fare thee well 2010

Hello, hello and I hope you had a very good Christmas. We had a lovely few days visiting my parents in Elgin, where the snow is white and fluffy rather than brown and hard like Glasgow snow. Santa obviously realised I had been especially good in 2010 (maybe he reads my blog?) and brought me a stocking for the first time in years! So very exciting :) It was full of goodies for our now functioning (though not quite finished) bathroom, like these flashing ducks. Yes, that is a naked picture of me in the bath on the internet. Tee hee! I have a little story about one of my non-bath presents, but I think I will save that for another day as time is of the essence tonight. I was brought up to believe that your house had to be spotless for Hogmanay so I am running about like a madwoman, trying to tidy/clean and not getting very far. It is a hopeless task really as I would need at least a month to get my house properly tidy, though I suppose it will do no harm to try. I got somewhat distracted from the task this morning by having an EastEnders marathon as I hadn't seen any of it over the Christmas week. I think that is the first time I have ever watched 4.5 hours of Easties in a oner (Bye, Stacey! I love you!) and there's another 40 minutes to watch tonight too. I'll be bringing in 2011 with a cockney accent at this rate! I don't have any major Hogmanay plans. Graham is working until 9pm tonight and I am working at 8am tomorrow, so we have only a small window for some sensible new year's celebrations. I went out earlier and got just one or two (a-hem!) snacks and some pink fizz to wash them down. Two people, a few hours and half a supermarket snack section. I'll let you know how it goes...

I'll be back next year (i.e. later this week) to fill you all in on my "crafty" plan. Happy Hogmanay!

blast from the blog of christmas past

It's been a day of top menshies today. Not only did my hand(made)kerchiefs get a mention on Cuteable (thanks, Lynsey!) but my face popped up on Super Cute Kawaii! (thanks, Claire!). I always knew I was cute, but it's great to have it made official ;) Of course, the post over at SCK wasn't actually about my cute face, but rather about cute holiday distractions and there was a link to my sweet wreath chew-torial from 2008. I thought it would be nice to share it again over here for those of you who didn't visit this blog way back when, in the days when I was skinny and wore the same top I had on two days ago according to the picture... We've been making these wreaths every year since 2007 (we recycle the polystyrene centre, but freshen up the sweets) and I think it is the only bona fide Christmas tradition that Graham and I have evolved together. This year our neighbours said they know it's really Christmas when the gumdrops appear on our door. If you're super organised and have time to spare on Christmas Eve (about 30 minutes if you are a fast cocktail stick jabber) maybe you would like to make one for your door. Here's my original post to show you how.

On 16 December 2008 I said...
I think the festive gumdrop wreath is becoming a Christmas tradition in our house. Fun fun fun and very sweet, in more ways than one! I came across this idea on the internet a few years ago (I think from this lady?) but I can't remember where for sure, so here's my own little how to:

1. You will need...

... a polystyrene wreath, cocktail sticks (snapped in half, hence the splinter that's been bugging me all day), ribbon of your choosing and sellotape. I just put a few strips of sellotape round the baldy wreath where the ribbon will be tied to stop it cutting into the polystyrene. This festive baby is heavy once it's finished!

Of course, you will also need gum drops:

These are not always the easiest to come by here in the U.K. (what is it with making fruit pastilles etc. fruit shaped these days?) but I will share my insider's info with you... Morrisons stock American hard gums which are perfect for the job. I used six packets but Graham and I couldn't resist nibbling a few each and I think the wreath needed them more than our expanding waistlines. I'd recommend getting seven packets, just so you don't have to try quite so hard to resist munching.

What to do:

Stick the blunt (snapped) end of the cocktail stick into the flat base of the sweet and then stick the sharp end into the polystyrene. Keep sticking sweets into the front and sides of the wreath until it is pretty much covered. I should say the gaps don't look this glaring in real life but the flash showed them up.

Eventually you will get...

... a festively sparkling sweet wreath to hang on your front door! Then you can peek out at visitors like a strange little Christmas elf, as I am demonstrating here...

Last year one of our upstairs neighbours told me our wreath had made her smile every morning, which was nice to hear. Graham has been eavesdropping this year and has already heard the wreath love spreading among neighbours and visitors. It's Christmas! Yay!

clunge

Clunge.

Life can be so entertaining when you find teenage-boy humour funny. Tee hee!

The Green Lady

The Green Lady
Originally uploaded by Stan Chow

This is how green my face is today, but sadly the similarity stops there. I have food poisoning and have been up all night being sick :( I had to take the day off work, which looks v suspicious given it is a few days before Christmas. I can't wait to feel better but I am too scared to eat or drink anything for fear the throwing up starts again. I wish I had some fresh orange juice to sip, but I am too wobbly to go out and get any. Send help! (No, don't really. I am in no fit state to be seen by visitors. Ugh...)

I wonder if they get eastenders in china

Stop the Press! MITS in China!
Originally uploaded by We Are Made In The Shade

Earlier this year, Made In The Shade were visited by Jas Tang who was researching an article about Made In The Shade for Chinese indie style mag, Little Thing. I met her briefly at the Springtime Jamboree where I had a stall. She was really lovely and seemed super excited about all the handmade goodies everyone had on offer and said she thought my illustration of Ethel and Willie was funny. She recently sent a copy of the magazine with her 6-page spread about Made In The Shade to the MITS girls and look what has sneaky-peeked in at the bottom of one of the pages... It's my EastEnders notecards! In a super-cool magazine! In China! Yay! You can see the other (equally lovely) pages of the article over at Made In The Shade's flickr, worth a look even just to get a smidgeon of an idea of how lovely the Made In The Shade Maisonette is. I was in there today delivering some goodies and doing some last minute Christmas shopping and just oohed and aahed at absolutely everything. It's so nice to be able to see some of my goodies in amongst such lovely stuff :)

i love lisa

Japanese Spring girl 2
Originally uploaded by 'Lil Sonny Sky

I didn't go out tonight, but I've accidentally sat up sewing until 2am, so don't say I'm not rock and roll! Though I am now looking forward to filling up my hot water bottles (yes, bottles, plural) putting on some much needed hand cream (ouch) and getting into bed with the cats... It's too dark to take a photo of what I've been sewing, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to share someone I've been admiring on etsy lately. This super gorgeous print is by Lisa Stubbs and is just one of so many lovely, lovely items. May I particularly draw your attention to this completely adorable Christmas postcard. Eep! Dear Santa, I want to be as good as Lisa at drawing and printing and sewing!

I have been brewing some top arty/crafty plans for 2011, setting some little challenges for myself, and I'm feeling pretty excited about it. I think 2011 will be a great year of craft for me. I'm hoping to be learning a whole load of new skillz as well as revisiting and honing some old (and often long-neglected) skillz. And, of course, I'll be sure to blog about the whole shebang. More details to follow, but for now, to bed.

get your coat, love... it's cold

Graham and his friend Daniel (the Jack-Black-alike) will be playing some top tunes at Stereo tonight if you're in Glasgow and fancy a pre-Christmas boogie. I'm no dancer so I think I'll be staying at home to continue my bid to have the most anti-social Christmas ever, but you should all totally go. Do as I say and not as I do!

Nothing else to report. I just watched Kindergarten Cop (accidentally on purpose) while writing my Christmas cards. My Christmas card list gets shorter every year, but I'm sure I must have forgotten some people this year - I only had to use one book of stamps. This is what happens when you never go out. Don't say I didn't warn you!