friend who requested one. The others - sheep and flowers will go to my Etsy shop (sale).

I've gone back and reduced prices on some of my shop items, too. You might want to check out the new prices if you've had your eye on something. 

My (First) Wooly Tote...

Sheepy Faces

As predicted, I completed my "Ewe-nique Bag", which I prefer to call my

"Wooly Tote". The directions were simple, and the tote worked up quickly.

I would only change one thing in the instructions, so I'll make that adjustment

on the next one (or more) that I make in the future. I think they'd make nice gifts.

Sheepy Butts

I really like the colors that Primitive Gatherings chose to use in their kits, but

I can already envision this same tote done up in red and tan, or something in

a bright, thirties-style assortment. Which colors do you think you'd choose?

It's going to be a busy, busy day today. 

Morning coffee with my BFF.

Lunch with our younger son's girls

and

Dinner with family in Beaver Dam to celebrate my cousin's Birthday.

Better get rolling. 

I'm thinking I'll really sleep well tonight!

Feeling A Little Sheepish...

We had a gift exchange at Paneras last night and it was so much fun. All of our gifts ended up being pretty comparable in size even though we never discussed our projects ahead of time.

One of the gals made chocolate stir spoons. (I can't wait to use mine!) Another gift was a candy cane in a crocheted "snuggy" with a choice of a gingerbread man or snowman button embellishment. It doubles as an ornament and it's so cute! Tammy made cute holiday earrings for each of us, and we all immediately put them on. There were also gifts of little meat tarts and cookies. Everything was so wonderful, and we really had a fun night.

 Tammy also made an "extended" Birthday gift for me...a gorgeous yarn bowl that she threw herself in a pottery class she just completed. It's so beautiful! My Birthday was officially extended to seventeen days this year! Thank you, my friend.

Krisann surprised me with a special teeny, tiny crocheted basket with yarn balls and needles. The needles were made from toothpicks! Thank you, Ka for such a sweet gift.

I decided to make keychains for each of the gals. I used knitting sheep fabric to make the fob for the keychain and then added heart twill tape to secure the large split rings to the fob. I sewed two pieces of fabric together and then stuffed them with silk-blend fiberfill. Of course, it's not finished until I add my label. You use labels on your projects, don't you? (I get my labels from a couple of great sellers on etsy, and I've always been happy with their products.)

I hope you're finding time for little gatherings with friends over the holidays. It really didn't matter that our gifts were small. All of them were made from the heart, and isn't that what the season is all about?