Walking in a Winter Wonderland...

Hello lovely people!

How are you?  For the British readers here, are you still battling through the snow storms?  Our little village still has about 10 inches in places, and the paths are deadly to walk on with nasty ice everywhere.

Still, I can't help but think how pretty it all looks despite the absolute Icelandic temperatures (it was minus 12 in our back garden one day last week according to our neighbours thermometer).

The dark trees and fragile seed heads look very beautiful against the white drifts, and I do like to see the stark contrast of white snow in the crevices of dark, dry stone walls.

It's been a very black and white world of late, so we were all a bit relieved when the sun came out and it started to melt.  A bit.

To keep spirits up here, and because we had nowhere we could go in a hurry, we put our Christmas tree up on the 1st.  I've never put it up so early before, but the Small One was beside herself, so it seemed to be a Good Thing to do.

Look!! A little crocheted snowman chappie from last year!!

And I'm loving our new vintage style Christmas tree lights, that we bought to replace the set that blew up last year.

They are called Pickwick, by Noma - and they recapture the very essence of my own childhood Christmas tree.  They don't flash and they're not those screamingly bright LED ones that seem very popular these days...no, I confess I'm a bit of an old fashioned soul, and much prefer the warm, nostalgic glow of these and I do like sitting next to the tree of an evening just looking at the colours shimmering on the tinsel...with a nice glass of red wine...and a mince pie...and why not?!

So!  This week has seen me busying about - I was contacted by a lady who is opening a gorgeous new shop called Andrea Willis Designs, who wanted to stock some of my cards!  What an exciting opportunity - Andrea also designs and makes her own wonderful cards, which I love.  If you live in or around Scarborough, you will be able to visit Andrea's shop from Friday 10th December, which is her grand opening day.

Shop stock all ready to go!

You can find out more about Andrea, her work and her shop on her delightful blog, Fin & Gabs.

A quick mention here, whilst on the subject of cards and orders - the 15th December is the last day you can place an order with me for any cards/prints etc until the new year.  Huge thanks to everyone who has already sent for Christmas cards, I'm over the moon you like my work enough to buy it, and I hope you are all pleased with your purchases.  Don't forget, that 10% of all my card sales is donated to The Down's Syndrome Association too, and P&P is free in the UK.

I must admit though, once the hustle and bustle of Christmas has passed, I'll be looking forward to getting chance to design and paint again.  It feels like a long time since I shared the painting Heading For Home with you...in fact, it was started at the beginning of November and I haven't had a moment to return to it yet!

In the meantime, there is something on the cards, that's going to involve this:

A project of a very different kind indeed!  I'm can't say too much about it just yet, but I will be sharing something very special with you in the new year (what a torment I am!).

Well, I have to say that despite all your kind well wishes, my little girl is still unwell - a nasty chest infection it is to be sure, as she had to go back to the doctors and has more antibiotics to take.

The poor little soul missed her Christmas Carol concert - I think I was probably more disappointed than her though at the thought of missing her warbling Away In A Manger in an angel outfit!  Still, worse things happen, at least we are tucked up in a cosy warm house which is the best place to be really!

I hope you are all keeping warm and toasty, if you're iced up and snowed in, do take care ~ for the rest of you who are blessedly snow free, enjoy your freedom and think of us snow bound mortals shivering up north!!

Sending love, warmed mince pies, mulled wine and twinkling lights...

See you again soon, thank you for dropping by today!

Julia x

Oh Felty Christmas Tree!

Hello!

I couldn't resist popping in today to share this little tree decoration we made with you all.

This morning, Little Bean woke up full of cold, coughing and spluttering so nursery was cancelled.  Dosed up with Calpol, the temperature subsided, and energy levels seemed to return to normal!!  Quickly bored, I decided that we ought to make the most of the wild squally weather and make something festive (I know, I know, it's only November...)  Anyway!!! We came up with this, I have seen something similar in shops, and wondered if we could make our own with a stash of gorgeous thick felt (purchased last year from the delightful Blooming Felt - highly recommended for great quality felt goodies and smashing customer service).

(the stash)

SO! Without further ado, Little Helper was settled at the table and drew a template from a ramekin on a piece of card.

Grown up Helper then proceeded to cut a circle out, drawing around it onto the felt, before slightly decreasing the size of the cardboard circle and continuing...I probably should have used a compass for a perfect circle, but we went freehand, and to be honest, I kind of like the wobbly hand made effect it gives!!!

(drawing ever decreasing circle templates...)

After a while of drawing and cutting, we had a suitable pile of felt discs that made a rough Christmas tree shape.  Oh, and we also cut out a star for the top.

Next thing we needed was a little stumpy trunk for the base of the tree.  We did this by cutting a long slim rectangle of pale fawn felt, rolling it up and sewing the edge to the main part of the roll...

After securing the sewn edge with a knot, I then neatly weedled the needle through the 'trunk' popping it out at the opposite end in the centre.  This is where we would begin to join our discs.

Between sniffles, the Little Bean had a fabulous time with a blunt needle, sewing through the dots I'd drawn onto the felt to help her.  She was most excited to be using a Big Persons Needle for the very first time, and I must say, she did an excellent job!

I finished the tree off by sewing up through the star - this felt is very thick so it was easy to do this, I then made a small knot to secure and left a length of cotton so we could hang our tree up!

I'm now debating raiding the daughter's Mister Maker box for some tiny rainbow coloured pom-poms to use as baubles, but I'm not sure...for now though, I think it looks grand!

I was really hoping to share pictures of my new painting today, but alas, with a little one in the house, working on a painting is impossible - however, I've been inspiring myself with my surroundings....

...and sketching seed heads regularly...I do love the sculptural silhouettes they create against a bright sky!

Leaving a painting is generally a good thing however, as I've learnt over time; it gives me space to look at it, see parts that need attention, or bits that need adding here and there.  For now though, Im happy with how it's progressed and am itching to get stuck in again!!

I'll share some more work in progress pics with you soon.

One more thing before I go...last week three lucky ladies were the first to comment on my Pay It Forward post...I have left comments on their blogs so I'm hoping they are aware of this, however if not, would you lovely souls named below please get in touch with your addresses, so I can mail a little something out to you in due course to keep the PIF love a-flowing!!

Twiglet (I think I have your address from before)

Lhia from The Rainbows Zen

Hello Gorgeous

Righty-ho!! That's it for me, I'm off to make a nice cup of lemon tea and a browse through my new mag (Country Homes & Interiors, its a lovely one this month!)

Sending love to you, Julia x x x