Busy Doing Nothing . . .

Busy spotting little red robins - two in fact which have been hopping around my garden this morning. Very difficult to photograph as they disappear as soon as I rush off for my camera. You'd think I'd have better things to do, hehe!

We're enjoying a lovely lazy time after a very enjoyable Christmas with family, and no, I didn't poison anyone with my first ever Christmas turkey!! Well back to spotting robins, it's very hard work - hope you all had fun :)!

'See' you in the New Year (or thereabouts)!

Seasons Greetings!

Today will be my last post before Christmas, as this week will be a whirl of last minute preparations - so I'd better go and get on with it! I'll leave you with a pic of 'Little S' throwing a snowball at the living room window this morning - it seemed appropriate, hehe!

It's been fantastic to meet such lovely people through my blog this year - back after the celebrations to pick up my crafty tools once again! A very Merry Christmas to all, or as we say in Gaelic: 'Nollaig Chridheil'!

Cheerio an Drasda :)

Busy Week not Crafting!

I am an absent crafter this week, and also a redundant one as everything else has taken over - from School concerts, work parties, school parties, Christmas shopping - it's all gone a bit pear-shaped!

Well, it's that time of year and I promised myself an early finish to 'crafty' business this year so I could concentrate on festive preparations, and very nice it has been too! Here's a snowy scene from this afternoon - the poor sheep in the fields looked pretty chilly, but I'm sure they're well used to it!

I'm busy trying to figure out how to cook a turkey for Christmas as having a vegetarian 'Other Half' means I've never prepared one over the festive season - hmmmm, there's a first time for everything I suppose, here goes!! : )

I'll keep you posted on my progress in the kitchen, hopefully no one will suffer in the process!

Bye for Now :)

At Last!

At last, the Christmas tree is up - much to the delight of 'Little S' who wanted to do the honours and put the tree together (sorry, it's not a 'real' one!) after school today. I usually let him decorate the tree which results in quite a bizarre spectacle but I sort of like that slightly chaotic, spontaneous look! He perched this little red-robin 'softie' in the branches which I thought looked quite cute - it's definitely a 'kiddie' kind of tree!

The robin 'twitters' when you squeeze it - how cheesey is that, hehe!! I'm beginning to look forward to the countdown now - Tra la la la la la!!!! :D

What, no 'tweedie' bauble on your tree I hear you gasp - there is one - really, it's just not in this pic, honest!!

Cheerio an Drasda :)

Jack Frost

It's lovely how the frost changes the landscape - I nipped out to the 'garden' this morning to take a few pics while the sun was shining and the ground was all sparkly and glistening:

Happy Sunday :)

Winding Down

This week has been mostly about tying up loose ends before I can get stuck into festive preparations - finishing off the last of my custom orders, (both local ones which was nice!) and a little bit of ordering new craft supplies for next year (the fun bit!). Sorry I have been a bit absent but craft-wise now I will be mostly pottering about, maybe trying out some new ideas if I have time and hopefully making a few Xmas gifts next week - well, that's the plan! And we all know what happens with plans, hehe . . .

I picked up a package from a lovely family friend this week - inside there were two copies of Selvedge and a fab collection of embroidery floss. It would be so nice to sit and pore over them, but I think they will have to wait a day or two as this weekend it's our office night out (wey hey!), time to put the Christmas tree up, sort out presents for posting off and maybe write some cards - ooops, I have a funny feeling there's too much on my list!

If I'm not here, I'll be busy ploughing through that never-ending list. Hope you are getting through yours - Cheerio an Drasda! :)

Red sky in the morning . . .

This was the lovely view outside my home this morning as my youngest left for school on his bicycle. "Oh, red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning", he quipped. Yes, I replied, more like a warning that you'll be sent to the Headmasters office for being late today!! He sped off pretty quick then - hope he didn't get into trouble!

Getting to that time of year when everyone is beginning to run out of steam I think! :)

Weekend Crafting

All done apart from the addition of string - I really enjoyed making these tags as they were custom made for someone I met up with at my last fair. A lovely girl, who is a friend of a friend and we actually went to school with each other for a period of time in Secondary School. I hadn't seen her for years so it was nice to catch up on what we both had been up to.

These tags will be gracing her homemade Christmas hampers which she will be selling at some of the Christmas Craft fairs - she makes lovely preserves, baking and other yummy stuff - what better products to hang my tags on! I hope they will make her some extra sales :)

They're making me feel quite Christmassy - I'm trying to hold off till next week to put up our tree though - wonder if I'll last last?? We'll see :)

Happy Monday - hope you're getting into the Christmas spirit! (No, I didn't mean the 'drinks cabinet'!!)

Oh My!

(Close-up pic of Gretchen's beautiful embroidered Matryoshka)

Oh My! Because that's all I could say when I opened the beautiful parcel I received in the post from Gretchen today! A few weeks back, Gretchen and I decided to do a swap and after a few e-mails to and fro, we decided that it would be a Matryoshka-doll inspired swap.

In between arranging the swap, I also won Gretchen's Giveaway prize of 3 beautiful embroidered cards - well, I never usually win anything so I was totally delighted! She has always inspired me with her beautiful embroidery and I was really pleased when she opened her own Etsy shop recently. Here you can buy some of her fantastic patterns and some beautiful hand-embroidered items, which have been snapped up pretty quickly - so you need to act fast!

Well, between the Giveaway and the Swap, I was the recipient of a wonderful parcel, which was beautifully put together - I tried to take some pics of everything today before the light faded. I had requested an embroidered Matryoshka in exchange for a set of my own Matryoshka 'tweedie' softies - well I was not disappointed, it was simply stunning!

I couldn't get all the little extras into the pics - a lovely little lavender cushion, some ribbon, buttons and the beautiful fabric which you can see in my photos.

Thanks so much Gretchen - I'm afraid my little parcel seems quite humble in comparison but I was eager to post off my Matryoshkas in case they wouldn't reach in time for Christmas, as I think they are intended as a gift.

I'll have time to drool over my lovely gifts once 'Little S's' pal has left after his afternoon visit - plenty hoots of laughter and a huge mess - well I got a little crafting done while they were raiding my kitchen and turning his bedroom upside down. There's a price for everything isn't there, hehe!

Bye for Now :)

P.S. You can purchase the pattern for this lovely Matryoshka doll in Gretchen's Etsy shop - I've got mine, but I might have a job making one as beautiful as this!

my creative space . . .

. . . getting ready to make some tweedie gift tags for a lovely girl I met at the craft fair. I'm not sure that this space will change much today but I'm all ready to have a go with these at the weekend :)

I'll post a pic of them when they're all done.

P.S. The red plier tool may look impressive but it's absolutely rubbish, so I think it's back to the hammer for me - it's a long story!

More creativity over here :)