CAKES, CAKES AND MORE CAKES

Hi everyone

I did my last Christmas Fair on Saturday and Father Christmas was there too - with his 'busiest day' looming, I am amazed he finds the time to be in so many places this month.  Mind you, he does have 11 months to get ready for his one-day-a-year-job - I couldn't his job though.  All that lugging around of great sacks of parcels, stopping at millions of homes, in and out of the sleigh (constantly thinking 'have I locked it?), exposed to the elements (you would think sleighs these days would be enclosed) and at the end of the night getting home to find there is still one present left in the sack and the home it should have been delivered to is half-way across the world.  Decision time: do I deliver it now, leave it for next year or pop it in the post?  Too much to cope with in one night - think I will stick to what I know best.

I won 12 gorgeous cup-cakes in the Christmas Fair's raffle - very tempting, but I am trying really hard to avoid sweet things, but I could see they were calling me when I went to the prize table to collect them.  However, I decided to hang out until Christmas for sweet things (I wish) and as we have cake-loving neighbours, they shared in my win.

Last week was a busy week in Christmas Pie Crafts: a card order plus getting ready for Saturday's event and also producing some stock specifically for my wall at Bourne Mill.  I want to have a sort out of my stock there and move things around - I remember one of the centre's traders saying to me that moving the stock around is a good sales tactic - it works too.

A busy week this week too (work-wise and me-wise) - have a card to make, plus promised myself  this year we will send our own Christmas cards out early (normally it is a last minute thing), out for lunch with friends today and off for a Spa Day with a friend on Thursday - no pamper treatments booked as I have my toes painted regularly at a local salon, but I know lots and lots of talking will take place.

Handmade Monday is here again and frightening to realise that there are only 2 more before Christmas  .  My 'show' today is a card I recently made for a specific order.  I have blotted out the words/names on the front as the card has not yet been posted by my customer.  The card is a step design and I have used papers from the Popular Crafts magazine website.  I used the larger printout for the background and then cut out several snow-covered trees to add to the front section.  It isn't a great photograph - found it tricky to photograph something that in effect is 3-D but I hope you like it.  Don't forget to visit the other blogs taking part in Handmade Monday - lots of lovely crafty goodies and great blog posts too.

Must get back to card-making - one order to complete this morning and I want to get it into the post before I meet up with my friends at lunch-time.  Enjoy the week everyone, I will be back on Wednesday with my mid-week blog post.

Jill