WINTER HAS ARRIVED - ROLL ON SUMMER

Hello everyone

I know colder weather had been forecast for Friday, but it still came as a bit of a shock.  So far no frost in Christmas Pie, but very cold.  In certain areas of our garden that are protected from cold winds, there are still some summer flowers blooming - hanging on until the last possible moment before they give up until summer.

Have you read my latest guest blogger's post?  It is mouth-wateringly good and just look at the pics of those cakes and cookies.  Thank you Mrs Crafty B, it is a great post.

This week has been busy - my first Christmas event is on 3 November and I am working to ensure I have a good variety of stock.  I have done this event before and it has always been good - perhaps helped because it is based opposite a Waitrose supermarket with free car parking for 2 hours?  I started to make some snow-globe cards this week and hope to have a few ready for next Saturday.  No cards to show really as I have been making and packing as I go, so my 'make of the day' is some more of my pottery work:

This is a half-circle tall candle holder made of porcelain.  The pattern is from a piece of embossed wall-paper and I cut the top to the shape of the pattern and then pierced holes all over following the design.  It is currently 'drying' and will be biscuit-fired the week following half-term (next week).  I haven't decided on the colour yet, but definitely something very glossy.

I haven't completely finished the wreath I displayed last week - I changed the embellishment from red velvet ribbon flowers to white roses.  The colour difference is more striking, but I haven't completely forgotten the red velvet flowers and they will appear on another wreath.

It's a good time to visit this week's Handmade Monday post to see other great blogger's work as I bet there will be lots of lovely Christmassy things to read about.

Following the Wedding Fayre I attended recently, I checked out one that was taking place the following week very near to where I live.  I emailed the organiser asking if they had spaces and what the price was.  They asked me to ring, which I did but the price was outside of my budget.  I told them this and they immediately reduced it by £25.  Still too high and they said 'well it is going to be a good event'.  Ten minutes later I received an email reducing the fee by a further £25!  I replied stating this was still outside of my budget (which it was, it wasn't me applying any stall price-reduction tactics) and they responded dropping the price to nearly half the original cost!  I couldn't decide whether this was a genuine offer to help a small business or a desperate plea because the 'two spaces left' really had a zero after the two.  I didn't do the event and felt sorry for anyone that had paid the full price if others came along later in the pre-event stages and paid considerably less.  I know it is possible to negotiate (sometimes) the prices of stall rental, but how fair is it on others?

I placed an advertisement with Adgo - I used this to specifically promote my wedding stationery.  If you place one of Adgo's banners on your blog or website, your advertisement is permanently free - how could I refuse?  Thank you Adgo.

Outside of my crafty world

The other side of my crafty world has been sociable this week.  I spent Wednesday helping a friend with her website - embarrassing really as I am still slowly, very slowly working on mine.  I am trying to convince her of the value of a blog, but not succeeding so far.  I am also encouraging her to use Twitter more to promote her work and the events she is taking part in.  As we live is a world that thrives on social media, I feel every opportunity should be taken to use them to support a small business.  I know my friend's priority is her website, so I am sure once that is up and running everything else will follow.

I helped out at the Woking Cats Protection Christmas Fayre yesterday and it was a great success.  Lots of visitors who contributed to making it a great fayre and help raise much-needed funds.  I won a prize in the tombola and bought some cat nip twists for Jazz and Daisy and the kittens: Jasper and Wallace, who are still with me.  They are progressing very slowly - no longer spitting, purring more and hissing less, but still a little nervous.  They are off to the vets on Tuesday for their first jabs and to be chipped.

I hope you have managed to read my post about National Black Cats Day?  Three gorgeous black kittens waiting for new homes - have a look at their pictures on the website.

I met up with friends for a meal on Friday - we re-visited a restaurant we had been to before, but sadly it wasn't as good this time.  The service was poor, food not very hot and does it really take 15 minutes to make/serve a cup of coffee?    One off of the list for either future visits or recommendations.

A day of kittens and cards beckons.  Don't forget to come back for my mid-week post.  At the moment I don't have a guest blogger for this week, so if anyone would like to have a guest blog spot, please let me know (christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com).

Have a good week everyone

Jill