Homemade Ornaments

Last Christmas I went a bit crazy on the crafting front and wanted my entire tree to be handmade, preferably by me. I spent a lot of evenings with felt, embroidery floss and needles. I spend hours trawling the net for inspiration! And here's what I came up with:

Is that Matryoshka trend still hot? I think it might have simmered down a bit since last year!

My husband loves Cardinals and gets quite excited whenever he sees one!

There are lots and lots of owls on the tree. They are all slightly different!

The ubiquitous spool bird. This was an extra from the mobile I made for Eleanor.

I liked how the hearts turned out.

I also strung some felt balls onto string as garland.

And yes. We do light the real candles on our tree. And no, we've never burned the house down. Peter has had candles on his tree his entire life. It's a must in our family. Here's a pic from last year to prove that it can be done!

My new favourite shoes

A while ago I posted about getting some new shoes that might fit my troll-like feet.

I got a pair of the New Chinese style from the Aurora Shoe Company in upstate New York. By the way, if you've never visited the Finger Lakes region of NY - do so. It's lovely!

Anyway. What you do is send off a tracing of your foot and they size you correctly. My size was a 9.5D, which surprised me because I thought it would be wider. The general idea is that the shoes should be "snug" when you get them and they will stretch to fit your feet perfectly. Well. When I got my shoes I could barely get my foot in. This was more than a bit concerning and I highly doubted they would ever, ever fit. I even called David at Aurora to ask about this. He was very patient with me as I voiced my concern and suggested I soak them in warm water before wearing them to help them stretch in (they so this while they are being made, so it doesn't harm them!). I did this twice and...miracle! They fit! I didn't take them to the cottage because I was scared to take a new shoe with me. When we returned home I put them on and it was like putting on a glove! Really! Plus the soles are great for walking and riding a bike.

So if you have hard-to-fit feet and/or appreciate handmade items place an order with Aurora. I love everything about them!

Shoes that might actually fit.

Aurora Shoe Co

I have a curse. I have incredibly wide feet. Wider than anyone's I've ever met. They are also distinctly un-Asian. When I was in Korea for work (that's where I was born) I decided to go shoe shopping. The salesperson laughed at my feet. Hysterically. While saying "No, no, no! No fit feet! Hahahahaha!". Way to make a girl feel really good. For everyone's good fortune, I don't have many pics of my feet apart from this one:

I'm keeping it small to protect you from the horror. What you see here is my mum's foot (on the left), mine in the middle and my brother's furry foot on the right. There's definitely a family resemblance, wouldn't you say? We all have dreadful problems finding wide enough shoes. But here's the rub: I am adopted and share no genes with either of the feet around mine! Nature/nurture? Who knows. All I know is that the only shoes that actually fit me are the wide Birkenstocks and I pretty much max them out. My mum calls them troll shoes.

Apart from when they are in said Birkis, my feet always hurt. Especially in heels or anything remotely dressy. Even wide width shoes aren't wide enough.

But then today I was on 3191 Miles Apart and found a link to Aurora Shoe Company. They hand make shoes which are pretty nice and a good price! I must have some. You send a tracing in which should ensure that they will fit my hobbit/troll feet.

I am particularly liking these ones:

They mould themselves to your foot. How good does that sound? Plus they have this great video:

I can't wait to order!