My fingers will never be the same again!

I am so sorry that I have been MIA over the past couple of days,

But I have been really, really busy!

I am the queen of procrastination, and it always tends to kick my bootie this time of year.

I am famous for waiting until the very last minute to do anything.

Last year, right before Christmas, I saw THIS POST by "Endless Possibilities" Kim Wheeler, and decided it would be a cute and quick gift for my wonderful co-workers.

So, I ran out and bought all the stuff to make them....except I was missing one little thing....

THE BALLS!

It didn't matter if I had all the scrapbook paper and ribbon in the world, without the glass balls, you can't make the ornaments! The clear glass balls had been sold out for weeks with no hope of getting any before Christmas.

So, I put everything away, and decided to wait until this year. Since I had everything but the glass balls, I was determined to buy them up as soon as they went on sale (usually around August or September) and I could get a jump on making ornaments for everyone.

I would be finished by September....or October, at the latest.

Ha Ha....what an optimist I was last year!

I did manage to buy tons of boxes of balls when they went on sale this year....but they just sat, unopened until last week.

Then, it dawned on me last week that THIS WEEK was Christmas!

EEEEEKKKK!

Time to get on the ball!

I finally pulled everything out (I was impressed that I was actually able to find everything...that never happens), and realized I was going to need a LOT more paper and ribbon!

SO, off shopping I went!

Then, I decided that I needed to "quill" all of my paper first....so, I spent the next week cutting and quilling strip after strip of paper.

**Quilling means to twist narrow strips of paper very tightly to make a curl**

I have so many paper cuts on my fingers, I can hardly use them! LOL

Fortunately, rolling up tiny strips of paper is a "mindless" activity, so I could do it while watching television, waiting in car rider line, and while in the waiting room at the hospital (Nothing serious, just a baseline test for hubby).

After I was finished, I had BAGS of rolled-up scrapbook paper.

I then finally started on my ornaments.

I did some "test" ornaments for my mother and aunts. They turned out really cute, so I decided to make some more for my sister and nieces. They were a hit, so then it was time to start my big project.

Christmas gifts for my co-workers.

As soon as I got up yesterday, I pulled out my list of "preferences", and started working.

Red and Gold

Blue and White

Wine and silver

Traditional

Everyone had their favorites, and I wanted to make sure I could give them what would match their current decor.

After 12 hours sitting here stuffing ornaments, tying ribbons, and applying monograms, I was finished!

Here are some of the ornaments:

This one is for a Georgia Bulldog fan. I made some really cute Alabama one's too, complete with houndstooth ribbon, but I forgot to take a picture of them.

This one is for my tree.

I figured out that most of my co-workers LOVE red and gold. I was worried that I would run out of red and gold ribbon and paper!

***Detailed instructions HERE***

Lots and Lots of ornaments!

I think, in all, I ended up making about 45 ornaments.

That's a LOT of paper and a LOT of ribbon...

AND a LOT of wear and tear on these old fingers...

But they were so worth it!

NEXT year, I WILL be done in October! LOL