Little Christmas round up...

So, after the whirlwind of school plays (GB was a king, complete with carpet beard!) and end of term shenanigans Christmas appears to have come and gone since my last post.

In the spirit with which my blog is meant, as both a diary for me and a sharing of all things crafty, here are the best bits of the last 2 weeks:

Christmas started as it will officially end (tomorrow), with the drinking of snowballs with lovely friends.

Pre-Christmas I became, what can only be described as, obsessed with clay modelling and the endless possibilities it offered. It started with a bookmark for the snowball drinking Jane, the idea of which I borrowed from a pin, although I can't seem to trace the source (I went as far back as here).

After trying a couple of other clay options I went back to using good old Fimo, coloured the legs in with a Sakura Glaze pen, painted the shoes with red acrylic paint then coated with red glitter. If you fancy making one remember to slice the top of each leg before firing (which you can then slot a piece of strong card in for the marker)

 

What a great idea (wish it had been mine) and, as always, much harder than it looks (which is why one leg is much fatter than the other!)

I also used fimo to make this years Christmas place settings, for both the toadstools (on a painted and stamped block) and the little tags wrapped around the cutlery.

 

Our Christmas day pudding was individual Christmas pudding trifles (recipe here) served in little jam jars. They are decorated with a strip of doily, ribbon, a jingle bell and a fimo tag. All tags were stamped pre-baking.

 

I didn't stop there with the fimo...oh no, I spent another inordinate amount of time making other tags for presents!  I borrowed the idea from this pin 

from (marleyandlockyer thanks Planet Jane!)

using real doilies to make these little beauties. 

Here's how to do it:

1) roll out some white fimo 

2) take a doily and place it on the clay 

3) use a rolling pin to make an imprint of the pattern onto the clay

4) use a cookie cutter to cut out a shape of your choice

5) use a sharp pencil to make a hole for hanging

6) stamp a word on if desired

7) bake in the oven for 30 mins

The best bit of all these tags is that they were reused by hanging on the Christmas twig above the table and will all be making an appearance next year. My fimo passion lives on....

The elephants got their special ruffles on

(there's your blocks Emily...still yours for next year!)

 We saw lots of all the special little people in our lives 

(Sonny, Luca and Mabel)

and enjoyed the company of our boys

(Thank you Mackies and Davenports for great outfits/accessories!)

Cleggy, master of fun, devised some excellent entertainment in the form of a Christmas day quiz. It's only right to include a couple of photos....sorry family

(Phineas and Ferb, Granny as Cher and The Simpsons)

(Cam from Modern Family, Nelly as Wee Jimmie Krankie and me as Pat Butcher)

It was a particularly enjoyable Christmas this year - and lovely to spend so much time with all our slightly unhinged but very funny family.

Quick animal update:

Minnie the new pig has settled in extremely well. She was moved down to  the the bottom of the garden because it was hard work keeping her in the kitchen while catering for 10 people and also because cooking a large Boxing day ham in her presence just felt wrong.

She gets more confident by the day - and despite loving her new house also likes to sleep in with the chickens. If she does spend the night in her own house she goes over the wake all the others up the minute you let her out in the morning...oinking and banging her snout on their door. I might have to film it - it's too cute.

Mr Bob Boblington (GB's new hamster) has survived the clutches of Mabel and also the 'total wipeout' style obstacle course that Nelly helped the boys build for him.

Ned continues his hibernation in the workshop fridge - so far so good. We open the door once a day to make sure there's enough oxygen in there and weigh him weekly to check he's not losing too much weight.

And finally - to fight the 'end of christmas' holiday blues I've been happily making boxes from Christmas cards

idea borrowed from here

 And finally got my head around crochet. I had been taught the basics by patient Jane earlier in the year - but needed to get a grip of other stitches and also learn how to read a pattern (of which Jane has no need - she is toooooo clever!)

I treated myself to this wonderful book for Christmas and received the other from Granny (thanks Granny!)

With help from the two books, and after much frustration (why would English stitches be called something else in the US?? WHY?)  I've managed to create some lovely things, which have given me immense pleasure, including these jar cosies (check out the variety of stitches!!!)

and inspired by Lucy over at Attic 24 this pencil pot.

Passion for crochet lives on too.

All that remains is to wish all my friends, 

old and new, near and far, 

 

Happy New Year

 I hope it brings many adventures and lots of laughter. 

fee x