Joining in with Abi’s meme, over at Creating Paper Dreams, and taking inspiration from the theme of her Christmas Club post.
Playing Carcassonne at the kitchen table and suddenly noticing that the table cloth completed the road. Who needs the tiles.
PS Despite the fact that I have selected the “No” option for Word Verification, it is still appearing. Apologies to anyone having difficulty commenting. I’m at a loss.
These Mondays are coming around a little bit too fast for my liking this month!
It was a start as we mean to go on (with a treat of hot chocolates and a muffin for me and my girl), stroganoff cooking, Christmas shopping with her friend, Skyping/gaming with his friends, mini cracker making, first Christmas cards arriving, Never Let Me Go watching (naughty mummy substituting the film for the book. Do as I say, not as I do!) for GCSE helping, personal statement fine tuning (summing yourself up in 4000 characters, including spaces, is not easy), croissant warming, beef roasting, Christmas Club story reading/memory sharing (3 left to comment on, I’ll get there), tea in front of the telly (a rarity around here) kind of weekend.
Monday found me making the most of the sunshine to pre wash some fabrics….
….and watching an episode of Glee….
….while I ironed them. I have Homeland to catch up with still and Intruders (anyone else watching that?) but I was in the mood for something a little lighter, after the heavy subject matter of Never Let Me Go. There is a scene in the film (don’t worry, no spoilers from me) when one of the characters stands in the road and lets out his frustration. It’s a heart wrenching moment. All the more so for me as it could have been my boy standing there, having a meltdown. December is always a difficult month, but throw in a trip to London at the start and mocks looming after Christmas and we have a tough few weeks ahead of (and one thankfully now behind) us.
Waving to Sian again this evening, with grateful thanks. Without her clever ideas I wouldn’t have posted anything yet this month.
PS There seem to be some problems with Word Verification on Blogger at the moment. As far as I can tell it’s turned off, as always here, but if it’s coming up for you please let me know. Thank you.
I didn’t have a blog of my own, when Sian hosted the Christmas Club, back in December 2010. I’ve shared some Festive memories here previously though, so I had a quick trawl through the archives to make sure I didn’t repeat myself. Then I saw this post from December 2011 and I knew that I wanted to repeat myself!
At Christmas we….
….put on a show. Here I am, circa 1976, playing the cat in The Four Musicians of Bremen. How I loved to be on the stage. It was my absolute favourite thing about Christmas, throughout my primary school years. From Snow White’s wicked stepmother, through Saint George and Mary, to Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat, I loved every single part I got the chance to play.
My little brother wasn’t quite so keen. Here he is playing one of the “Two Little Dickie Birds” from the rhyme. Whether he was Peter or Paul, I can no longer recall, but I do remember that he didn’t want to wear the red tights. They were mine and he had to fold the feet over inside his daps, because the legs were much too long.
Thank you Sian for bringing back the Christmas Club and giving me the chance to join in this time around.
PS There are different photos and more of a story in the other post, if you missed it.
It was a super busy weekend here. I spent most of Friday baking. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll be well aware of this already!
Sticky Clementine Cake, White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies and lastly….
….Rice Crispy Squares drizzled with dark chocolate.
Then it was an early train catching, blissful hour of uninterrupted reading, brisk walking (to a warm welcome), coffee drinking, chatting, cake eating, pattern preparing, felt cutting, Secret Santa present opening, trestle table folding, chair stacking, goodbye waving (’til next time) kind of Saturday.
Followed by a coffee and croissant breakfasting, outlet shopping (for a sleeping bag and walking socks), chicken roasting, bag packing (for a politics conference and Kip in a Ship) sort of Sunday.
Today me and my boy had a 5.30am start to get him on the coach for London. This afternoon found me cutting an extra kit for tomorrow, after a last minute phone call from a prospective new member of the class. You can probably tell from the quality of the photo that it was getting dark already. Although that could have just been my left handed photography!
A very late wave back to Sian and I’m nearly ready for my bed. Night all.
Nothing today, or indeed yesterday. Well nothing crafty anyway. I took delivery of a large order of books. It came in not one, but two boxes and I have been wrapping them, before packing them back in the boxes, ready to deliver or place under our tree, when the time comes. I can assure you I am not usually this organised!
I do have something to share though. Remember that screen card (you can see the finished article here, if you’re interested) that was in the prep stages last week? I put the punched out stars to good use as the ‘filling’ for this shaker card. A simple stamped background and envelope flap to match. A glittery star for added bling and some silky silver ribbon for that all important touchability factor.
Short and sweet this week. Linking up with Julia and the deskers, of course.
It was a college visit discussing, options considering, Gran visiting, parcel delivery missing, mock exams revising, chip frying, Strictly watching kind of Saturday. Then a Gran and Pappy visiting, roast pork crackling crisping, school uniform ironing, wish list consulting, book ordering, Homeland watching kind of Sunday.
This morning I have been chasing up missing letters from consultants. In the end I had to go to the surgery with my own copy so that my GP can write a script for my girl. I’ll be going back later to collect it. I’m not leaving it to chance that it makes it to the pharmacy. I have to make sure she has those meds when she needs them.
In between the phone calls, collecting that missed parcel and tripping to the surgery, I’m mostly attempting to assemble this giant jigsaw puzzle (otherwise known as a PDF pattern) and waiting for the fabric on the line to dry.
What are you up to today? Waving to Sian, whose idea this little weekend recap is.
On Wednesday you would have seen the component parts for this card on my kitchen table and here they are all assembled.
I find it very tricky to photograph these screen cards to give a good view. I’ve put together a little collage so that you can see it open as well as closed and the inside stamping, which is only partly visible on the outside. Probably a little more work than you want for a Christmas card, if you have a lot to make.
Onto something that is easy to mass produce at this time of year. Some basic one layer stamping, using two shades of brown, with a die cut for some dimension. I added the candy cane twine for a hint of colour and the touchability* factor.
I’m loving the versatility of this little house set. Sian has used it to create some Christmas cards in another non traditional colour scheme. Aren’t they great?
If you’d like to know how to make a screen card, in this simpler form, I’ll be adding the tutorial next week. Are you making cards this weekend?
*Apparently this is not a real word.
