Bead creations and Christmas cats

I made some more Stormy Seas jewellery. There are a couple of bracelets...

...and I also made a few pairs of earrings. 

The beads are only about 9mm diameter so the earrings are lightweight and easy to wear.

The Stormy Seas bracelets and earrings can be purchased in my shop. I can no longer guarantee delivery in time for Christmas but I will continue to post orders as I receive them and on days that Royal Mail are doing their thing, so feel free to buy beady things and they'll be with you when they're with you.

In other news, I made a couple of catnip mice, one for Nigel and one for Enca, my sister Sally's cat.

They're made with wool felt and their tails are Icelandic lopi wool. I grow and dry catnip for Nigel every year but I normally just put some in an old odd sock of mine and tie the end up and he's more than happy with his nipsock. This year I decided that I should actually make a mouse to stuff with catnip. I don't know why because this involves sewing, which I loathe. I found a catnip mouse pattern on the PDSA website and I spent far too long sewing these two. I've hidden Nigel's away and I wrapped and posted Enca's with the other presents I was sending to my sister. The parcel of presents arrived with her yesterday and during the night Enca decided she was opening her Christmas present early and by 'opening' I mean ripping apart the wrapping, biting the ears, tail and arse off the mouse and leaving toy stuffing, catnip and ripped bits of felt all over the dining room floor. What a catnip-crazed maniac!

Utter carnage

Meanwhile, Nigel is taking his usual interest in the Christmas tree. 

He absolutely loves it and always tries to climb it. This year Chris has made a reinforced base for the tree stand to avoid it toppling over if Nigel gets too enthusiastic with it.

Adjusting that blue tit bauble

Nigel's off to the vet this evening. He's got to have a blood test to check his thyroid levels. He was at the upper end of the normal range when he had a blood test back in the summer so this is a follow-up to see what's what. He's twelve now and the older he gets the more I worry about him. I spend more time stressing and fretting about the cat than I do anything else in my life! I'm sure other pet owners can relate.

I'm going to go and tidy the spare room now. Half of it is home to my jewellery making and bead packing desk, all my packaging supplies and my yarn stash. It's all getting a bit out of hand and very messy in there and I cannot move without knocking something over or something falling on top of me.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Baa baa grey sheep

I've not had a lot to blog about as I've been pretty flipping sheep busy since my last post. I've made loads of them in that time. Massive thanks to all who have purchased them.

The sheep are available in grey and dark grey now, as well as the original cream.

I also got a big batch of stitch markers made.

These markers are all £4.50 each and they come with your choice of fitting - lobster clasp, leverback clasp or ring - so they will work for both knitters and crocheters.

Sheep and stitch markers are available in my shop.

Talking of stitch markers, here's a dark grey sheep one doing his stitch marky thing on my current knitting project.

This is a cable and lace jumper in a leafy green. It's knitted with two strands of yarn - one of DK merino and one of laceweight mohair - for a soft and fluffy finish. The pattern is Urban Romance by Veronika Lindberg from her fab new book Knits to Wear.

I finally finished my other jumper and I absolutely love it. I'll take photos of it when there is some decent light; it's so dull and overcast right now but then it is December and I won't lie, I kind of enjoy the gloom and the greyness of it.

How are your Christmas preparations coming along? I'm pretty much there with the present buying so I just need to wrap them all and post the ones that need sending to people and I also have to write my Christmas cards. Our tree is still in its box in the garage. We keep threatening to put it and all the decorations up but it still hasn't happened. It will, as it always does.

I'm away to the shed now. More sheep and some non-sheep are on the agenda for today. 

Have a good Tuesday!

In Stock

I'm getting organised for Christmas on the bead front.

In doing so, I'm trying to build up some stock. This is so there will be beads and jewellery available and ready to post without you having to order things and wait for me to make them.

I've had a little shop shift-about-sort-out and I've created an 'In Stock' category where all the ready-to-go items can be found.

In this section right now are two strands of 'Cool' beads (£23.00 per strand) and ten Acorn & Oak Leaf necklaces, including five of the 'Burnt Sugar' ones at the top of this post.

I'll be adding to this section on a regular basis so do keep an eye on it.

And now I must away to the post box ...

Recipe: Chrimblecake

I've just fed my Christmas cake a little snifter of brandy. Every time I feed it, it takes all my willpower to not feed myself. With cake. It smells so good!

We used to visit my family in Oxford each year and my grandmother always made a big, wonderful Christmas cake. She always used to say the cake was a bit dry/too moist/not boozy enough/too boozy/had too much icing/didn't have enough icing but it always tasted fab to us. As family numbers have dwindled and we've become more scattered as a family over the past decade, those Christmas get-togethers no longer occur and as such, there is no Nannie's Christmas cake.

So I've made my own Christmas cake for the past six years. I always focus on the cake itself. Although I have a very sweet tooth that even Willy Wonka would cringe at, I'm not a huge fan of icing, especially on Christmas cake. I normally opt for homemade marzipan and a very thin layer of fondant icing over the top of that.

Over the years I've tweaked and combined various recipes and when I baked this year's cake a couple of weeks back, I made a smaller version with the leftover mix and CAKE-BINGO! this is the one. This is my Christmas cake now. I wrote down the recipe and I'm writing it down here too in case you'd like to try it. Yes, there are a lot of ingredients and yes, it is time consuming and a bit of a faff but I really enjoy what has now become my own little Christmas tradition.

Notes

• I always make my Christmas cake in mid-October but you'd be okay to make it at the end of November and it would still have time to mature.

• You will need an eight inch (20cm) round, deep cake tin, some brown kraft paper, some string and some greaseproof paper. I use a heavy, loose bottomed tin and I wrap the outside of it in four layers of brown paper, tied with string to secure it. I make sure the paper is taller than the sides of the tin. I then line the base and insides of the tin with greaseproof paper. The cake will be in the oven for quite some time and the brown paper helps to prevent any burning. I also make a little silver foil 'lid' which perches atop the extended brown paper sides. Trust me, all the papercraft faffery is worth the effort. Also, it makes you feel like you're carrying out an ancient cookery tradition which is always fun. (Well, I think it is anyway.)

• Have plenty of greaseproof paper, tin foil and an airtight tin ready for packing your cake in after it is baked.

• You will need to prepare the fruit for the cake the night before the day you intend to bake it.

• Feel free to use whatever dried fruits and/or nuts you fancy. You could add dates or dried apricots if you're not a fan of cherries or cranberries or walnuts if you don't like almonds.

• This recipe is for the cake itself. I'm not covering icing here but you would need about 675g each of marzipan and fondant icing to cover this cake.

Chrimblecake

Ingredients

175g raisins

175g sultanas

275g currants

100g dried cranberries

100g halved glacé cherries

50g mixed candied peel

50ml brandy

150ml black tea (I use 2 teabags and steep for 3 minutes in boiling water)

225g plain flour

225g dark brown muscovado sugar

250g unsalted butter (at room temperature)

4 large eggs (at room temperature)

50g whole blanched almonds, chopped

1 tablespoon of black treacle

1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Grated rind of one orange

Grated rind of one lemon

Dash of milk

Method

Put the raisins, sultanas, currants, cranberries, cherries and candied peel into a bowl, pour over the brandy and tea and stir. Cover the bowl and leave overnight so the the fruit soaks up the liquid. You might want to give the fruity booze mix a stir every now and then.

The fruits soaking in their lovely brandy and tea bath

On baking day, prepare your cake tin as described in the aforementioned notes and preheat your oven to 150°C (fan oven 140°C).

Put the flour, sugar, butter, eggs, treacle, spices, vanilla, orange and lemon rinds and the dash of milk into a large bowl and mix well. I use an electric hand mixer. When that's all thoroughly combined, add the boozy fruits and any leftover liquid from their bowl. Tip in the almonds and with a spoon fold everything together. This would be a good point to get any young humans you may have about the place to come and have a stir and make a Christmas wish.

When everything is stirred and all wishes have been made, spoon the cake mix into the prepared tin and and smooth out the top. I find using a fork for this part is more effective than the back of a spoon.

Rest the silver foil lid loosely over the top of the tin and put the cake in the oven. Yes, the temperature is low and yes, it's going to be baking for a while. You can't rush these things. 

Baking can take between two-and-a-half and four-and-a-half hours. Mine took about three hours. Leave the cake totally alone for the first two hours of baking. Don't open the door in that time. After two hours you might like to turn the cake around and have a quick peek to see that it's coming along. Everyone's oven is different and you know where its hot spots and not-so-hot spots are.

Obviously oven temperatures and cooking times will vary. Your cake will be done when you insert a cocktail stick or skewer into it and it comes out clean, without any raw cake mix on it.

When the cake is baked, don't fret at the colour of it. It will look paler than Christmas cakes you buy. This is because it will get darker as it matures. I brush the top of the cake with a little brandy whilst it's still hot. I then cover the top with foil and allow it to cool in its tin, on a cooling rack.

When the cake is totally cold, take it out of its tin and wrap it in greaseproof paper and at least two layers of foil. Put it in its airtight tin and leave it.

The following week, unwrap the cake and poke several holes all over it (don't go too mad) with a cocktail stick or wooden skewer and then brush the cake all over with brandy. I guess I use about a teaspoon or so at each feeding. Depends how boozy you like your cake.

I feed my cake by brushing it with brandy about every ten days. You don't need to do the pokey hole thing each time. Just make sure you wrap it up nice and tight. 

Come Christmas you should have a lovely, moist, fragrant Christmas cake that will taste so much nicer than a shop-bought one.

Google about for Christmas cake decorating ideas. There are so many ways to pretty it up. I normally opt for some icing holly leaves on top and a red satin ribbon tied around the cake.

If you do make a Christmas cake with this recipe, I'd love to hear how you get on. Send me some photographs if you like!

Have fun!

Recipe: Stollen

Do you know, I've not baked or eaten a single mince pie this year. But this morning I baked a delicious stollen and by FLIP it is lush!

I used a mish-mash of several recipes and I heartily recommend a slice of this delicious cakey-bread with a cup of tea and a lovely Christmas film; I opted for A Muppet Christmas Carol.

Stollen

Ingredients

100ml milk

1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast

Good pinch of salt

1 teaspoon caster sugar

225g strong white bread flour

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200g mixed dried fruit*

25g flaked almonds

50g unsalted butter

1 free range egg

250g marzipan

*I used a mix of sultanas, currants, raisins, dried cranberries, candied peel and quartered glace cherries

To finish:

25g melted unsalted butter

40g icing sugar

Method

Gently heat the milk and 50g butter in a saucepan.

Mix the dried fruit together with the vanilla extract and the mixed spice.

In a large bowl mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar and make a well in the centre. 

Your milk and butter mixture should be warm but not hot. You should be able to hold your finger in it comfortably. When it is at this point crack the egg into the milk and butter and beat well with a fork.

Add your milk, butter and egg mixture to your flour mixture and stir to combine. Add your dried fruit, vanilla and spice mix and combine everything thoroughly. If you've got a swanky electric mixer you can do all this mixing with a dough hook. If you haven't, use a spoon and your hands like I do.

Turn your mixture out onto a well-floured surface and knead it well for about ten minutes. Yes, it is sticky. Yes, you will need to add more flour to stop the dough sticking to the kitchen. Yes, you will get messy hands but heck, enjoy it and have fun!

Transfer your dough to an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Put the bowl in a warm place (an airing cupboard or your oven on the defrost setting is good) and leave to prove until the dough has doubled in size. This can take anywhere from forty-five minutes to an hour and a half.

When the dough is all puffed up, knock it back (squish and knead the air out of it) and then turn it out onto a floured surface. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to a rough rectangle shape about 9 inches by 7 inches.

Roll your marzipan into a sausage slightly shorter than the long side of your dough rectangle. Dust the work surface with icing sugar whilst you shape the marzipan.

Place your marzipan sausage on the dough and fold the dough over it and seal the ends and the long edge by dampening them with a little water and squidging them together.

Put your stollen, seam side down, on a baking-paper-lined baking tray and gently pat back into shape if needs be. Cover the stollen with oiled clingflim.

Leave it to prove again for about thirty minutes. You don't want it to double in size but you want it to puff up a bit.

Heat your oven to 180°C (160°C for fan ovens) and then bake your stollen for about 25 to 30 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

Whilst the stollen is still hot, brush it with the 25g of melted butter and then immediately sift the icing sugar over the top.

Leave to cool (but for quality control purposes do try a slice whilst it is still warm and the marzipan is all oozy) and serve sliced.

Best eaten by the twinkling light of the Christmas tree.

'Bleu', Lonelies & Tuition

I've just put these etched blue beads on the Freshly Baked Beads page along with some Lonelies.

I've also reduced the price of my pendants and charms in my Chrimbleshop to £12.00 and £10.00 respectively.

In other bead-related news, I will be teaching from 18th February through to 25th October, 2013. These are the months when my shed isn't freezing. I am in Cambridge.

If you’re an absolute beginner I am offering a four hour session. During this time we will cover the basics of beadmaking and we’ll pull stringer, make round beads and then use stringer and frit to decorate them. All materials, tea, coffee and biscuits (essential beadmaking equipment) are included in the tuition fee and obviously you will get to keep all the beads we make. The price for this four hour session is £100.00. Just email me to discuss suitable dates and times.

If you’ve done a spot of beadmaking before and you’d like to brush up on skills like stringer application, shaping and encasing then I am offering tuition at a rate of £25.00 per hour. It is entirely up to you how many hours you’d like but I’d suggest no more than five as there’s only so much beadmaking your brain can do before it gets tired. Just send me an email outlining what you’re interested in learning and for how long and we’ll arrange something.

If you’d like to book some tuition with me please send me an email.I will require a fifty percent deposit (non-refundable) at the time of booking with the remainder payable on the day of your tuition. For deposits I will accept PayPal or bank transfer.

If you'd like to give the gift of glass meltery I can provide a voucher in a card. Just email me to purchase one.

I think that's about all for now. I'm off to make some soup.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Charming

These heart, strawberry and cherry cupcake charms are available over in my Chrimbleshop right now. These are £12.00 each and are fitted with a tiny lobster clasp so they can be attached to a charm bracelet.

Chrimbleshop

You know those little short-term lease shops that pop up in town centres at this time of year? The ones that sell massive Christmas cards, Santa hats and cheap tinsel? Well, I've just opened the glass bead version of one of those. Except there is zero tat in my shop.

So yes, my Chrimbleshop is OPEN. I'll be updating it every other day or so with beady gifts. They are one-offs, giftboxed and ready to be posted.

I've just stocked it with a bunch of pendants. These are £15.00 each including delivery and if needs be I can supply an eighteen inch sterling silver chain for an additional £10.00.

I'm busy with bracelet orders right now and I'm making stock for my shop in between those, so do check the shop regularly for new additions.

I'm off to make myself a massive mug-o-tea now ...

If it's good enough for DFS ...

... then it's good enough for me. Last night I saw the most overly-Christmassy DFS television advert. They seem determined to make the whole of the UK buy a new sofa in time for Christmas. I moaned on Twitter about the ridiculously far-too-early nature of the advert and then I realised I'd made a set of Christmassy beads on Wednesday. I have an excuse, though; I have to make the beads so that you can buy them, work your jewellery magic with them and then get them sold or given in time for Chrimbletide.

So yeah, I think I get away with it.

Those simple-yet-pretty 'Festive' spacers up there are now available for ordering on my Beads To Order page. There are a dozen in the strand and they cost £12.00 including worldwide delivery.

'Festive'

I have several strands of these dainty bead pairs for sale at 7.00pm (UK time) tonight. At only 9mm diameter these little lovelies would be great for Christmassy earrings.

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!

'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 .....

Knitted Produce

Hello there! I hope you had a great Christmas?

I've not been making any beads (as I'm having some Christmassy time off!) so I thought I'd do a look-at-my-knitted-produce post. These were all given as Christmas presents to various people, hence why I couldn't blog them before now.

The scarf at the top of the post was a pressie for Chris's Mum and was knitted in fine two ply yarn in a wonderful pink-red-purple kind of colour. The pattern is 'Butternut' by Anne Hanson which is available here.

The 'Lizard' socks above were knitted for my uncle's wife, who is also confusingly called Chris. I designed these ones myself.

Then next there is a pink and glittery scarf that I knitted for my friend Helen who loves all things pink. The pattern I used for this was 'Scrunchable Scarf' by Susan McConne and it can be found here.

And lastly a scarf that I made for my friend Cheryl. It's knitted in Japanese Noro yarn which ranges from purple, through green and blue to grey and black. The pattern I used for this one was 'One Skein - A Stole!' by Katja Jordan and it's available on Ravelry as a free download.

Not a massive amount of Christmassy knitting but a whole load of work nonetheless.

Oh and many many thanks for all your lovely congratulatory emails and comments re The Engagement. It's just about starting to sink in now .....

Exciting!

I've got some news.

The newsworthy event took place on Sunday but my mind's been all of a whirl ever since and I knew I'd have to blog it and this might sound a little bit silly but I didn't quite know how to say it.

It hasn't really sunk in yet.

I'm just going to come out with it and tell you .....

I'M GETTING MARRIED!

Chris proposed to me on Sunday morning and I said yes!

Nope. Writing it down still doesn't make it feel any more real. It feels like some kind of lovely magical dream.

So that's made my Christmas ..... and then some.

This will probably be my last post before Christmas as I'm off up to Manchester to spend it with my fiancé (yes, fiancé) and his family so I wish you all a very Happy Christmas. Eat much turkey (or nut-roast if you're a Veggie), lots of chocolate and many Twiglets. Have a good'un!

Mince Pies

I got up early this morning (because it's that time of year when you just need to make the days as long as you can) to bake some mince pies.

A few weeks back I made some mincemeat and jarred it all up ready for the mince pie making so all I had to do this morning was whip up a bit of pastry and voila - yumma, 100% homemade mince pies! I've just had one warm from the oven with a cup of tea and I have to say they are a little bit nice.

If you're planning to make mince pies, give the homemade mince meat thing a go. It's dead simple, makes the kitchen smell unbelievably festive and tastes so much nicer than the shop-bought stuff.

I used Delia Smith's recipe which can be found here and I stored mine in those lovely old-fashioned preserving jars with the metal clippy fasteners. I gave a jar to my sister Sally and I think she got more excited about the jar than she did about its contents!

If you click on the picture at the top of the post it'll open a desktop-wallpaper-sized image. If you like, right click the image and select 'Set As Background' and you can have Christmassy mince pies decorating your monitor screen!

Final post of the year

I do hope you had a wonderful Christmas?!

I had such a fantastic time in Manchester. It really was the best Christmas I've had in yonks! I bought Chris a Lego Star Wars AT-AT (he's thirty-two, but like me, in his mind he's only about fourteen) and on Boxing Day Chris, his brother Kev and I spent about three hours building it. It walks in that clunky, heavy-footed AT-AT way and its head moves about too. Dang, I love Lego! The other night I asked Chris to send me a photo of the AT-AT so I could blog it. I was expecting a grainy iPhone photo but I received this super duper Chris-enhanced image instead. He's a clever thing!

Did anyone see Eastenders on Christmas Day? Ha! I loved the whole thing about Christian's vest! (You may remember that I was on about that a while back.) I think the highlight of Christmas telly for me was the Gavin & Stacey special. I found Bryn's glee at the wonder of Mint Baileys hilarious! I'm so pleased that they're making a third series.

So have you eaten all your Christmas food and nibbles? The other day my auntie was saying how fed up she was with cold turkey but I love the stuff! I think I had three cold turkey dinners at Chris's parents' house. In fact I'm thinking of cooking another Christmas dinner this weekend just so I can have cold turkey, stuffing and oodles of pickled red cabbage again! Talking of food, remember how Chris got all arty with the mini party food the other week? Well, it's a case of Like Mother, Like Son because his Mum got all Delia with the salmon rolls and prawns on Boxing Day. Check this out :

We're just hours away from a New Year. This year has been a particularly hectic one for me, what with the move and everything, and it would seem that 2009 is going to be just as busy. Chris and I are going to get a place together next year so I shall be moving to Cambridge at some point. It all feels mighty grown-up and tiny bit scary ..... but totally exciting!

Thank you for your custom and your interest in my work and waffle these past twelve months. Here's to a beady 2009! Happy New Year!

Mele Kalikimaka!

That's Hawaiian for 'Merry Christmas!' in case you're wondering. No reason - I just thought I'd try a different festive greeting!

Well, I think I'm just about sorted. 'Fake' Christmas went really well and I've spent the past couple of days visiting relatives. I've just got to pack for Manchester now.

I had to nip to Tesco for some last minute things today. Oh. My. Goodness. That was a mistake! It was so busy in there it was untrue. Best of luck if you've still got the food shopping to do.

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas! Eat much turkey and plenty of chocolate.

See you in a few days!

'Waterfall Shimmer'

Blue frit and fine silver suspended in crystal clear glass, shaped into smooth, tactile nuggety shapes. These catch the light and twinkle beautifully.

So I'm guessing that these will probably be some of the last beads for this year as I'm in for a hectic few days. I've got to go and do the last of the Christmas present shopping tomorrow then I'm off to London on Friday, travelling back Saturday afternoon, then it'll be straight off to Tesco to get the Christmas vegetables and foody things because on Sunday everyone's coming for the 'fake' Christmas. I'll then have two clear days before I journey up to Manchester so maybe there will be time for one more full beadmaking day. I'll just have to wait and see how stressed I get!

Chris and I had a party on Saturday night. It was just a small gathering - Chris and I were the only guests! Mini party food seems to be being advertised left, right and centre so Chris decided that we should have a banquet of tiny treats. He got all Nigella and arranged the food in an artsy-fartsy manner .....

We had small pizzas, little duck spring rolls and pig(let)s in blankets. Chris also bought some kind of miniature filo pastry parcel things filled with ricotta, spinach, goat's cheese and mushrooms but I wasn't having anything to do with those as I just don't trust white cheeses. My only exception to that is Dairylea and I don't think that actually counts as a proper cheese, does it?!

Mince Pies

I spent this morning making beads and this afternoon baking mince pies. These are homemade all-butter shortcrust pastry filled with mincemeat, almonds, cherries and a slosh of Jack Daniel's for added Christmassy naughtiness!

Wiggledots

It's nice to finally have a batch of decent black glass! The last lot I had was awful - it kept pitting and going all scummy on the surface of any bead I made. I took delivery of a new wodge of black glass a week-or-so ago and it is pure glossy, shiny loveliness. I made these 'Monochrome' Wiggledot beads yesterday - simple but striking.

So how's your Christmas stuff going? Are you a super-organised shopper who has got everything bought, wrapped and stashed away or are you a leave-it-to-the-last-minute-and-panic type? I was the latter last year but I'm pleased to say that I'm somewhere between the two this year. I haven't written Christmas cards yet but I have done a lot of present shopping. I'm trying to do something Christmas-related every day. I'm having two Christmases this year, you see. On the 21st Sally, Paul, Robyn, Dylan, Emily and her fella Ben are coming to see us and we're all going to have a 'fake' Christmas day. We'll do all that we usually do but four days early. This is because Sally and Paul are spending actual proper Christmas with Paul's sister in Telford, Emily is spending the day with Ben and his family and I'm going to Manchester for three days to do the Yuletide thing with Chris and his family. So I have no option but to be a heck of a lot more organised than I was this time last year!