It's All Gone a Bit Pear Shaped...

Life, that is....I'm already Pear Shaped!

Last week started so wonderfully with a pre Christmas get together for breakfast with friends, followed by the Meet and Make Christmas Party which was great fun.

As is typical of me I forgot to get my camera out after these shots, apart from for a few pics that turned out fuzzy!

Then it all went down hill, I ended up in bed for two days with a really nasty bug! 

Only some of my Christmas decs are up (and it's going to stay that way).

Not only have my cards not been written and posted they've not even been made. I have admitted defeat here and went out and bought some yesterday.

Christmas shopping still needs to be done, presents need wrapping, plans need to be made, people need to be visited and most importantly Christmas films need to be watched!

All a bit disappointing really...

 

Still, I have a Christmas meal with two of my ex work colleagues tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to that even if I can't taste a thing at the moment! The company will make up for that I'm sure!

 

I'll leave you with a lovely photo of Jane who I organise the craft fairs with (yes that is plural - we have more planned!). Jane is like me and doesn't like her photo being taken so I was chuffed to get this lovely photo of her at the M and M do. I'll be in trouble for sure for showing it but it's too lovely not to show! AND, you did say I could take a photo of you for the blog Jane!!

(I'll take it off if you REALLY want me to Jane)

 

I'll be back soon with a Advent Swap update.

Thanks for visiting

How are your Christmas preps going?

xXx

 

  

Busy, Busy...

Well, so much for posting every day in the run up to Christmas!

 

This is a quick post to update you on the gifts I've received from my super swap partner, Emma for the Advent swap.

Emma has put so much work into the gifts and has really 'got' me.

Thanks Emma, I certainly did well getting you as my swap partner!

 

Mr B treated me to a trip to Bath on Saturday to visit the Christmas Market, it was a two and a half hour journey each way and took an hour to find somewhere to park! We attended a shoppers' carol service whilst there at the Abbey. It was a lovely day and I went feeling not-very-christmassy and came back feeling very festive and even played Christmas tunes on the way home in the car. We also watched Elf on DVD in the evening - one of my very favourite films. Not many pics were taken as it was heaving as you can imagine.

 

Tonight is the Meet and Make Christmas Party, I'm taking my camera and will hopefully remember to use it!

Tomorrow I'm planning to have a relaxing day reading though all your Christmas posts.

 

How are your Christmas preparations going?

 

Thanks for visiting

xXx

 



It's December and that means....

 

CHRISTMAS POSTS!
I am so looking forward to reading all the bloggy Christmas posts...

This weekend I was selling at another Christmas Fair, sharing a stall with Marion from Made by Marion. For me, it was a bit too soon after the My Favourite Things... fair and I didn't have enough stock left from the previous fair.

 Next year I'll be more organised - really, I will!! It wasn't terribly successful in terms of profit but I met some really lovely people.

  

The first of December also meant I could unwrap my first package from my swap partner, the lovely Emma from All Stitched Up. I am so excited about this swap organised by Hookin' with Laa Laa, I've loved putting together the gifts for Emma!
Here is what my first three packages from Emma contained, all handcrafted - I'm a lucky girl!

I've already used the notebook, the snowman is hanging on my dresser and the card holder will go above my craft desk when I tidy the desk (hopefully tomorrow - I have a day off, yay!). Thank you Emma XX

 

 Time for the first Christmas film of the year too, a difficult choice as I have so many I love. Mr B and myself like to sit down and watch a Christmas DVD regularly in the run up to 'the' big day. We chose Holiday Inn for our first of the season because it's not too Christmassy, and enjoyed it with the obligatory mince pies (not the first of the season!)

 

I thought I'd share a montage of some of my decorations from last year (in the living room), I'm really looking forward to decorating this year, it is one of the best bits of the season for me

I made good use of my discount for entering the Crafty Individuals Challenge, I was so excited about the discount that I didn't realise I also qualified for a free gift (top left) so an unexpected bonus... 

    

Thanks for visiting.

Have a super week!

xXx

 



My weekend...

Sunday was once again spent creating things to sell at a craft fair, I'm doing another next Saturday and didn't really have enough stock left from our fair a week ago. These were one of the things I intended to make for our fair but ran out of time!

 
Hand printed and stitched pictures. The deer and bird one was made especially to enter the Crafty Individuals challenge this month.

 I really wanted to enter as I love CI stamps and Christmas and I was tempted by the 25% off an order for everyone who enters! I have my eye on a couple (OK, maybe more than a couple!) of their stamps...

The theme is Festive Sparkle. I knew immediately which stamp I was going to use for my main image, my much loved CI 332 and I also ended up using my most used stamp set, CI 329 aswell, for the birds.

The challenging bit for me was the 'sparkle', I don't use glittery products really so didn't have anything suitable. Instead I used MOP buttons for shimmer and glass beads for some sparkle - I'm not sure how well it shows up in the photos but the sparkle is there! 

I enjoyed making these pictures but I must admit I'm longing to make some things for me.

I bought this fab fabric a couple of weeks ago to make a cushion with, my first project ACR (after craft fair) I think!
 

Thanks for visiting.

xXx

 

 

Whew!

It's over - I have sold at, and organised (with my friend Jane) my first craft fair. I am pleased to say it was a success and lots of people bought, although it appeared to be the less expensive items they were after - a sign of the times?

I took the week off work and spent a lot of time making bits and pieces, but even so this was the state of my work table just before midnight on the day prior to the fair

  I went to bed shortly after and was up again at 3.00am!
Here are some pics of the day

(Jane made that gorgeous bunting and Youngest Boy took the photos)

 

Thanks for visiting

xXx

 

 

A winner...

Just a quickie to let you know the winner of my giveaway is....

 

Crafty Helen

 

My work colleague chose the winner the old fashioned way, by picking a folded up piece of paper with a name on!

Helen is a big lover of Christmas (I can't wait for her Christmas posts!) so I'm sure she'll make good use of her prize.

Congratulations Helen, all this and more is on its way to you

Thanks to everyone who entered - I wish you all could have won!

xXx

 

 

The 'C' word!

I know I said no Christmas posts until November but I'm only a couple of days early so surely that's OK!?

Mr B has the week off, I'm off for a couple of days and of course Youngest Boy in on his half term holiday so we decided to visit a couple of Garden Centres to look at Christmas decorations - as you do. I was quite restrained and bought this lovely owl decoration

to add to my others hanging from the light fitting in the living room.

(I'm struggling to get a good photograph!)

I have to confess to having had these up since last Christmas, I just couldn't bear to take them down I loved them so much.

I also bought these metal decorations for a garden project that I'll reveal later!

I couldn't leave without this gorgeous Emma Bridgewater mug.

I'm off now to do more making for the craft fair as the boys are going to see the new James Bond film, there's less than three weeks to go now and I'm getting a bit panicky about how little I have made!

 

Have a great week and thanks for visiting.

xXx

 

 

WOYWW 177 (and a Giveaway)

Yes, this really is the state of my desk!

I'm not a tidy crafter as you can see, I have so many ideas buzzing around I can't possibly waste time tidying as I go!! I'm off to the Meet and Make evening session later so will be taking some of this lot with me.

And as you can see here I've spilled over on to the chair with my mess

The rest of the room is pretty bad too but there's a limit to how much mess I can show in one post!

If you're wondering why I'm showing you my very messy desk then pop over here and all will become clear.

 

I am having a giveaway to celebrate my 100th post (which was actually 8 posts ago), if you'd like to enter click  here.

Thanks for visiting,

 and thanks to everyone who visited my desk last week. Apologies for the late visits to some of your desks.

xXx

 

My Weekend

My weekend was spent working and then cutting, stamping and sewing.

I've decided the only way I can be organised enough to get everything ready in time for the craft fair is to concentrate on one 'product' at a time. This weeks project is brooches. Here they are in the green box ready to have the brooch pins attatched and then backed. I'll probably do this at the Meet and Make evening session on Wednesday.

I've had this gorgeous stamp set for a few weeks now and have been itching to use it. I thought I'd indulge myself and make something for me. Isn't that stag a handsome beast?

See here for a christmassy giveaway.

 

Thanks for visiting.

xXx

 

Fancy a Giveaway?! NOW CLOSED

I planned to celebrate my 100th post with a giveaway and collected some bits together. Then, as it often does 'real life' got in the way and here we are at my 106th post! Due to the contents, I either had to do the giveaway anyway or wait until next year. I didn't ever think I'd get to 100 posts for sure, and there have been times when I had no inspiration or motivation to blog.

But, I can't tell you how much I love getting your comments and knowing that people actually choose to read my blog!

So here it is my 106th post celebration!

There will be more, some surprises and some things that I forgot to add to the photo shoot. As this giveaway is to celebrate my blog and show how much I appreciate you all I'd like you to be a follower to join in, but I'm happy for you to become a follower so that you can join in - in fact, I'd love to have you!

Just leave me a comment to enter and I will choose a winner on the 1st November.

Thanks for visiting.

Have a great week.

 

xXx

 



WOYWW 176

It was such fun joining in with WOYWW again last week, don't know why I stayed away so long!

 

I rather liked the look of this all together - very Christmassy!

My desk is a little tidier this week. I'm off to a crafty evening with my friend Mrs Snippet (I have the lemon shortbread Mrs S!) later and as I'm working this afternoon I thought I'd get ready in advance (not like me at all!). I am going to be finishing the Christmas decorations I'm making for the craft fair, they started out as brooches but as they seemed rather large I decided they'd sell better as hanging decorations rather than as brooches for giants!

 

 I stamped on fabric (I love the effect), sewed the fabric to the felt and then embellished and sewed on the ribbon. Now I just need to back them with more felt - my job for this eve.

Here's a close-up of the only finished decoration so far. What do you think?! I'm still intending to make some brooches using the same technique but with smaller images.

 

I'm off to have a snoop around the WOYWW desks before leaving for work. Want to join me in having a snoop? Click the link - you won't regret it!

Thanks for visiting.

xXx

 

 

And the Book Buying Continues!

Today my pre-order of Kirstie Allsop's new book arrived.

On first glance I like what I see, I'm looking forward to having a proper read of it over the weekend.

Whilst blog hopping this evening I came across this book

and couldn't resist ordering it from Amazon. I don't think it's written in English but the pictures look stunning.

Really must stop buying books, if for no reason other than I don't have anymore space on my bookshelves!

Of course, I do have a few pre ordered books still to look forward to!

 

 Thanks for visiting

xXx

 

 



WOYWW 175 (and swap goodies)

I seem to have taken an unintentional break from WOYWW, I last joined in many weeks ago. I have stopped by to have a nosey at your desks, and of course I follow some of you WOYWWers too so kept in touch that way.

Today, when I walked past my very messy desk I was reminded how much I enjoyed taking part - I wasn't very creative over the (alledged) summer and therefore didn't really have much to show. As I'm now creating to sell at my first craft fair on the 17th November the desk is in use again - it seemed like a good time to come back!

I have to confess my desk has been exactly like this since Sunday due to me feeling poorly. Sadly, I missed a crafting evening on Monday with

Mrs Snippet (who rather shockingly has not blogged since the 5th July!) and Seaside Girl. Last weeks get together was a great opportunity to enjoy excellent company, biscuits and lots of tea whilst being productive!

Well, I'm happy to be back - if you've not yet discovered WOYWW pop over here to have a look - you'll be hooked! Thank you Julia for organising it all.

 

 Whilst I am here I must show you the goodies I received this week from my All Things British (organised by the lovely Lynda) swap partner, thank you Trayci.

 

Thanks for visiting, and to all those who sympathised both verbally and via the blog over Eldest Boys attack - he's doing well but it still seems likely he'll lose his teeth.

 

xXx