HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

Hi everyone

How are you?  Exhausted I am sure, but looking forward to the BIG day.  Not long now - the number of days left are into single figures.  I still have shopping to finish (as well as the fresh food stuff that is) and a few cards to write (and post). Very impressed that with all the preparations at the end of last week, we managed to get the majority of our cards written and posted.  Phew.  Next year we will be so much more prepared and will get them out early (er, yes, said that this year).

A mad but great weekend - always great to see friends and family, especially at this time of year.  Nice to have a fairly peaceful day today though - plans for today changed slightly and now have a hectic day tomorrow instead.  Seems the norm at this time of year - catching up with friends and family that we may not have seen for a while.

It is Handmade Monday and I haven't got anything handmade to show - well not of mine that is.  I recently bought a gorgeous peel-off Christmas tree from Ali's Craft Studio and this is it in-situ on our conservatory door:

It is lovely and the picture doesn't do it full justice.

I have been doing a little Christmas decorating around our place, so can definitely class them as hand made.  We are in the process of replacing a fire in the dining room and discovered that this will also involve replacing the whole fire surround.  So as it is the current one's last Christmas, though I would decorate it with holly and other leaves, branches, etc from the garden.  Added a length of wire decorated with roses and it looks Christmasy.

I recently bought a gorgeous red Poinsettia and wanted to do something about its container (a brown plastic pot).  At the same time I also bought, a half-price bargain, s large red vase.  I took the plant out of its pot, put it into a thick plastic bag, half filled the vase with red baubles and added the plant - not a great pic, but I am pleased with how it looks in reality.

Lastly, we have a big balloon-style candle holder that seems to sit around not doing much.  I filled it with red and white glass baubles of various styles and shapes and added a bunch of battery operated lights - more sparkles!

So, I can claim them as handmade although not under my Christmas Pie Crafts business banner.

Have a great day everyone and don't forget to hop around the blogs of my fellow crafters taking part in this week's Handmade Monday.

I will be back on Wednesday for my mid-week last pre-Christmas post.

Jill