The List & A Christmas Story

It's 09.59.  I am sat here on the sofa in my pyjamas, dressing gown and slippers with a blanket on my knees.  I have just eaten a slice of hot buttered toast and enjoyed a mug of tea.  My hair looks like a small rodent or five crawled into it before dawn, had a rowdy rodent party, made a nest and slept restlessly.  Chris is upstairs, asleep in bed.  The guinea pigs are squeaking and squabbling with one another in their cage.  The kitchen looks like the kitchen of a flat rented by four teenage male students.  Outside the grass is peeking through about one centimetre of frozen icy snow.  It's -8°C out there which is not conducive to bead production in a garden shed.

Yes. It's the Monday Before Christmas.

I have written a list of Things That I Need To Buy And Do This Week.  It's a long list.  I expect you have one the same?  Or are you one of those hyper-organised types that had all your Christmas presents bought, wrapped and stashed away in various hiding places before the end of October?  If you're the latter, how do you do that?!

Bead orders are coming in thick and fast - thank you, ace customers of mine, for buying my glass creations.  And if you haven't taken advantage of my Winter Discount yet don't forget you only have until tomorrow to do so - details here.

Today I must do some Chrimbletide preparation.  I need to cross things off the aforementioned list.  If I don't do this I fear I will end up a jibbering wreck, crouched in the corner of the untidy kitchen, rocking back and forth muttering about turkey crowns, napkins, Paxo and brandy butter.

So today I need to accomplish the following :

• Get dressed
• Tidy and clean the kitchen
• Tidy and clean other parts of the house
• Clean, pack up and post what feels like 764 bead orders
• Marzipan the Christmas cake
• Nip into town and buy some of the things from The List
• Clean the guinea pig cage
• Take some pictures of my new hat to show you
• Sort out something for dinner
• Sit down with The List, hopefully cross all these things off it and then most probably replace those things with other things that I forgot to add to The List in the very first place.

It's now 10.46 and I am going to put my plan into action.  Wish me luck.  I shall report back later and let you know how I got on.

In the meantime, do yourself a favour and if you get a few spare moments (I know, I know, spare moments at this time of year are as rare as funny cracker jokes) nip over to Karl Webster's blog and read the Christmas story that he has written.  It's called 'A Week Before Christmas' and it is brilliant.  I've been reading it as Karl published it chapter by chapter but he's just made it available as a whole.  It is Christmassy.  It will make you laugh. It might make you cry.  It made me cry.  It's wonderful so make sure you have a read.

I really am going now.  The things on The List are not going to cross themselves off .....

Happy Monday!

Luminobeads

I know how much some of you love my Luminobeads so you may be pleased to hear that I've just made some of them available to order.  All ordering options and details can be found here. 

You may be even more pleased to hear that I've extended the 25% discount sale so you can nab some Luminobeads for a bargain price.  This special offer is only available until Tuesday 21st December so be quick!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Hearts

At the suggestion of Chris and my Twitter pal Helga Hansen I've added a couple of heart focals to my Beads To Order page.  These shiny hearts are £8.00 each and can be found here.

Proof I've always loved Kermit

Does anyone else keep random stuff in their address book?  I was writing Christmas cards this morning and when I got my address book out this photo fell out of it.  I'm guessing that this was taken in about 1979 and it shows you that I've always loved Kermit.  It also shows that wallpaper was one-of-a-kind back then - check out my Grandparents' lounge decor!

When I was a child I got through many of those Kermits.  They were that wire-skeleton-covered-in-foam type of toy that has been outlawed today.  When the wire would poke through Kermit's hand or foot thus posing a safety hazard, Mum and Dad would pack Kermit into a box and before I went to bed they made me put the box outside the front door.  They told me that they had called 'The Kermit Doctor' and that he would collect Kermit from the doorstep, take him to 'The Kermit Hospital' where he would make him better and then he'd drop him back.

Sure enough, within a short time Kermit was back, all mended and better.  Of course I never noticed that on his return he looked a little less loved and pretty pristine - almost like he was new, which of course he was.

The Kermit Doctor must have 'operated' about three or four times until Mum and Dad were no longer able to replace Kermit because the toy manufacturer stopped making him, probably because of his dangerous wire construction.  I fear a small child may have lost an eye in a terrible Kermit-related incident in the early 80s  .....

So there you have it - proof that I've always loved Kermit.  As you can see from my last blog post I still have a Kermit.  He's slightly smaller than my first one(s) and is furry as opposed to foamy but that's good because I'm hoping that I'll never have to make that dreaded call to The Kermit Doctor.

'Tis Me!

Both my Dad and Chris's Dad have recently made comments about my lack of bloggage so I thought I'd better get on and write something!

So why have I not blogged 'properly' for ages? Well, the simple answer is because I haven't really had much to say.  I've been spending my days in the shed making all the bead orders that my fab customers have placed.  It's been pretty cold down there recently - some days I have about four layers on.  I also invested in a Thermos flask so now I have tea on tap dans le shed.

All in all, "It was cold today and I made beads and drank tea in my shed" wouldn't really have made for interesting blog reading and that is why I've been quiet on the blog.

But today I have things to show you.  First off is a hat that I knitted to keep me warm in the aforementioned chilly shed and whilst out and about in cold Cambridgeland.  The pattern I used is 'Estella' by the wonderful Ysolda Teague.  It's knitted in Rowan Pure Wool DK in purple and grey which is my current favourite colour combination.

In Christmas news the only shopping we've done has been food-related or decorative and sparkly.  We really need to go and do some actual gift shopping.  We put our tree up on Saturday.  We went for a fake one because transporting a real one when neither of us drive would have been tricky.  You can see from the photo that I still love my red and white polka dots and yes, in case you're wondering, that is Kermit sat atop the tree.

Why Kermit?  Why not?  He matches nicely.  Chris even found him a little Father Christmas hat in the full-of-festive-tat-and-things-that-drop-glitter-everywhere Christmas shop in town.  Kermit was going to be a temporary tree topper until we found a suitable star but we've decided to keep the frog as he's ace.

If you've picked up the January issue of Beads & Beyond magazine you may have seen the two page feature on my beads!  I'm really chuffed with it.  Although I've had mentions in bead magazines before this is my first proper interview.  The January issue of Beads & Beyond is out now.

That's about it.  See - I told you I haven't really been up to much!  I will be back in the shed tomorrow making more bead orders, probably feeling slightly cold and drinking tea.  If anything interesting happens I'll be sure to let you know .....

I've just added these .....

..... these .....

..... and these .....

..... to the Beads To Order page of my website.  What's more, it's still 25% off so make sure you take advantage of this offer while you can!

I'll be back later.  I have a Christmas tree and knitting to show you along with a load of assorted waffle so do pop back this evening.

Have a happy Tuesday!

Winter Prize Draw Winners

I've just drawn the winners of my Winter Prize Draw.  I assigned each of the comments a number between 1 and 115 and I used Random.Org to choose the numbers :

Comment number 75 and the winner of the first prize is Frau Putz.

Comment number 39 and second place is Sue.

Comment number 7 and third place is Laura B from Blue Eyed Night Owl.

Congratulations you three!  Please email me with your addresses, and Sue and Laura please let me know if you'd like 'Sugar' or 'Snow' beads.

A big thank you to everyone who entered the draw!  I shall do another one in the New Year.

Have a great Saturday night!

Special Winter Offer

For a limited time I am offering a 25% discount on all bead orders.

Please click here for all the details.

Winter Prize Draw

Well, hello!  I do hope you're keeping well and warm wherever you may be.

I think a prize draw is long overdue.

How do you fancy winning some wintry beads?  I've got three prizes up for grabs.

First prize is at the top of this post - a set of my 'Winter Mix' beads.  This is a strand of four 'Snow', four 'Sugar' and ten 'White Shimmer' beads.

And whoever wins second and third prize can choose between a strand of six 'Snow' or six 'Sugar' beads :


'Snow' Beads



'Sugar' Beads

If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning these beads all you need to do is enter my prize draw. The rules of the giveaway are are as follows :

♦ The draw is open to anyone anywhere in the world.

♦ It's one entry per person.

♦ To enter the draw you need to leave a comment on this blog post.  No email entries this time, I'm afraid but please bear in mind that you do not need a Blogger account to comment on this here blog.

♦ When you comment please leave a name of some kind, be it your actual one, a nickname or your blog user name - just something rather than an anonymous comment. If you have a popular name please leave some kind of initials. Last time I had lots of Loris and Kellys enter and that got a bit confusing! Something like 'Laura S' would be great.

♦ Entries need to be in by 7.00pm (UK time) on Saturday 11th December when I will pick the winners using a random number generator.

I hope that all makes sense.

If you're new to my blog, hello and welcome! I do bead giveaways both large and small quite regularly so please add yourself as a follower or subscribe to my blog using the links over on the right hand side - that way you won't miss out on any future free bead opportunities!

Good luck everybody!

Reminder

Hello!  I'm going to write a proper post in the morning but for now I just thought I'd give you a quick reminder about Christmas bead ordering. 

If you'd like beads delivered before Christmas please place your order by the end of tomorrow. All bead ordering details can be found here.

That's all for now.  See you tomorrow!