12 Gifts of Christmas: #1-6 + #8

Happy New Year, blog peeps!

I am sorry for the relative silence these last few days of the year. It was a necessary unplugging as I readied my family for the Superhero Christmas Eve theme party on the Hintz side, hosted the Prais family on Christmas day, attended three days of the 42nd annual basketball tournament called the Sentry Classic, squeezed in a day and a half of work, and focused on completing a quick deadline for Halcraft to be photographed in NYC. 

Today, Tiny Dancer and I spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon adding to my Operation S.A.N.T.A. list (and service hours for Tiny Dancer) by volunteering our time at the Central Wisconsin Children's Museum and their Countdown to the New Year with exhibits, jugglers and loads of fun for the under 8 set and their parents and grandparents. About 100 people came to the Museum today and they really needed our help! We were in charge of the art room and we helped the little ones make star crowns with construction paper, markers, pipe cleaners and lots of tape! At noon there was a tin foil ball drop, noisemakers and a ginger ale toast. It was a quick 3 hours!

So... I apologize for being a tad bit late to the party.

Miss Lorelei Eurto offered to host a 12 Days blog hop again this year with two different groups: beads and components or gifts. I was selected to be in the gifts group.

The rules were that you would make 11 gifts to give to the other participants. What I love about things like this is not only the making of something special, but the fact that you get to make new friends. I recognized a few of the names on the list but some were new to me. It was all I could do to keep myself from opening the gifts as soon as I got them! 

But now the first 7 days have lapsed and I am horribly late to the party, but I will now show you all the fun gifts that I received so far.

 On the first day of Christmas Lorelei Eurto made for me
a jar filled with something yummy.

{Sugar & Spice Candied Nuts - Thank you Miss Lorelei! They were delicious and so prettily packaged!}

 On the second day of Christmas Lisa Johnson made for me

a Dr. Seuss inspired ornament with Whimsy. ;-)

{I just love the bright colors and the hand made curlique hook. I plan to leave this out in my studio all year long as a reminder to have fun. Thank you Miss Lisa of Whimsy's Wonders!}

On the third day of Christmas Suzette Bentley made for me

a pair of fun and funky earrings.

{I love these cute little buttons and the mix of party colors in these fun earrings. In fact, I am wearing them today to welcome the new year. Thank you, Miss Suzette of Ellie's Bijoux!}

 On the fourth day of Christmas Jodie Marshall made for me
a cozy crocheted cuff with buttons.

{The yarn is so soft, the buttons are quirky and there are sequins blinging this up! Thank you, Miss Jodie Marshall! I think I may have lost this to my Tiny Dancer already!}

On the fifth day of Christmas Therese Frank made for me
a dazzling beaded snowflake necklace.

{The flash on this rivoli is really quite spectacular. I just could not photograph it well. The color morphs from peach to lime. There are crystals and pearls and the tiniest seeds. I have the utmost respect for people who work this magic! Thank you, Miss Therese Frank!}

On the sixth day of Christmas Amy Freeland made for me

a purse fob with bright red berries.

{This rustic little bauble will look so great on my spruce green purse from Studio Waterstone. Thank you so much Miss Amy! I love it!}

I have found out that my friend Andrew Thornton had a mishap with his gifts, so day #7 will have to wait. But go and visit his blog. His is a blog that I do not miss. You simply must go and read his post from yesterday, The Wren's Gift, and you, too, will want to be a follower.

And today is the eighth day. My day! 

On the eighth day of Christmas I made for my friends

a set of beaded place card holders/napkin rings.

{'Sitting Pretty' place card holders double as napkin rings and can be made with any beads!}

I created this table bauble as part of my Halcraft/Michaels.com holiday tablescape assignment back in October. You can find the full instructions on the Michaels.com to make some of your own. The key ;-) is to use a large split ring for a key chain as the open end to hold the place card. Or flip them over for a bubble napkin ring. I made each set a different color in glass pearls and faceted crystals.... blue, green, pink, gray, purple, black, white, cream burgundy.... using beads that I picked up at Michaels and in my stash. A great way to use up your leftovers!

Thank you to all my 12 Days of Gifts friends for all the time and thought that went into the beautiful gifts that I have opened so far! There are a few days left, so check back this week for the remaining gifts! And thank you Miss Lorelei for hosting this swap!

P.S. GO BADGERS!