a cold and frosty morning

When Sarah wrote her post about Attic 24 I really enjoyed having a browse through Lucy's blog. November was such a grey and dreary month and the site was bright and full of welcome colour which really made me smile.

Thankfully November has ended and what a beautiful start to December today was. Jack Frost had been and covered the view out of our window with tiny ice crystals and the early morning sky was bright and clear with just a hint of pink (I chose to ignore the shepherd's warning). If this wasn't enough excitement for the children, who were eager to 'skate' to school, it was also the first day of advent and there were windows to open.



Before children I used to make hubby an advent calendar every year. Now, as with so many other things, he's been relegated and the children are the benefactors. Last night, once Boy's birthday celebrations were over and the children were tucked up in bed, we set to making little numbered envelopes with which to make advent bunting. Inside each one is a paper elf to be hung on an 'arrangement' of sparkly, glitter covered twigs over the next few weeks.

Envelope 24 contains a Father Christmas so come Christmas Eve he'll have 23 little helpers to fill those stockings and hopefully we'll also have a nice table decoration for Christmas Day.

wedding stationery

The first indication of what to expect from a wedding is when the invitation drops onto the door mat. Is it a stiff formal invitation indicating the need to dry clean and de-moth the morning suit, or a more relaxed invite suggesting linen trousers and flip-flops? My Aunt rang me in tears of excitement when she recieved the invitation to my sister's wedding a couple of months ago.

There was no doubt that this was going to be a Spanish wedding of some sort. Polly has been living in Seville 9 years so it wasn't surprising that she and her Spanish husband, Jesus, decided to use the Seville orange tree on their invitation and as the basis for their wedding stationery. Wanting an informal look they decided to create their own rubber stamps (based on a painting that my mother had done for them). These stamps were then used on invitations, order of service, table setting tags, gift tags (for bridesmaids and pageboys) and then mum spent many an hour embroidering orange trees onto linen to make table napkins to follow the theme through (note the personalised labels on the napkins).

easy as ABC

One of the things that Sarah and I have a mutual appreciation of is rubber stamps! We lust over the selection available at Papersource and lament the fact there is no such shop in the UK. Rubber stamps are so versatile and can be used on paper or fabric to create all sorts of things.

Anyway, a while ago I came across these candy coloured sweeties that so reminded me of the end of typewriter keys that I had to buy them. They were loitering in my desk waiting for me to decide what to do with them when the children got invited to tea with some friends who have also just started school. My little girl and I made some cupcakes and packed them up in a box on which I stamped the alphabet. Perfect, they could learn their ABC whilst ruining their teeth!

grown up easter gifts

We are spending some of the Easter break with my in-laws and I realise that I need some gifts, but again want to avoid the chocolate glut. I borrowed this 'pot-maker' from Sarah and made loads of little (biodegradable) pots and my girl planted Sunflower seeds in them. I was really pleased with the FT versions which I had done for the men in the family, if they grow they should sport a fantastic deep red sunflower.

sowing the seeds

Last year we rather ambitiously took on a large allotment 3 days before our baby was born. Despite inheriting an established asparagus bed, a blueberry tree and a fantastic crop of strawberries we soon realised that we just don't have the time to dedicate to an allotment. So this year I have some left over seeds that need a home. I also have a few outstanding thank you letters. So I decided to combine the two and created some seed books. This year someone else will have the pleasure of growing my seeds!