31/12/09

Doesn't feel like the last day of the year to me!! It just feels like a holiday, but not the last day of 2009. So I'll keep the retrospective post for another day. And I'm busy. Went into London earlier on to see Stomp, and off for some food now. So here's a little photo summary of recent activity for you...

Putting up pictures... This one was a xmas present from mum, she got it in Armenia, I think it's so pretty, it's now in the corridor for all to enjoy!

This one I did (mentionned here previously!).... not the best I must admit, but it's just one of these things!!! Saw something similar in a shop and thought I could do just as well myself! I definitely had a lot of fun doing it!

Finishing off WIP.... still some sewing up to do but knitting part is over... how exciting!!!

New WIP, more on that some other day!!

Lush south indian food for lunch today...

Enjoying a pre-theatre drink in London...

And loving the show!! I loved it!!! (only photo I managed to get, it wasn't allowed!! Lovely theatre though!)

So on that note, I wish you all a very happy new year!!!! Bonne annee a tous!!! xxx

Ha!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M BACK!!!! I've missed you all so much, you my little blog, you my dear dear readers, and your lovely blogs that I've missed oh so very much!!!! I've meant to sneek back, write a little post, but things just got in the way. You may have guessed, but my mother made it over here in the end, and only one day late too. She arrived Wednesday morning rather unexpectedly!! I was expecting her later on in the day, so things were a little rushed and I just haven't been able to come back here while she's been around. We had a great time though, and she sadly left this afternoon, so I now have a little time to come here and say hello! I've missed you all so much!!! I hope you've all had a great time. I'm sure everyone's been terribly busy too, but I feel like I've got so much reading to do, I feel like I've missed out in a way!! Anyway, here's a little photo summary of what I've been up to during the past week...

Icing my very much loved Christmas cake...

Enjoying some shop bought goodies from a newly opened sweet shop....

Making some chocolate and sour cherry biscotti...

Making some chocolate and orange cookies for hampers...

Preparing the afore mentionned hampers...

Cooking Christmas eve dinner (absolutely amazing fillet steak in pastry - I could NEVER be a vegetarian!)...

Enjoying the christmassy feel of the house...

Cooking Christmas turkey - a beast if I may say so! (please don't laugh at my non-existent carving skills!)...

And its accompaniement: a decidedly un-English Christmas gratin of potato, parsnip and mushroom...

I'm so glad to be back, I hope to talk to you all very soon!!!! xxxx

Merci

Thank you. For your messages. They were all brilliant and definitely put a smile on my face yesterday. Thank you for taking the time to write them, thank you for taking the time to make me laugh. As I found out last night, there really are more important things in life (more on that some other time), and I shouldn't focus on little details. The bigger picture is fine. Well, sort of!! My mum is going to try and get on a train tomorrow, she thought there was no point trying today as they're moving passengers who have been waiting around since Saturday first. Fingers crossed she'll make it tomorrow.

So in the meantime, I'm enjoying my first day of holiday. I have to say, having been ill for a couple of days last week and having to work from home due to the snow, I feel like I've already been spending a lot of time at home. Considering what the weather is like outside, I think I'm more than happy with that!!! I think that I'm going to give myself a relaxing day today, full of little bits of happiness. That's how it works isn't it? There are things that need sorting out, very serious things, but in the meantime, to stop me going mad, I need to focus on the good things and find pleasure where it is. So there will be some last minute shopping, some cake icing and some present wrapping. More on this later!!! x

Monday humbug

I'm not sure you want to hear this, but despite multiple attempts at cheering myself up, I'm feeling a little bah humbug at the moment. I've lost the Christmas cheer. It wasn't so bad on Saturday night when we went out for dinner with Boyfriend's family. It was our first proper Christmas celebration as such and was very nice.

I made some mulled cider and mulled apple juice (you can find the recipes here and here) and some warm 'bar nuts', courtesy of Nigella (recipe here).

It was all really yummy.

But then that was it.

We got yet more snow and temperatures plummeted below freezing. Oh yes the flat is all very nicely decorated but I'm starting to wonder whether it was all wasted efforts. Who's going to enjoy it anyway? My mum is meant to be taking the Eurostar tomorrow to come and spend Christmas over here. I can't see how things are going to improve in time. So no nan and no mum over for the holidays. I've never minded my small slightly disfunctional family too much before but this year, I don't know, I feel a little different about it. I'm jealous of all those people who have large families, who know they're going home to days of laughter and fun.

Well at least today's my last day in the office. Thank goodness for that.

I love snow

Well ok, not when it goes all mushy and brown and makes everyone's life hell on the roads and pavements, but until then, I love it. And  this is why.

It was so unbelievably fluffy, lovely powder...

And yes I got super excited with my macro... sorry!

Just look at this though... simply beautiful

The amazing light as the sun was rising in the sky...

So I put my hands up, I got carried away and made LOTS of paper snowflakes. I was a snowflake paper making machine.

Have a lovely weekend xx

Tree top

On Wednesday, I showed you my lovely lovely Christmas tree. I love it so much, I just find it so cute and pretty!!! Anyway, I've said that before and I don't want to bore you!!! But you may have noticed it was missing something. That's right, it didn't have a tree topper.

A couple of years ago was the first time I had my own tree and I left it too late to find one in the shops and so we did without one. Last year I went back to my mum's and therefore didn't have a tree in my flat. But this year I was determined to find something. That was until I actually had a quick look in the shops. Honestly, does anyone else have the same problem?? They sell so many different types of baubles and ornaments, all prettier than the next, but the tree toppers, goodness, they're either dead ugly or plain tacky. I just don't get it. So I put my thinking cap on. And I went to make myself a cup of tea. As mad as this may seem, this was the turning point, the moment the idea flashed into my head. I had it. Wanna see it? Follow me!!!

So my main material for this was wooden stirrers. Yep, that's right. Thin wooden sticks you use to stir coffee or tea. All ten of them.

What I did was draw a line in pencil half way across each stick. I then glued two sticks together, so as to have two halves overlapping each other:

And then I made a star out of the five newly made sticks!

I then promply got my glitter glue out and got glitter happy!! I started with one side with some bits in red, others in gold, but then decided I much preferred the gold, so the side you see when you walk up to the tree is all gold.

I then attached it to the tree with some thin wire.

And guess what. It makes me really happy!!!! xxx

ps if you're in England and you've got snow today, hope you're enjoying it as much as I am!! It's lush! And means I'm working from home ;-)

My needles are happy

Today we're having a quick break from all things christmassy! I'm back at work today and have something else on my mind (apart from wanting to go stray back home - honestly, we had snow yesterday afternoon and this morning, I couldn't believe it!!). A couple of weeks ago, I told you I was feeling a little knitting-deprived. Well all that was promptly put to an end this week. Oh yes, more happy knitting for me!! What you see below might ring a bell with those of you who've come here before. It might even make one of you super happy skippy-happy... Am I right?

The reason why I'm showing you this is because I want your opinion. When I made my first pair of mittens, I used cute little red buttons. Those buttons got such a great response, I reckoned I should put some on this pair too. I don't have enough red ones left, but I have plenty of other colours. Click on the photo below to enlarge it if you need to. I'd love to hear what your favourite colour combination is.

So we've got dark blue, light pink, dark green, purple, yellow, light blue, dark pink and orange. Sorry I really tried my best with the photos but as you can see with the change in tone of the background (the blue mitten), there's a bit of unwanted variation. And by the way, there's no reason why I need to use the same three buttons on each hand, we can mix and match! The possibilities are endless. Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think! Have a nice Thursday xx

Mon beau sapin, roi des forêts

My beautiful tree. I love it. It's beautiful. Even if I do say so myself ;-)

It cute and short, and it's alive. Yep, I like a live tree in my flat. Mostly because it means it doesn't drop its needles, but it's also nice to think it's alive and well (and can be replanted after the holidays should I wish to).

A couple of years ago, my mum brought my some ornaments. They're very special to me and it definitely brought a smile on my face to get them out again this year. I hope I get to keep them for years to come.

Presents have also started to accumulate at the bottom of the tree...

See the triangle one on the right? That's my nan's shawl. Unfortunately, I learned yesterday she won't be able to come this year, which makes me really sad. Hopefully, something will get sorted out.

Anyway, see the blue package? It's actually made of fabric! I won it from this lovely lady (thanks again FrenchFrogTouch!) and it's great. For all of you out there who know how to sew, it's such a brilliant idea, so ecofriendly!! And that tag is so cute, I love it!

Oh, and one last thing. Completely different topic though!! Did anyone watch Jamie's Christmas programme last night? How cringe worthy was it???!! I usually quite enjoy watching him, but last night was something else - bringing people on who obviously have nothing very interesting to say and feel uncomfortable in front of a camera, what was the point?!

Welcome home!

Good morning all!

Well what can I say, despite your well wishes, I'm still feeling rubbish today, so much so that I haven't made it into work. So it's just me, my duvet, my warm slippers and some warm milk and honey! And I should also mention wi-fi - thank goodness for that!! I couldn't bear not to come here today! I felt I just had to show you what I'd been up to at the weekend. Well I say at the weekend, but this really started last week. Hours of cutting up strips and folding, and folding, and folding!!!!

I was inspired by this lovely blog (this website has a really clear tutorial though, all in photos). I loved those little stars so much I just HAD to make some. You know when you have this irrisistible urge to do something? Yep, it was like that. So I selected some christmassy paper I had lying around.

But I also very much liked the version Lina had done with some newspaper. So I picked up a free paper on my way home and got on with it.

The first star probably took me about an hour to make. Honestly, I was that bad. But after a while, I started to pick up this little crafty skill and turned into a star making machine. I'm not kidding you. The stars made out of newspaper were definitely a lot easier to make as well, something about the paper sliding more easily I guess.

These little stars of joy are now proudly displayed on my front door, well on both sides of it actually! And it makes me really happy to see them every day when I come home.

Hope you have a nice day all, I'm just going to rest my eyes for a bit! x

Monday

Good morning everyone!

Right this is going to be a short one. First of all, sorry about being so quiet, I really feel like this little blog has been neglected! Nearly a week since my last post, I'm ever so sorry. You know what, things just took over. And I wasn't always sure what I wanted to write about, or if I even wanted to write about anything. So I thought it would be best to leave it till I felt ok again. Now I'm feeling ok with it, I've picked up this horrible cough and I'm wondering what I'm doing at work. Should have stayed in bed this morning. I also had some pictures to show you, but with all the rushing around this morning, I forgot my memory stick. So boo hoo me. I'm sorry. I'll try and do better tomorrow. Promise.

Hope you all had a good weekend and are getting all excited about the upcoming festivities!!

xx

Winter wonderland

Well not quite, but nearly. On Sunday, we had a little walk around some local woods. We were trying to find sweet chestnuts, but soon gave up when we worked out we were way too late. But this didn't bring me down (I just bought some in the supermarket instead), and made the most of our walk. The weather was refreshingly dry and crisp. The sun was low in the sky, giving everything an enchanting glow.

Not only that, but I found some interesting looking fellas growing around the leaves... Doesn't this one look like slithers of parmesan cheese??! Maybe it's just me ;-)

And this one with a little pool of water, how delicate...

This one was truly truly tiny!! If I'd put my foot down for scale, that's probably all you'd see, my foot - and let's face it, that doesn't make for a good or even remotely interesting photo!

An expected package also came at the weekend... and it was brilliant!! I knew I'd won a little giveaway over at Swirly Arts, but I wasn't exactly sure what I'd be getting. Well all I can say is that I'm super happy with what I got!!!! Thank you Lynsey! A selection of gift tags and lots of envelopes, including some christmassy ones which are going to be put to good use very soon indeed!

So, halfway through the week already. Last night was Kirsty's Homemade Christmas on TV. Did anyone watch it? What did you think of it? I must admit I was only half watching it, doing crafty stuff (more on that some other time!), but I wasn't too impressed I guess. I enjoyed watching her Homemade Home programme earlier on in the year, but really, the average person can't really get to do what she does on a budget. Cutting your own Christmas tree? Making your own glass bauble?? Very nice ideas, but let's face it, it's not exactly for everyone is it. I'll give her another chance and watch it tonight (and probably tomorrow as well because I'm a sucker for it!), maybe she'll come up with more affordable and realistic projects. To be continued!

Have a lovely Wednesday x

Christmas bunting Part 2/2

Well hello there! Yesterday I showed you what made my weekend christmassy outdoors. Now, something made it a lot more christmassy indoors... Yep, you guessed right, the bunting is finished!!! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, have a look here for a little explanation. Now that everyone is up to date, let me show you the finished article! First the left side...

And now the right side...

Here's a little close up of some glitter added for some extra festive cheer - not all over, just added here and there, I didn't want to go overboard (although did very nearly get VERY glitter happy - but my glue spray stopped working so well so I guess that put me back on track!).

And for a complete view (sorry about the plant in the way, it's going for the light!!!) - TA-DAH!!!

Makes me feel all happy inside every time I look at it!! Now all we need is a Christmas tree...! xx