I wish you all a Magical Christmas full of happiness and cheer! Don't forget to put out those stockings and leave a mince pie or two for the great man himself! Warmest Wishes, xx
In typical British fashion, we have a downfall of snow and everything grinds to a halt; trains don't run, post isn't delivered and schools are closed!! LOL!! And unfortunately I had an Open House Sale scheduled for this morning which turned out to be a waste of time with only two sales, as no-one was venturing out of their homes into the snow. I had been organising it for a few weeks and had lots of people wanting to come but the closure of the school was the first bad thing for me, as alot of my customers were Mums who were popping by after they dropped their kids off to school, and as my home is right opposite the school I was hoping for a rush of Mums through the door at 9am, which of course didn't happen.
I had quite a few new items on offer including my new line of festive name place settings above, guess I'll be using these now for my own Christmas table.
I also had a Guest Artist selling her line of fabric jewellery, Carol makes gorgeous pieces of jewellery from recycled fabric, as well as bags, hats and a bespoke clothing range. She had brought alot of her items over the previous day to set up in my Conservatory where my sale was taking place, at this point we were aware that there may be snow but were hoping it wouldn't be enough to cause the closure of the School, so we decided to take a chance and continue with the sale.
It was lovely converting my Conservatory into a little shop for the day, it looked so pretty with all the Christmas lights up around the room and with the snowy garden as a backdrop it felt very festive and Christmassy.
One of my fabric Angels is displayed amongst Carol's jewellery. And take a look at the gorgeous handmade evening bag made by Carol below....
Carol is so very talented and I'm looking forward to working with her regularly throughout 2010. Below are shots of my tags, bookmarks, cushions and Boudoir Feather Dusters.
As the morning passed by we realised that we weren't going to get the steady stream of customers that we were anticipating so we just enjoyed a good old girly chat, steaming hot tea and some mince pies and planned out our ideas for the Spring Open Day.
All of my jewellery was on display, including my new line of Vintage Dreams necklaces and rings.
I was pleased to sell one of my Fabric Victoriana Brooches below, they are a particular favourite of mine and I'll definitely be producing lots more styles of these in 2010.
You can see the backdrop of snow from my conservatory windows below... can you believe that this really caused all the chaos we experienced this morning? Well if you're a Brit I guess you can!!
We'd got lots of mince pies for customers to munch on, so of course we couldn't let them go to waste!!!
All in all it was very frustrating and disappointing to have gone to all this trouble of setting up the sale and then it being snowed off, but that's life, so onwards and upwards.... Spring Sale here we come!!
Ohhhhhh what a wonderful performance my boys School put on this morning for their Nativity Play! Armed with my camera and a handful of tissues I attended their production of "Ooops a Daisy Angel", which was filled with song, smiles and laughter... it was wonderful. My beautiful boys were a sheep (Ethan, above) and a Shepherd (Cameron below), and they looked fantastic in their costumes.
Nativity plays have certainly changed alot since I was little, it was a wonderful production with really lovely costumes that were all supplied by the school, no old bed sheets for shepherds outfits here today! lol!
I'm really in the Christmas spirit now..... not only has it been a very festive morning, but the weather is beautifully sunny and crisp and there are rumblings of snow for Friday.
Well last weekend we decided to put the Christmas Decs up as the kids were driving us crazy wanting Christmas to start!! LOL!! So we trekked up to the attic and brought down the Christmas Boxes that come down but once a year. 
I always really enjoy opening each box and carefully unwrapping the decorations, as if they were brand new all over again. I even get the odd surprise each year when I forget a particular decoration only to be reminded of it again as it comes before my eyes.
This year I treated myself to a new decoration in the form of this gorgeous Primitive Skating Mouse above. I purchased her from Black Cat Primitives in the US and when she finally arrived in the post last week she didn't disappoint; She is made from Muslin that has been painted and lightly sanded, coffee stained and rubbed with Cinnamon (she smells gorgeous, so festive). She has a french knot eye and embroidery floss whiskers. She is wearing a pretty waistcoat that is decorated with rusty jingle bells. She is also wearing a snowcap made from knit fabric and cute little mittens. Her ice skates are made from twigs and there is a grubby hang tag stamped with "Let It Snow" that is attached to her with a rusty safety pin. She has pride of place hanging on the entrance door to my lounge.
I adore my little tree decorations I have so many different ones that I have collected over the years.
This year the smell from our Christmas Tree is so strong and along with the coffee and Cinnamon scent from my new "Grubby Little Skating Mouse" the lounge smells so festive.
Below is my Christmas Welcome Sign which sits in the window right next to the front door, I have moved it to take the photo below. The little fabric Angel sitting above the sign was a handmade gift given to me last year by my good friend Sarah.
Both of my Bay Windows in the Play Room and Kitchen, are decorated with little tin and fabric ornaments like the one below.
And the Conservatory (or Garden Room) as my boys call it, has little twinkling white lights that come on in the evening and this huge Reindeer Head which the boys have named Rudolph. It was a gift to them from their Grandma and Grandpa.
Hope your houses are looking super festive this Christmas!
A few samples of some festive angel brooch pins for this Christmas Season. I have produced several colours, other than these shown here there are blue and yellow also. They are displayed on a primitive style card, and would make a pretty stocking filler.
More festive goodies coming soon!
Over the past few weeks I've been busy attending various Christmas Fairs, some have been good, some not so good, but I always enjoy myself however the day turns out. On a couple of occasions I've been accompanied by my good friend Carol, who is extremely talented in her own right. Carol produces a stunning bespoke ladies clothing line, along with unusual fabric jewellery, handbags, hats and scarves.
This Christmas my stand has been packed with a variety of goodies to include cards, gift tags, bookmarks, magnets, my boudoir feather dusters, vintage jewellery, journals, gift boxes and much more besides.
As my stock grows it is becoming increasingly difficult to display it all on the standard 6ft table, so when Carol attends with me we take along free standing shelving and other display items to help cope with the large amount of stock. I think next year I'll have to invest in more display ideas!
Setting up the stand is always a favourite part of the day for me, I love tinkering around to get the stand looking just right, it's very satisfying standing back once it's finished and seeing all your hard work on display in one place.
Just look at this gorgeous waistcoat made by Carol, it is soooooo stunning, and the lining inside is just as beautiful.
Above is a shot of my Marie Antoinette paper doll, I just love her, she always gets lots of attention from visitors to my stand.
Above a selection of my handmade journals and Christmas Gift Boxes, these are the last few I have left.
A close up of a fabric brooch made by Carol, pinned onto her beautiful waistcoat, and you can just make out the fabric chain necklace made by Carol also, a great festive piece!
Some more of Carol's fabric jewellery.... beautiful, fun, quirky pieces, that are very unique!
And above, a shot of my fabric Christmas Angels and some of my vintage inspired jewellery, more jewellery below.......
And always popular are my bookmarks, below, these are really good selling items for me, and they make great Christmas gifts.
Here we are below, smiling and ready for action!! LOL!! 
Look out later this week for my Christmas Angel Brooches and also a tour of my home decorated for Christmas! Ta, ta for now.
.jpg)
