I love to craft and make homemade christmas presents -- I start in Juneish here's this years batch! Any other Crafting beachers out there??? post your pics!

- Sundial glass suncatcher
- Needlepoint - basketweave stitch victorian rose eyeglass keeper
- Tulips in a basket cross and basketweave stitches
- Dragonfly gardenstone
- Treasure/memory box. Paint/stencil and Calligraphy.

Those are very nice.I envy your recipients.I have no craft talent but have a few people waiting for all my baked goodies.

I just wish I had time to craft. Yours are lovely. My daughter and I do make jewlry occasionally. I was making flags and praise hoops for Church a few years back but now all I do is study (I am finishing my degree) and run the kids here and there and everywhere.

Wow, Schatzi, your crafts are great! Thanks for sharing!

Wow, Schatzi! Those are amazing!!! What a variety of talents you have, girl! Thanks so much for sharing! My aunt does lots of crafts for Christmas and I treasure those gifts so much!

I do crafts but rarely for presents because I don't do too well with a deadline. I am making a small 8x8 scrapbook for a friend of mine full of pictures of her darling son, who was born over 3 months premature. He's now 2! I did make a necklace for wonderful friend of mine that always makes all her gifts. I feel bad buying one for her when I know she's making mine! Here's the necklace:



And here are close-ups of the bottom and top. The friend for whom I made the necklace has the last name of Moon and loves 'moon-related' things, so I tried to incorporate a lot of moons and stars into the necklace. I love the little charms near the clasp: one says, "Just for you" and the other (on the back of the sun) says, "Made with a smile."

Wow Schatzi you have so many talents. The only things I do are cross stitch and crochet. I can knit if I absolutely have to but would rather not.

I started a small picture of an eagle in cross stitch for my husband this year for Christmas but the arthritis in my hands is making it hard to do so it is going to end up being a birthday present in March instead.

I am in the process right now of finishing the afghan and slippers I am making for my mother this year. I'm almost done with the fringe on the afghan and have one slipper left to do. I did it in a dark forest green in a yarn called Jewel Tones so it is kind of shimmery and then the border you put on it I did in a variegated dark green, pale fuchsia and cream. It has turned out really beautiful. The slippers I’m making are in the dark forest green to match.

Growing up my aunt always made everyone an afghan for a high school graduation present. She has passed away and the next generation is going to start graduating in about 2 years so I am in the process of looking for patterns that I think will fit each of them and finding out what their favorite colors are. I had forgotten how much fun it is to look for new patterns.

Good crafting to everyone and may your projects finish on time!!

Sheba, your afghan sounds gorgeous! Any chance we could see pictures??? (hint, hint...)

I think it's wonderful that you are continuing the afghan tradition. It means so much to kids...especially this generation, which is all about tradition and ritual!

Wow, we have some seriously talented folks out here! Schatzi, I used to do stained glass a long time ago. I haven't done anything in a while, but I still have all sorts of glass and equipment. The sun is amazing. All those little pieces and such even seams - it's really beautiful.

Beachgal - I love the necklace. How did you learn to do jewelry? There's a store in in Fayetteville AR called Dark Star Visuals and they have a whole room of beads and used to love going in there and running my hands through the beautiful stones. One of these days I'm going to get back there and make them teach me how to make something....

What are my crafts...hmmmm, right now I make a mean batch roasted chick peas - does that count?

Happy, you are a riot! I think that definitely counts as a craft...many of us are befuddled by making the perfect batch of chick peas!

I actually took a class at a beading store like the one you mentioned! I know Michael's usually does classes, if you have one by you. I took mine while we were on vacation in Montreal. It was a class on metalwork/wirework and I wanted to try it out while I still remembered some of it! It was a lot of fun...one-on-one with an instructor for almost three hours for $25 Canadian! A very good deal!

However, it's very easy to string beads on string...especially if you get a beading board. I'd never seen them until recently, but they are awesome! They hold your beads in place, but they, more importantly, have markings and measurements on the sides so you can line up all your beads and make sure they are straight and even. It's worth the $5 or so that the board costs.

Personally, I'm most adept at collecting crafting supplies. I could easily collect tons of beads and do nothing with them! Our poor credit card...

Oh I don't know bout that Beachgal... I think your necklace is beautiful! I love the colors and placement of the moon and stars... Just loverly!!! And I do think :hear: you are a master cake decorator too..!

Sheba'smom: so good to see you on the boards Sorry about your arthritis, but if you can continue to crochet ---do it!, like Beachgal, I have afhgans made by my aunt and grandmother for 30 years - and they still invoke smiles of memories past and I still marvel over the time love and craftmanship... I wish I could crochet, but I just can't seem to make all the ends even

Happy Apple : You sound like you've dabbled quite a bit, and I'm sure "life" just has gotten in the way a bit... I would love to see your crafts!!! Yes, the sun catcher stained glass had many pieces, and the picture doesn't show all my booboos but it was made with love ..and that's what counts right?

Ideas on decorating picture frames? Going to Michaels later and was gonna wing it a bit. Just want to glue on some Xmassy stuff.

Oh yes Sarah! Warm up that glue gun, you can find little wooden painted things to glue to the frame. Or in the jewlery dept they have xmasy trinkets you can glue on. or a string of tiny beads you could surround the frame in.
In the scrapbooking area they have lots of holiday or theme related things you could glue to the frame. Depending on what you end up with you might want to get a can of Matte spray to seal/finish the frame.Have fun!!

Geez girls. I baked 3 kinds of cookies and put them in tins, does that count? And I only ate one of them! You girls are amazing!!!!

Yes that counts Weezle. Baking is hard work for me. My hubby is the candy/cookie maker in our home. What is even more fantastic is that you only ate one. WAY TO GO GIRL!!!!

Well my mom's afghan is finally finished. All I have to do is wash it, take a picture of it to share with you chicks, put it in a box and wrap it up.

Hope eveyone's projects are completing well and that you all have a wonderful Christmas.

Schatzi, you are SO generous! I can't believe all the work you did with that suncatcher! That's amazing!!! You know, I can't keep my ends even either when I crochet! But you actually can wash it at the end, then block it out to the right shape and let it dry, and it'll be even! That's a good trick to have. I also learned that I can keep the edges straight on granny squares...and if you make a ton of granny squares (I think about 160 for a queen-size afghan) you can just crochet them together to make an afghan. It's cool! I'm working on a scarf for my mom for her birthday. I'm hoping to try to decipher this pattern I have for making roses...I'd like to attach them to the scarf...we'll see.

Weezle, baking definitely counts! (especially when you have the will power to resist eating everything before it makes it into the oven...or the tin!)