Merry Christmas

I am sorry that I didn't get back prior to Christmas to share more of our decorations

or to admire yours

We had a lovely break by the beach

We enjoyed some beautiful weather and had a great time together

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who have stopped by to visit me and leave me so many encouraging comments.

It has been a wonderful year full of many new friendships

I pray that you all have a fantastic time celebrating the birth of our Saviour.

and I hope you get very spoilt

We are spending the next week celebrating with family and friends so I will be absent for a while longer and looking forward to visiting you all in the New Year!

Love and blessings to you all and have a

Merry Christmas

xx

Christmas Cheer

Well it's over,

we had our school Thanksgiving Service

 the students were presented with their awards

and performed for us.

I love our Thanksgiving Service,

the students, the teachers and the parents all come together

to give thanks for another school year

 it is so lovely to see the many wonderful things that they have achieved.

School is now over for the year!

and for WH and I, work is over for the year too!

This last week was a mad rush of trying to fit everything in

and finish three weeks worth of work in one...

but now it's over.

We can take a deep breath and stop for a while

So if I am absent for a while you know I am just recharging my batteries

and hanging out with my boys

We're planning on having a break for a week or so,

then we will get busy again preparing for all of our Christmas get togethers

We have some half finished,

ok lots of half finished jobs

but we're not going to think about our half lit front yard,

or our half built courtyard

or the half built outdoor setting. 

I may work on my Christmas tags though

they are fun, not really working at all

and now that I have some hints from Kerry and Spencer on what to use for the writing

I should enjoy it even more!

Hope you are all able to take some time out to just ENJOY!!!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of our Christmas decorations,

our theme is red, green and gold, just in case you didn't guess.

I'll be back with some more before Christmas

xx

Clay Tag Tutorial

Good morning all you wonderful people!

I received so many lovely comments and questions about my clay tags that I though I would share a quick "How To" on them

I used DAS air dry modelling clay,

I bought mine online.

The clay has a similar consistency to cookie dough and being air dry means that it is forgiving and easy to work with for an amateur like me



I used small amounts at a time and rolled it out just like cookie dough to the desired thickness



To cut out my shapes I used a few different things as I was trying to find the right size.

Cookie cutters worked well and I used those for the stars, small hearts and the circles in the end, but I did try using a glass and a knife to cut around the edge as well as a scrapbooking heart template with a knife for the larger hearts.

It is really quite easy to work with so it is your preference.

I just used a pen to make the holes, but a skewer would be easier.

Then let the clay shapes/tags dry at least 24 hours, depending on the weather.

You can see the clay drying so it is easy to tell when they're dry.

I tried a few different things when it came to the writing. I used a stamp with ink in the photo above.

For some I used a sharp implement (a screwdriver I think, whatever was to hand) and indented the clay.

You need to do this prior to letting the clay dry.

I experimented with different textures and rolled the clay over a table runner I had in the kitchen to see how that would look when it dried.

On these ones I used raised felt stick on lettering.

The letters have stayed on well and it doesn't look like they will come off in a hurry.

For the name tags I have written on the clay with a scrap booking marker.

This works ok, except the clay seems to ruin the marker quickly and I need to keep wiping the nib of the marker to keep it working.

I am trying to find a pen or marker that works better as I have a lot of these to finish.

For some I used rub-ons. I picked up a packet from the cheap shop for $2 and these turned out to be my favourites.

Probably because I have such terrible writing and they just look so neat and tidy.

There you have it, nice and easy. I used a 1kg packet of the clay and got quite a few tags made from it.

If you have any other questions just ask me and I will do my best to answer them for you.

Hope you are all having a great week.

xx

P.S We got the all clear from the doctor last week and I am officially healed! Thank you for all of your prayers and support over the last few months it has been really wonderful.

Clay Tags

I have always admired the gorgeous clay tags

that the lovely Ness from Marley & Lockyer makes

I finally got around to making some myself

 I worked on them a bit more last night and was so excited to share them that I used my phone to take some pics!

Excuse the quality of the photos, it was dark and I was tired.

   

Some are for me

Some are for gifts

I want to personalise these star ones to use as place tags for our Christmas lunches

That way everyone will know where to sit and they will have something special to take home and use on the tree next year!

What do you think?

Ness has no worries about me taking over her business

but I am happy with the way they turned out.

xx