A little bag for little groceries

Look at these lovely wooden groceries. We bought these as a Christmas gift for my nephew who will be spending Christmas here at our house. These groceries are so tactile they are really wonderful. But what are little wooden groceries without a handmade bag to put them in?

I love making these simple little bags. And this turnip fabric is just the thing.

A couple more gifts to sort today and then I think we are done! Phew.

Made in the UK Advent Calendar

Just discovered that my funny little Advent Calendar Pictures (which you can still download here) were featured on UK Handmade's 'Made in the UK' Advent Calendar, Day 6.

How cool is that?! I'm dead chuffed.

Lavendar bags and crockery love

I finished up some of my lavender bags I was embroidering as Christmas gifts. I still have to do a couple, particularly for the lovely lady who donated all the lavender to me. I am pleased with how they have turned out, but I don't think I will embark on production line embroidery again, it is too time consuming and rather takes the fun out of it. I'm now longing to embroider something else!

They smell lush too.

And the other day I was in the charity shop looking for Christmas gifts when I came across this gorgeous set of crockery. I spotted the jug and bowl first as they were priced together, then priced separately on another shelf were the plates. I'm becoming pretty choosy in charity shops now, but these I had to have... and, for myself! I'm also struck by how seasonal they are with their snowflakey pattern and colours.

They are Alfred Meakin, Morning Star. Yum.

Pretty Cookie Mix

I am going to be carrying on with the Christmas theme for a bit, as I get my gifts sorted. Next is these great Cookie Mix jars from Bakerella. I haven't tested the mix so I really hope they bake up alright. The jars were a bargain 99p from our local hardware store. I have been buying them like mad as the lady there says she can't get any more and once they are gone, they are gone...

And, the Advent Calendar is working a treat. I had a long day at work and left the bowl as per the previous post with envelopes and pegs and ribbon with B and asked him to put it up somewhere and look what he did! I would never have thought of doing it this way! Brilliant.

Advent Calendar and Sloe Gin Labels

I am full steam ahead with Christmas planning right now. We are off to London at the weekend and need to drop off 90% of our gifts, and I only really realised this a few days ago. We are getting there though and it will be a great relief to be a little ahead.


Also, I've been doing Mil's advent calendar. That's what that little preview on the last post was. I have numbered 24 little envelopes and drawn and coloured a Christmas themed token for in each one, as well as a written activity for each day. I am going to peg them to a ribbon, in an as yet undecided location. I'll show you pics when they are up.

If you would like to use the sheet I made for the 24 advent tokens I have made it available as a pdf here. You could use it for colouring-in fun, or gift tags too. I warn you, some of the drawings are somewhat primitive! I have also put our activities here as a pdf too. A lot of these are the same as those that are all over blogland at the moment.

I also made some labels for our sloe gin, as we are giving these as gifts. I have done these as a download too, but not sure how many of you will be using Mendip sloes! I'm rather pleased... it feels like things are coming together!

Oh, and look, my hyacinth is flowering and smells glorious.

Christmas is coming

A little preview of some Christmas related crafting... what could it be?

A short post as we've been away visiting relatives. Pretty much all our relatives live in Cambridge, and as we aren't going to be there over Christmas we have just spent several days catching up with folk there. A very restful weekend was had with walks along the towpath and at Wandlebury. Lovely.

I'm glad to be back and happily have Christmas on my mind.