Margaret’s Needlework Nook! » 2006

December 26, 2006

I hope that everyone is enjoying Boxing Day! That sounds so much better than “the day after Christmas”. My husband has taken my mom and Jacob to Mount Vernon, giving me some time to work on my Christmas cards. But I had to check my email for some addresses, and then I checked my yahoo to see what was going on in the world, which led to checking out my favorite blogs, which made me realize I haven’t blogged in a few days, and here I am.

As my holiday post, I thought I would share my favorite decoration with you. I hang all my needlepoint ornaments from my dining room chandelier. I’m sure they would look lovely on the tree, but I’m worried about getting tree sap on them, or having the dog or a cat knock it off… Plus I think it’s a nice touch in my dining room. The only problem is that I’ve run out of spots for ornaments so I don’t know what I’m going to do when I finish the two I have in my stash…

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Christmas and that Santa was generous!

Tags: holidays, needlepoint

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December 19, 2006

Christmas Crafting

I had intentions of doing a few more crafts, but time got away from me. I did finish these envelope sachets from Martha’s Holiday Handmade Crafts magazine.

I needed some nice gifts for the secretaries and administrative staff at my office and Bill’s office. The sachets turned out well, though I hit an unexpected snag. I guess I used cheap envelopes because my envelopes leaked. But inspiration hit and I made little pouches out of tissue paper that I could easily slip into my envelopes.

This was a simple enough project. I slid two pieces of foam batting in my envelope, and I had a scrapbooking tool to make my holes. The tool was easier to manipulate than a pin. Each envelope is a different scent: black-orange tea with dried roses, cedar chips with dried lavender, and lemon-ginger tea with hibiscus flowers. I got the lavender and roses from Michaels, the teas from the grocery store, and the dried hibiscus flowers from Whole Foods. To make the envelopes, I used Martha’s butterfly template for the red envelope, I created the diamond pattern, and I printed out letters in 200-250 point font.