NNC turned 5! Part 1 – Making the gifts!

NNC celebrated its 5th Anniversary recently. The actual date was 30th October 2011, but since everyone was busy (as always! *grin*), so it was decided that we would have the celebration on the 14th of April 2012.

Phew! That gave me some breathing space to prepare for the Meet after completing my Project Management Certification program where it was scheduled for the Final Paper to be submitted in early March 2012.

As soon as I submitted my final paper and took a much needed rest (sleep! LOL!), I immediately started work on making the Anniversary Gift Exchange, the door gifts, that darn bird which was an extra requirement by our so lovable Headmistress Margaret, and posting prizes for those active members who reach a certain number of postings targeted at the board.

I only had about 4 weeks to prepare them all! I think I was running a marathon of sorts, after just completing a race to complete my final paper! LOL!

I initially wanted to hand make something for the door gifts, but with so little time before the Meet but with still lots of things to make and do, I had to be realistic. So, I decided, for this year, to get something store bought.

I wasn’t happy with my decision, but time was running out, and I still haven’t the faintest idea how to make a bird. Not just any bird, but a bird that is not an owl, not a chick and not embroidered. Headmistress Margaret was very strict on that. Torturous too! LOL! *wink*

Headmistress Margaret even had banned me from taking a short cut and letting my embroidery machine, Em (ooh! I miss her!) do all the work.

Anyway, I posted at the group to her in 13 paragraphs explaining how, that if I was going to make the bird using Em, I would still have a major part of it done by hand. She finally allowed me to use Em to make my bird, but, as it turned out, I never used Em at all. I made everything by hand.

It was a tinny tiny bird. So tiny that I even forgot to snap a photo of it! *sad* Maybe Vivian who got my bird in the Anniversary Gift Exchange, can snap a close-up photo of it? All I have is this unglamorous photo of the bird, not that my bird is glamorous to start with, but sometimes, a good photography can do wonders! LOL!

Anyway, back to our loveable Headmistress Margaret, I think she just wanted to get our creative juice running high so that we can test our creativity to the limit. But I think she also loves getting us all excited and stressed out trying to figure out how to make a bird.

So, it became a joke, of course, in a very friendly kind of way, at the board, when everyone started referring to it as that dammed bird. I refer to it as that darn bird, but Headmistress Margaret kept referring to it as that cute bird! LOL! But, all in all, it was all done in good spirit. *smile*

OK, enough about the bird, it’s time to go on with my story telling. *smile*

For the door gifts, I decided to pack up a packet of pins, tailors chalk and a packet of needles.

As for the posting prize, I set about making some handmade items using patterns I bought online from Embroidery Gardens. I had fun making each and every one of the items. It was exciting to see the owls and cats come to life, so to speak, while I was making them although Em did most of the job! LOL!

I had so much fun making them that I thought I would make some extras and try to sell them at the Meet at our Home Base Business Corner. In fact, I think I am going to make more to sell at my online shop, Uniquely Aznique!

What do you think? Would there be a market for them?

As for the Anniversary Gift Exchange, since I had very little time left to decide on what to do, I had to decide fast, and while I was surfing the internet looking for ideas for the bird and the Posting Prize, this particular pincushion design also from Embroidery Garden jumped right out at me.

I really had fun making this pincushion, but I will post photos of the pincushion in Part 2 of the series coming right up after this posting. *grin*

Be right back!