3 Days Til Christmas!

With Christmas right around the corner, I thought I'd post my final blog before the big day!! I think I've finished my shopping but still have cookies and mince pies to bake, gifts to wrap and my Christmas memories whimsiedori insert to finish. I'll try and wrap some pressies before work today and do my baking on christmas eve after work and hopefully finish my whimsiedori after christmas when I can focus on it without any interruptions.

Last week was a full week especially as The Bean and Sissy and big brother Winston (English Mastiff) came for a sleepover on Tuesday night so mum and dad could go to their Christmas party. They arrived around noon and we kept entertained right up to bed time. As it was so nice out The Bean wanted to play chalk and hopscotch. We filled the driveway with lots of silly pictures and hopped and jumped and ran around until we were too tired to do anymore! We read books and coloured and played with dolls and playdoh and sang Christmas songs from a Disney music book and made a gingerbread house and by 8 o'clock we were tucked up in bed and fast asleep!

Here are some pix from our busy day!

Maddie, Lucy and Winston waiting for MY lunch! Hopscotch. Christmas pj's and building our gingerbread house.
We had so much fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again!

I thought I had more pix of my Christmas Memories insert (whimsiedori) but here are the first few pages. My ink from stamping the numbers went through to the other side so next time I'll use a better quality paper. I'm loving the simple idea of this more than the December Daily I did last year as this is smaller and more manageable. It's given me lots of ideas for 2016!

I'm off to start my day, so I'll wish you all a Merry Christmas and will catch up after the holidays. Until next time...

Hello December!

I know I haven't been around for a while so let me catch you up on what's been going on. I did the craft show in mid November which turned out to be quite successful. My friend and I managed to get tables next to each other which was nice and Hubby came along to help - he's the best! I made "whimsiedori's" and inserts to go along with them, some christmas paper clips, pencil cases and zip pouches, some stuffed pillow pets (minis) and some little christmas and gratitude journals. It was a fun day and one that I might do again next year.

Here's my table set-up. Very simple and uncluttered.

On Black Friday, Hubby went to spend the weekend with M and his girlfriend (I had to work) so I put together a little Hot Chocolate Basket. I lined the basket with a Crate & Barrel tea towel and filled small mason jars with mini marshmallows, pieces of candy canes, hot chocolate mix, Hershey's Hugs and Cadbury's mini eggs in red, green and white. I made one for The Bean and Sissy's house too!

Work is very busy at the moment so I'm now working full time for a few weeks. Luckily for me I had a closing shift the other day so was able to make my December apron for work before going in. This time I used a tea towel that I bought at Crate & Barrel - no surprise there!!

I even had enough to make a "whimsiedori" for me for the month of December and of course that meant I had to make a file folder and a lined insert for it too! I love it!!

As I work in my whimsiedori, I'll take some pics and post them along the way. But for now I'm off to the attic to pull out the christmas stuff. So until next time...

The Perfect Mini Vacation!

Hubby and I had the best time in Asheville NC. We managed to drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway and view beautiful scenery, stop for a mama black bear and her two cubs as they crossed the parkway in front of us, hike to a waterfall, eat lots of yummy foods, drink a good selection of Craft Beers and cocktails, enjoy some tasty homemade desserts, tour The Biltmore Estate which was fabulous and made me feel like I was back in Europe again - rain included!, listen to live music, do lots of walking, drive by the HGTV Urban Oasis home giveaway and just relax and spend time together. We left Philly on Wednesday morning before the Pope arrived for the weekend, and an hour later we were landing in Charlotte NC. We picked up our rental car and drove to our hotel. We'd picked a hotel in the downtown area so we wouldn't have to drive anywhere at night when we went out for dinner. It was perfect as there were so many cute little shops to browse around and loads of places to eat and drink. Our first night there, after walking around town for a while, we found ourselves at The Wicked Weed and following a recommendation from a pin I'd pinned from Pinterest we ordered the glazed Brussels sprouts with bacon and were not disappointed! To drink, Hubby had a couple of beers but as I don't really drink beer I had the pomegranate cayenne margarita - it was delish! On our walk back to the hotel we stopped in at the French Broad Chocolate Cafe for dessert and freshly made hot chocolate. The perfect way to end our first evening! The next few days were spent walking around town or out sightseeing in the area and in the evenings we went out to different restaurants and bars/pubs. All too soon Sunday arrived and we were heading back to Philly. Asheville was definitely a fun place to visit with lots to see and do and was the perfect mini vaca!

So for my Photo-a-day pics I decided to share a few from our trip

The first is of Maddie checking out our luggage just before we left. Next is our first stop at the airport! Then it's drinks at The Wicked Weed followed by hot chocolate at The French Broad Chocolate Cafe. Mama heading into the trees to find her cubs (she was a lot closer but that's how it came out on my iphone). Crabtree waterfall that we hiked to. The HGTV giveaway home. The greenhouse/Orangery at Biltmore in the walled garden. An adorable little statue that we passed most days in downtown Asheville and lastly the best dessert and coffee shop True Confections.

I had this written a while ago but hadn't attached my pics so sorry for that. Hope to have a few things to show for the craft fair next time but I may just wait until everything is done and photograph it all in one go, so until next time...

Asheville, North Carolina Here We Come!

So we've decided to go to Asheville in North Carolina. I first heard of this town/city through HGTV's Urban Oasis giveaway! I then went to Pinterest (where else!) and did some research on the area and now we're set to leave on Wednesday morning thru Sunday. I can't wait. It looks like a really fun place with lots to see and do. I'll be taking lots of pics along the way as I want to make another small (8x8) hardcover photo book with Shutterfly. I did this for our long weekend in Chicago a few years ago and love it. I will be making a kind of itinerary, not so that we have to go to certain places at certain times, but to list all the places of interest that we'll be able to pick and choose from depending on the weather. Plus a friend of mine used to live there and has given me some recommendations of some restaurants and sightseeing tips so I want to include those. I might make a small journal/notebook this afternoon whilst Hubby watches football (the American kind!) and a small pouch/pencil case to go with it. Hubby and I are getting excited as we'll be celebrating both of our birthdays (mines the 28th of this month and his is the 15th of October) and our wedding anniversary (Oct 24th). Then when we get back we'll be getting ready to re do our kitchen. We were at the kitchen appliance place again this morning narrowing down our choices. I'll probably do some before, during and after pics of that later.

Here are my photo-a-day pics for the week. Nothing very exciting but here goes!

The first pic is a wasp nest that was hiding in an umbrella. Next are some sunflowers that Hubby bought after we rearranged the living and dining rooms. Some fabric that I was trying out a pencil case with - it wasn't very good! A plant from work. Some sharpie pens and a "handle" to put my washi on. A sticky toffee pudding and custard that I brought home with me back in the spring and lastly a sale sign for a Sub Zero appliance from out latest trip to Gerhard's!

I was looking back through my photo-a-day pics and saw that I duplicated a photo - the cat hanger. I usually write down what I've already posted so that doesn't happen and I also note in my little diary what pic I took that day! Ooops is all I can say!! I'm off out back to sit in the sun for half an hour, so until next time...

I Love My Fabrics!

Well I finally ordered some fabrics from Gotham Quilts and Hawthorne Threads to get me started on some projects for my craft show. They are two awesome shops. I ordered two fabrics from Gotham Quilts and they arrived on Saturday - two days later

and I ordered six fabrics from Hawthorne Threads and they arrived on Monday.

I've got lots of ideas - Thank You Pinterest! - so now I need to sit down and start sewing!

In a weeks time Philly will be hosting The Pope and although we don't live in downtown Philadelphia we will be impacted by thousands of visitors travelling to and from the City. So with that in mind and the fact that Hubby will not be able to go to work we have decided to take a mini vaca. Originally we were thinking of going to San Francisco but as usual we've left booking our flight and hotel a little late and the cost keeps increasing! So now I'm trying to come up with some other ideas. I really want to fly somewhere but we don't really know where to go! I'll let you know what we decide.

Today we had some work done on our pool decking. A few years ago a large tree fell and landed on the decking pushing some parts lower than others. Today it was fixed and for the first time since living here, everything is even. Over the next couple of weeks we should be getting the pool tile replaced so next year it will be like swimming in a brand new pool! It's very exciting!

Here are my photo-a-day pix for the week

The first pic is of a hanger I saw at Forever 21. Next is a very fluffy weed! The bags are what I made for a previous craft show. The Chocolate Orange Jellies are delish from Trader Joe's. A couple of peppers left on one of my pepper plants. Some yummy Marmite and lastly my Crunchie that Twinnee had sent me.

I hope you're enjoying the fall like weather. We're still seeing lots of sun and warm temps and hopefully that will last a little longer.
Have a great week. Until next time...

Happy Labor Day

Hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend. We're spending ours at home with our kids and grand kids. Just posting this for my photo-a-day pics for the week.

The first pic is my Inchie prep for September. Next are some books the girls' and I have been reading - favourites from when my kids were little. A grasshopper on my passion flower plant. Trader Joe's yogurt - they're the best! Hubby and The Bean were playing playdoh with some little friends. BBQ dinner and lastly a cat hanger from Forever 21. Off to enjoy the last of this holiday weekend. Until next time...