Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, see you back here soon x

getting ready

This weekend has been spent getting ready, seeing friends, getting the last couple of presents but above all cleaning. We have been doing lots of messy diy jobs lately so I have spent a lot of the last two days sorting out and cleaning up. But I am nearly there now, phew. And we have just waved goodbye to Holly, who is off with her nan to meet father christmas at a santa sleepover at alton towers. She is so excited! And a big thank you to Emma , this is the wonderful prize I won in her latest giveaway, how lucky am I. This is a very bad but quite atmospheric photo I took when we went Ice skating at Hampton Court Palace last week (I managed to not fall over but I'm not sure how) And these were the last biscuits which Holly wanted to give to her dancing teachers yesterday. The biscuit factory is now closed! : )

cookie factory

ok, so this week isn't any quieter so far, but then what did I expect in the run up to Christmas! This evening so far has been spent making over a hundred biscuits - literally - for a combination of teachers gifts and school cake sale contribution. I lost count of how many trays went in the oven, but they have come out tasting nice, according to my chief taster, Holly. Have you been reading the wonderful red otter's blog? I hope so, she makes the most amazing journals and books. And have you seen her series of self portraits? Well my contribution is now up, click here if you would like to see. : )

front page!!

woo hoo! Today I made the front page of etsy, and this time I actually saw it, what a lovely surprise. Can you see them, my little soft snowflakes! Things have been hectic here with getting ready for christmas, lots of diy (I think my burn is getting better slowly), christmas events etc, I would really like a day where I didn't have to get up and do anything at all. I haven't even done much sewing! I am hoping for a quieter week this week! : )

Lille

We had a really great day yesterday, but oh I am tired today! Got up at 5.45 yesterday morning, and got home at 23.45, a very weary person! The Eurostar was great, and we had lots of time to wander round and explore Lille once we arrived, had a delicious lunch, a walk around the christmas market and a very scary ride on this big wheel. I am not good with heights, I have been on a couple of wheels like this but only ones where you are enclosed, this one was open and swayed, a lot! But it had to be done, and look at the view from the top (one of my workmates took this for me as I was holding on). Apologies for still not catching up with you all, I'm getting there slowly. : )

frosty mornings

We are having lots of these at the moment, you know, the sort of day when it is still pitch black outside when you have to get up, and it is so warm and cosy under the duvet that you don't want to leave it. Well that's me anyway! I am off to Lille, France tomorrow on Eurostar for our company christmas party/trip. I have to get up very early but it will be worth leaving my cosy bed to spend the day in another country, Lille also has a christmas market which I am looking forward to seeing, and, it is forecast to snow there tomorrow! I have already packed my camera so hopefully I'll get some good pictures, I promise to catch up with all your blogs as soon as I can : )

stripping (paint)

Yes I am still here! We have had a busy weekend, combining christmas shopping with lots of diy. We are trying to get some messy jobs done so that we can start to clean and tidy for christmas, so I spent lots of hours stripping paint from woodwork while Stuart ripped down part of a wall and did lots of plastering. Here is part of one of the door frames I was working on, and the second picture shows the huge blister I managed to get by burning myself. A really hot bit of paint decided to weld itself to me and I couldn't get it off. Ouch. But we have managed to get a lot done, and I even fitted in a trip to the post office on saturday too. : )

It's advent calendar time!

But first, here is my newest shiny sparkly zip pouch, just listed. This would make a great present at this time of year, but can also be used all year round. Also, I've been selling some of my soft star sets, I am not making any more so if you want some don't delay! All are listed in my etsy shop, and some also in my folksy shop (where yesterday I had my first two sales which was very exciting). : ) Here are our advent calendars for this year, mine is a little A5 size one that is really cute and I couldn't resist, and Holly's is a wonderfulpop up one that is based on a book called 365 penguins. Although it must be said that I haven't opened any of the doors on mine yet, I seem to be getting lots of help! : )