Sending Christmas cards!

This year I started writing my Christmas cards early.

 I have lots and lots of cards (as I used to write lots and lots of letters years ago) and always bought cards to send.

So I decided to send out all those cards and finish them and from now on only make handmade cards or recycle old, used ones, by adding all kinds of embellishments and sea glass on them.

This year I decided to send cards to all the people I usually send. Relatives, friends who live in other towns or countries, pen pals, as well as to all the people I met in the States this summer.

Along with the three craft exchanges I took part in plus all the little gifts I made and wanted to post, my trips to the post office were frequent and cost me quite a bit.

I managed though to keep costs down as much as I could by making some of my own cards and gifts but postage is expensive in Greece anyway!

Still just because I love snail mail and receiving cards, letters and gifts as well as sending (although I am not a frequent regular long letter pen friend as my pen pals might want me to be) I am trying to keep to this custom (or habit if you wish) as I have been doing it ever since I was 12.

And correspondence has really brought me to know the world, to travel around the world and to meet my pen pals. And as the Internet has somehow ostracized snail mail I have, also through blogland, craft groups and the sea glass sites, come to know lots of people, make friends and meet them too! It's the modern type of "correspondence"!

(Handmade cards made by me using cardboard, embellishments cut from other cards, stamps and felt pre-cut embellishments by crafts+paper-bought them at Xeirotexnika. The heart card is an IKEA card and I added sea glass.Unfortunately I forgot to photograph all cards I made.)

Something with buttons.

My friend Anna, the creative imaginative person behind in my closet blog and inmyc etsy shop invited us all to take part in a competition on her page on facebook.
The subject of the competition was "Make something with buttons".
So I thought about it, and remembered I had seen something a long time ago on pinterest. I really wanted to make something like that.Or like that. It looked simple enough!
As the deadline is the end of October I had to rush!
Phew!Pals that was hard. Although you can see tutorials on pinterest and people show off what they made successfully, for me it was very hard. I used ModPodge for the first time. I recently found it being sold at Xeirotxnika at Ftiaxto.gr and really wanted to see why people in the States are crazy about using this glue in their crafts so I bought some.
I started with a balloon that I put standing on a jar. I put some Pod Podge and let it dry. Then I added more glue and the buttons.

 I had to use almost half the jar to finish this project and although I did exactly what the tutorial said the buttons kept sliding down no matter how I turned the balloon. And till the glue got totally dry I missed some of them!LOL!It was maddening!

 It took me four days to finish this,oh yes! And I used up all of my little buttons!

 So I had to buy some new ones and the cheapest solution was a little box of buttons from Jumbo!LOL! Going there I felt like a kid. I had to buy all kinds of little cheap things to make more handicrafts with buttons. Here is what I bought.

More ballooons, just in case I am crazy enough to make more bowls with Mod Podge, some felt motifs I couldn't pass and the aforesaid buttons of course.
So I continued with my effort to finish the button bowl.

 My little assistant Barca wanted to play when I let it dry in the cold air faster.

 And I added more buttons that kept falling and more glue.

 In the end and when completely dry I made a small hole to the balloon and let the air come out slowly.

 And with dread I found out that the bowl was not ready yet because it was wet with glue from the inside.

 So I had to allow it more hours to dry.

 And in the end....ta-dah!

 See that jello thing in between the buttons? Well I put that much glue that it became a thick layer of diaphanous material that keeps the buttons together, at last!

 I could trim it all around but decided to keep it as is. Doesn't it look delicious? Almost ready to eat?

 You can put anything light inside, here some candy, or just more buttons but not something heavy as it is fragile!

Of course I also had to make something out of aida and threads and felt and beads and add some buttons too, otherwise it wouldn't be me. There wasn't time for cross stitch (as I am in the middle of decluttering, reorganising my desk and bookcase but that's for another blogpost) so I chose some evenweave fabric, added some felt flowers, buttons, beads and did some ribbon ebroidery and ...ta dah!

And the colours so match my bedroom colours! I loved this one!
Finally I made a ring out of some buttons! But as I am an amateur in ring making I don't think it went that well. But still it is with a button!

So that concludes my "Something with a button" competition entries!
Bytheway Anna mentioned me recently in her blog about the workshop she organized back in June just a day before we left for the States. You can read all about it here. Thank you Anna!
But speaking about buttons I must tell you about a new cafe that opened in the city centre and it is called Button (=Κουμπί) Koumbi Coffee and Crafts I saw the advertising brochure in the Xeirotexnika welcoming bag but Anna told us about it in her blog so we had to go too. We met there for some coffee and to look around! It was fun seeing so many little details, so many craft opportunities and we enjoyed a good coffee and good company. We will certainly go again to craft too!
The beautiful shop sign!

Lots of things to use to make things with a small fee.

Anna looking at the little bags one can buy at very reasonable prices and make something on the spot!

 Buttons and beads of course!

 Even the WC doors have very clever crafty little dolls on them.

 There is a small exhibition of handcrafted items too that a person can buy.

 We will soon attend a workshop there, which I am sure will be fun!

A great day at Xeirotexnika

Xeirotexnika is an art and craft exhibition with workshops that takes place every year in Athens. This year it was also organised in Thessaloniki.It was this weekend 11th and 12th of October.

Xeirotexnika is organized by two very talented ladies Elina and Valia who were pioneers in this country in the craft world. They started some years ago with a blog about crafting called ftiaxto which evolved into a site with an e-shop. They taught us through tutorials how to make things and I really learnt a lot from them.So I was really very happy to meet them in person at the exhibition and take a photo with them.

I went early on the first day.

This funny little car decorated with crafts was outside the exhibition.

This beautiful huge cross stitch board was in the entrance.

 I went early in order to manage to get enrolled in the needle weaving workshop and I am glad I was one of the ten people who managed to get in! For only 5 euros you had a two hour workshop to learn how to make a mini needle weaved piece of jewelry and it was great!

Our teacher Natassa Fokianidou aka Faraona was great in teaching us all one by one and I hope to finish my piece soon and show you.

Here are a couple of photos of what we did.

 You will soon see the finished piece.

After the workshop it was high time to visit the exhibition. My photos are not very good though.

First I saw this quilting exhibition. Quilting is not very popular in Greece yet but that group here is trying and they have made some really beautiful things.

 They made this fantastic group quilt with the theme of Greece.

 And here are quilts made by people who have fallen victims of Human Trafficking.

 Lots of sellers from around the country were selling their supplies.
I was so eagerly looking around to get ideas and find products that might interest me, that I didn't take too many photos.
There was lots of wool!

There was silk!

There were exhibits to give you ideas.Like this from 2objectrepair who take old furniture and turn them into something new.

And beautiful little nooks.

There was lots to see and to choose from!

 I really loved the idea of making your own book by this couple.(photo from their site)

But didn't take photos of every seller of course.

I did a little bit of shopping too but as I am on a tight budget I only bought a couple of things from two shops fiaxto.gr and crafts and paper.

I bought ModPodge from the former and the felting needles too. And I bought those lovely felt pre cut patterns for my crafting from the latter.

All in all it was a great crafting day!