Friday 10 December 2010

Christmas card failure

I’m a bad crafter I know I am. I am hanging my head in shame.

I don’t think you can call yourself a crafter when you don’t even manage to make your Christmas cards.

(Actually I don’t think I call myself a crafter generally. But anyway...)

Last year I managed to make all my cards, something which still amazes me, but this year I was waaaaaay too slow off the mark, plus I decided I would try and make Christmas presents instead, and at some point I capitulated and admitted to myself that it wasn’t going to happen this year.

But the fingers began to itch a bit. They hadn’t done any cross stitch in such a long time and there came a point where I needed something to take on a train journey and I didn’t fancy dragging my yarn about with me. Out came the file with all the pages I have ripped out of cross stitch magazines over the past couple of years and I decided I would make just a couple of cards, maybe one for my Mum and one for my Dad.


And then I saw the latest issue of Cross Stitch Card Shop and it had a free kit to cross stitch a picture of The Snowman and I had to buy it. Had to you understand. So I made him up and that was another card done (and he’s so beautiful I really don’t want to give him away you know. But it’s ok. I have the chart, I can make him again!)


And then inside the magazine there were some little patterns which looked quite funky and I said to myself “Ok, you can cross stitch just one of those”. And then I told myself I should stitch it but I should stitch it on to some black aida because the colours would look funky. So I did that. (And remembered that I hate black aida. You can’t see the holes!)


So now I have 5 whole cross stitched cards and I don’t feel too bad about myself. They’re complicated to make up after all, this isn’t just throwing some glue and glitter around, you can’t knock 20 of these out in a Sunday afternoon, The Snowman took pretty much a whole weekend of continuous stitching to complete.

And now my fingers want to make more but I’ve told them no. No more cross stitch cards this year. Next year I will be organised and I will try and cross stitch all my cards. Ha. Yeah right.

So now I have to decide which lucky people get the tokens of my labours. Time to draw up a Christmas card list!

14 comments:

  1. Remind me again... which bit of this fabulous display of card craftery is the failure????

    I only send three christmas cards. And this year I bought them from Paperchase.

    Yep.

    Even worse, I have a completed The Snowman cross stitch that I finished aout18 months ago that I've been too lazy to make into anything. Oh, and I have sesame street cross stitched tree decoration. Just sitting around.

    This, my friend, would be failure :)

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  2. OOh these are so pretty. Just stopping by the say thanks for the comment! You like cross stitch too then! I've only done a couple of small ones. If you are interested in cross stitch.
    If you visit my Flickr site.
    www.flickr.com/photos/sues_favourite_things,
    go towards the end of the slide show, you will see a Friendship Quilt I made years ago with the help of my 'old fashioned pen friends' in those days! You might like to see.
    Rather like my Blankets I collected 6 x 4 cross stitch squares and made a hanging.
    love to you and thank you for the Square for the project in America. I only require ONE from each person. I am sending a parcel of 80 different squares from 80 different people.
    Thanks alot, have a good weekend, love suex

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  3. Wow! they're fab.

    I need to get me that chart for The Snowman. Do you know if that magazine is still in the shops??? Oh my, I've just got to have it.

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  4. Bagsy the Snowman, or the cute little house! :D x

    (This is why I origami-ed mine, simple and fast!)

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  5. They're all gorgeous.
    If I'd made them I'd frame them and keep them to get out year after year at christmas instead of risking some ungrateful recipient throwing it in the bin in January.
    Em xxxxxx

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  6. I think they're lovely. My favourite is the Snowman, I am a huge fan of the iilustrations xx

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  7. The snowman card is absolutely gorgeous! And the one on the black aida, and the little purple house... Hell, I love all of them!!! I'm a terrible cross stitcher sadly :-(

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  8. Mea culpa! I have dared to call myself a crafter (kind of), and I have *never* cross-stitched a Christmas card (not that I remember, anyway)... I did once make all my cards using 3D decoupage - that was fun, and relatively quick... and I have been known to make some with rubber stamps (gift tags usually are done that way), but I always justify it by thinking that my Christmas cards are always contributing to charity, and that some of the presents are handmade, instead!

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  9. I'd be mighty proud if I had produced those! I made and wrote all my cards at the end of November - now I can't bloody find where I put them! So I am writing another (bought) batch - in the hope that I do eventually find them, and I wont have any to do next year! Geting old is a terrible thing! xxx

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  10. Once I start cross-stitching I just can't stop. It is addictive. I've never made cards though. They're so cute, well done.

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  11. They are lovely, well done you! Particularly like the snowman. Someone gave me a very unusual birthday present last year, a pack of ten cross stitch Christmas cards they had made, for me to give away. All beautifully made, all different, and as I also do cross stitch, I know that they took days and days to make. As you say, it's the finishing on them isn't it, so much more work involved than playing with card and glue and glitter and stamps etc.

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  12. You, not a crafter? Whut!? :O

    Love 'em. I do rather like cross-stitch stuff.

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  13. These are lovely! I wish I had time to make my Christmas cards but I always leave it too late and I haven't even done any Christmas shopping yet this year so it's not really going too well! Well done! xx

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  14. I just don't have the time to make cards. It takes long enough to write the buggers; I'd have to start in March if I wanted to sew all the ones I give out!

    The Snowman is so ridiculously cute though. It's almost tempting me to get out the needle...

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