Wishing You All a Happy New Year!

I hope you are all enjoying your New Years Eve Celebrations whatever you may be doing.

May 2009 be happy and prosperous for you all!!

The Water Sprites

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and Boxing Day! I had a lovely time with my family on Christmas Day and then the In-Laws on Boxing Day. My boys were extremely hyper all day and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. My wonderful hubby thoroughly spoilt me with lovely gifts and also cooking a fabulous Christmas Dinner for all the family. One gift he brought me was a Wacom Bambo Tablet and Pen which I had wanted to go along with my new Corel Paint Shop Pro. I have spent the last hour or so having a "Play" with my new toy and here is the finished result of my photo altering "The Water Sprite Siblings"... Hope you like it!

Warmest Fairy Wishes for Christmas

I am going to take a well earned break now in these last few days leading up to Christmas, so I take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful Christmas, and look forward to more fairy fun and frolics in the new year!

The Little Christmas Fairy

A little Christmas Fairy
Who lived here at my house
was doing strange things while I slept,
I'd thought it was a mouse!
She seemed to be content up there,
So high up on the tree, and
maybe I'm a bit insane - I'm
SURE she winked at me!!!

So just the other night you know,
when she thought I was sleeping,
I semi closed my eyes you see - she
did not see me peeping!... but
Hey! - She took a mighty leap
And flew across the room,
her little wings a flapping' like
A butterfly in June!

I nearly gave the game away
and shrieked out in delight,
just witnessing this wondrous sprightly
vision in the night.

But I kept cool, cause I'm no fool
and saw enchanting things.
The Fairy landed on my nose,
Stardust fell off her wings!
AAAAAAA-CHOO! I sneezed
She zoomed off fast and nearly hit the wall!
I didn't know that sneezes moved
as fast at that at all!...
I dived then out of my warm bed
to pick her up you see, and
put her back where she belonged,
Up the top of the tree!

So, seeming now that all was well
I got back into bed.
I heard a tiny voice say "night" or
was that in my head?
But after just the shortest time,
now would I lie to you?
My tree seemed to be moving and I
swear it said AAAAAAAA-CHOO!

Digital Art

I was so excited last week when my new software, Corel Paint Shop Pro, arrived in the post. I haven't had much time to play around with it, but I thought I'd post here my first "play" attempt at altering one of my beloved vintage images.

Weekly Showcase

Here is my showcase offering for this week... An Artist Trading Card with hang handle. I created this for Halloween last year, I adored the vintage image and wanted to do something magical with it... and this was the finished result "Little Shining Stars".

Visiting Father Christmas at Lapland UK!

Oh my, my, my.... What a wonderful experience I had with my family at the Lapland UK Resort yesterday. I must admit, I was a little worried after all the bad press regarding the New Forest Resort, but I shouldn't have worried at all as this experience was so professional and magical. Held at Bewel Water in Kent this was truly the closest I thing you could get to experiencing Lapland without having to travel to the real place! We spent four wonderful hours in the company of Elves, Nordic Folk, Huskies, Reindeer and of course himself.... Father Christmas.

The experience started with trying to get into Lapland by waking a sleeping Elf who was guarding the huge wooden door into Lapland. Once we had achieved this we then walked through a twisty tunnel heavily line with foliage and twinkling lights to meet further elves and then be guided into Lapland itself. As the kids walked out into Lapland they were greeted with white fluffy snow, twinkling lights and beautiful Nordic style wooden houses. The first stop was the Rocking Horse Toy House were the children met the Elves who helped make some of Santa's Toys and they were encouraged to help put a Rocking Horse head together.

Next stop is the Gingerbread House where the kids are met by Mother Christmas and her Elf helpers. They decorate their own Gingerbread Man and then gather round Mother Christmas, who sits in a huge Rocking Chair and reads them the story of the Gingerbread Man.. it was so magical to see the kids all gathered around her listening intently, all the lights are dimmed with just a spotlight on Mother Christmas, it was a wonderful site.

After a hearty lunchtime meal with some mulled wine, we were then free to roam around for half an hour before meeting Father Christmas. Here my boys with their cousin had a quick sit in Santa's sleigh. We then went on to visit the Reindeer's and whisper where we lived in their ears to make sure they know for Christmas Eve (my boys loved this!). And then we made our snowy way along to see Father Christmas.

At this point I should mention that it was a very cold and as you are out for most of the four hours I would recommend wrapping up very warm, especially the kids. Our Cameron was getting a little upset by the cold so we had to do a quick pit stop in one of the warm log cabins before we could continue on.

The organisation that goes into this experience was top class, everything ran so smoothly and professionally. When we did finally make our way to the waiting area for Father Christmas I was concerned that we would have quite a wait due to the amount of families there but I was pleasantly surprised as we only waited for ten minutes before we were led down a remote, snowy path to his gorgeous log cabin.

Once we arrived we were asked by his Elf Helper to wait outside on his doorstep, there was a little bench for us to sit on and at this point the boys were beside themselves with excitement!

Finally the moment came and we entered his log cabin! We were greeted by a wonderfully warm and humble Father Christmas who Ethan ran straight up to (I don't think he could of gotten any closer to him) and he spent the entire time transfixed on him asking questions and answering any that were sent his way. Cameron on the other hand stayed fast by his Daddy's side but did nod and occasionally brave an answer when he was asked. Of course as soon as Father Christmas got out his present sack both boys were at his side like a shot and they were presented with a gorgeous fluffy Huskie Teddy each. We then had our photo taken with Father Christmas and said our goodbyes.

But our day didn't end there, we had one last thing to do before we left... Ice Skating! There was a beautiful ice rink in the centre of Lapland UK with a huge, twinkling white Christmas tree in the centre and everyone seemed to love skating, or slipping and sliding their way round the rink. And a great day was had by all! If you want to check out the experience go to their official website http://www.laplanduk.co.uk/

Countdown To Christmas

It took a whole afternoon to decorate our home last weekend, but now it feels really Christmassy. My boys are soooooo excited now that the decorations are up, it's non stop questions about Father Christmas and when he is going to come. I don't know how we are going to contain their excitement for another week and a half!!

It's going to be a lovely Christmas this year, we have my whole family coming to us for Christmas Dinner, so we need to make sure we're stocked up with lots of firewood to keep a roaring fire going all day. I am extremely lucky that my husband loves cooking as he is the Christmas Dinner Cook for the whole family so I get to relax a bit and make sure everyone is having a good time.

Tomorrow we are in for a real treat, we are taking our boys to a "Lapland Experience" in Kent (thankfully not the awful one that has been in the news lately). The boys are so excited, they will get to see the Elves at work in their workshop, visit the Gingerbread House, see real Reindeer and Huskies, go Ice Skating and get to see Father Christmas, it should be a wonderful day. Check it out at http://www.laplanduk.co.uk/ I'll be sure to post all the pics here within the next few days!