it has been an interesting and good year in some respects, but many of the questions that I wanted answers or resolutions to, are still not resolved, and to be honest those are the ones I don’t share with you, though some I wish I could or should : (

On the positive side, Edward is at his new school, which has done more in a term for him that the old one did in 2 years!!!! So that is fantastic! William seems far more settled, and is now getting pushed a little firmer, and he is doing well with that, need to sort the pooing out, but nevermind!

Me, well, the positives I hope continue to outweigh the negatives!

The first thing I sold on Etsy : ) I have actually done very well on there I feel, since that first sale in July I have gone on to sell another 81 items, and I have over 350 people who ‘heart’ me. By the end of 2008 I would like to have sold 200 items, and have over 500 ‘heart’ me, so lets hope I can achieve that, though to do that I need to keep up with supplying the goods!

More like these,

and more like this,

And of course, all of you, the lurkers and the commenter’s, you have all made everything so much nicer and easier to deal with, you don’t know how much it means to me when I get a comment come through, to know that you have not only taken the time to read the post, but then comment, it is so lovely.

Thank you all again, and here is hoping for a slightly less stressful and successful 2008! Happy New Year!!!!

well this is a present from last Christmas!! Daddy is making his new speakers in the garage, so all the stuff that has been stuffed out has had to be sorted, including Williams ‘Mini Chef’ kit, yay!

So he washed it all up, and we produced,

little choccie muffins, yummy, well, we don’t know yet, because just as he was about to insert this into his mouth, he remembered that they must be decorated! So they turned into a far more amusing looking muffin : )

We are now waiting for them to harden off, so I could be waiting quite a while!

I was going to take some photos of my pressies, but it is so dull here, I will leave it for another day!

I can now show you : ) As my sister should now be about to drive to my mums, so she won’t see hers, my mum is far too busy cooking a Christmas lunch for all of us, sister in law opened hers yesterday, and mother in law, well I finished that too late to photograph that so I need to get it back for a photo shoot!!

When I made the zakka inspired tree bags, my sister in law had asked for a variation of one of them, but of course I never got round to it, so I thought for Christmas I would make her a lovely similar but different bag!

I had been working on some ideas, and bull-rushes were one of those, and so these developed from that.

I have used some of my newish linen, which is far more open and coarse in its weave, perfect for this design. As always lined with a pocket, just trying to decide if this will be the first of a few or just this one, I really like it, so not sure.

A couple of months ago I posted a great photo of a huge bag of silk I had been given, well I now have another one! Have not sorted the first one yet! So I’m working on ideas for using that on some bags, I think the idea is working, but now to turn it into a bag : )

I also made three of these,

not the best photos I have ever taken, in a rush and bad light : (

I love the way they feel, really soft, and snuggly, I might be tempted to make some more, but I don’t think they would sell as I would not be able to price them competitively enough : (

So Christmas lunch today, John is still asleep, not a well bunny at all : (, boys are downstairs playing new game, and probably eating sweets and choccies, so I must get sorted!

Over the next few days I will hopefully share some of my lovely presents with you, when I say share I mean show! And also look back at this year, and decide what to do about next year : )

Have a great Boxing Day wherever you are!!

oh yes….

I hasten to add I was not the responsible adult at the time, my sister-in-law, and mother-in-law were!!!! Appearently it took 30 minutes to extract his hand from the pre-school toy!

I know I shouldn’t laugh, but to be honest, I would have laughed if I had been there as well!

..and all is quiet so far!

Yesterday the boys handed out their presents, corsages this time : ) I did get a chance to make a few new ones, but have disappeared off Etsy, sorry if one did that you were interested in.

a bit fuzzy that photo, but nevermind, so hard for me to get photos taken at all at the moment.

Remember, today is the last day for Christmas ordering! So nip over to my shop and have a peek. If you could order by 4pm that would be great, as it will leave me enough time to get to the Post Office : )

I’m finishing off Christmas presents today and tomorrow, which of course I will not be able to show you until after the big day, but there we go, the pleasure of handmade presents!!!

Now to go and battle the children into some clothes!

Well it came from Australia, and then I checked the reverse, and it was from Martine! I then ripped it open, and I’m not being dramatic, I really did!!

And out spilled,

And oh my god, chocolate, cards, felt,

and a wonderful corsage,

and there was also the most lovely letter as well, which made me blub! See what you did to me, so thank you Martine you are a star, and I wish you could just drop round too : )

where does he get it from?!?

I know so many of you are, but you know it makes sense!

remember if you are in the UK I can post out items until the 20th, so have a look and see if you can live without that corsage or child’s tote!!!!

.. well the cats think it is,

They are three fully grown cats, on a far small beadbag cushion!

Christmas is almost here, and am I ready? Not on your nellie! No Christmas Cake, or Mincemeat yet, no cards written or sent, no presents wrapped for teachers yet, or the boys sorted out with their cards…hmmm…opps…and actaully all I can think about are making new bags….

So you may see some new bags before cake or pies!!