All that glitters – NYE nails

Seeing as Christmas and New Year’s are pretty much the only excuses I ever have to wear glittery nail polish, I figured I had to try out the gold Barry M glitter I was lucky enough to find in my Christmas stocking before I lost my chance for another year. I love how the large flecks of glitter catch the light and the sparkle has definitely put me in the party mood, even if our plans only involve spending the evening round a friend’s house with lots of food, drink and games. I hope you all have a fantastic evening!

No 7 in Sunbeam / Barry M Gold Glitter

A merry little Christmas

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas filled with family, festivities and food! Our day included all of the above, but went far too quickly as usual. After breakfast and presents it was soon time to serve Christmas dinner and then we just had time for a film before Downton Abbey (although I’m not ready to talk about that yet, poor Matthew!). It was so lovely to spend the day with family and I was lucky enough to get some lovely presents, including a new camera, which was a complete surprise from the boyfriend. This means that one of my new year's resolutions will have to be to learn how to take it off auto, I’ve posted a few snaps of our decorations taken with it below and so far I’m in love!

Boxing Day was just as festive and included even more family and of course more food!  I’m not one to go shopping on Boxing Day or even look at the sales online, so I ventured into Brighton yesterday to see if there was anything left in the sales. I managed to get a few bargain bits with my Christmas money - a half price blazer in Debenhams and a Zara blouse with owls on it, so cute.

I’ll be spending the last few days of 2012 going for long walks (if it stops raining), crafting, eating chocolate and planning for 2013!

Last minute Christmas DIY

I REALLY can’t believe it is Christmas Eve, how did it come round so quickly?! I have at last finished wrapping presents and making cards and I also found a little time yesterday to complete a DIY I’ve been planning for ages. It’s a Christmas stocking for my Granddad who is coming to stay with us this year. I’d already brought a cheap stocking from tesco knowing I wouldn’t have time to make the whole thing, but a couple of snowflakes and some red thread really brightens it up!

All I did was find a snowflake template on google, cut out of some white felt and then glued onto the stocking. Once that was dry, I stitched over with red thread and popped a bead in the middle.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

Picture postcard #4

I’ve had a very Christmassy few days: a Christmas party, Christmas card making, writing cards, wrapping (some) presents, making mince pies, visiting a historic house dressed for Christmas, drinking mulled wine and decorating the Christmas tree. That’s quite a lot isn’t it? And I’ve still got loads more to do before the big day, including a few more Christmas craft blog posts and my Christmas day outfit (all I can say is it will involve a few sequins!). So seeing as it’s about to get even more festive around here I thought this week’s picture postcard should be a bit of an escape. It’s the sunset over the seafront in my local town. I took this picture a few weekends ago, I love the colours and to me it definitely symbolises a relaxing break from the Christmas rush.

You star! - DIY Christmas wrapping decorations

This year I’ve been trying to come up with pretty yet thrifty ways to decorate my wrapped Christmas presents and these beaded stars are just the thing. They’re basically free if you have spare wire and beads at home and can be easily adapted to any shape or colour to match your wrapping paper - Christmas trees, snowflakes or baubles would also work well. I haven’t actually brought my paper yet (!) but I know I’m going for a red and white theme so the red stars will match perfectly and hopefully twinkle in the light form our Christmas tree.

They were very simple to make, simply thread the beads onto the wire, bend into the required shape and twist ends together to secure. I’ll be using these with Christmas tags made from last year’s Christmas cards - love a bit of recycling and I might make some wool pom poms to go on a few presents too.

Of course you don’t have to use these on presents they’d also make great Christmas tree decorations!

Disney love

Look what I found in the bottom of my craft box, a half completed 101 Dalmatians half cross stitch! I started this so long ago I don’t even remember it and I’m amazed it's been hidden in my craft stuff for so long. A few days after coming across it and after a fairly stressful day I thought I’d have another go. It feels slightly silly to be doing something meant for a child, but who doesn’t love a bit of Disney and this is perfect for doing in front of the tv after a long day. I’ve got no idea what to do with it once I’m finished, however if I get the chance soon I’ll be digging out a Disney film or two while I sew.