Friday GIVEAWAY

Gosh… Friday again!!

Isn’t it amazing that when you are engrossed in creative endeavours the days just whiz by in a blink. How did you go with your crafting projects this week? I love that so many of you have embraced ‘Simply Christmas’ – lets keep spreading the word so we can put the homemade/home baked back into Christmas.

I’m enjoying popping around to visit my followers but have discovered a few that I didn’t have listed on my ‘Participants page’. If you have added my ‘Simply Christmas’ button to your sidebar and you are not listed and linked on that page, please email and let me know. We all want to visit you and see what delights you are creating for Christmas 2010.

So it’s Friday, which means it’s GIVEAWAY day!!

This weeks gift of a lined hessian shopping bag is going to:

Julie at Julie’s Knitting Corner – UK

Remember if you want to be in the weekly Friday Giveaway draw you need to be one of my blog Followers.

 

 

 

Are you in the running for Kathryn’s Tutorial Giveaway?

To be in the draw for a beautiful Brooch Cushion kit you need to leave a comment on the blog post below and also visit Kathryn over at Our Shabby Cottage. This Giveaway will be drawn next Wednesday. Good luck everyone!

 

 

 

I invited a friend along to help out with today’s post about Christmas planning.

This is Mrs Crafty… don’t you love her apron. I bet she got the pattern for that at 50 free apron patterns.

This is a story about Christmas past… Mrs Crafty was bitten by the craft bug and liked to go all out for the holiday season. She was a creative multi tasker; while the glue was drying on one project she was zooming along on another with her foot to the pedal of the old Husqvarna. If she wasn’t sewing, painting or knitting, she was probably searching for another project from her bulging book shelf of crafting magazines and DIY books.

 Mrs Crafty worked prolifically until the kitchen table was covered in Christmas projects, all at various stages of completion. By November, her ‘creative clutter’ had engulfed several rooms of the house and she was now adding home decorating and baking to her jam-packed ‘To Do’ list.

Christmas is supposed to be one of the most joyous, happy times of the year, but no amount of Egg-nog could calm Mrs Crafty’s frazzled nerves. When December arrived, she was overwhelmed and under pressure to complete (many) unfinished gifts, post the handmade Christmas cards, decorate the house and prepare her baked Chrissie delights. Mrs Crafty’s hectic pre-Christmas social calendar was now leaving very little spare time for creative pursuits.

When Mr Crafty bought home the Christmas tree he was more than happy to help Mrs Crafty trim the tree. He liked when she wore that dress she made from the retro tablecloth she scored at Judy’s garage sale. But Mrs Crafty was a tad grumpy!!

On Christmas Eve when Mrs Crafty should have been tucked up in her bed (with visions of sugar-plums dancing in her head), she was pulling an all nighter finishing her last minute Christmas gifts. Humph… no-one would be seeing ‘mummy kissing Santa Claus’ this Christmas Eve!!

If only Mrs Crafty had planned out her season in a Christmas Planner!!

Hmmm…. does Mrs Crafty sound like anyone you know?

 

This is your year to simplify for a peaceful, stress free holiday season.

Simplifying the holidays is about making a plan, finding easier ways of doing things, and enjoying the process and meaning of Christmas. Keep all your plans and lists together in a folder, divide up the tasks over the available weeks, and then simply follow your personalised plan.

While it might not officially be Christmas until December 25th, I consider the whole month of December to be CHRISTMAS. This is when we are at our busiest with social and school events, catching up with friend and family etc. So who wants to be stressed out in December with last minute gift buying, wrapping and decorating.

So…. October is your month to plan, write card and gift lists and make a start on your homemade gift giving.

Wishing you all a creative and relaxed weekend.

Hugs ~ Kerryanne