Hope your day was merry and bright!

How was your Christmas? We had a great one, and white too!

Most of these pictures are actually from our trip to Elgin last weekend to visit my parents and it wasn't quite as snowy as this here in Glasgow but snow on Christmas day (no matter how shallow or trampled) is not to be sniffed at!

This house always has the most amazing Christmas lights, which you can see from my mum and dad's kitchen window. My dad always moans about how over the top it is but even he loves it secretly, I'm sure. It's just so festive!

I'm too scared to have a real snowball fight nowadays (when did I get to be such a wimp about the cold?) but Graham kindly threw one past me for the camera. I'm also terrified of slipping on the ice, which has not made getting to work in the mornings very easy. There is no way to avoid walking down a super steep hill when I leave my house. I have been clinging to lampposts and hedges, tiptoeing and generally looking like an idiot. I only fell over once (so far) this year. I nearly got run over in the process but sustained no worse than a skint hand and a bruised behind in the end!

These poor cows were looking very cold, standing about in the snow. No more to say about that but they are cute enough to merit two pictures, I think.

With the family Christmas thing done last weekend, Graham and I had a quiet just-the-two-of-us Christmas yesterday. It was great!

Here I am, festively modeling some of my pressies - bright pink socks with pom poms (yippee!) from my friend, Lorna, and the most fabulous print that Graham (the genius) found in a charity shop going for a song. Talking of songs, I got Graham a last minute glockenspiel which went down very well - phew! Shopping for your beloved on Christmas Eve is very stressful...

After eating a whole lot of food and drinking a whole lot of booze yesterday, we are having a quiet day (nursing our kidneys) today and have an evening of Trivial Pursuit and naff telly watching planned for tonight. Tomorrow the post Christmas clear up commences! My attempt to give people handmade gifts has left the house looking like it has been hit by a bomb but I am determined that I will have a tidy house for hogmanay. Besides, I have loads of crafty projects planned (some that I'm very excited about) so will need to clear a space to make them! I don't see the tidy house lasting much past January 2nd...

Christmas time... cats, tinsel and wine

Disclaimer: if you have no interest in my cats, then you may as well stop reading right now!

I can't believe what a poor blogger I have been this December. What with working, making, visiting and vomiting (I spent about 4 days snuggled up with a very nasty bug) I just don't know where the time has gone. In a last ditch attempt to bring a bit of festivity to this place, I have a number of themed festive posts up my sleeve for today, and this is the cat themed one.

The cats get so excited when the Christmas decorations come out. Poppy has got very territorial about it all this year but, as you can see, Lola managed to steal a wee catnap on an upper branch while Poppy was distracted by a pile of tinsel. Don't you love my new dog decoration that she so thoughtfully perched beside? I got three great new decorations this year - a knitted stripy cat from my friend Bernie, and this dog and a worried monkey (he has a frowning brow!) wearing a bell. The dog and the monkey were made by a girl who had a stall next to me at Say No To Plastic. Nobody was buying them except me which just proves that you can never tell what the public will go for. How could anyone resist? I don't know...

Shortly after I took these photos of Lola, she jumped down. She is probably the world's clumsiest cat so it came as no surprise that she brought the entire tree crashing down. They have only knocked it down twice this year though, the second time being this morning. They must be growing up :(

I think she was pretty determined to be comfy but it just wasn't really happening.

Meanwhile, Poppy was making herself a spangly Christmas bed in a bundle of tinsel. She gets tinsel OD eventually and collapses with ginormous pupils. This is definitely her favourite time of year - tinsel, trees and central heating.

And here is a gratuitous cat cuddling shot just to prove that they are good friends (and sisters) really. This was the nest I made for myself on the sofa when I was off work with the vomiting. They seemed very happy to have me at home all day and hardly moved from here the whole time I was ill.

Now I have to go and find a present for the most important person in my life - waaah! I hope I don't get squished by all the people who are as disorganised as me. Just in case I fail to deliver my other planned festive posts (snow photos, anyone?) then have a great Christmas!

I'm back! And with a whole heap of new products to boot!

***Update - if you want your purchases in time for Christmas, then please order by 7 pm on Thursday 17th December at the latest. I'm heading out of town this weekend so anything ordered after that will be posted on Monday at the very earliest, which is really cutting things too fine. If you want anything sent fancy delivery (rather than ordinary first class post) then let me know and I'll adjust the postage costs accordingly.***

Oh lordy, it has been a hectic couple of weeks. Christmas has taken me by surprise and I have been crafting like a maniac every non-subtitling minute! Consequently, I have a whole heap of new products in my shop for any of you (if you're anything like me) who have the majority of your Christmas shopping still to do. Of course, I'm too late for anyone outside of the UK (sorry) but if you are a UK resident you have a good few days left to panic buy. I aim to be back with a proper post soon, but in the meantime here are my new products.

Did I mention they were available in my shop?*

Dot and Pat lavender hangers! £4.00 each. I got a huge (for me) order for these this week so have been up to my elbows in lavender and ribbons and... Phew! By the by, Dot has a lovely floral backing, while Pat is backed by saucy leopard print.

Eastenders not quite your thing? Or looking for a present for a certain male (or female) someone? Then make lavender macho with these fantabulous Big Daddy lavender hangers! Also £4 each.

Or maybe you're looking for something a little bit special. Then you will be thanking your lucky stars that I squeezed in the making of one of these Little Red Riding Hood magic (a.k.a. glow in the dark) embroideries. When you switch off the lights, the fire dies down and the stars come out, while Little Red Riding Hood and her cat snuggle down for the night. This embroidery costs £25.

On a tighter budget or looking for a little stocking filler? How about a vintage domino brooch for a measly £1.50? There are three different types of domino to choose from.

Or why not treat your tree to a flaky decoration? These are going for £1 each and come in four varieties.

Don't forget to browse the rest of my wares while you're there.

Right, enough of the hard sell. I am off to bed, via the sewing machine. Aargh!

p.s. I was subtitling EastEnders again today and, just in case I don't have time to blog again this week, you MUST watch EastEnders on Friday - the doof doof moment is the most classic bit of East End drama I have seen in a long while!

* I will try to add them to my etsy store soon, too, but you should be brave and just buy them from my shopify shop now. Get 'em while they're hot!

You win some, you lose some

Giveaway

Originally uploaded by minkee.

Apologies for my absence this week. I have been working myself into the ground, subtitling by day and then crafting by night into the wee small hours of the morning. I'm not feeling too ready for tomorrow's market but am officially too tired to do anything else tonight. I will get up early tomorrow instead.

Today has been a real mix of highs and lows. At some point tonight, the heating, the internet, the microwave and the towel rail have all been broken. The microwave and the towel rail still are broken. My much needed friend has pulled out of helping me at Sunday's market, too. Nooo! And I had a wee disaster that I can't tell you about for fear of looking unprofessional!

But on the upside, I have spotted a definite theme in this year's advent calendar from my sister. I opened doors 1-4 tonight (it's been trapped at the sorting office until today) and have already amassed a fine collection of a-ma-zing vintage buttons! In other great news, I made my first shopify sale. Woo hoo! It feels great to sell something, and I also know for sure that the shop works. And my subtitles were on tonight's Eastenders. And then (yes, there's more) I found out that I've won one of these prints (pictured) by Minkee in a giveaway. Aren't they lovely? I am hoping for the one in the middle, even though they are all great :)

Anyway, good luck to any of you who are joining me in the Christmas market madness this weekend. I hope we all come home rich (and creatively satisfied!) beyond our wildest dreams!

The cat that got the... pipe?!

polish matchbox label

Originally uploaded by maraid

I'm happy as the cat that got the cream, really, but this pipe smoking cat looks pretty happy too! Who knew a job could bring such joy? Today I have been subtitling... EastEnders! I'm doing Friday's episode (can't reveal anything for fear I am found out and banned from doing any more!) and seriously could not keep the grin off my face as the theme tune kicked in. It was very embarrassing and I got serious face ache from trying to look serious. Even sadder (happier!) than that, was that I was dropping more stock off at the Made in the Shade Maisonette after work, so I had a bag under my desk full of EastEnders goodies while I was working on it - hardcore EastEnders loving, people! I love my new job!

One of the items I delivered to the Maisonette today was a brand new EastEnders product that I've been working away on this weekend - Dot and Pat lavender hanger thingummies to keep your clothes fresh and moth free! I dropped a handful of them off with a very excited Carrie (which was nice) about an hour ago and they are on sale there now! I will share some pictures of them here (and list them in the shop/shops) just as soon as I have enough daylight to take a photo of them. I will have them with me at the markets I'm doing at the weekend but if you just can't wait until then (and you're in or around Glasgow) then hot foot it down to the Maisonette this week for an exclusive sneak preview!

Do you pom pom?

Ha ha ha! Last night I made a pom pom wreath and I can't stop laughing at it. I think that's a good thing... but I'm not sure. Is the pom pom wreath totally great or just totally awful? The flash isn't flattering to it and I think that in real life it's great - very snuggly and, er, old school... I might take it to the markets I'm doing next weekend and see if anyone wants to pay a small price to adopt it. I think we probably only want one wreath in our house over the festive season and the gum drop wreath has become an annual tradition for us.

Markets next weekend, did you ask? Well, yes! I'm doing two. On Saturday December 5th you will find me at The Big Bang in Langside Hall from 12-4. This is an event that's being organised by a very nice glass artist called Keira McLean, who I met at the market I did at the start of October. There's fine art, photography, furniture, glass, performance poets... and me! It sounds like it will be really interesting so if you are south of the Clyde next weekend, do come along. On Sunday December 6th , I'm going to be at Say No To Plastic at Oran Mor from 12-5. I can hardly tell you how good the November Say No To Plastic was, with its fabulous array of vintage and handmade goods, and I'm hoping this Christmas one will be even better. And if you're a Londoner, then you might just get a chance to see/buy my wares at We Make on Saturday 5th December, too. Claire (Miso Funky) will be having a stall there and, if she can squeeze anything else into her already bulging suitcase, should be taking along a handful of things made by me too. What a weekend! That's why I've got to stop dilly dallying and actually make some stuff to sell. Eep!

I want to be in a girl group...

... preferably the Shangri-Las, but after my attempt at singing last night (don't ask, but let's just say the computer failing to save my "vocals" was a stroke of good fortune for one and all!) have realised once and for all that it just will not happen. But a girl can dream, right? So I am creating my own girl group/army from felt. These are the only two I have left just now (I sold the rest at Say No To Plastic before I could get a good photo of them) but there are more on the way. These two have been made into brooches but I actually have other plans for some of their friends, thanks to the genius of my sister. That plan will be unveiled soon, hopefully, but in the meantime I'm off to list these two little brooches in my new shop. I can still call it my new shop, yes? Especially since I haven't made a sale yet - ha! I will be working on that sorry situation soon... In the meantime, I've just got too many felty girl groups to form!

p.s. I think I was inspired to create these by one of my favourite bits of (long gone unless you look really closely) Glasgow graffiti. You can see a photo of it in my flickr.

p.p.s. Yes, they are rather like my chaise longue haired girl! She was a prototype who's since gone solo :)