Christmas Trollbeads

This year I have not really bought myself any Trollbeads - there have been other spending priorities. However my collection has still grown a little, mainly thanks to gifts for Christmas.

Artisan bead - Beach-combing (my only purchase this year)

Left to right: Giraffes (birthday gift 2011), Beach-combing, Hydrangea (Christmas gift) and, behind, Three Siblings (Christmas gift from my three nephews)

Sweet Moments

This Christmas I wanted to do something a bit more personal for my main gifts to people. I thought about cupcakes but they would not have stayed fresh for long enough. So, with a bit more thought and some inspiration from mum I decided to turn my hand to making sweets.

This was a new experience for me, having never worked with hot sugar before, but I seem to have the knack and I discovered a new skill. I chose six different sweets to make: Scottish tablet, lemon and white chocolate fudge, Turkish delight, peppermint creams, dark chocolate and rum truffles and peanut butter cups.

I was very pleased with the results and the sweets were well received. I think I might be doing the same next year as well then!

New beads for 2011

It's been quite a while since I bought myself any new Trollbeads and to be honest, it will be a while yet; my car brakes had to take priority. Still, I was very spoilt for Trollbeads over Christmas and my collection grew by four. That will keep me going for a while. I also came to the realisation that more silver beads is the key to easily customisable looks, so that is my next mission.

Left to right: Black Flower Mosaic, Issey, Black Silk, Cool Dusk

Christmas in Cumbria

I love this time of year. Getting back to Cumbria truly signals a break from work and brings me right back to my childhood. The garden is alive with birds who squabble and shout over the fat balls and peanuts, but are bold enough to come very close if you have the patience to stand still a while.

This year there is snow. I'm missing Molly, this is the first time I've been back here without her. She'd be hating the snow though.

I love the smell as you walk through the front door of the house and the tick of the clock. The log fire is an added bonus. Happy Christmas to all.

 

 

 

 

Even More Christmas Fun.

The latest of the Elf Yourself videos. Having introduced Ted and Marley to the joys of Twitter and Twittervision, we then moved on to the very serious business of turning them into elves. And here are the results.

More Christmas Fun - Elf Yourself

Another silly Christmas video to wish you all a merry Christmas and a wonderful 2009.
Thanks to Anthony Evans for introducing me to this site.

Christmas Fun

My kids at school have been taking part in a Christmas sing off this week. They chose to sing the Carol of the Bells. I love the song but as you can probably imaging it is now firmly wedged in my head. This morning I decided to play with GarageBand on my Mac and see what I could come up with. This is the end result and yes I know it is a little out of tune in places and a bit rough around the edges but I quite like the result and it provides a little festive fun to my blog! And yes, all the voices are me!