Online Advent Calendar 2017-December 20th

Jo of Serendipitous stitching organizes an Advent Calendar every year for stitching friends.
This is the second year I am taking part.
This year I am showing you three Christmas related things I have stitched this year.
First Winter season in crewel work (or simply embroidery) from There is a season for everything by Dimensions. This is a stamped kit of fabric and I decided to stitch it in another way as I don't love stamped cross stitch.
Here is a photo of that one.

I have already stitched Autumn too.

Then I stitched a felt ornament which was a freebie kit from Mollie makes and gifted to me by my friend Juliana from Scotland.

 Finally while taking part in the International Hermit & Stitch Weekend I stitched almost half of this runner. I had a dark blue piece of 18 count aida which I found too difficult to stitch on but I happened to find this pattern in Prima makes magazine and it is for a knitted cushion. So I adapted it and hope to finish it by Christmas.

Jo also sets a question every year. The question Jo set this year is....

How do you plan to spend Boxing Day?  Do you have any traditions associated with this day?

Boxing Day is not celebrated in Greece so there is nothing special about it. Usually shops are closed but restaurants and cafes are open and people have fun. Families walk around the city to enjoy the lights and this is what we will ptobably do that day too.Walk around the city and enjoy friends' company.

Finally I am  adding a photo of this year's huge beautifully lit tree in Aristotelous Square in the centre of my city Thessaloniki!

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Thank you Jo for this lovely Advent Calendar.

Paperless Post

It's that time of the year again.
Christmas is coming. I really can't believe how fast time flies.

 At this time of year I usually make my own Christmas cards and accompany them with a handwritten letter to my pen friends all around the world.
This year with my mum's condition I decided that I will write a handwritten letter when I find enough free time and that I will send digital Christmas cards to all of my relatives and friends.
I guess if you are one of them right now and you are reading this you already know that you won't be receiving Christmas mail from me!Sorry! (Unless I change my mind or I find enough time to do so.)

Anyway....
The funny thing was that as soon as I had decided that I wanted to send digital cards this year I was suddenly contacted by Anagram Interactive , a firm that connects bloggers with business sites  and was offered a free trial of Paperless Post, a firm that has digital Christmas cards and all kinds of cards and invitations. They also have a paper branch.
I was offered to try their paperless branch for free and express my opinion and so here it is.
Their site is really user friendly and I made my own Christmas card along with envelope, postmark etc.

I won't be telling you all the details so that at least my Christmas card to you is a bit of a surprise.
There was a great selection of fonts, settings and designs to choose from and I really enjoyed changing the background and the setting of my card till I finalize it. The changes are saved so you are not afraid to lose what you have created.
You can upload a family photo to make your card or you can simply use one of the cards they have. There are some exclusive designs too made by world famous artists.
I really loved the process so  I can say that Paperless Post is an amusing way to make digital Christmas cards.

I can't really say if it is cheap or expensive as mine was for free but you could try and see for yourself.
In Greece it is not very  common to send digital cards but people do not really care in sending real cards either. For me who so much enjoy sending and receiving cards especially at Christmas this is really something new.But I admit that the last few years my mail has been a disappointment as far as Christmas cards is concerned as more and more people have stopped sending cards altogether.
What are your plans for this year's Christmas cards?

(I was in no way compensated with money to write this review. My opinion is totally honest. This blog review was written after communication with and in collaboration with Anagram Interactive.All the photos are from the Paperless Post site.)

It was the night before Christmas....

Dear friends, readers, followers,
I'd like to wish you all the best for Christmas! Hope you enjoy the day with the ones you love!
And even if you don't celebrate Christmas just enjoy a beautiful Sunday!
Thank you for still reading me inspite the very few blogposts I still write!
Hugs to you all
Ariadne

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve walking at the city centre, enjoying music and views of smiling people and meeting friends by chance! It's a small world!
Kroustophono music group singing traditional carols.

 Yuppi Camp singing carols for the Smile of the Child.

 People and especially children having fun at Aristotelous Square.

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Decorating for Christmas!

Does it happen to you too, or is it only me?
I was really bored to decorate this Christmas!
First I was on a decluttering mood and so was hubby so the one thing that left first was our huge Christmas tree! It took too much space into our little storage room over the bathroom so he insisted it had to go!
I on the other hand who loves Christmas trees and decorating them I was the last couple of years begging hubby or son to take it down and put it up and I was just decorating by myself, listening to Christmas songs on the CD player. And then again after the holidays I had to put everything away all by myself.
So I accepted hubby's proposition to give it away! But to whom?
And then I had this idea that maybe it would be useful at school.
Although each classroom has its own small Christmas tree, the one that was decorated every year by the Parents' Association in the school hall was nothing much.
So I donated it to my school! Some years ago I had donated my previous tree to another school. That was a 2m high tree. This one was 1.80 but really thick and beautiful.
The mothers of the Parents' Association who came to decorate for the bazaar were really vey happy with it and although they didn't have too many ornaments to decorate it with they managed to make it look really beautiful! All the children really liked it and all the parents who came for the bazaar and the teachers liked it too so I am glad I gave it to them after all! And I will be able to look at it every year!

 Isn't it gorgeous?

So what about my home?
Well my first idea was not to decorate at all. Then I decided it will be only decorating the big living room table and that's all!
So I put my old favourite snowman, the collection of green vases, the collection of little Christmas trees (most are gifts from my brother), my old time angel on the glass Italian vase, the vintage soup pot filled with pine cones, otchipotchi stones, my new little birdy box bought from a bazaar, my Nafplio candle holder from last year's trip, Marabeth's caroler,the star tealight holders I bought from the States, fabric birdy ornaments made by Cathy, clay ornaments from last year's school bazaar, Tua's reindeer, old vintage toys,

 Then I decided I wanted some greenery so bought a couple of fir tree branches and put them in the green vases. Then hang my collection of otchipotchi ornaments on them along with felt heart ornaments made by Cathy, ornaments I bought in the clearance sale in July in the Metropolitan Museum of Art  shop in New York, ornaments made by my niece or cross stitched ones by myself.

My Christmas tree collection, vintage toys, a Resurrection Fern friendship stone, some Ioannaspottery bowls brought from Skyros.

 The felt tree I made last year at In My Closet workshop,

 Frieda's crochet wreaths, Andria's little love parcel, Cathy's fabric birds!

I love the lights everywhere!

Then I decorated a bit around the room with my little elf bought at a Koperti bazaar years ago, the cross stitched picture Marabeth gave me (the red frame looks very Christmassy) and the Winter scenery cross stitched picture I made some years ago. Also the little embroidered angel from Laura of Bugs and Fishes sale.

My Finland red snowflake garland and Cathy's fabric birdies along with some special sea glass and sea glass ornaments made by my sea glass friends Lynne of oceansbounty (sea glass star), Andria of Andriasserendipity (peace symbol) and Juliana (sea glass turtle).

 My little candles from Finland which I always light as they remind me of that wonderful trip there in 2007.

And of course we always light some real candles.
Juliana's candle inside a lovely Christofle silverware bought at a tag sale in the States and lots of semi-precious stones all around it from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington DC.

 I also put a little pink wreath in the bedroom along with a white porcelain ornament.

Finally I decided I needed some space for my Christmas cards (the ones I receive) so I made a washi tape Christmas tree on the back of our door. It needs a bit of work still! And I think I haven't received all of my Xmas cards yet!

How did you decorate?
Hope you have a great holiday!

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.)

A Christmas exchange-share what you don't need

Anna of In my closet (my Secret Santa, remember?) organised a fantastic Christmas gift exchange in which I took part.

 The exchange was organised in perfect detail!
120 crafters took part in it and Anna really went out of her way to match all of them with each other for perfect exchanges!

We had to make a parcel that would contain a handmade gift but also something sweet and five materials we don't need and would like to send to someone else who might use them.

We had to take pictures and show our parcels in our group on facebook.
We were even given info on how to post the parcels.
It was great looking into your stash to find what you would like to share with others.
It was fun trying to figure out which one of the parcels shown might be yours.
It was exciting to anticipate the parcel sent to you! Or to see the reaction of the person who received yours!
One again I was very lucky! I received a lovely parcel from Crete island from dear Erina Katerina of rozkardies (=pink hearts) blog.

Erina loves scrapbooking so she made some lovely paper crafts for me.
A card,

 a bookmark,

a door knob sign

 and a gift tag.

Here's the whole handmade collection!

She added lots (and I mean lots) of buttons, ribbons, paints, a stamp,

charms, embelishments, stickers,papers, felt,

and little paper and fabric flowers she made herself for me to use in my crafts.
(Doesn't that picture have an Attic24 colour combination in it?)

Here's the lot of the "5" materials!That's 105!!!!!!

And there was bitter chocolate too! My favourite! Ooops, there was more, but till I find the right light conditions to take the pictures it was gone!

Thank you so much Erina for all the lovely things you sent me!
I hope the recepient of my parcel likes it too!
And thank you Anna for organising this whole thing! It was such a brilliant idea to reuse things in such a way!
Now I have one more thing to do. Make something with at least three of the things I received! Mmmm, let me think!