Christmas in London

My countdown to Christmas is dashing along and here we are with only 9 days to go until the big day. I have got all my presents bought and wrapped and I have spent this afternoon after work making some of my crackers. I will show some photos when there is enough daylight over the weekend to take some shots. I would like to first show you all my latest card challenge using my favourite Christmas colours, red and green.

I used a new Lili of the Valley image called "Moonlight Wishes". I think this is such a gorgeous stamp.As you know my Mum and I do love the "Man in the moon."
I stamped the image out and coloured it using my trusty ProMarkers. I love the holly backing papers I used they are SO festive!

I really enjoyed colouring this stamp I kept it very simple as I think it suits the drawing.

I added a  die cut poinsettia (in red of course!) and a red foil star to give some depth. I also added a die cut fir branch. The matting card has lovely embossed holly leaves.

I finished off with a round sentiment and put some punch cut embossed holly leaves around the edge.









I am entering this card into the following Card Challenges;

ProMarkers  Mega Christmas Challenge
Joanna Sheen's Christmas Wishes
Papertake Weekly challenge "I'm dreaming of a (your fave colour) Christmas" My colours are red and green
Paper Sundaes Anything Christmas
Party Time Tuesdays Red and Green Christmas
Papercrafting Journey; Christmas Challenge
Creative Craft Crew "Tis the Season"
Scrapbook Sisters Two colours My two colours are red and green.

I would also like to mention the lovely red ribbon give away on the Ribbon Girl Blog here. I would love to get my hands on that stash!

I had a wonderful evening out on Wednesday when I was treated by my Mum to a festive visit to see The English National Ballet perform The Nutcracker at the London Coliseum. I love London even more at Christmas. Despite the crowds everyone seems much more cheerful. I took the tube to The Embankment and got some fun photos.

I rather like the fuzziness of these shots, it was very dark and very cold so it was difficult to keep my camera still. There is a sense of bustling in this shot.

Embankment Tube Station is very close to the Strand and Trafalgar Square. I had a few minutes to spare I took a stroll with my camera and took some festive shots.

Shop fronts all decked out for Christmas

And here is the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square which is an annual gift to the UK from Norway for the help we gave them during the War.

Beautiful isn't she

And towering up above me in the dark was none less than....

.................Lord Nelson...
You can just make him out as a shadow at the top of the plinth. It was a very chilly night so I did not hang around for long and walked the few minutes to The Coliseum. I actually think I prefer The Coliseum to the Royal Opera House. It is smaller and more intimate and the seats are more comfortable!

It's a lovely old building and inside was heaving with excited people ready to see this wonderful ballet. The Nutcracker has to be one of my favourite ballets to see at this time of the year. It really has such a Christmas feel about it.

At this point there was no more photography allowed so my Mum and I settled back to an evening of pure delight. The dancers were superb, the scene changes spectacular, the orchestra stunning and the costumes...on my ...what a treat. I have found myself humming " The dance of the sugar plum fairy" ever since.

The weather has really changed here in the South of England over the last day, we even had sleet this morning and temperatures of -2oc are forecast over night. Much as I know how it does disrupt life here I can't help but also be humming...
"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!"

I hope everyone is keeping warm and snug, this is the last weekend of work before we can finally greet Christmas. As we are all reminded .......Keep Calm (but Carry on having Fun!)

Billy is certainly managing to do so ;0)

Back soon,

Bye for now.

Jane x