Secret Santa and Decoration Swap

Way back in June noodleBubble started a thread on Folksy to see if anyone was interested in doing a Christmas Decoration Swap, and loads of us said, 'Oooh, yes please - we love Christmas!'. And so a few weeks ago I started to think of ideas, and this is what I came up with.

A recent discussion on Folksy was about the colours that we decorate our homes at Christmas time and my receipient, Midsummer Stitches, mentioned that she (and her daughters) loved pink; so a pink decoration was born! I thought that pink and black would look quite nice together, and added some hand embroidery, shiny beads and sequins, and finished it off with a snowflake charm. I think it looks quite pretty, and the sequins will really sparkle in the glow from the tree fairy lights. Julia (aka Midsummer Stitches) thought it was 'lovely' too.

In October Cosmic Eden raised the idea of a Secret Santa and, again, lots of lovely Folksy people were interested. The idea was to send a handmade gift that had either been made by yourself, or had been bought from a fellow Folksy seller. I made these stripy fingerless mitts for Chiyo, with added buttons for a bit more interest.

Becky (aka Chiyo) was a litle bit naughty and opened her present from 'Secret Santa' early! You can read her blog here. The cold weather has certainly arrived in the last few days so at least she's been able to make use of them straight away. Becky sent me a lovely email saying that she thought the mitts were 'gorgeous' and that she'd had lots of nice comments as she wore them over the weekend. I was a bit worried about sending them because hubby said 'Aston Villa' straight away when I showed them to him - I just thought that the colours looked nice together! Luckily (and quite spookily) Becky's boyfriend IS a big Villa fan so he loves the mitts too!

And this is the Decoration Swap that I received in the post from Midsummer Stitches this week. A beautifully packaged little fairy.

There's so much detail - from her clothes to the gift she's bearing. Isn't she sweet? I think she'll look very pretty hanging on the Christmas tree (going up on Friday - can't wait!!).

Like Becky/Chiyo, I couldn't wait to open my Secret Santa gift either, and I was really pleased that I had. This gorgeous yarn from Kirsty at Wharfedale Woolworks will knit up beautifully into a scarf that will go perfectly with my new teal winter coat.

Folksy is a friendly community of like-minded people who love crafts and really value the skill and creativity that goes into handmade items. I've really enjoyed taking part in these two events and would jump at the chance of doing so again. It's lovely to receive original handmade items in the post from special people - but it's even nicer to know that they love what you made them!