CRAFTING TOWARDS CHRISTMAS

Hi everyone

Not sure if the title of my post should be crafting towards Christmas or panicking towards it.  I can successfully find a million and one reasons for not doing something, and that is exactly what I seem to be doing at the moment.  33 days before my first Christmas Craft event in which I have to make Christmas cards, every-day cards, gift bags and boxes, Christmas wreaths and if time is on my side, candles (these have appeared on my mental to-do list since last year and have tended to not move from the bottom)!

I have taken the plunge and will be attending a Wedding Fayre on Sunday, 7 October at the Frensham Pond Hotel.  The couple whose wedding stationery I created recently recommended me to the event organiser at the hotel, so this coming week will be spent making some display items.  There is apparently one other wedding stationer at the event, so I am hopeful it will be a great success for both of us.  Do I feel  nervous?  Yes!  I am using the purple and cream card from previous work to create one range for next week (I have plans for others) and include everything from Save the Date to place name cards.  Here is a photograph of the invitations - not too sure about them yet, but only mocks so can play around with them some more this coming week:

As my blog readers/followers know I have a competition running on my blog to mark World Card-Making Day (6 October).  I have received some really beautiful cards already, and I know more are on the way.  There is still time to join in, so please do - as mentioned in my recent posts the competition is being sponsored by new craft magazine Make & Craft who have been great at supporting and promoting this event (the first issue is due for publication on 12 October - very exciting, so don't miss the launch party).  There is still time to enter (the closing date is Wednesday, 3 October), so why not join in?  I will be posting all cards received on a special blog post on Saturday, 6 October and I would like to ask everyone who visits and comments on my blog post to drop in on Saturday and comment on your favourite card (or cards) please.  There are three prizes so the three cards that receive the most comments will be the winners.  I will announce them on Facebook, Twitter and the Crafts Forum and in my blog post on Sunday, 7 October.

I hope you caught this week's guest blog post from Emma Louise Szostok.  Emma's cards are really beautiful and look at her gorgeous wedding invitations - being someone who likes black and white, I think they are stunning.  I think a lot of us can understand Emma's feeling about being 'hidden away' at a craft event.  I once attended one where I was place in the refreshments room with two other crafters.  Great, I thought, bound to stop and buy - sadly, no because all visitors were interested in by the time they got to my room was food and drink.  It's a learning curve that seems to have no end.

I have had 5 invitations this week from local schools to take part in their Christmas Fairs as I attended last year's events.  It is nice to be remembered, but I am sticking to my decision to do few and hopefully more high-profile ones this year. The right decision?  I will let you know once they have all taken place.

The non-crafty stuff

First of all a belated, but nonetheless grateful thank you to Julie at Anglers Rest.  Julie held a Books Giveaway blog competition recently and I was lucky enough to be the winner - I received my lovely prize of the book Toast by Nigel Slater.  Thank you Julie.  I do recommend to those of you who are local to Guildford and of course Christmas Pie that you visit Julie's other blog.  She has some incredible pictures on there of life in this area in days gone by.

We are back to being a two-car family again - thank goodness!  Transport where we live is not very frequent and if one of us is out, it means the other one is very restricted as to what they can do.  I know in these times it may seem extravagant and I am sure when we both retire (do crafters retire?) we will have to re-think the car situation, but at the moment they are both necessary. The good news is that the new car seems to run on fresh air (I wish), and costs considerably less than the previous one to tax and maintain.

I went to the Godalming Independent Market on Saturday - not as a stallholder, but as an assistant stallholder.  I helped a friend set up her stall, 'hung' around for about an hour when the event opened and then.  This was the same friend, Linda, who helped me out last weekend.  She makes gorgeous cakes and one in particular, walnut and coffee, was very popular.  However, one 'customer' informed us that she had seen another cake-maker (not local) selling a similar cake for £3.50!  How she had managed to do so to cover ingredients, time, power and make a profit I have no idea!  I was just waiting for the customer to tell me that this cake-maker was 'only doing it as a hobby'!

I started my main pottery project last week - a mask made of porcelain.  I have made the basic face part, and spent some time rolling porcelain into worm-like shapes for hair.  I haven't quite decided on the mask's features, but I do fancy a wild hairstyle.  I also dipped my necklace and earrings and if they have been fired this week, I hope to be able to add them to my next Sunday's post.  I chose Denby Blue - when I did a test piece this came out as a purple colour, which was lovely.  Problem is, will it be the same this time around.

Don't forget to send me the photographs of your card(s) for the World Card-Making competition by Wednesday of this week - please send them to christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.  I have some great guest bloggers lined up for October, and if you would like to start the ball rolling for the November bloggers, please do get on touch on the same email address for the card competition.  Don't forget to visit the other bloggers taking part in this week's Handmade Monday event - I know you will find lots of lovely makes and posts

Have a good week everyone - I will be back on Wednesday, my guest blogger will be here on Friday and I will be posting all of the card entries here on Saturday

Jill