What Goes Around Comes Around...

I hope that your Christmas were as lovely as mine were. Have a look below to see some of the handmade gifts that I made for my family and friends and handmade and handmade-related presents that waited for me under the tree.

What goes around...
1. Crochet doilies, 2. Snowflake, 3. Bracelets, 4. Gloves, 5. Crochet hat, 6. Snowflake, 7. snowflakes, 8. Crochet hat with a snowflake


















...comes around.
1. Shot Glasses from Etsy, 2. Jewellery Set from Etsy, 3. Books, 4. Photos from Bieszczady, 5. Fused Glass Plater, 6. Supplies

Just Before Christmas I Think of Spring

Christmas is in a few days (YEY!) and all the handmade gifts are finished. I really cannot wait to see how my family and friends will like all the goodies I...that is Santa Clause...made for them.

Anyway, this pre-Christmas period was like a great craft workout. I made a lot of things in a short period of time. Each item was crafted with the thought of specific person in mind and it was a really fantastic and invigorating experience.

Now, that all the Christmas gifts are done, I can put my newly formed craft biceps to further use: 2010 LifeCreative Jewellery Collection!

I have 1000 ideas using the team of flowers. I plan to use rich, vivid colours and mixed media to create textured, lively pieces for girls and women of all ages.

A few sketches have already been put down on paper and some items started. But as my Christmas gift to you I decided to share the photos of my first necklace from the new collection.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

This is my sacrifice to the gods of weather so that they may be so kind as send us snowy Yule this year! Pretty please :)
The photos are of snowflakes I crocheted recently and of beautiful snowy days in Aarhus, DK.

1. snowflake, 2. snow in Aarhus, 3. snow in Aarhus, 4. snow in Aarhus, 5. snowflake, 6. snow in Aarhus, 7. snowflakes, 8. snow in Aarhus

Honey Vodka for Cold Winter Nights

The weather here in Denmark is truly sad nowadays. It's wet and grey and there is not much sun at all. So to get myself up I decided to brew me Honey Vodka!!!

It is a fantastic drink to savour in the long, dark, winter evenings. It warms you right up. And it smells like Christmas :D

PS. Because of the lack of light, I did not take any pictures myself. The image above is curtsy of Kacper (accessible under Creative Commons licence). Click on the photo to see it on Flickr.

Honey Vodka Recipe:
Ingredients
- 0,5 l. vodka (you can use spirit instead if you like it stronger)
- 1 glass of honey
- 2 oranges
- 1 lemon
- 3 tbls of grounded coffee
- spices (carnation, ginger root, cinamon bark, nutmeg, vanilla pod...etc. - you should experiment and find your taste).

Preparations:
- Warm honey on a slow fire till it becomes clear (use saucepan with thick bottom)
- Add 1/2 glass cold water
- Add grated peels of 2 organes and 1 lemon
- Cut organges in slices and add them too
- Add juice from half a lemon
- Add spices and adjust for taste
- Brew coffee in 3/4 glass of water and add it to the saucepan (but without grinds)
- Boil everything together and then cool it all down
- Pure it in a large jar and store it in a cold place.
- After two weeks strain through a fine sieve and store the clear liquor for another two weeks.

And enjoy! :)

Flickr Mosaic

My flickr mosaic curtsy of a great tip by Carina from Carina's Craftblog

1. IMG_3526, 2. Crocheting on Cam, 3. colors, 4. 3flowerbrooch1, 5. 3brown1, 6. IMG_3585, 7. One pumpkin..., 8. IMG_2474, 9. earrings, 10. IMG_3596, 11. IMG_2633, 12. IMG_2591

Paper Craft: Christmas Decorations

Now, ordinarily I am not the biggest fan of paper crafts. They just seem...temporary...to me. But, when you think about this, what better time to create temporary pieces of arts, than Christmas.

There is a long tradition in Poland of cutting shapes out of paper (see: here and here) and so every kid at school gets to do at least a couple around various holidays. So I sat down yesterday and, willing my brains to remember the school times, I made these snowflakes:

They look lovely in the window, unfortunately the weather outside is not very Christmas-y (grey skies and rain) and so the picture is nowhere near pretty enough.

I thought I will also take the time and show you how I made it (especially since it is not very difficult).

1. Take a piece of paper and fold one corner to the side.






2. Cut off the outstanding piece of paper so that you are left with a square.






3. Fold square along the diagonal line (now you have a triangle).








4. Fold it 2 more times, every time joining the 2 furthest corners.







5. Now you can start cutting. Many minute cuts make for the most intricate shapes.








6. Unfold and voila!
7. To straighten the folds, you can iron your snowflakes or keep them overnight in a thick book.
8. Connect snowflakes with white thread. You can hang them on the window frame or use as garlands.

Note: You can fold the triangles more times, it's all up to you. You can also use any symmetrical shapes (circles, hexagon etc.)

Christmas sneak a peak

Ok, so it is finally December and so it's time for my first truly Christmas post. The only problem is that for that I cannot blog about the projects I worked on for the last three weeks! Why? Real Santa doesn't give and tell...at least not in advance.

And so I suffered in silence with so many lovely items in front of me. And I so wanted to share it with you.

And finally today I snapped. Here is a sneak peak into two beautiful projects. You cannot see the entire item but at least you can enjoy the lovely crisp blues. I am also particularly proud of the texture of both items. The yarn feels soft under your fingers, but the way it is knotted provides for a very interesting, 3D effect.

Working on the projects, I have also discovered an interesting thing about my creativity. Namely, I am much more inspired and work faster when the item, I am making, is for a person I know. Not only my creative juices flow in abundance but I am also more motivated to work. Very rewarding.

Maybe this is the trick for the future. Always work with a person in mind.