A Holiday Weekend

This weekend was great, it actually felt like our Christmas holidays had started.  It was alovely mixture of seeing friends, festive preparations and relaxing on the sofa knitting and watching films.  Perfect.

I did manage to keep up with JYC too...impressive!

It's been an emotional day

The call came at midnight, we put on layers of clothing, packed a bag and defrosted the car.  Within 5 minutes we were ready to do whatever was needed but there was very little we could do.  I've never felt so helpless standing in that kitchen and waiting

After waiting for so many long months for you to arrive it seemed to all be going so quickly.   You were almost born under the Christmas tree, and what a perfect present you are.

Welcome to the world little one x x x

Baby it's cold outside...

Quick post today just to share my layout for today's Journal Your Christmas as I should have been in bed an hour ago but got carried away playing with photoshop!  Ooops!  x

Keep jolly and share the magic

Its the first day of advent!  Yay!  Things haven't gone to plan (as per usual).  I was supposed to have my decorations up today, I was supposed to have finished steaming my Christmas puddings and I was supposed to have got my advent village out of the loft and set up...oh well. 

Life happens doesn't it and when your friend is 40 weeks pregnant (and very fed up), your fridge freezer breaks down and you have work that has to be done you've just got to get on and cope the best you can.  I've learnt from last year's failed attempt at JYC that no Christmas is going to be perfect but the main thing is to enjoy it the best you can. 

So - with that in mind I have a little gift to share with you, its a Spotify playlist of Christmas songs for you to enjoy while you are cleaning, working, doing the laundry, wrapping presents, playing games, sipping mulled wine, decorating your house, trimming your tree, relaxing on the sofa gazing out of the window at the snow...

If you don't have Spotify you can download it here for free and then you can enjoy all these lovely Christmassy songs for free!  Enjoy :-) x

Manic Monday

I've been trying really hard to get myself organised for Christmas as I am determined to enjoy my December this year.  I set myself a difficult target of buying all my presents by the first of December and I have almost achieved it!  This pile of goodies was bought at the weekend and the rest will be delivered directly to my door - I love the internet!  I have to say that buying presents is the most stressful thing about Christmas for me.  I love giving presents but I hate the idea of someone not liking what I have got for them which is why in recent years I have done the boring thing and asked for wish lists - do you do this?  I know it takes the surprise out of it but so many times I have bought presents to not recieve a thank you or ever see the receipient using/wearing it.  I'd much rather spend my money on something I know that they will appreciate. 

I would love to hand make all my presents but from past experience I have realised that other people don't see things the way I do.  When I make something for another person there is so much love, heart and soul that goes into it that it is utterly heart wrenching when they don't appreciate it.  I once made a knitted blanket that took me nearly a fortnight of my holiday to make - solid hours of knitting, blocking and sewing together.  A whole fortnight of doing nothing else but thinking about the child it would be given to.  Making choices about the exact colours to use, which was the best wool, what pattern to use...  I have never seen it used.  Not once.  Ever.

This year I have decided that since I'm the one that *loves* Christmas so much then I'm going to be completely selfish and do things that make me happy and stress free (which I'm hoping will then have a knock on effect on everyone around me!)  I think that if I'm full of peace, joy and bouncing with utter sparkly excitement then the rest of the grumps around me are going to find themselves feeling a whole lot more festive and happy.  Its time to pass on the Christmas joy and it starts with me.  Bring it on!

So far I have made a wish list of all the goodies I would like for Christmas (including the above book) and ordered in enough wool to keep me going through the holidays, which should keep me smiling, out of trouble and warm through the winter :-)

I will also have time to make those hand made gifts that mean so much to me and make my Chrsitmas better, but without the pressure that they're the only presents I will be giving.

What are you doing to make this Christmas special for you?

Stir up Sunday (a week late!)

I thought I was being so organised but apparently I'm a week late in getting my Christmas cake and puddings made!  Good grief, getting them done in November is early enough for me so I'm still really pleased with myself :-)

I *love* making Christmas cake.  I love cake, I love Christmas - its a match made in heaven.  I really wish you could stick your head in this bowl and smell the lovely festiveness of this mix.

Once its all wrapped and ready to bake you still get left with these leftover scrapings that you just have to try!

Oh my goodness, who did that to my kitchen?!

Quick hello

I'm popping my head into blog land today just to say 'Hi!' and reassure myself that I can achieve something whilst feeling completely brain dead and shattered! 

The long, stress free days of the half-term holidays where I could browse the internet, check out forums, pootle about and do what I wanted are well and truly over :-(  Not even two weeks back at school and already I feel exhausted and have very little time for blogging or crafting. 

So, I ask you - should I even try Journal Your Christmas this year?  I wanted to scrap it digitally, blog my LO and then maybe get a book printed at then end (still not sure how to do that, should look into it really...)  The thing is I get so excited at Christmas and want everything to be as festive and as jolly as possible but I also get dissapointed when I run out of time to journal any of it.  Last year I think I managed to blog three days and then I got ill, my to do list went into overload and next thing I knew it was May before I started posting again.  Are you doing it this year?  How do you keep on top of things at Christmas time?

Someone organise my life for me please? :-) x

Look on the bright side

Dear Donna,

It’s always important to focus on the positives. 

Never forget that you are there for the pupils in your class.  They are the reason you get up on a cold, wintry, dismal day like today at 6am.  They are the reason you wake up at 4am and cannot get back to sleep because you can’t switch off.  They are the reason you are walking in the door exhausted every night at 6.30pm.  They are the reason why you get up early on a Saturday morning while your husband is still asleep to finish off your planning for the following week.  They are the reason you spend hours on the internet finding resources that will enthuse them.  They are the reason you still read a chapter of the class book when you’re throat is red raw.  They are the reason that you can’t pass a museum shop without buying something to inspire them.  They are the reason you bulk buy shiny stickers and self-inking stamps. 

They are the reason you plaster a smile to your face and reply politely when parents tell you you’re not doing enough!

Focus on the positives: parents evening is only once a term :-) x

 

With a puff of smoke

Last night was our traditional Halloween/Fireworks party which involved lots of costumes, tonnes of food, a chocolate fountain and masses of sparklers.  It was a great night but unfortunately marks the end of the half-term holidays :-(
 
Tomorrow it will be back to work, endless to do lists and limited time for crafting.  I will try to keep on top of my True Stories prompts but I am already two behind (even though I have started to work on them but they're not ready to share yet).

I'm planning on some computer time on Tuesday - see you then!

How many times do I have to tell you?

It seems most of my days are full of repetition. At work there are the same phrases that I slip into again and again, mainly have you checked your work?  And where are all your capital letters and full stops?

This prompt could be a whole series of pages titled 'How many times?!' as I can think of many repetitive conversations I have with my husband, my friends, my mom...

The journalling for this prompt came really fast but I struggled with LO as I don't have any pictures to go with it.  I read this post which was quite useful, any more tips out there?

Life Dictionary

I've been playing around with the concept of letters and numbers all day for the second prompt of True Stories but I couldn't get the idea of a dictionary out of my head.  I know the focus is supposed to be the journalling but I could just see pages of large letters staring out at me.

I started with developing an alphabet of words that mean something to me and I've decided to make a life dictionary.  I'm hoping this will be a really easy form of scrapbooking that I can dip into every now and then so of course it had to be digital.  The ease of slotting the photos into the templates and adding a large letter will make it easier to focus on the writing aspect, the description of that moment or word that is essential in my life.  The definitions are going to be tricky too - have you ever tried to define what being a daughter is like?  What laughter is?  This is definitely going to stretch my writing skills!

The layouts I have done are only A and B.  I have a long way to go and I'm not happy at all with my journalling but since its digital I can always go back and edit ;-)  On the more personal layouts, like my very first letter, my journalling will be written on the back once its printed so I can keep some things private.

I've made two pages but four templates and they're available to download here.  I would love to see anything you make using my them and any advice would be greatly appreciated as this is my first time at making templates.

Thank you so much if you have visited my blog in over the last couple of days and left a comment :-) x

Where are you from?

 

Having lived in the South of England for ten or so years now I don't get asked where I am from as often anymore.  My accent only really shows itself on those tell tale words such as bath, path  and grass.  Automatically people say 'Where are you from?' or 'Are you Northern?'

I'm not.  I'm  from the Midlands.

This doesn't seem to register in their faces.  If they are from the South then the Midlands still counts as North, if they are from the North then the Midlands is the South.  So where am I from?

I'm from the home of Aston Villa, the Balti and Ozzy Osborne.  I'm from where the words sing, thing and bring have an extra phoneme.  My home town has more canals than Venice, more inhabitants than Manchester and more students than Cambridge.  Where I come from there are people of every colour, religion and creed.  I come from a place where cultures mingle, mix and evolve.  Where music, art and food fuse diversity together.

Where I come from, it doesn't matter where you're from.

Crafty Sunday

I've been looking forward to today for ages :-)

It's the first Sunday of the half-term holidays and I have nothing planned apart from some crafting, a bit of Sunday lunch and maybe a little nap later!

Yesterday we rescued some of my  Christmas craft supplies from storage - I really miss my craft room while we're trying to sell the house.  I've now got all my stamps, paper inkpads and promarkers so I can make some cards again.  I'm also really excited to finally use my new stamps from noolibird.  Hope you all enjoy your Sundays blogland! :-) x

Down on the farm

This time of year always makes me think about growing my own fruit and vegetables.  I think its seeing all the lovely pumpkins and apples around.  I'm not organised enough to fit self-sufficiency into my life but I do appreciate quality, locally produced food that hasn't been tampered with or had to travel across the world to get to my plate.  Thankfully there are people out there who make it easier to be lazy and still get lovely grub!

We went to Church Farm today - it wasn't planned, just one of those spur of the moment things.  Don't you love it when your plans change unexpectedly and you end up having a lovely day?  We met some cute chicks, some very snuffly pigs and had a mooch around the farm shop.  The cafe there is very nice too and they have the biggest jacket potatoes I've ever seen!

I'm also lucky to work somewhere with lots of apple trees - I think I may have to go scrumping so I can make this!

Glutton for punishment?

So I'm snowed under at work, trying to keep the house immaculate and ready for prospective buyers, preparing for my next craft fair at the end of the month and trying to keep stock in the shop.  What else shall I add to my growing to do list?  Another Shimelle class of course!

I may be a glutton for punishment but how could I resist?  Anyone else signed up?

Would you like to learn how to knit?

Then come and join my new knitting group!


If you are in the Hitchin area, and feel like learning how to make a handmade gift for Christmas, I am starting a new knitting group which will teach you all you need to know to make this lovely mug cosy!


If you are interested then you can see all the information by downloading the leaflet below, visiting my website or you can come and chat to me on my stall at the Hitchin Riverside Craft and Farmer's Market on Saturday 30th October.

Hope to see you there! :-) x
Class Advert

An explained absence

I haven't updated my blog for a while as I've been really busy getting things ready for the Hitchin Craft and Farmer's Market which is on the last Saturday of every month.

I was a little worried about getting everything ready as I had put all of my stock into The Willow Room so it was like starting all over again. I didn't think that it would look very good as it was all woolies with no cards or button badges but I had some really nice compliments.

People keep on asking me whether I teach crochet or knitting and I'm really thinking about starting up a class. I'm not sure where I could do it but it's going to have to be somewhere with plenty of tea and cakes on hand! :-) x

School's out!

Yay! Its the weekend and I can finally catch up on some sleep :-) I always forget how hard the first week back is.

All in all its been a good week - the class have settled in well, I'm managing to keep on top of my deadlines so far, I have lost 3lbs in my first week at Slimming World AND I have just completed my fourth layout (and final lesson) of the Up and Running course at jesssicasprague.com.

I am *so* pleased that I decided to do this class. A lot of the stuff I did already know from fiddling about previously with free downloads but there were so many tips and tricks that I didn't know, as well as lots of downloads and freebies to add to my digitial stash - including the amazing bunting on this layout. Oh my goodness I love it!! It will defintely be appearing on many more layouts as well as the really cute tea cups I have downloaded from here.

Lessons in learning

Still loving my Jessica Sprague lessons but boy am I tired!

First two days back at school and I am drained - will have to try and remember that this must be what my class feel like too. I've been making silly mistakes with my typing, forgetting where I have saved things, closing down the wrong windows... its hard to learn when you're tired.

Its hard not to take things for granted

I'm loving my photoshop lessons - its so exciting learning something new!

It was the first day back at school today and there were nerves and excitement in the air. There's something so nice about a fresh start.

A new class. A new year. A new beginning.

Not to mention the new shoes, lunchboxes, pens, notebooks and pencil cases to show off - that's very exciting too!

You don't always have pictures of your favourite memories

I've decided that really if I have any hope of trying to get scrapbooking in my life its going to have to be done digitally. With the house up for sale and most of my craft materials safely packed away in storage there really is no other way of me expressing my creative side and I really need that outlet as its back to work tomorrow and who knows when I'll have the time or energy to explore, compute and create around what I have learnt.

Anyhoo...I have decided that I really am going to learn something this September and enrolled myself on the Up & Running With Photoshop - Beginning Digital Scrapbooking course on www.jessicasprague.com


I have played with photoshop before and was surprise at how easy it was to fudge my way through through uing forums and google to find out what I needed to know in order to put a simple layout together. I found Shabby Princess *really* useful for this. Having decided that digital scrapbooking is the way forward for me I thought I should learn how to use photoshop properly and so far I have completed two layouts following the simple instructions - no actually creativity yet as I 'm just using quick page templates but I have learnt a lot of things I didn't know. Unfortunately the main thing I have discovered is that I don't take enough photographs - looking through my photo folders I was really disappointed at the poor choice I had. I think learning how to take better photographs should be my next project!

What have I learnt so far?

Yesterday I learnt that I need to make time for myself.

I spent some time yesterday looking around the forum for Learn Something New Today and realised that by not fully taking part in both of the last two Shimelle classes that I signed up for I have missed out on learning some new skills, meeting new people and most importantly making some time for myself in the hectic schedule of work and general everyday life.

Today I learnt that big journeys start with small steps.

Today I decided to rejoin Slimming World. I have joined three times in the last three years and been to three different groups! What’s going to be different this time? I am not sure but there’s no point in looking back and meditating on failure, this month is all about learning something new right? So today I learnt that there is no point in sitting and thinking I’d like to lose weight I actually have to take steps to make it happen.

Afternoon Tea

I love tea, I love cake, I love chatting, I love laying the table...I love afternoon tea!

I had a great afternoon yesterday with my friends Carrie and Hannah although I did buy a little too much cake so I am having another tea party today with Helen and Ellie - hurrah!

This is going to have to become a regular part of my life, its fab!

I'm back!

Have you missed me?

I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted! Having said I was going to blog religiously throughout December as well, what a naughty girl I am.

Anyhoo, I haven't just been sat around on my backside doing nothing - its been busy, busy, busy here at Button Garden. Myself and Helen have been at the Hitchin Craft fair every month since January. It doesn't seem to be well advertised but the crowds seem to be picking up now that the weather is improving. If you live in the area the Hitchin Craft and Farmer's Market is held on the last Saturday of every month on the bank of the river in front of the church - please pop along and say hi!

I'm glad to be back in blogland - I'm feeling all sunny at the moment and a little bit obsessed with caravans and holidays. It's May and that means the beginning of the camping season - before I know it I'll be at Glastonbury knee deep in mud and cider :-)

I feel like I should be camping every weekend now and making the most of the sunshine (even though it is still really cold!). All I can think about is the great outdoors and it seems like I'm not the only one check out this post from Attic 24, wouldn't you *love* a vintage caravan like Constance? I'd be happy just with one in my back garden like this so I could go in and play!