Christmas Grief

I was doing ok.
I have been sooo busy I haven't had much time to think.
But it snuck up and surprised me.

I miss my husband more than ever around this time of year.

Christmas is all about family to me. So having Jason not here really hurts. A lot.
I watch my friends prepare for Christmas, see them working together with the men in their lives putting together kids presents, seeing Dads getting involved at end of year parties. My heart aches.

My heart aches that my kids don't have a Daddy to love them.
My heart aches that I don't have my best friend to hold my hand.
My heart aches for the life we are missing out on.

This will be the 4th Christmas without Jason.
It hasn't got any easier.
Yes life is going well for us. We are coping well. I have a really great routine going and we are working great as a little family of 3.
But this time of year is still hard.
Especially when the feelings sneak up on you unexpectedly.
I should have known they were coming. But they still surprised me. I really thought that after all this time I might deal with it better.
But the tears still flow and my chest feels tight and my heart aches.

And I miss him so very much.

Kiwi Christmas Ornament Swap 2013

I have really enjoyed getting involved in lots of swaps this Christmas season.  I know that I am going to get much more involved in this sort of thing over the next year and dust of my crafting hands!!

These are the ornaments I made for the swap

I got some wooden curtain rings and wound the red and white ribbon around. Then I attached some bells and Christmas ribbon to finish them off. Fairly simple and cute I thought.

Thanks Pinterest for your ideas!! Here is the original pin I got my idea from.

So here are the ornaments I received

 

Only one of these talented ladies is a blogger and also the host of the swap Sew Funky - She made the gorgeous sequined star in the bottom pic. Not sure if it's crochet or knitting.

LOVE all my ornaments and I am definitely signing up again next year!

Check out the other participants HERE

Wednesday Advent Roundup

I am loving this advent swap! Every day both my kids and I are so excited to see what is in my present. Miriam has certainly made me smile every day! I love the thought that has gone into each gift and the orange theme is classic!!

Day #5
If it has to be done it might as well be yum.

Yum is right!! I am not a big fan of cooking but I am giving these a good try! They sound delicious. And I ADORE nuts, I have to admit that bag was empty the same day I opened them!! So yummy!!!

Day #6
So Pointy

 I can NEVER have too much orange thread!! And I was just complaining that my needles were blunt when I was making my Advent presents! Perfect!

Day #7
For the days when large and loud are the 'flavour' of the day.

 Ok how cool is this recycled juice packet bag!! I have got to say it is one of the coolest things I now own!! And I am super glad that giant pencil comes with it's own sharpener!! Try putting that one behind your ear!!!

Day #8
For subtle hints of hope

 Orange essence ... smells sooooo good!!! And that star ornament is A.Dorable!! Did you make it yourself Miriam?

Day #9
Kick back, relax & take the easy way.

Mmmm jelly!!! I LOVE the orange cocktail umbrellas and the fabric is going to be on my pile of think of something cool to make pile!! It's quite perfect as my goal for 2014 is to learn to sew properly!

Day #10
You're just a softie really :)

So I think this has got to be my favourite gift so far! It is soft and snuggly and oh so cute!! I had to wrestle it off Abbey after I opened it!! I love cushions, I might even have too many ... na! There is no such thing as too many cushions!! I absolutely LOVE that fish fabric!

Day #11
Don't sit for too long in one position you'll get .....

This is the most adorable Pin & Needle cushion EVER!!! Love!

Miriam, I can't thank you enough! I am loving ALL these amazingly thoughtful gifts. I have been truly blessed this Christmas!!

Silly Season

Christmas is a really busy time of the year for most people.  It sure is for me. This year is a little bit busier than usual with various stuff going on. The short version is I have 2 of my nephews here and will soon have my Brother and his Wife here too.

I am LOVING having the kids and I am REALLY looking forward to my brother and sister-in-law arriving and staying with me.
Having four children in the house does make things a lot busier though!

So I apologise in advance for the slowness of my blog posts!

I am busy putting together teacher gifts and gifts for the Pippins and Cubs Leaders. I have Santa Parades and Summer Shows to write about. I have Advent stuff and Jingles the Scout Elf to tell you about too.

I'll get there I promise!! I have been taking the photos!!

So hopefully after I sew on a million (slight over exaggeration!!) badges onto My daughters Pippins Sash ready to get more badges tomorrow, and finish all the gifties I might have a little bit more free time to blog about it all!!!

Wednesday Advent Roundup

Instead of posting every day about what Miriam has gifted me in the advent swap I thought I'd do a post every Wednesday instead ......

Day #2
Retro cup-o-tea?

I LOVE Orange and I LOVE Retro and this is just the best Tea-towel ever!!!!! It is going to look fabulous when I get my kitchen renovated!!, I actually think it's going to be too good to use .. it might end up on the wall yet!

Day #3
Ball of Joy all zipped up.

Jaffas!!!!!! mmmmmmmm YUMMY!!!
And an adorable little zip up pouch. It will definitely come in handy for my toiletries when I go camping! LOVE!!

Day #4
A bit of orange-advent-family time.

A GORGEOUS book called 'A Celebration of Christmas'. It is filled with Christmas songs, poems, carols, stories, prayers, recipes, jokes and activities! I am so in love with it. The illustrations are beautiful.

Along with the book were the ingredients to make a Christingle. I am going to get some oranges this week to make some with the kids, I just love the idea of the Christingle.

Thanks so much Miriam, all of us as a family are so enjoying opening these presents every morning and they are most definitely making me start my day with a smile!

Christmas Advent Swap Day #1

It was an exciting morning at our place this morning!
DECEMBER 1st!!!! That means the first of our Advent's get to be opened!!!

My kids have an Advent Tree that I made them last year. I filled it with little gifts and chocolates. I also have my brother and his 2 kids staying at the moment so since I didn't want them to miss out on the Advent fun I filled little brown paper envelopes with little gifts and chocolates for them too.

The Kids were all VERY excited to come in and open their gifts this morning.

And I got to open my first gift from Miriam too!! YAY!!

Miriam included an Advent Theme Sheet with the gifts.

Day #1
"Wrap me up in Orange the Christmas season is here"

The COOLEST Orange Washi Ticket Tape!!
I LOVE it!!! Thanks sooo much Miriam! I can see myself using this a lot!!!

Now I am off to buy a Christmas Tree and decorate the house!

Happy December 1st everyone!!!

Christmas Advent Swap

So exciting!!
My Advent Swap Partner received her box of pressies today!
I have been stalking her blog to hope that she would post when it arrived and it did!!

My swap partner is Elaina from A Little Bit Country. I have been stalking her blog to try and find out what she is like since I didn't know her. You should go check her blog out! She's a really cool chick!!

This is the blog post HERE about getting her parcel.

I made a card with Stampin' Up Christmas stamps a while ago, but since I send photo cards to friends and family I hadn't had a chance to use it. This was the perfect opportunity!!

I also wrapped up a present for the 3 beautiful kiddies that needed to be opened up before December 1st.

 

I made Bell, Tom & George this Kaisercraft Christmas Advent Tree, and filled it with chocolates.

Before I decorated it it looked like this .....

I used some Kaisercraft Christmas paper from the Christmas Carnival Collection. The numbers on the boxes are from the Kaisercraft Twig & Berry 12x12 Sticker Sheet.
The Reindeer up the top of the tree is a felt ornament from Spotlight.

I sure hope that Elaina and her gorgeous children enjoy opening their advent gifts throughout December!!
I know I am looking forward to both opening mine and seeing how Elaina enjoys her gifts!!

Linking Up with Leonie At Sunshine x3

Christmas Advent Swap

Last year my beautiful friends Leonie & Cat were involved in a Christmas Advent swap. I watched with interest to see what they gave and received from each other and said to myself that I wanted to be in on that next time!!
So as soon as Cat posted up about the swap I was in!

I was so excited when I received the name and details of the wonderful lady I was going to be gifting.  She was someone completely new to me so that was pretty exciting too! I stalked her blog and put together 25 gifts for her and a combined gift for her 3 gorgeous children.
I posted her box off to her this morning.

I hope she likes her packages! I am feeling rather nervous about it!!

This morning the courier dropped off a BIG box of packages for me. I was sooo excited!!! Since we were on our way out the door for the school run I had to wait until I got home before I could open it!!

Inside were 25 gifts for me and one each or Riley & Abbey to open on Christmas day. They are going to be so excited when they get home to see they were included too!

There was a note in the box that said ...

Dear Tracy
Welcome to your "Very Orange Advent".  My goal in putting this together has been about making you smile everyday coming up to Christmas. I imagine this season must be bittersweet as you miss the presence of your 4th family member. I hope each day as you open a gift you will make the orange connection & you will feel loved and thought of. Wishing you a love-filled, peaceful advent season & a beautiful, wonder-filled Christmas
God Bless
Miriam xxx

And then there was an Advent Theme Sheet with a theme for each present. I will share these with you as I share the opening of the presents.

I don't know Miriam but I know of her. I have read her blog and seen her around quite a bit. She was also the person who I have been communicating with about my swap partner!!

Thanks soo much for your beautiful letter and I can't wait to open those gifts!!

Go check out Miriam's blog Create Hope Inspire.

Keep a watch come December for the daily posts about what Miriam has packaged up as well as what I sent to my Advent partner!

 

Kiwi Christmas Ornament Swap 2013

You guys should totally sign up for this!! I did and I already know what I am going to make ... here's hoping it works out hehehe

I can't wait!

Christmas Crafting

I have some AMAZINGLY talented friends. I am both inspired and intimidated by them!
There are four lovely ladies who are not only some of my most favourite people in the world but also some of the most creatively talented people I know.

Ruth, Janine, Jennie, Nicola and I decided that we were going to do a Christmas present swap with each other.
We all made pinterest boards especially for the swap. We had to pin things that we would like someone else to make us. Then we all went through each others boards and picked something to make for each person. So we made and received 4 gifts each.
See my board HERE

So now it is after Christmas I can share what I made and what I received.

NICOLA

Nic pinned this photo frame whiteboard on her board. She also mentioned that her favourite colour was blue, so I set to work.

I found an old frame in my stash of things and cleaned it up. Then using the Sweetest Thing Bluebell Collection from My Minds Eye I made this.

I spent ages dividing it into 7 pieces and stamped a day on each part. Embellished with some flowers, butterflies and a Kaisercraft wooden Birdcage and we were done!

I am really pleased with how it turned out, and I am super glad it arrived in Christchurch in one piece! 

I have always loved these melted crayon pictures. 

I have always wanted to try it myself, and I will get around to doing it ... eventually!!

Nic used this pin to inspire (literally) to make this AWESOME melted crayon art.

I absolutely ADORE it!! At the moment it is hanging in my library. I think it will eventually end up in my craft space when I renovate in there.

RUTH

I started out making something completely different for Ruth but it didn't quite work out. I went scrolling through her  board and saw these and though "hmmm I could make those"

So I raided the kids block box and using It's The Little Things Collection from Fancy Pants and loads of Mod Podge I made these.

Abbey was rather fond of them and Ruth was lucky they weren't stolen, so I might need to make some more!

Ruth was sneaky and didn't make me anything off my board. She knows how much of a Harry Potter freak I am though. Check these beauties out HERE

So she made this for me

I LOVE this sooo much!! It is definitely going to go in the library!

JANINE

For Janine I picked this as inspiration

I spent a while looking for what to use. I didn't want to make card ones I was hoping to find some big wooden dice. One day I happened to walk into Spotlight one day and they had little wooden Calendars ... PERFECT!

So I took it home pulled it apart and did this to it ....

I used The Sweetest Thing Bluebell Collection from My Minds Eye for this. I already knew Janine liked this collection because she has bought quite a bit of it in The Scrap Heap Store!!

Janine really surprised me with her gift to me. Firstly because it wasn't a medium she usually uses and because of how it looked sooo much like the original pin! 

This is what I pinned

And this is what she made 

It's us!! The three Art Night Girls, Roo, J9 & Me .... I Love it!!!

This one I think might end up on the wall in my bedroom.

JENNIE

I knew I wanted to make it as soon as I saw it on Jennie's board!! I might even eventually make one for myself (in orange of course!!)

Pin

And my version

I used The Sweetest Thing Bluebell collection from My Minds Eye again (one of my favourites!) And I filled it up with lollies!

Jennie got inspiration for my present from this pin

She totally blew me away with the little suitcases she made! I love them so much! And excellent colour choices too!!

They are on my mantelpiece at the moment. And look awesome.

I am such a lucky lucky girl to get such amazing presents from my amazing friends! I can't wait to do it again for this years Christmas!!!