Festive wonders

Winter arrives tomorrow and it's just 5 more sleeps until Christmas.

I am loving all the festive sights around me.

Variegated holly with berries.

Sweet little robins.

Poinsettia and winter flowers in the garden centres.

Festive baubles and decorations

and of course...Christmas chocolate!

My card today is another that has headed down and is for sale at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton, SM5 2AE

It's a very Clean and simple one and the image is a LOTV simply print. The snowflake die cut are Cheery Lynn and the sentiment is an old one from my stash. 

I would like to enter it into the following challenges;

Shopping our stash 3/3 Happy holidays

Cute card Thursdays 1/3 anything goes

Not just cards 3/3 anything goes

Crafty sentiments 3/3 anything goes
Addicted to stamps 2/3 cold and frosty
Simon says stamp It's Christmas card day!
As you like it 1/3 favourite die and why mine is this snowflake die by Cheery Lynn, there are about 20 on a single plate which I can cut in one go!
Mod Squad 1/3 Christmas/Winter

I have been making my Christmas crackers today and I will try to get them posted here very soon.
I hope you are getting that list ticked off but remember that you can only get done what gets done. The most important thing over the Christmas break is to spend time with those who mean the world to you.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Billy and the Trees 2019

Well hello all it's Billy here, Jane's cat and yes it is that mad time of the year when she brings trees inside and dresses them up in all sorts of finery.

Thank goodness she doesn't do that to me. A good chin tickle does me fine thank you very much.

 Now Robby the robin told me how the trees got here as he spotted Jane and her Hb up at the local garden centre last week.

He said there were lots of trees all tied up and waiting to be chosen.

Robby says these 2 were chosen as "The Ones"and got parcelled up ready for their journey to Jane's house. 

 Well anyway, the doorbell rang last week and I sat up in my green chair, as look who arrived.

 Yup....a new tree. He introduced himself as Frank. Jane's Hb stood him up in his stand and gave him a nice long drink. I think it was water but you can never tell at this time of the year, there is an awful lot of sherry around.

I said my hellos to Frank and then got out the way.

I kept order from the comfort of my green chair

He got unpacked and a string of magical lights placed on him. Then all the ornaments were hung from his splendid branches. 

But the excitement didn't stop there...I got up again as I heard a shrill call from the hall.

I went out to investigate and met the newest choc tree. 

Meet Little Choc.

Now Jane mentioned something about pot grown so I assume that might mean he might hang around in the garden this year after Christmas. He was very excited and kept shaking with excitement in his little net.

He also got dressed up, the chocs added and the vintage family ornaments added which Jane owns. Some date back to her Granddad...now that must make them ancient. Just look at Little Choc, doesn't he look handsome. I kept telling him not to dance about too much, he has precious cargo on board.

And here is Frank all dressed up for Christmas.

You can see some of Jane's ornaments and Silky the fairy who climbed to the top. She is very camera shy and you can only see her feet here but she says hi. It's always good to catch up with her. 

So there we are Jane is all ready for the final countdown to Christmas, apparently it is only 12 days away now. 

Frank, Little Choc and I are really enjoying our evenings together. They keep daring me to climb into their branches but at 11 I am far too old and dignified to subject myself to such kitten behavior. I will stay on ground level and wait for the man in the red suit to show up soon. I might though have a quick sip of the sherry and a nibble of the mince pie if no one is watching. I won't tell if you won't 😺

Oh I nearly forgot Jane wants to enter a card into some challenges. I chose this one from her recent makes. 

It is the one she made for my fur-less brother aka her son and I think it's very apt as it is a good depiction of what I see on Christmas Eve. Rudolf and his team have become good friends of mine, they just need to be a bit quieter when they land of the roof. I'm surprised Jane never wakes up!

She wanted me to show the sparkly stars there too so this is a close up.

She says the stamps are all by Visible Image and the inky background was make using distress inks, I can vouch for that as I have to get out of the way when she gets inky. I don't want to end up distressed too! I notice that she ticked the nice box for Matt...hmmm I am not sure I would agree with that but I will ask Father Christmas when we catch up.

She would like to enter her card into the following challenges;

A vintage journey a holly jolly Christmas

Shopping our stash 1/3 Happy holidays

The Funkie Junkie boutique challenge It's the holidays

Christmas at sweet stampin 1/3 Critters

Time Out Merry and cheerful

Simon says stamp Monday stars

Cute card Thursdays 1/3 anything goes

Not just cards 1/3 anything goes

Craft stamper take it make it 3/3 December

Crafty sentiments 2/3 anything goes

OK my paws are nearly exhausted from all this typing so I will bid farewell for this year. I hope you and your furry friends enjoy a peaceful Christmas and that Father Christmas has you on his nice list too.

(Jane will be back very soon).

 Lots of purrs,

Billy 😻 x

Crackers for Christmas 2018

I have been able to tick lots off my list over the last week and one of the things I needed to do was to make the Christmas crackers. I'm always delighted to see that Tom Smith still make Christmas crackers and these will grace many tables on Christmas day.

My handmade crackers have become quite a tradition in our family and shop bought one just can't be sneaked in by me anymore. As we will be celebrating with Daisy and Jack this year I decided that the theme had to be "cute animal" as both Daisy and Jack really do love animals.

I found I had some really old printed squares by Lili of the Valley which I bought years ago. They were perfect and I die cut them into ovals.

I used my trusty spellbinders die

and also die cut some deer and skates in silver. 

I put my design together and added some silver glitter for some sparkle which you will see more clearly in my final photos.

I gathered all my supplies and set to making 9 crackers.

Complete with corny jokes, gifts, paper hats and a banger.

So here they are

and one final shot.

I would like to enter my crackers into the following challenges;

Crafteezee 1/3 a gift

That's Crafty 3/3 anything goes

Fussy and Fancy 3/3 Christmas

Moving along with the time 3/3 anything Christmas

Crafty Catz 3/3 anything goes

Die cut divas 1/3 winter

 So my card today is another traditional  Christmas favourite; gingerbread men

It is for sale at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton, SM5 2AE

The gingerbread man stamp is an ancient favourite of mine from my stash. I white embossed 2 onto kraft card and fussy cut them out. I added some gingham ribbon, die cuts and a few sequins for bling. The backing papers again are ancient from my stash.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas anything Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper December

Penny Black and more traditional Christmas colours

Stamping sensations 3/3 winter sparkle

Simon says stamp Wednesday Christmas

 Thanks so much for stopping by. I met up with my daughter and Jack yesterday for our last get together before Christmas Eve. Time is really racing by now and this time next week it will be Boxing day!

Back again on Friday,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Datchelor carols in the heart of London

Those of my regular blog readers will remember that some years ago I attended the 125th anniversary of my old school's old girls club in London. It was such a lavish occasion held at the Clothworker's Hall in London. If you missed that post this is the link

My wonderful old school sadly shut its doors forever in 1981 and every year since then there has been an annual carol service held at St. Olave's Church in London. This article is a lovely write up of my old school.  

Every year I have tried to make the service and every year something has come up or the weather has been awful (last year it snowed) but this year I was finally able to make it. I was originally going with my Mum and my BF Karen (both fellow Datchlelor old girls). Sadly both had to pull out but I was determined to go anyway so I set off on Sunday afternoon to make the journey to St.Olave's church.

This amazing medieval church is nestle between modern skyscrapers round the block from Tower Hill tube.

This road name had me giggling to myself.

How unassuming is the entrance to the church yard.....but how cool are those skulls! Charles Dickens described this as "The churchyard of St. Ghastly grim!"

I did study a bit of Latin but even my husband who has an excellent command of Latin struggled to translate this. Google came to the rescue and it means"For me to live is Christ, to die is gain". The date is 1658 when the church yard was rebuilt. Samuel Pepys walked though this gateway into the tiny churchyard, with his wife on his way to the Sunday service. It is an incredible hidden gem in London and the church is thought to date from 1056 however the original building was wooden. It was rebuilt in 1450 in stone and survived the great fire of London in 1666. 300 plague victims were buried here which is why the South entrance is below ground level. The church was severely damaged by bombing in the 2nd world war but enough survived to restore it to full glory in the 1950s. This is now a listed building. 

 Samuel Pepys and his wife are buried in the church. 

He even has a street named after him

This was the entrance I took to the church

a lovely Christmas tree greeted me in the porch

and then the glorious interior was revealed.

We sung some wonderful carols and yes us Datchelor girls do sing rather tunefully.

Sadly Moira got stuck in a traffic jam so wasn't able to lead the service but in true resourceful Datchelor spirit the organizers stepped in and lead a wonderful service.
The opening carol was one of my Datchelor favourites, "Hills of the North rejoice" and our voices lifted into the air of this medieval wonder of a church.
There were Christmas readings, prayers, Hosanna was sung by the Old girls' choir, a fun prize giving (I won a little prize for attending for the first time) and we finished the service with the rousing "O come all ye faithful".

It really was the most splendid way to spend the 2nd Sunday in advent afternoon. It brought back so many fond memories of my Christmas years at Mary Datchelor from 1972-1979. Memories of Dorcas Day (a charity day where we filled boxes for good causes), knitting squares for blankets, copying carols into our Christmas Carol books, decorating our form rooms (which usually involved lots of tinsel), having a "post box" in every form room to put our Christmas cards, singing such wonderful carols and the piece de resistance; Christmas dinner when the Boar's Head carol was sung during a procession through the dining room. Datchelor girls have very good singing voices!

After the service there was welcome tea and mince pies and lots of chat. I didn't see anyone there from my year but it was fun to exchange memories with several lovely old girls and old teachers I spoke to.

As I stepped out of the church to come home, the church yard looked even more beautiful to me in the crisp darkness.

As I made my way back to Tower Hill tube London was looking her usual stunning self.

 The Shard was lit up on the skyline.

Looking across to the Tower of London made me feel so proud to be a part of this wonderful city.

 There is just so much history here.

Even the tube entrance was warm and inviting on a crisp December evening.

So my card today just had to be one to remember such a joyful occasion.

The image is one of my old Nicecrane (sadly no longer trading) digis. I thought the joy die, carol sheet of O come all ye faithful and the deers (or harts as deer were known in medieval times and Hart Street is where St.Olave's is situated) were very appropriate. The red and green colour scheme reminds me of the trees inside the church.
This card is up for sale at Dotty's Teahouse, Carshalton High Street, SM5 2AE

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Card Mania 4/5 Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas anything goes
ABC Christmas 3/3 Y is for your favourite things mine just has to be the joy of Christmas.
Crafty Catz 2/3  anything goes
Moving along with the times 2/3 anything Christmas
Crimbo crackers 3/3 anything goes
Winter wonderland 3/3 anything goes
Alphabet challenge 1/3 s is for season's greetings
Time out 1/3 Joyful

I would like to thank the organizers for rekindling my Datchelor Christmas school memories again. I really hope to make the service again next year.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Billy my cat has managed to finish typing up his annual Christmas post which I know you all enjoy. He will be here tomorrow to share the mayhem of the annual arrival of the Christmas trees 😼

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x