WHERE OH WHERE HAD MY BLOG GONE?

Hello everyone

My blog disappeared!  I have spent many weeks trying to locate it, on my own, with the help of Blogger/Google and have been tempted many times to throw my computer out of the window - I am sure many of you understand this feeling?  However, I am the first to admit that computers are not to blame, it is we humans who do most of the damage.  It turned out to be a different email address I had opened and for some crazy reason had used it to access my blog - er, why?  I really don't know, but I am so pleased that I have now solved the problem and can access my old blog posts.  I know the authors hoping to win next year's Booker Prize have nothing to worry about, but not being able to access the blog meant I could not update any information about events, layout, etc.  You can probably hear the sigh of relief and feel the warmth from my very red face.  I am now one happy blogger.

Since my last blog post, which must have been, oh years and years ago, I have had an event at a new venue: the Wilfrid Noyce Centre (WNC) in Godalming.  A lovely venue that was refurbished earlier this year and now has two great halls; the main one has lots of light and plenty of room.  It has a very smart brand new kitchen, which makes setting up our pop-up cafe very easy.  We have a great caretaker who helps us set up and pack away - what more could we ask for in a venue?

Our next event in the WNC is on 5 November.  I have been trying to arrange a Best Guy competition to take place during the event, but the response has been disappointing.  I put a couple of posts out asking for local Godalming businesses to support the event, but sadly, nothing.  My plan is for it to be on a quid pro quo basis of mutual benefit to everyone involved, so Godalming businesses if you are interested please do get in touch.  Just a small gift, promotion for the event and plenty of advertising from me both before and after the event.

In addition to new venues, it has been a very sad time here in Christmas Pie.  One of our neighbours, who would have celebrated her 101st birthday next month, died last week.  This was closely followed by the loss of a distant family member and as we were thinking that unhappy events tends to go in threes, we received the very sad news that a favourite uncle passed away on Friday.

This time of year is always busy for me, both on the organising of events side as well as the taking part in events side.  On Saturday, 29 October I am taking part in the Woking Cats Protection Christmas Fayre in the New Haw Community Centre, Woodham Lane, Addlestone, KT15 3ND.  If you are free on that day, why not come along and buy some of the goodies there will be for sale in support of our kittens and cats.  There will be lots of lovely stalls selling gorgeous things, a chocolate tombola and I understand there will be bacon sandwiches.

Have a great week everyone - I will definitely be back next week because I now know how to get into my blog.

Jill

PARKINSON'S AWARENESS WEEK

Hi everyone

What a beautiful day it was yesterday in Christmas Pie land and it looks as though today will be just as lovely (although the sun has just popped in).  Wall-to-wall sunshine after a very frosty start which didn't seem to do any damage to tender plants in the garden.  The temptation when it is sunny is to bring everything out of the greenhouse, plant up pots and baskets and think 'yipee, summer's here'.  Sadly we can still have frosty weather for several more weeks and having carefully looked after many tender plants throughout the winter, I would hate to lose them now.

This week is Parkinson's Awareness Week.  Some of you may know that my sister was diagnosed with this early last year; it was a shock to her family and friends, although she had been feeling it was a possibility for sometime.  Apart from being a get-up-and-go and rarely sit-down-person, she used to be the amazing front-of-house person at my events in Godalming and was a great help in increasing the footfall throughout last year.  Sadly, she is not able to do this for me now as she becomes tired easily and a busy day can often mean two or three slow and painful days to recover.

My sister is a third generation family member to have Parkinson's and we, as yet, do not know if the next generation has or will be similarly affected.

She has been busily posting on Facebook and Twitter today to get peoples attention about this week and I have been sharing, liking and re-tweeting her posts and those from Parkinson's associations.  I have posted separately on Facebook and asked my followers to share, like and visit the various Parkinson's Facebook pages to share, like and help raise awareness, and I hope my blog followers will show their support too.

Jill

SUN, SEA AND SEAFOOD - WHAT MORE COULD I ASK FOR

Hello everyone

Just back from a week in lovely Xlendi (pictured here) on the island of Gozo.  The temperature was around 30 degrees all week and it was a good excuse to relax, read lots and get a nice sun tan.

We stayed in the San Andrea Hotel which is 2 seconds (well possibly 3) from the sea and I really recommend this hotel for its location, friendly staff and great restaurant (the Zafira).  Despite on two nights having over one hundred guests in the inside part of the restaurant for events, the staff still maintained their usual excellent service for all diners.  This was the view from our hotel:

There are lots of beautiful bays on Gozo, which is a very popular island for divers.  Every morning during breakfast, we would watch the divers from a local school go off for their morning dive.  I used to think 'no way could I get into those suits in this heat'.  On their return they looked as though they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and came back the next day for another session.

There are many beautiful churches on Gozo and this is one that we photographed because of the spectacular paintings on the towers on either side of the building:

As well as being a cat fanatic, I am also a seafood/fish fanatic.  This holiday allowed me to indulge my fishy taste and every day was a fishy treat for me: lobster, prawns, seam bream, squid, octopus and many other delicious goodies.  The restaurants we visited were all in and around the Xlendi bay and throughout our stay they were visited by three lovely tabby cats - did we feed them?  Of course we did, how could we not.  Here is photograph of one of them:

You can see that he has one ear 'tipped'; this means he has been tipped, neutered and returned and is supported by the local SPCA.  Needless to say they are very friendly because they are hoping for food.  The restaurant staff are very tolerant of them and the majority of diners are too.

It's back to work now, although I did try to keep an eye on business communications while I was away.  My new venture, Village Vintage is up and running and I am recruiting stallholders, so if you are 'strictly vintage' and would like to take part in my vintage events, please do get in touch.  The Surrey Bazaar events are filling up nicely and I am planning to spend more time on my wedding stationery business.

I hope you all have a good week and I will be back again very soon with more Christmas Pie news.

Jill

MOVING FORWARD AND, YES, STILL CATCHING UP

Hell everyone

Hard to believe we are rushing towards another Bank Holiday weekend.  Although I no longer 'go out to work' (I work from home) I still look forward to weekends, and Bank Holiday ones are just as welcome as they were when I was a wage-slave.  Hope the weather is good as we are holding a birthday BBQ for a friend of ours - nipping in and out between rain showers to do the cooking is never that much fun (but I do seem to be able to delegate this job to Richard).  But then isn't that what Bank Holidays are for?  Dodging the rain, hoping for sun and getting a mix of both?

Earlier this year, I held a Vintage Bazaar in the Merrow Village Hall.  Vintage events are becoming more and more popular, but there do not seem to be many taking place around this area.  With that in mind and with bags of enthusiasm, Fee Fraser of Thimble & Thrift, and I have begun a joint-venture to create events for vintage enthusiasts (both stallholders and customers) and our new venture is called Village Vintage.  A new venture is always full of excitement as well as 'oh goodness me, will it work'.  I hope so, we both have lots of skills and experience to bring to the pot, so if you are around for our first event (19 September 2015) or you are interested in having a stall, do get in touch.

My moving forward and catching-up has involved lots of changes in my life; not all good ones.  My sister was diagnosed earlier this year with Parkinson's Disease - she is a very lively, fit and active person so this has come as a blow to her and our family.  Not long after this 'news', a good friend had a stroke - a minor one, but still life-changing.  It is hard when you really do not know what tomorrow will bring; we can plan as much as possible, but the future is definitely not in our own hands.

Because of the changes around me and changes in my life, I had to make decisions to give some things up.  Sadly, I decided I had to give up fostering kittens for Cats Protection.  It was a very hard and difficult decision and I really do miss having them here, but it became harder and harder to fit in the viewings, vet trips, the support they needed, and it also often felt unfair to my own furry gang.  I still support the Woking Branch in ways that I can, but I do miss those kittens.  I also had to give up managing the accounts of a friend's church - again a hard decision, but necessary.

Now I think I am bang up-to-date with life in Christmas Pie-land.  I am off to Chelsea tomorrow - really looking forward to it.  I go every year with a good friend who like me loves to garden and it is the highlight of our gardening year.  I get to meet my favourite Heuchera people again, Plantagogo, and this year I also want to check out Euphorbias - lovely structural plants.

Have a good week everyone, and enjoy the Bank Holiday no matter what the weather does.

Jill

BLUE SKIES

Hello everyone

So nice to have sunshine, blue skies and a reasonable temperature.  I hope you all survived last week's dreadful weather?  We have some flooding around here, mainly where fields are flooding onto roads, some holes have appeared in a few roads and when I ventured out on Saturday morning I came across lots of trees, bushes and numerous other things scattered across the roads around Christmas Pie.  We survived Friday night's high winds without too much damage - things that resided on one side of the garden appear to have decided they preferred to be in other places and one of the windows to which an automatic vent is attached in our greenhouse was ripped off.  Some roof tiles parted company with the roof, but on the whole we have been very lucky and hope it remains that way.

A busy week mainly working on my new project.  Banners, bunting, balloons and flyers have been received and because I ordered a bulk quantity of flyers, I have also purchased some sticky labels with the date of each event.  I left a space on the flyers for these to be applied, so time will be spent this week un-peeling and sticking.  I have had  lots of enquiries from crafters who have seen my post about the events on Streetlife and I am pleased to say that several have already booked a place in some of the events.

It hasn't been all event organisation though, I made another ribbon-wrapped bangle.  This time the bangle is covered in white silky ribbon and then decorated in strips of black and white net flowers:

I have also been decorating more jute bags for stock.  Hard to believe, but this one (a work in progress)  is bright red on black - looks more orange than red.  I really must take some lessons in how to take decent photographs.

That, briefly, is my week.  Another busy one coming up, no pottery this week as it is half-term, so some extra time to do things.  I hope you have a great week and the weather is kind to all of us.  Don't forget to visit Handmade Monday - I have a feeling we might be seeing Easter things this week.

Jill

SUPER SUNSHINE

Hello everyone

What a fabulous day it has been here in Christmas Pie - sunshine, fairly mild and not a single drop of rain.  Ideal gardening weather - it's always surprising how much there is to do at the beginning of the season (well nearly the beginning) despite working very hard to put the garden to bed in autumn.  Lots of daffodils peeping above the ground and one has a very large bud about the burst.  We have had a rose flowering throughout winter and I still have beautiful dark pink cyclamen flowering in a pot just by our back door.  I know the forecast is still for heavy rain, but let's hope spring is not too far off.

I held the second of my card-making workshops this week at the Farncombe Day Centre and in addition to six of the regular centre users, I had a lovely lady, Jenny, join me who found me via Streetlife.  I don't know if you have discovered Streetlife yet, but a good description is that is is like a very local Twitter and Facebook.  Its a great way to catch up with what is happening where you live - because there are often thousands of tweets showing up in our timeline, it is easy to miss something of importance.  Streetlife is more tailored to where you live so have a look at it and see what you think.

You may remember that I wrote about my pot last week and what had happened to it?  I found out last week that someone (unknown) had dropped it and sadly didn't bother to own up to it.  I would like to be charitable and say these things happen, which I know they do, however, failure to own up to it annoyed me.  Very disheartened as it is the third piece of work that I have been really pleased with that has either been damaged or, in this case, broken.  I am now worrying that my cat plaque survives the first firing without any damage or breaks.

A post without pics of makes again, I am getting very behind as need to get some jute bags decorated for stock.  However, hopefully next week I will have photographs of what I have been working on - fingers crossed.  Don't forget to nip over the Handmade Monday and catch up with everyone.  Have a good week and I will be back next Sunday.

Jill

IT'S GOOD NEWS WEEK

Hi everyone

It looks like it is going to be a beautiful evening after what started out as a soggy grey morning.  'We' are on holiday this week and next week - having a break in Stopathome, which is located in Windowsill Bay.  A lovely place, lots of green fields and good walks around us, the chance to catch up with friends and do some relaxing - have to do some housework though, so not all fun.  Oh, and of course, the 'we' doesn't mean I can stop making things.  It is getting to the time of year when Christmas events are more plentiful than long sunny days so I need to keep on making.  I am determined this year, possibly for the first time in many years, to have plenty of stock ready for the Christmas fairs.

This week has been tag and bag week.  More tags - I now have bags of tags (sorry, couldn't resist that) so think I will call a halt to making them.  One of my 'makes' are decorated gift bags and I need to begin making stock because I want to ensure I have plenty of sizes ready for my event season.  I have been looking at decorating the 'bag for life' jute bags and played around with one and the results is this:

I love butterflies and these are a particular gorgeous fuchsia pink.  It looks as though it should be easy-peasy to decorate, but believe me it wasn't!   Lining up the butterflies, gluing and ensuring they are stuck correctly was time-consuming.  I might have a play around with some more during the next week or so (patience permitting) - I would like to have one or two to put out at the Ripley Nurseries Craft & Food Fair on 31 August as a test run to see if there is any interest.

We have a big family get-together here in a couple of weeks time and we are trying to get our garden looking neat and tidy.  Not easy with five cats - no, not what you are thinking!  We have to be very careful with the tools we use as they think everything is a potential toy!.  Hose pipes are snakes to be chased, ladders are to be climbed, as are apple trees; rakes are for chasing (why?) and low plants are for snoozing on, in and under!  However, one plant that has survived well - probably because I moved it into a pot - is one of my Heuchera's.  I love these plants - the colours of their leaves are stunning.  Often it is like having the beautiful colours of autumn all year long.  This is one of my favourites:

It has a mix of gold, brown, red and yellow leaves; its name is Sweet Tea.  Among my 'collection' I have a bright lime green Heuchera called Key Lime Pie and a stunning dark red one called Fire Chief.  The flowers of Heuchera are almost non-existent, their beauty is in the leaves.  My favourite plant?  I think it is pretty close to the top.  What are your favourite plants?

Last week I mentioned about the wood-framed pond we moved from one side of the garden which was a big hit with the Christmas Pie cats.  Here is a picture of Coco dropping in for a pint!

The sun is still shining, so it's back into the garden.  It seems very quiet out there and that means Richard has decided to sit and watch the grass grow rather than cut it.  Have to put a stop to that.

Oh, and the reason for the title of this week's post?  I had the results of my operation this week and was very pleased to be told that the tumour that had been removed was benign!  What a relief!  There are very few times when I have felt like jumping up and down in a hospital, but this was one of them.  A very good news week for me.

Enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend everyone and I hope the weather is good for you, but before you go off to enjoy yourself, don't forget to whiz over to Handmade Monday - would you believe it is week 131?  Lots of lovely blogs to read.

See you next week.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

Running late again today - I blame it on the heat, too hot to do all of the things I am supposed to do.  However, as you all know, I am Chief kitten in Christmas Pie and this means I have a long list of things to do every day before I have time for myself: kitten meals to get ready, playing with the kittens, training them, making sure they don't go into the front garden, showing them where the sunniest or coolest parts of the garden are.  A Chief Kitten's work is never done.

Life at Christmas Pie has rather slowed down recently - the weather has been too hot to do 'stuff' and lots of my time is spent stretched out in a cool place snoozing.  There are times when I wish I hadn't told Coco and Poppy about these cool places because they often get to them before me!

Meal times are good fun - who gets fed first?  Jill can only manage three bowls at a time, so it tends to be the three who can dive on them the quickest.  Coco and Poppy try to push me out of the way, but this sort of behaviour is just not acceptable from young kittens and I tell them so!  They also try to do the same with Jazz and as he is such a big softy he moves out of the way for them.

I am off to snooze again - as I said at the beginning of my post, life is hard for a Chief Kitten.

See you next week - enjoy the sunshine

Milly

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

A gorgeous week of sunshine, but today grey and soggy - it doesn't stop me going out and having fun though.  I haven't brought any more wild-life home, but the feather collection is increasing - well it would be if Jill kept them!

However, the BIG news of the week is that Coco and Holly have been adopted - by Jill and Richard!  They came to the decision that they couldn't really part with them so yesterday was THE day - all the paperwork was completed and they are now official Christmas Pie residents.

Coco and Holly haven't really responded to their names and although Jill and Richard have always kept the original names of their adopted cats and kittens, Jill wants to change the names of the two newbies.  First of all it was going to be Coco and Chanel (as in the designer), then Poppy and Rosie because they like the flowers and the latest idea is Coco and Coffee.  Coco and Coffee are rather good names because they are very dark tortie cats - but watch this space.

It is settling-in-and-getting-used-to-each-other time here.  Jazz is fine with them - he likes anything with four legs - I am OK-ish and getting better, but Daisy isn't too sure about them.  She likes a quiet, calm life and we kittens can be very boisterous, because we like to play, rush around and jump and climb on things (and cats).

Although Coco and Holly now have a 'new' home, there are still lots of cats and kittens who are looking for their own new home, so don't forget to visit the Woking Cats Protection website if you are looking for a cat or kitten to adopt.

I have to check on the kittens (okay they are only one month older than I am, but I'm in charge) and then back out into the garden to play.

Have a good week everyone - I will be back next week with more Christmas Pie cats and kittens news.

Milly

MILLY'S DIARY

Hi everyone

Summer is here at last!  Woo hoo.  My black fur feels hot but my white fur is nice and cool.  I have been chasing lots of things this morning: damsel flies, butterflies and a bumble bee!  They all got away - better luck next time.

This is a photograph of me lounging on the garden table in between my 'chasing anything that flies' sessions - I did my bestest angelic look for Jill while she took the picture:

Jazz and Daisy are lounging a lot today as it is too warm for them - they are sooooo much older than me, so they need the rest.  Poor old souls.

One of Woking Cats Protection's lovely supporters is taking part in the Open Gardens Day event on Sunday, 23 June 2013 in support of the branch.  If you love gardens, do try to visit this one.  Lots of Cats Protection goodies will be on sale and you will get the chance to see photographs of the gorgeous cats needing homes.  You will be able to see photographs of Coco and Holly who are still looking for their forever home.

That's me blogged  for this week, the sunshine is too good to miss out on.  Enjoy the sunshine - I will be back next week with more 'tails' from Christmas Pie.

Milly

FRANTIC FRIDAY

Hi everyone

What a beautiful day it is here in Christmas Pie.  My brother and sister-in-law are safe in New York - so pleased to hear from them this week.  There are transport and power problems where they live, but they are safe which is the most important thing really.

I am at my first Christmas event tomorrow and I hope the weather will be bright and sunny too.  My event is the Godalming Independent Christmas Market - have a look on the Facebook page for details about all the wonderful stalls you will find there.  I think I have enough stock ready - lots of cards, but wanted to do some Christmas-themed fabric wreaths and didn't quite achieve that aim.

No guest blog post today, but back again next Friday with a great post, so don't forget to drop in.  If you would like to be a guest blogger, please do get in touch on christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com and I will email you some more information.  I am going to take the opportunity today to promote some of the recent guest blog posts that you may have missed, so here are links to them:

Gorgeous cakes from Mrs Crafty B

A really great post about Craft Events

Beautiful cards from Ali

A post about the beautiful cards entered in the World Card Making Competition

Confessions of a Craftaholic

Great posts and if you missed them first time around, they are certainly worth a visit.

Enjoy today everyone, the weather is gorgeous so make the most of it.  If you are in or around Godalming tomorrow, please call into the Christmas Event which is in the Borough Hall opposite the Waitrose Supermarket in Godalming.  I will be back on Sunday with my usual BIG blog post.

Jill

SUCH SADNESS: A NO CHOCOLATE EASTER

Hi everyone

Oh, it has been sooo hard not to pop a gorgeous chunky chocolate-filled chocolate Easter egg into my shopping trolley!  I am trying (slowly it seems) to lose weight and I know that one chocolate egg would be the beginning of slipping down the slippery slope of the return to chocaholicism (think that's the correct spelling).  Alas poor chocolate, I knew you well - very well in fact.

Happy Easter everyone - I hope the weather has been kind to you and you have been able to spend time with friends a family.

What sad weather it has been this weekend - yesterday in Christmas Pie it was dull, dreary and chilly.  Today started off with rain, then the sun came out and quickly rushed back in again.  Tomorrow is forecast for non-stop rain - I know we need it, but my weeds don't as they certainly manage very well without anything liquid.

I had several card orders this week.  One was for a card someone who likes their whiskey and also Zambucca - hopefully not at the same time or in the same glass.  Another was for someone who likes gardening - plenty of scope for that one.  However, another one is intended for someone who makes really beautiful greetings cards - no pressure then.  I love getting orders for unusual cards, even the ones that prove hard to produce designs for - very challenging and they do provide ideas and inspiration for other cards.  I will be adding them to my blog as I get them all completed.

A friend of mine is organising a flower show in May and my bags are going to be on sale at the show.  I don't need to be there as it is not a 'stalls for hire' event (although I will go as a visitor I think), but she will do the selling for me - what a star. I decided I would make a range that are floral-themed and as I have begun work on them I have included some pics here:

I used silver mirror-card (or mirri-card depending on where you buy it) for this one and added a floral embellishment.  I used part of the back of the embellishment pack to decorate the gift card.

Papermania flowers were used for this, I added dark pink glitter to the centre of each flower  I placed butterflies in the centre of the design and also to decorate the gift card.  Daisy sets the pic off quite nicely too.

A poor pic, but I wanted to include this as the colour of the mirror/mirri-card is gorgeous.  Again, I added a small spray of flowers and a butterfly.

I have a few weeks before the bags are needed, so I will continue to work on making some floral-decorated ones.

Lots of lovely new followers this week on my blog and Twitter - thank you all, and thank you to everyone who comments on my posts and my guest bloggers posts.  I know it can be hard work keeping up with everyone's blogs, but all comments appreciated very much.  Have you read Eva's Friday Guest blog post about Budapest?  It certainly sounds and looks a lovely place for a holiday.  There are some more 'places' posts coming up over the next few weeks, so don't forget to check in each week and if you have a project, place or something about your business that you would like to talk about, do get in touch at christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.  Don't forget to check out the LOVE UK CRAFTERS initiative that Popular Crafts are promoting - my Wednesday blog of last week referred to this and also included a reference to a report produced by the Crafts Council that is worth reading.

It's that time of the week when my fellow crafting bloggers will be posting their lovely makes from last week - and adding their words of wisdom too, so don't forget to visit Handmade Monday and while you are there, click on the link to Wendy's Handmade Harbour - lots of helpful advice and information for everyone involved in the handmade world.

I hope you enjoy the rest of Easter everyone - I will be back on Wednesday with my usual mid-week catch-up post.

Jill

MEANINGS

Hi everyone

Thank you lovely blog posters/followers for commenting on my Monday post and for producing such great posts this week for me to read.

Thank you also to the five great bloggers who have joined me in the Liebster Award - I am looking forward to seeing who you awarded it to.  It's great to be recognised by fellow crafters and and even better to be able to pass on the award.

A busy week so far - my car was in for its MOT on Monday and thank goodness it passed.  I sometimes feel an MOT is like going to the dentist - a painful way of parting with money and not an awful lot to show from either appointment.

As you know, I am in the process of producing my website and still not 100% sure what to put in the About Me section.  One thing that I thought would be good to include is why Christmas Pie is so called.  Shortly after we moved in, our local village historian society held an exhibition at the village hall.  We discovered that a family called Christmas originally owned the land around here and a pie (in land terms) is a parcel of land.  Apparently the Christmas family name in this area goes back to 1513.  More interesting information about the name and the area can be found on the Normandy Historians website.

As my post today is about meanings I came across the meaning of liebster which in German is friend, love or dearest.  A nice way to think of fellow bloggers really.

A brief post today - I hope you all have a fantastic day.  The sun has just come out and the temperature is so much warmer than this time last week.  Long may it last.

Don't forget, fellow crafters, I would love you to be part of my Friday Guest Blog adventure - so please do get in touch.

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone - check back on Friday for my guest post.

Jill

SUMMER? PERHAPS NOT JUST YET

Hello everyone

Not really summer, but certainly warmer today than the last few days.  We have had minus double figures in Christmas Pie recently.  boy, has it been cold.  I hope you have all survived without any mishaps.

First of all I want to thank Pamela and Lottie of Livelearnlaughbehappy who have very kindly awarded me the Liebster Award.  Thank you both, it is very much appreciated and very welcome from a fellow crafter; your blog posts are always very happy and a great read.  The Liebster Award is given to bloggers who have up to 200 followers in the hope it will bring them new followers and friends.  The tradition is that is is then passed on to five other bloggers to help them too.

To accept the award, you need to:

1  Link back to the person's blog who gave you the award and thank them
2  Post the award on your blog
3 Give the award to five fellow bloggers who inspire you
4  Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know

My inspirational 5 are:

Ali's Craft Studio

Jan of Handcrafted by Picto

Carol's Ditty Kingdom

Mich of mcrafts

Jem of Jam Dalory

You blog posts are great, I love your 'makes', you offer great advice and help when needed and you are lovely regular visitors to my Blog.  A big thank you.

Almost needless to say there are lots of other great bloggers I would have liked to give this award to, but you are so popular and have over 200 followers, so my apologies but I love reading your posts.

A busy week, lots of crafting started and woo hoo, finished too.  Slowly, very slowly, working on my website - very time consuming taking pics and thinking of words to put with them and also the 'about me' bit is hard.  Want to make it interesting and not frighten away potential customers but feel it comes own to the knowing what is just enough.  Perhaps I need a ghost write or maybe Jazz and Daisy can come up with something for me.  Er, on second thoughts, not so sure about that - in between snoozing and chasing things around the garden, doubt they have much time for anything else.

One of this week's makes was a gift bag for a friend.  She wanted something in dark blue and orange, so I came up with this:

For the backing I used bronze-coloured mirror card; the letters were negatives from Starform adhesive letters which I placed on mixed shades of orange-coloured card and cut around the outlines.  I added Starform stars (using the same card I had used for the letters) and fixed the whole page to a dark blue gift bag.  I used to make quite  few cards with the negative part of Starform letters, but haven't done so for some time.  I like the effect - both the positive and negative parts of the letters - and think it is something I should pick up on again.

Don't forget to check out Handmade Monday's Bloggers - week 53!  How amazing is that - as always I am sure it will be packed with great makes and lovely blog posts to read.

I am still looking for guest posters - if you have a topic related to handmade please do get in touch.  this is a great way of driving extra traffic to your blog and your website.

Have a good week - I will be back on Wednesday.

Jill

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

Hello everyone

A very cold day in Christmas Pie and the temperature is set to drop even further with, apparently, more snow on the way.  We still have snow lying around, but think it is now frozen chunks of ice.  With the exception of a small circle of 'warm' water where the pond heater is, the top of our fish pond is a frozen sheet of thick ice.  Because the weather had been so mild up to last weekend, the fish have been very active - they need to get some zzzzz's before their fun-filled spring-time arrives though.

Thank you to all of the lovely bloggers who commented on my Handmade Monday post - I particularly liked the one from Aliza that our age should be all about how we feel, not what the numbers say - so, 21 it is then.  Also thank you to my new followers for joining my blog - it is lovely to welcome new people and I look forward to sharing my posts with you and visiting your blog's too.

So far a busy-ish week.  Monday was an extended birthday celebration day - went out for lunch with a friend, followed by some light shopping which included craft supplies (of course).  A good day.  Yesterday was a mix of crafting and the major clear-out we are trying to have.  Early spring cleaning?  No, just can't get any more 'stuff' into certain places!  Isn't it amazing what you find when clearing out boxes, bags and cupboards?

One of my 'makes' of yesterday was a découpage bunny, which I placed onto blue mirror card, and then on to a floral sheet - all  ready for adding to a card at a later date.  One of my birthday presents was a photographic light tent together with lights and a camera tripod - something I had promised myself for a long time, so a lovely gift.  I have been practising using it, but my bunny pic was taken the 'old-fashioned' way relying on daylight (not much around at the moment):

I am still 'recruiting' guest bloggers for my Friday spot.  Although I have an article for this Friday, if you have a burning desire to take part please do get in touch.  I also have a blogger with a great post for Friday, 17 February, but need some takers for the Fridays after that.  This is a great opportunity to drive more visitors to your blog and your website.  My posts are sent to Twitter and Facebook, so lots of opportunity for new readers.

That's me for today - enjoy the rest of the week, keep warm and don't forget to come back on Friday

Jill

SUNSHINE AND DAFFODILS - IS IT SPRING?

Hi everyone

Driving through Seale (a small village near to Christmas Pie) I saw the first daffodils of the year in flower.  How wonderful and I hope that the change in weather that has been forecasted for the end of this week does not bring weather that will damage these early spring flowers.  I love the colour of spring, bright yellows of daffodils, pure white of narcissus, bright reds of tulips and that gorgeous purple of crocus.  I am a big fan of bright colours - in fact the very first bathroom that we 'owned' had yellow walls courtesy of me.  As you can imagine, I had to issue everyone with sunglasses when they came to see us.  Since then I have painted walls purple, paintwork bright red, and numerous other vibrant colours - although to assure you, these colours were not all in the same room.

I have had a busy week so far making items for my new ranges.  I have also managed to buy a set of pans for my candle-making - initially this will not be a major addition to the Christmas Pie Crafts range, but as I am a BIG candle fan, it seemed a good idea to give making them a go.  My first ones may just be all for me - they will be a test run.  I have all of the gear: wax, colours, perfumes, moulds, etc and now my pans and I really do need to get a move on and get making some.  Very exciting really and I will let you know how things go.  If I am feeling brave enough I will post pics of my first makes - disasters and catastrophes!

I have always thought I had a good memory and for most things I think that is true.  However, when I think of things that I could make, the ideas often seem to whizz through my mind without stopping.  No matter how much I tell myself I will remember them, I don't and I rack my brains trying to recall the brilliant idea I thought I had had.   I have taken to writing things down as soon as I think of them - that way I should be able to put into reality the ideas I have without spending hours trying to remember what they were.

Off to put my feet up and catch some news.  Jazz and Daisy are desperate for a comfortable sit down in a nice warm lounge, so I have to give in to them.  Enjoy the rest of the week - I will be back on Sunday/Monday with the Handmade Monday gang.

Jill

58 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

Hi everyone

How frightening is that!  Only 58 days to go until we sit down to turkey, mince pies, Christmas pudding!  Oooh, I feel full up already.  My plans this year included making a Christmas cake as well as a Christmas pudding.  I will let you know when (and if) the 'thought plans' make it into reality.

A fairly busy week so far.  I have been working on an inexpensive card range specifically for my events.  They are packs of 5 cards with the same picture on each one and a seasonal greeting inside.  They will be on sale at my event on Saturday in Godalming - please have a look at the Where am I section on my blog for full details.  The event is based in a busy area of Godalming, just opposite a supermarket.  It has been very well advertised, so I am hopeful of lots of card-buying visitors.  If you live in this area, please do come along as there are lots of love goodies for sale at the event and you can find out about them on the event's Facebook page Godalming Independent Christmas Market.

This is my Thursday Blog-Hop post, and don't forget to check out the other crafters blogs and see the lovely things everyone has been creating.

Met up with friends on Tuesday evening for a meal in Guildford, which was good (friends' company and the meal that is).  I might also be starting to move forward with my website, thanks to one of the friends I was with - so watch this space.  As time goes by with my business I realise how crazy it is not to have a website - even if I don't plan to sell from it (note sure about this yet) it is vital to have a window on the web.

Back to card-making as Saturday's event is not the only one on the horizon.  I will be back with my Sunday/Monday post and if possible I will have some pics of the Godalming event.

I hope you enjoy the rest of this week

Jill

THE WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY POST

Hi everyone

No Wednesday post this week as I was at the Wyke School event and spent yesterday getting ready for it: stock to make and pack, stand to plan, oodles of things to get ready.  So this week's mid-week post is combined with the Handmade by Me Thursday Blog-Hop and an update on the event I took part in last night, as well as some pictures of my stand.

The event was very well organised and as it was so near to me, very little travel time involved.  Lots of sellers taking part, selling a variety of things: cakes, jewellery, candles, books, pots and pans.  I sold a few cards and took some orders and it would have been nice to have sold a lot more, but I think it is a sign of the times.  One stallholder told me that last year had been much busier and it seems people are either not spending on Christmas goodies or perhaps waiting until the last minute in the hope of grabbing a bargain.

Here are the pics of my stand - what could I do different do you think to attract more customers apart from stand on the table and sing and dance?

The funny part of the event was that during the day I had made up some of the rocker cards you can can see towards the front of the table - sadly the snowmen had an accident as their heads fell off and landed on the floor!  Oh well, the life of a snowman is very short-lived.

Spent today with a friend at a Spa in Hampshire - we had a great time catching up. I spent some time in the gym - managed to burn off a whole 30 calories!  To be honest, the amount of work I put in, it should have been a 1,000 calories!  Oh well, it was good fun.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the week and I will be back with my Sunday/Monday post

Jill