Playing In A Friend's Sandbox!

I know I've been a bit MIA again (remember earlier comments about snail-paced internet once our new internet plan downloads run out?! GRRR! ) but I promise I've been a busy little bear. :0)

Now ... I can't show you some of my stitching projects cos they're Secret Squirrel projects, but I do have a very special one to share. You see, I'm playing in a friend's sandbox today, with a guest post over at the lovely Kerryanne's blog Shabby Art Boutique as part of her ...

For the fifth year, Kerryanne is putting the "hand-made and home-baked" back into Christmas ... and she's invited me to play along too ... WOO! HOO! :0) Kerryanne was my very first blogging buddy and I'm blessed to also call her friend in 'real life'. We were even able to meet up for a fun weekend play date along with another blogging buddy, the Lovely Lilly Linda a few years ago. Aaah ... what adventures we had! :0)

So you can imagine how excited I was to be invited to join in the "Simply Christmas" fun with a guest post. And even MORE excited to share a quick, fun, pretty project to help inspire people to approach Christmas creatively this year ...

... by sharing a tutorial to make my Sweetly Shabby Christmas Stocking. This project is simple, quick to make and oh-so-versatile. Make it in traditional Christmassy colours or use some of your fave sweet shabby fabrics like I did. This is the second version I've made and it uses some pretty Tilda fabrics. The original Sweetly Shabby Christmas Stocking was part of a pattern design I released earlier this year ...

Sweetly Shabby Christmas includes instructions to make three fun, sweetly shabby Christmas projects ... a drawstring bauble bag featuring a stitchery, some frills and shabby rosette flowers to keep your precious breakable decorations safely stored; a string of shabby chic bunting which includes some versatile Christmas stitcheries and ... of course! ... the sweetly shabby Christmas stocking to hang on your own mantle for Santa to fill, or to pop surprises in for someone special as a gift this Christmas. This pattern is available as a paper pattern packet, as well as in a downloadable PDF format so you can get stitching quicker. :0)

BUT WAIT!!! THERE'S MORE!!

To help Kerryanne celebrate her "Simply Christmas" series ...

Two lucky Shabby Christmas fans will receive a downloadable copy of my Sweetly Shabby Christmas pattern and it's SOOOOO easy to enter! All you have to do is leave me a comment on THIS post to tell me why you love my Sweetly Shabby Christmas goodies, THEN pop across to say "G'day! Happy Christmas!" to Kerryanne and leave a comment on my GUEST POST at Shabby Art Boutique. Just like Santa, Kerryanne and I will be ... making a list and checking it twice! ... to match comments, then NEXT WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 19 I'll randomly pick two winners ... and two people will get early Christmas gifties! Tee! Hee! Hee!

And while you're checking out Kerryanne's GORGEOUS blog, you really should take the time to enjoy your "Simply Christmas" posts and check out her "Simply Shabbilicious" e-zine, too. She really is an incredibly talented lady, our Miss Kerryanne, so you are sure to come away from your visit with your creative inspiration overflowing! :0) Thanks to Kerryanne, too, for the sweetly shabby digital scrapbook elements for a couple of the pics I'm sharing ... I TOLD you she was creative! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Right ... I'm off to keep a date with my much-neglected pillow. I hope you all enjoy popping over to visit Kerryanne ... I always do! :0) Whether you're in the midst of Christmas preparations ... or being a bit of an ostrich about it, like I am for the most part (six weeks ... EEK!! ) I hope your week is toodling along nicely and that you're taking time out to be creative. Til next time ...

SWEETLY SHABBY BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS