Christmas Kisses

Checking out until the new year; I anticipate drinking a great deal of sherry, eating a lot of sausage rolls and wupping my sister's ass at Just Dance on the XBox.  

Sending lots of Christmas kisses your way.  Have a great one.

Nicki 

x

Christmas Decorating, Lush Hot Choc and a Sequinned Dress

The trees are up!  My favourite room is the living room.  This year I've used a garland strung with fairy lights across the beam over the fireplace and I love it.   

The first thing I always do when we've put the tree up is run outside and look at the house from the street.  Our house is on a main road and if we leave the curtains open you can see the tree and the fireplace as you drive past.  With the outdoor tree lit up and a little tree in the upstairs window our house looks a bit like a Christmas grotto!  That makes me very happy; it looks so welcoming! 

The tree in the living room is decorated in white and silver.  I was tempted not to use the baubles because I love the simple beauty of a real tree strung with white lights and nothing else but it seemed a shame not to let this little lady out of her cardboard box:

My favourites are the bird decorations.  I like to see the fat little birds nestled on the branches and I love this sparkly wooden miniature bird house.

I've gone for all out tackiness in the dining room.  A small pale pink tree with pale pink vintage baubles and a pink feather boa to cover its plastic legs.  Nestled amongst the feathers is a brightly coloured bauble of Santa in a space jet.  LOVE.

Isn't it difficult getting photographs of Christmas trees.  It's especially hard with an iPhone.  I have asked for a digital SLR camera for my birthday (which is soon!) and I *may* have spied the box for a Canon EOS under the spare bed.... I'm excited to get one but I'm also worried that I just don't have the skills or eye to be a good photographer and it will be a waste of money.  Got any tips for me?

Now, I wanted to tell you about the BEST hot chocolate.  It's nothing fancy, just a bag of little chocolate bits from one of my favourite shops:  Hush.  It is delicious; quite the most delicious home-made hot chocolate I've had.   Coffee is my hot drink of choice but I do like a chocolate occasionally.  

The little sprinkler contains a mix of cocoa powder, ground cinnamon and vanilla sugar.
Delicious and especially nice for frothy coffee, too.

Got to dash in a mo because I have the day off work (yipee!) and am meeting my mum for a bit of shopping.  Well, we've done most of our shopping - it's just an excuse to have a girly lunch together.  I'm so looking forward to it.  

I just wanted to show you a quick outfit... I went to a Christmas party last night.  It was the party of one of Andrew's customers and I had to do the corporate wife thing.  I was so nervous about it - I always worry I'll make Andrew look stupid by saying something daft - so I bought myself a new dress to boost my confidence.  

It is, quite honestly, the most fab Christmas party dress I've ever owned - a sequinned dress from Coast.  (Link).  It's out of stock online but if you happen to see it in the store I can definitely recommend it.  I really wanted a dress with long sleeves because I don't like my upper arms.  This is a wrap-over style with three-quarter sleeves; soft inside too when a lot of sequinned clothes are a bit scratchy.  I wore it with a navy blazer, some high platform shoes and kept my jewellery minimal - just a small pair of pearl studs and a big sparkly cocktail ring.

Dancing (well, swaying really!) with my man to the band singing Frank Sinatra's 'Merry Christmas', next to a big dazzling Christmas tree I felt properly happy.  And Christmassy!  Bring on the celebrations!

Nicki 

x

Blog Swaps

Our internet is down indefinitely.  It is the most frustrating thing.  On Sunday the copper wiring from the Exchange was stolen and the village has been without telephone lines ever since.  It is annoying for me because I mostly work from home and rely on the internet to access my emails, including databases and programmes that I use on a daily basis.  I have had to go into various offices this week, all a considerable distance from home, and have popped over to my MILs this evening to use the internet for personal stuff whilst Andrew watches the football.  I've got Christmas shopping to do that just can't wait any longer!

I thought I'd take five minutes to do a quick update.  I have loads to chat about, as always, but just wanted to say a huge thank you to Angie for the blog swap parcels I received last week.  I took part in the Handmade Christmas Decoration swap organised by the lovely Laa Laa.  I am so glad I did - what a treat to receive surprises in the post!

The parcels from Angie were all prettily wrapped and it was fun opening them all.  Angie had made loads!  A gorgeous white fabric wreath (my favourite gift and it looks beautiful strung with fairy lights), home-made chutney, a lovely home-made card, cosy socks, pretty stars for the tree and lots of other little bits and bobs.  Angie even knitted four small stockings and filled them with chocolates (the actual stockings are exactly the right size and shape for my dog's paws and I've had to restrain myself from dressing her in them.  I know that would be cruel.  She'd slip, right?)

It is the first time I have taken part in a swap.  I admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed to begin with; I got too caught up in trying to second-guess what Angie would like and what would fit in with her Christmas decorating scheme at home.  Also, I have limited sewing and crochet ability - I am very much a beginner and many projects are beyond me.  In the end, I chose to make a few (safe) felt decorations.  Of course, it would have been rude not to include a gingerbread man... 

 The templates for the gingerbread man and the reindeer/moose came from this month's issue of Mollie Makes.  The stocking and mitten templates were downloaded from the internet somewhere.

I, hopefully, made up for my lack of ability by including a few chocolates and shop-bought goodies in the parcel for Angie and wrapped them as enticingly as I could.

I so enjoyed doing these decorations and, after the first one, they were quite quick to make.  I have plans for a heart garland to hang over the fireplace for Christmas.  I also have plans, however, to make a gingerbread house, two Christmas cakes and gingerbread biscuits (watch out for my next post when I'll share my super easy, delicious, recipe!).  Better get cracking.

We are off tomorrow after work to pick our Christmas trees.  I'm excited.  I intend to buy three; one for outside, one for the living room and one for the conservatory.  I also plan to buy a few more lanterns in various sizes to put outside the front door - they look so welcoming with huge white candles.  I will, of course, share pictures when I have finished faffing.

I love reading the blogposts with pictures of Christmas trees and twinkling lights and driving past houses seeing Christmas trees twinkling in bay windows is one of my favourite things about the season... Ahh! Christmas is coming!!

Nicki 

x

Tinkerbell birthday cake

I've been making a Tinkerbell cake this week for my friend's daughter's birthday party:

I had known for about six weeks that I needed to make the cake.  I used a madeira cake that lasts a fortnight so, theoretically, I could have baked and iced the cake last weekend.  I could have spent the last month making sugarpaste decorations, they last such a long time.  So why did I start the cake at 9 o'clock on Wednesday night and then stay up until 1am on Friday morning decorating it?!  What's more, when I should have started baking the cake after work on Wednesday, I made some Cherry Menlove cheat's mince pies instead! 

I frustrate myself so much leaving everything to the last minute.  I am the same in every aspect of my life and whilst I know that I put myself under unnecessary stress, I can't seem to change it.  It comes up in every appraisal at work.  My boss, kindly, tells me that it's against my character-type to plan in advance, so I need to work really hard at it.  I agree.  The truth is that I can't get motivated to do things until the last minute and I work best under pressure.  

I am pleased with the cake even though I spent the whole of Friday exhausted and bleary-eyed.

It's a simple two-tier madeira cake with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam filling.  I was asked to provide a three-tiered cake but decided to use a bigger board and decorate that rather than a third tier (it's an 8" cake with a 5" tier - that's a lot of cake!).

I made all of the decorations from sugarpaste or flowerpaste (the figures are plastic) and the water is blue-coloured buttercream.  There are two Tinks (?) on it - I was only going to use one (which makes sense to me) but Andrew assured me that a 6-year old little girl would rather see as many Tinks as possible than just one, however unrealistic.  

He was right - I dropped the cake off on Friday night and my friend's daughter had waited up to see the cake.  Her face when we took it out of the box was an absolute picture.  She was delighted.  It made the stress and the exhaustion worthwhile.  I crawled home, ate noodles and fell asleep in front of a DVD.  

So, Cherry Menlove.  I saw her mince pies in the Hobbycraft magazine but then discovered Cherry's blog accidentally a couple of week's ago whilst looking for blanket stitch tutorials.  Her blog is so cheesy and cheerful - I love it.  I thought I was the most shameless Pollyanna but she clearly beats me hands down.  I have a little bit of a girl crush.  

 The mince pies are made with shop-bought pastry and mincemeat.  The only thing I had to make was a little buttercream which is piped on top.  They were a bit burnt overdone but they still tasted lovely and I will definitely make them again.  They are worth making just for aesthetic purposes.

All weekend I have been sleepy and craving cosiness (how on earth I used to go out til the early hours of the morning three nights on the trot at the weekend I do not know).  My mum and sis picked me up on their way to Milton Keynes yesterday afternoon and we went to the little Christmas section that has been set up outside John Lewis.  It is lovely for children; they can see Santa and look at the cute moving Christmassy scenes.  There are loads of fairy lights and a very pretty, proper, carousel.

We took my niece on and she loved it.  We sat in a little Cinderella coach and she put her bunny, Joseph, on her knee for the ride.

We went for eggnog lattes at Starbucks (the red cups are back, hurrah!) and wandered around one or two shops.  It was crazy busy (Christmas madness) but we had nothing specific to buy.  I did pick up a few fun decorations from Paperchase and swooned over the gorgeous babushka stationery.  It's a good job I don't go to the shops very often, I could have spent a fortune!

Today we're just having a quiet day at home but popping out to the garden centre in a moment for a little mooch.  By 3pm we'll be curled up on the sofa with an old film on the box - can't wait.  Might even make myself a snowball!

Hope everyone's having a good weekend - isn't the weather Christmassy!  Cold and foggy... switch on your fairy lights and get cosy.

Nicki 

x

Worshipping my yarn stash

We are finally straight at home.  Hurrah!  After three months without a dining table, a month without even a dining room floor and an enforced week away from home due to damp-proof work we now have a fully functional dining room.  Want a little peek?

Thank you, Shabby Chic Sarah, for your advice on spraying the mirror, it was black before!...  And thank you, Cuckoo, for the egg basket/fairy lights idea...  Love pinching ideas from my bloddies! 

We have still got curtains and window-seat cushions to sort but I am thrilled with the result so far.  Positively skippy.  

The floor is a huge improvement and having a thick base layer of concrete has really warmed the room up.  We had a wood burner installed in there earlier in the year so, with a fire going and the fairy lights twinkling, the room can actually be described as cosy!  Sooo happy.  I have spent loads of time in there already -  I feel the cold really easily so I plonk myself in the chair closest to the fire and sit reading, crocheting and sewing.  I've even watched a bit of TV in there on my laptop.  (One of my favourite things to do is watch TV on my laptop.  We have three proper-sized tellies in the house but I just adore sticking my big headphones on and watching one of 'my' programmes on the laptop.  I usually snuggle up in bed to watch it but I've also taken it into the bathroom occasionally and watched from the bath.  Bliss, I tell you!)  I've got loads to do at work this week and I can't wait to spread out my papers on the dining room table, light a fire and tackle my spreadsheets.  Sad, I know.

Unpacking my china and organising the dresser and sideboards was a particular highlight:  

I have a sorted my china by colour.  It took ages but, oh!, how I loved unwrapping each and every piece.  I have a cupboard full of pink china and another completely filled with cake stands.  Simple pleasures...

I think that living in disarray for such a long time brought about a slight meltdown and I have been on a mission to regain order.  I decided to create a 'crafty corner' in the spare room so that I can faff around with fabric and yarn to my heart's content without messing up the whole house.   I bought, on impulse, a vintage teacher's desk on ebay, a pretty green chair and an oak bookcase.  The husband was coaxed into helping me move furniture around the room and a new place of worship, for me, was born.

Seriously, I keep just popping into the spare room to admire my yarn stash:

....sigh happily over my labelling system....

... and open my desk drawer to run my fingers over the spools of ribbon and washi tape:

I need to get a life, I know.  

Nicki 

x

PS Hello to my new followers!  Thanks for stopping by.  I'm always thrilled to find new blogs so I'll pop over as soon as I can.  Getting close to 100 followers now and I'm planning a giveaway when I reach the magic number!

Have a great week! 

Cosy by the fire

Cosying up by the fire now, after a fab - busy - weekend.  The weekend, in a nutshell, has involved bonfires, fireworks, champagne, friends, chilli, wine and a lot of laughing.  Today I've been sorting out my yarn stash and having a thoroughly lovely time. 

Just popped by to check in but have got lots of chat and will be back soon.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Nicki 

x