Holiday crafting and books, part 1

Phew! It's been a BUSY December! In addition to crazy work stuff I'll talk about later, I made handmade cards and crafty gifts - some of which were more than I had bargained for. (Some didn't turn out and will be put into the roster for next year - after I hopefully get a better idea of how to make them). I also wrapped up a bunch of books, though of course I did not get to 50.

Cards:
Our cards were pop-ups this year. This is a simple dove pop-up that I modeled after a photo, with some adaptations to make it work inside a card.

Book #19:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. A reread that I read aloud to J before bed. Twain does an awesome job with dialects, which I'm pretty sure I didn't notice when I read this in school.

Cranberries:
I made small tins of these for almost everyone last year. This year I shared them more "party style" - gifting some and then bringing large jars to family gatherings and letting people take their fill. They pop in your mouth and they're sweet and tangy together...

Book #20:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. My first read on Kindle on my phone. I was skeptical at first. I associate Card with classic sci-fi. His intro started with a lot about his faith and life events related to a certain church and I'm always wary that will leak through into the narrative. But it wasn't and it didn't. A great, fast read about gifted kids and their relationships with their cohorts and elders. I thought the end was a little long and could have been cut off when he crests that final hill and sees....

Zombies:
Danny gave me a Zombie Cross-stitch kit for my birthday and I made 2 projects from it - Jack's messenger bag:

- and a coffee cup holder for Dan that I forgot to get a picture of. Here's a picture from the book:

That's it for now so I finally get this post out. Part 2 should follow closely.