Christmas!

Busy busy busy round here with Christmas orders to make and post but realised I hadn't mentioned the most recent Christmas items added to my shop.

You can now buy mini hanging blocks for your tree, in two bright designs or a personalised version.

I also have a new set of Christmas cards featuring my nutcracker and angel illustrations.  Still time to buy before the big day!

Christmas is coming!

I try to be organised for Christmas every year, with plans to start Christmas shopping in September etc but somehow there is still so much to do last minute!

I have however managed to be quite organised with Christmas products in my shop this year.  In stock already are these Christmas themed mix and match blocks and they will soon be joined by mini block decorations.  I am also offering the bear and cat Christmas card again and am adding several new one of a kind soft toys.

And I have actually already made a Christmas cake so you never know, maybe I will be ready for Christmas this year!

See you next year!

Will they ever forgive us?

Christmassy things

The tree is up and as usual we have had fun adding new decorations to our collection.

This I my favourite - Because Bea made it at nursery!

I got this one from Jo Heckett on Etsy for Eleanor and its lovely.

Bea chose this one for Eleanor too.

And this was her choice for herself this year!

Now the rush to finish my customers Christmas orders is over Bea and I have started on some festive projects - including this toilet roll and cotton wool snowman.

I'm very much feeling the Christmas spirit this year as Bea is sooo excited - she has even been waking in the night thinking its Christmas day!  Cute, but not much fun being the one to tell her it was just a dream...

Christmas (already!)

I haven't even started wearing a coat yet but I have just added a christmas card to the shop!  I'm looking forward to christmas already - I always do at this time of year but get a bit sick of it before we even get to christmas day!

The card is a cat and bear illustration on recycled card and comes with a red envelope.  It is available singly or in a pack of 5.

Christmas is coming

I always mean to be organised with christmas - its at the same time every year so it shouldn't really come as such a suprise but it just seems to appear from nowhere and I find that I'm not really ready. So this week I have started on a few handmade gifts I have had the idea of for ages. Hoping it will get me started thinking about christmas!

And speaking of christmas, I am offering free christmas gift wrapping on all the items in my shop in the run up to the big day!

A personal Christmas gift

This Christmas we put a bit of extra thought and effort into a present for my Mum and her husband and came up with a design for some labels featuring a drawing I did of their house. They like to grow their own vegetables and enjoy making things with them, even entering the village produce show so we thought they might like their very own brand!

We made them a hamper including stickers and tags as well as jars such as the above, a book on making preserves and a few ingredients to get them started. Unfortunately I didn't get to photograph the finished hamper as it wasn't ready until about 10pm the night before we went to stay with them for Christmas!

I would love to have time to make more homemade gifts at Christmas but never get organised in time. Maybe that should be my new year's resolution!

Happy Christmas!

Christmas card photo shoot

Models can be so temperamental sometimes. First they don't like the outfit...

And storm off the set...

They will only work if you ply them with raisins...

And even then they still wander off to watch Team Umizoomi...

They're always drinking on the job...

And would much rather be off playing with George Pig and a load of Stickle Bricks really.

Some of my favourite paper

A few years ago I got these christmas wrapping papers in a little pound shop. They were quite old, and faded at the edges so god knows where they came from but I just love them!

I was going to use them that year to wrap my presents in but I couldn't bring myself to do it so they went into my paper stash instead.

The green one isn't a dodgy scan, it really is badly printed, which just makes me like it more.

There were more designs than this and I wish I had bought them all. Just to look at.

Gifted

I have just been virtually flicking through the fantastic Gifted from Creature Comforts. Its full of christmassy inspiration and lots of interesting interviews that I haven't had chance to read properly yet.

Some highlights for me are this article about Rifle Paper Co, their christmas stuff looks lovely.

And a feature about gift wrapping which lead me to discover this fantastic blog about packaging. I want to start wrapping christmas presents now! Do you think there is a gap in the market for a professional present wrapper? Thats a job I'd like to do!

Happy new year!

Hello! Happy 2010! I'm back, and my new year's resolution is to post more regularly!

So to start things off here are some snaps of one of my fave christmas presents - a little metal bird tealight holder. He is white really but looks dark here with the light behind.

He is hanging merrily in the kitchen window, currently looking out on the neighbours snowy garden!

Merry christmas!

Let me talk you through my tree...

Overall our tree looks pretty similar to last year. Same colours, same angel. However, we do have some new additions.

Such as this nutcracker man. I love these little guys. I think its the crazy face that does it for me.

And continuing with the tradition we started last year to buy a special decoration each year to mark whatever special has happened, we got this pretty bauble to mark the birth of little Bea.

Bea is a lucky girl as she also got this special one from Auntie Jenny to match cousin Tilly's.

I can't wait until all the decorations on our tree remind me of something special.

Happy New Year!

So its 2009 and time to get back to work!  But before I leave 2008 behind let's have a little look at christmas, starting with dress you may remember I was knitting for my unborn niece.  I talked about it a couple of times here and here.

It turned out really well and made a great present for my sister and her husband.

I also made the matching shoes which fasten with little buttons.

And here is the dress.  It fastens with a row of buttons at the back.  The yarn is so soft, perfect for a little baby dress!  When I started knitting it I had no idea what size it would turn out as the pattern called for 3 ply and I used 4 ply.  It just seems impossible to get 3 ply in nice colours!  I estimate that it will fit at about 3/4months.  We shall see...

Our tree!

Let me introduce you to some of the temporary additions to our living room that will be joining us for the festive period:

This is our tree! The husband would have liked a bigger one but as I had to pick it up by myself in a fiat punto, 7' was about the biggest I could manage!  We decided to go understated with silver and gold for the decorations, with a couple of special pieces.

Like this crocheted angel from our favourite Cath Kidston!

We have also decided to start a new christmas tradition and picked out a glass bauble from Liberty.  We plan to do the same thing every year and build up a collection of lovely ornaments that will remind us of the year we bought it.  So this is the bauble from the year we got married!

We got this garland of white metal tree shaped lights from Laura Ashley and they look lovely round the mirror.  For some crazy reason there is no fireplace in our living room which we really miss at times like this so we just have to make do with decorating the mirror!

They cast a cosy glow at night.

Nearly time for the tree...

We will be getting our tree this week so I got the christmas decorations box down and dusted it off to see what we have got in there...

Our whole collection is made up of things from the years I lived with my sister and various other girls and frankly we could do with some more impressive baubles for our first christmas as husband and wife!

Maybe something like these bell hearts from Graham and Green

Or these cute gingerbread house candles from Oliver Bonas

I think we need to go shopping...

Getting into the festive spirit...

I know its still November, and I normally try not to think about christmas until after my birthday at the beginning of December, but this year I am thinking about it already.  Here's some lovely christmassy things from etsy:

Clockwise from top:

Reindeer coasters from Blyth House Creations; mini cards from mga Creations; gingerbread man from Tumus; bauble wreath from Rags to Riches Art; stocking from Primitive White House; santa nisse from Mulletin; tags from The Craft Pantry; dove ornament from Palomas Nest; heart bag from Leilalou