Happy Christmas

Here is the lovely Oscar sleeping off his Christmas Turkey!

This has been the most relaxed Christmas for years! We decided to have a family Christmas and have a break from socialising! I let out the chooks around 7am, so I thought it was a great time to wake everyone up! I don't know what time they went to bed, I left L wrapping pressies just after midnight and W was out partying as usual! However, they managed to rouse themselves to open stockings.

We had turkey for the first time ever, in my twenty years since I left home I have never eaten turkey! It was lovely!

W and L headed off after lunch and we enjoyed a very peaceful afternoon cuddling up together.

Fabulous!

Christmas Cushion

I just love the retro colours in these fabrics!

Last October we stayed in a Warners Hotel, (the same one featured in to the Manor Born no less!) Well my favourite shop is very close by called Becca's Emporium and I found to my delight she was having a workshop on the Sunday.

So I went to the workshop which included a rummage in the shop to find fabric inspiration. This little combination really caught my eye and I created the templates myself! (not really all that difficult just a few triangles!) The background was some lovely stretchy velour fabric which really gave a lovely wintry feel. The only difficulty was the workshop was held in a very cold room with just a bar heater which needed to be unplugged if we wanted tea! So after cutting out the trees I decided to head home to complete the job!

The velvet material was just the right shade (I bought about 3 meters at a WI auction for a couple of pounds a few months before!) I stitched the stars above and finished the insert. I must say the colour combination is wonderful a nice change from the traditional reds. It was a wonderful project and I found Becca very inspirational, how anyone gets the time to sew with two little boys is amazing to me!

The weather today was amazing, we could not leave the house as there was a thick sheet of ice everywhere! The chooks just slid down their little slope, as if they were on a child's slide it was so funny! They are getting wiser and now spend wet days in their little dirt pen which has a nice roof! I have to admit I did work from home today as the forest roads were simply treacherous! I made up for the disappointment of not getting to work by creating a painting in the shed most of the afternoon with the heating up full blast! I just love winter!

Christmas Reading

A good Christmas read seems to put me in the festive mood so I thought I would give you a few recommendations:


Maeve is the Queen of warm Irish feel good novels, this collection of stories based around Christmas will gladden the heart. The good thing about story collections is you can fit the odd story in between all the hundreds of tasks to do this time of year. I particularly enjoyed the one where the little girl was given a digital camera, should be a warning to everyone!








If you are up to your neck in Christmas preparations, your list of jobs to do is getting longer and longer and everyone is putting pressure on you then this book will appeal to you. The protagonist and his wife decide to completely skip the Christmas Celebrations and go off on a cruise instead - a wonderful idea! However, plans don't always work out the way we expect them to. Lovely read.





A gem of a writer, I love the way she adds just a little hint of magic to the ordinary! This is about a guy who would like to be in two places at once what a great gift! This is a quirky novel, but a great read all the same. A little bit like Christmas Carol in that our protagonist has a change of heart.

Feeling Christmassy

What a Christmassy weekend we had! The wonderful Christmas market opened in Winchester: there is a lovely ice rink surrounded by little log cabins full of crafty people! It is adorable, sadly no snow, but the mulled wine and stollen was absolutely perfect. (Thank you Dawn)

After my long weeks of convalescence I daren't hire skates! But it must be fantastic to skate in the open air!








We went with my best friend Dawn and her lovely hubby Gavin, Clive wrapped up warm for the trip as it was so cold last year. It was a tremendous atmosphere, very busy, Christmas does really seem right round the corner.


I love going with Gavin and Dawn, it gives Clive someone to chat to while he, very patiently, waits for me to browse through the stalls. Dawn is the only person I know who can actually out shop me, and that is saying something!




I bought this adorable case for Lucy, it will hold all her stocking presents this year, she is a real box addict and will love it I am sure.










Sunday we went to another fabulous fair in Southampton University. (I cannot divulge the promises I made to Clive to go to yet another crafting event, needless to say I shall be busy over the next few days!)

I am so in awe of the talented people who run stalls there, I always come home laden and full of inspiration. One stall that simply took my breath away was from Jolly Interiors, Nikki's eye for design is stunning, I could not resist this little birdie! The journal book is also beautifully hand made. While buying it I convinced myself it would make a lovely gift for someone, but I don't think I can let it go! We had a lovely tea and cake with Sally and Tony, it was great to catch up with them.

I love going to these events, it is a great way of finding all the talented people in the area, so that I know about any workshops or courses in the area. Will definitely be checking out the courses at Jolly Interiors they look fab!

Inspired by the fair I finished putting the berries on my Christmas Wreath. It is made from a coat hanger and my wonderful Rosemary bush that grows in abundance just outside the back door. (Someone told me that Rosemary only flourishes in a home where the woman rules the roost, which just can't be right in my case!) I wanted it to look a little natural, and I am quite pleased with the results.

Now where did I put that mulled wine recipe?

Easy Christmas Card Template for you

While C was potting his pots, I went to get coffee and was distracted by a fabulous craft store. While browsing the many aisles of Christmas related card making toppers and embellishments I was struck by the feeling I often do when I have made cards like this, somehow they don't feel like my work, in addition they can end up very expensive!

These blank embossed cards caught my eye as well as a card full of 'Christmas wishes' etc, looking at the Christmas Trees I was struck by an idea. So all you need for this little project is some blank cards, a template (see below) some Christmas Greetings, some gold stars, gold and red glitter pens! They work out around 23p each, (including the cost of the pens!) but they include enough of an element of creativity to feel you have made them yourself.

1. As you can see the trees are simply made of swirly curly shapes, all you do is cut out the tree and it's little tub, (it helps to fold the card) leaving the tree shape behind.
2. Lay your template over the card roughly in the middle. Use your finger to find the edge. (make sure the card is the right way up! I managed to do one upside down!)
3. Draw your swirly shapes in gold staying in the cut out shape. You can use dots at the edge to refine the corners.
4. Do the same for the bucket. (I used red but you can use any colour you want.)
5. When you remove the template you will have a delightful tree shape with a delightful bucket!
6. Just join the tree to its bucket with a few little dots.
7. Glue the star to the top
8. Add your little Christmas Greeting at the bottom
9. Run your pen around the square.

there you have it!

The great thing about this, is that it is as relaxing as colouring in, but each card will be slightly different.

I know this is rare for me, as I never know when to stop when it comes to embellishing things, just take a look at my jumper bag for an example! However, it is the pure simplicity of this card that makes it wonderful.

If your fingers really itch to add more then you could add a little bow to the bucket but then STOP!

hope you make some of your own, or it is that easy your kids could have a go!

If you want to alter the pattern just use the little square handles around the template to adjust it larger, thinner or fatter!

Happy crafting!




By the way, while I was half way through this I had yet another power cut!!! As if living without heating, being alone because C was on a course on top of all that we had a power cut! What made it harder was it only affected a couple of houses in the street, I could gaze longingly at the houses lit up like Christmas trees! Fortunately we have power once more I now have lanterns, torches, a gas kettle and batteries, now I am prepared I am sure we won't have a power cut again!!!