Shake yer pom poms!

My current work in progress involves my new favourite toy - the clover pom pom maker. This wee gadget is addictively (is that a word?) fun to use and so quick! When I was little my granny used to make pom poms using the cardboard circles technique but when I tried this a few months ago it was a total woolly disaster. Enter the pom pom makers which I found on t'interwebs for £6! Now I'm merrily wrapping the wool, snipping it and tying it off before shrieking with delight at the fluffy pom pom results!

Pom poms are easy peasy with this gadget!

Christmassy pom poms

My original idea was to make a ton of red, white and green pom poms in various sizes to put in this lovely glass bowl...

They still need a quick trim before they're perfect

But since seeing a pom pom wreath on Etsy, I'm now making them for my very own wreath! A bit of pipe insulation taped into a circle shape and some red fabric to cover it with a ton of pom poms on top will look fabulous. And so Christmassy! Pics to follow when it's finished!

I'm toying with whether to have pom poms in the bowl too or sticking with the baubles and LED lights I originally earmarked for it. I don't want to do overboard on the pom poms (so not like me to go overboard, I never ever do that, no not me!) so I think I will have to decide once the wreath is made and the other decorations are out.

And, just to show that pom poms do come in other colours, I have made these to turn into a garland for a little girl's room. What 8 year old would not want pink and purple pom poms hanging across their room...? Well if she doesn't like them I'll hang them in my bedroom!

I will have to give these away as they're a Christmas pressie...

But then again, I might just keep them!

New sign

A few weeks ago I ordered a laser cut sign to use on my stalls at craft fairs. And although it looked fab, it was a bit bare so my arty sister took it away to spruce it up and here's how it looks now!

A few spangles

3D bow

This adorable sign will be gracing my stall at all my upcoming events. This Saturday I'll be at Plants That Grow near Halstead, Essex. Checkout where else I'll be in the run up to Christmas and come along for some handmade gifts with a difference. 

Hooray! December is here!!!

I LOVE Christmas. There's no denying it. For me, nothing signifies the start of the Christmas period like a chocolate advent calendar. Yes, I may be a grown up but I still have a chocolate advent calendar. Where I come from, it is the law to have one, regardless of your age. I will still be having one when I'm an old granny. It's just not Christmas without that wee bit of chocolate everyday which you are legally obliged to have for breakfast. (I have been known to eat chocolate for breakfast on many many occasions, but that is technically illicit chocolate eating while advent chocolate for breakfast is nutritionally more acceptable) And it has to be a kiddie one, not a boring grown up version.

This year, I have a Me to You Bear one and Mr PC has a Milky Bar one. I have even replaced my regular calendar with the chocolate one, so it's taking pride of place in my office where it will distract me about 7,693 times a day every day until the last box is open, the last choccie has been scoffed and Santa is on his way!

Mine

Mr PC's

And, just to make sure we have the whole countdown to Christmas covered, we also have an advent candle  and another (non-chocolate) calendar which my mum gave us.

Posh advent candle from Laura Ashley

While writing this, I have realised that I'll be away from home 12-16 Dec so now I have a quandry: What to do about my advent responsibilities??? Do I take the calendar with me? Do I empty the boxes out and let myself have one choc each day I'm away? Do I eat them all when I get back? What to do, what to do...

NB. This is a scheduled post hence the first box of the calendar not being opened. Rest assured that by the time you're reading this, the chocolate has been eaten and the candle burned down to number 2!

Christmas Make: Table Centre

As the coming weeks are set to be very busy for me, I'm getting even more organised than usual and have made a huge dent in my Christmas preparations. The Christmas cakes are boozing nicely in their tins and they still have about 2-3 weeks before they get decorated. The cards are all written and ready to post and 80% of the pressies are all bought/made and wrapped ready for Santa to dish out. There are few ideas more bouncing around my head which will get put into action over the weekend as Sunday is Tree Buying Day. But more about that next week!

Today I want to show you a quick project that I did the other day which will be my table centre for the Christmas season. I used a pack of plain white candles from Ikea, a bag of cinnamon sticks which I got at the wholesaler (£6 for 1kg, yes thanks! shame they're not edible...), and a few boxes of candy canes plus a few odds and ends from my stash.

I spent a merry half hour with the glue gun and produced these lovelies:

I think these will look lovely grouped together in the middle of the table. I had toyed with making a floral display but after seeing something similar to this on Pinterest I knew flowers were out and candles were in!

Ready to put my feet up

A couple of weekends ago, I went to an upholstery workshop at Make Do & Mend and learned how to make a footstool. I had wanted to make one for aaaages so was mega excited to actually do it when the day came. I was amazed how straightforward it is and will definitely be making more for gifts!

Here's how it turned out:

These cupcakes are cute enough to eat!

Queen Anne legs, very shapely!

So this lovely footstool has now taken up residence in my living room and is ready for my to put my feet up which by reckoning will be sometime early January, such a busy schedule in the next few weeks!

Don't like it? Then get rid!

This time of year signifies the run up to Christmas and all the excitement of what that brings. When I was little, my mum would use this time of year to have a clear out and would get me and my sister to tidy out our bedrooms and get rid of some things. She used to say we had to make room for anything Santa might bring at Christmas and explained that some boys and girls weren't as lucky as us and might not get many presents from Santa. This was how she got us to clear out old clothes and toys and we would happily take them to the charity shops, knowing that some other children would get the nice toys we liked so much.

This has kind of stuck with me and when I'm having a clear out, I try to find the items a new home. I don't like throwing things in the bin (especially as they end up in the landfill) particularly when they have nothing wrong with them. I might not want it anymore but someone else would probably want it. That's my theory anyway!

After reading A Thrifty Mrs's recent decluttering post, it has spurred me on to have a clear out and get rid of some things. Although I haven't committed to the 90 items that she's ditching, I have found myself getting rid of a a lot of things. I've cleared out my wardrobe, my desk drawers and office and there's now a large selection of items in the charity shops that previously belonged to me. There are also some things that went to the recycling bin or which have been stored away in the 'to be upcycled into something else' pile. I've been slowly decluttering for a few weeks now and it feels liberating to get rid of the stuff that's been dragging me down. This decluttering has also transferred to my email inboxes (all 3 of them), my Facebook and Twitter feeds and even the blogs I'm subscribed to. I've deleted/unfollowed people and organisations that I'm no longer in touch with or interested in or which plain annoy me, which makes way for new additions. I feel like I've shifted some dead weight which was dragging me down and making my social media dull and uninteresting.

There are still things that need gotten rid off but I'm being careful not to take too much more on in the run up to Christmas. I've already earmarked January as the month to get rid of the utter crap that's in the loft. Our house is not the biggest and we do have a storage issue so we cannot afford to hoard stuff that no longer has a place in our lives. It's rather addictive once you get started! For me, decluttering means freeing up space not just in my home but in my mind too. It makes me feel lighter.

I recommend ruthless decluttering on a fairly regular basis in order to keep on top of it. Here's a few questions I ask myself in order to speed up the process:
What is is?
Do I like it?
When did I last use it?
Will I use it again?
Will I miss it?
How can I get rid of it?

Go on, spend ten minutes decluttering and see how much better you'll feel!

Hello...

...Is it me you're looking for...?

Yes, I am still alive and no I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. The last ten days or so have been a bit of a whirlwind of activity including: 2 school shopping nights, 1 Christmas bazaar, a trip to High Wycombe to see my in-law family, another trip to High Wycombe to visit Country Baskets (the mecca of Christmas decorations and other supplies) and much required Christmas shopping, 5 days living in Worcester but working in Birmingham, the same 5 days of having to wear someone else's clothes cos I forgot my own (don't ask!), the same 5 days of stupidly late nights and even stupider early mornings, an evening of complete knackered-ness and last but not least, driving in the region of 400 miles to achieve all of this.And that is only the things I can remember, there must be another 5 things I haven't mentioned!

All of this results in a distinct lack of presence in any social media or blogging/reading/commenting. In a way I feel disconnected from some parts of my world, which is hilarious because three or four years ago, I had no involvement in social media apart from occasional pop ins to my Facebook account. How things change... What did we do before social media??

Anyway, I digress. I thought I'd share a few pics of my stall at the weekend and let you all know that I have a few spaces left for bespoke orders before Christmas. So give me a shout if you want a unique handmade gift!

Christmas card holders/memo boards

Lots of woolly goodies ready for winter

I am back to blogging but it may be intermittent over the coming weeks as I have a craft fair every weekend until Christmas as well as having a day job and all the usual pre-Christmas prepping in addition to life in general. We're all in the same boat at this time of year, aren't we!