Merry Christmas

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

 Are you feeling ready and organised or just totally stressed and over it all?

 I have to say, I'm feeling pretty stressed and pretty disorganised and I don't think I'm alone.

 The decorations are up and all the presents are bought but there's always more to do isn't there?

Do you try to do too much at this time of year? Set yourself ridiculous goals and then

beat yourself up if you don't acheive them? I'm afraid I'm pretty guilty of that.

Given that I still have this horrible throat infection, I'm making a concerted effort to try to relax and let the kids lead the way with what we do over the next couple of days. They are old enough (and not too old!) to help out with lots of the preparations so my pre-New Year resolution is to let them help and not to let myself get stressed over the small stuff that doesn't matter!

 If I don't make it back here to update the blog before Christmas, have a wonderful break and a lovely time with your family.

Sarah x

Dance 'till you drop

I'm sorry I haven't been updating my blog recently. As many of you will know, life tends to get in the way of normality and routine at this time of year and things have certainly been a bit crazy around here. The kids have had dance concerts and school concerts and we had the big Devonport Christmas Festival on 5th December which was my last market of the year thank goodness! I've been filling orders for Christmas since then and last weekend, my body decided it had had enough and I came down with a really nasty cold which knocked me out all weekend. The orders are nearly all done, but I now have a bacterial throat infection which isn't much fun at all. I'm really looking forward to the Christmas break and just spending time with my family so I hope you will forgive me if I'm not a regular blogger for a few more weeks!

My girls had their dance concert on 4th December. I know that lots of you wanted to see photos of them in their costumes so here they are.

They looked so grown up with their stage make up on!



Sorry about all the blurriness but you get the general idea!




Maddy and her hip hop class danced to a Justin Beiber song




The ballet flowers again. So cute!



In the end I made 6 of the silver tops and headbands for Maddy's hip hop class and 12 headbands and 10 fairy skirts for Eloise's ballet class. Unfortunately the headbands started 'wilting' before the show but lots of hairspray onto the acrylic felt seemed to fix them all long enough for the dance! I was helping backstage for both dances but Richard took some film so I was able to see the girls perform.

One more photo for you. This one was taken by Richard's nephew, Nick, at his Dad's birthday party a few weeks ago. Definately one for the 21st Birthday album!

How's a girl supposed to go anywhere without keys?
Photo: Nick Thorne.

Take care. Sarah x

My Creative Space

I SHOULD be getting ready for this Sunday's Devonport Craft Market on the Windsor Reserve (part of the Devonport Christmas Festival). I SHOULD be updating my online shops in time for last minute Christmas orders. And I SHOULD be busy making Christmas presents for family and friends but guess what? My sewing machine is throwing a complete fit this morning so I have left it to rest for a while in the hope that it will be in a better mood later on and instead, I'm making Christmas fruit mince.

This is going to be SO good. I can't wait to stick it in Christmas mince pies. Yum! It has to soak for a few weeks though. It's meant to be a month but I'm counting on the amount of alcohol in there to do the job quicker! 

I was loosely following a Women's weekly recipe for Fruit mix but I've basically added the contents of my baking cupboard. There's sultanas, dates, fruit cake mix, 3 grated apples, lime juice, a grated and chopped mandarin, some crushed pineapple that was sitting in the fridge, ground almonds, mixed spice and lots of cointreau in there. I'll add some more goodies like glace cherries and ginger and probably some more fruit cake mix once I've been to the supermarket. It smells so good already. Even my 4 year old told me it smelt like Christmas. How does she know? Amazing what these little ones pick up on and remember from year to year.
Keep your fingers crossed that my sewing machine recovers and pop over to Kootoyoo for some fab Creative Spaces.

A little scrumptiousness!

I've just ordered a pattern from Sarah of Dolls and Daydreams for her Dolly Daydreams dolls.

I really love the look of these. Eloise loves them too so I know what to make for one of her Christmas gifts! As well as being an amazing crafter, Sarah is a very talented artist and I think that really comes out in the detail of these dolls. I can't wait to make some. I'm planning on making a couple extra for my stall too. You can buy your own pattern in her Etsy shop here. While you are there, check out her awesome printable eco-dolls houses.