Countdown to Christmas - Day 15

Evening,

I first started sending a Christmas newsletter nearly 20 years ago after I lost my Son and my Dad within the space of 2 weeks. It started as a way of letting people know about this, and has become a way of keeping friends and family up to date with family events.

It seemed particularly important this time because of moving in with my Mum, so it was a great way to let people know about the changes that have been made over the past year. As usual I added my return address label to the back of all of my cards. Today, as a direct result of these labels I have spent a very enjoyable morning with an old friend. I used to look after her son for many years, until he left to go to Secondary school. He was 30 this month, so it has been a long time since we spent any time together. She now only lives 5 minutes down the road from me, so we took a trip to the local garden center for a coffee and a long overdue catch up.

She too has retired, and is now able to start catching up with all of those crafty projects that you manage to have on the go when you are working. She enjoys needlework and belongs to a 'Stitch and Bitch' group which meets once a week to, as its name suggests, stitch, drink tea and coffee and bitch/talk about anything and everything. It sounds like fun, so we have agreed that I will join them in the New Year. That way I might finally get the chance to finish some of my numerous cross stitch projects.

I guess I really ought to share a Christmas card with you after all that waffle, so here is one made using the Letterpress Technique with a foiling plate.

I used Distress Oxide ink with the plate and as the ink remained very wet I also added embossing powder and then a few gems.

Thanks for stopping by and putting up with my ramblings.

Love and Crafty Hugs

Kimx