The festive preparations begin

Every year my Mum and I take a pre Christmas trip up to London for lunch and to look at the Christmas department in my favourite store, Harrods. We try to make our visits well before the Christmas shoppers arrive in earnest as it then gets far too busy to really enjoy. The crowds in London near Christmas are something to see. I love the atmosphere at that time of the year but would rather not actually be trying to shop at the same time!

This year we made the trip a few weeks ago and I really think it was one of the best displays for many years. Harrods surprisingly allow photography in their store, so I snapped a few pictures with my smart phone.

This is the entrance to the department and yes the chocolate shop is in the same direction...how handy is that!










And look what greeted us through the door

Isn't that a beautiful display? Even the carpet had snowflakes woven into it.
They tend to have their decorations and tree baubles in "themed" sections...

Cool Britannia................(not really my cup of tea but this really does appeal to the tourists).

Nutcrackers and their friends...

A very cute display using an advent calendar theme, all the decorations were stored behind the windows.

Some very intricate (and very expensive!) musical boxes.

Lovely reds, golds and greens (my favourite Christmas colours)

and gorgeous silvers and whites. I loved this display, it was so wintery  and festive.

Usually my Mum treats me to a new bauble but this year I decided to have something slightly different.

These sweet little lights are battery powered and they will be going into my studio when I put some decorations out there. My daughter says it will be like Santa's grotto by the time I have finished with it ;0) I also bought some of  my tree chocolates.

And then when I was in Marks and Spencer I spotted a brilliant tin for my crafts..

Isn't he great! He contained mini gingerbread shortbread biscuits, which were yummy. Now that he is empty I have decided to use him for my Christmas ribbons. I am such a tin girl, I have quite a stash and I find them so useful for storage. I love finding something unusual and he is a super addition to my collection.

Christmas really is creeping up now, only 43 days to go. As you know I have been busy making cards for some time. I have also bought the crepe paper ready to think about making my crackers and I have started finding my cracker presents for the family.

Next Thursday I am meeting up with my dearest friend Karen. She is taking a half day off work. We are having lunch (with lots of chat of course) followed by an afternoon of Christmas shopping....yippee, my preparations will have started in earnest.

I need to be a little bit patient as before then I have my Open House tomorrow. I shall be spending today getting everything sorted out and displayed ready for my customers.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that you too may be thinking about some Christmas plans ;0)

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my last post and if you need a countdown to The Wedding...it's 259 days to go!

Bye for now,

Jane x

The Wedding Venue, sneak peek

We spent last weekend visiting our darling daughter. One very important visit which had been arranged to coincide with this was for my Hb and I to see The Wedding Venue. As Milly and Tom are getting married near to where they live we had not yet seen the venue they have chosen for their big day.

We arrived quite early on the Saturday and met Milly there. It was quite a foggy morning but the first thing which struck us was the beautiful surrounding English countryside.

There were cattle and sheep grazing in the local fields. This is the view from the back of the venue. Even on a foggy day in early November it was so idyllic.

The venue was originally a barn and stables and has been rebuilt to a very high standard indeed. 

This is the view from the car park/entrance and luckily for us it was being set up for a wedding reception later that day, so we were able to get a feel of what it would look next year.

Here is the inside of the barn with the tables being set up. On the left wall you will see the entrance to the little "chapel" area where the ceremony will be held.

Here is a peep inside. You can see that the florist was already busy adding the flowers for that wedding. We were so impressed that we took her details and we are likely to use the same company. They specialise in using scented English flowers and the roses' scent from the displays were quite exquisite.

I love this sneak peek of Milly and my Hb having an impromptu walk down the "aisle". Don't you love the bride to be in Ugg boots!  On the "real" day there will be chairs set up either side with the guests watching my dear Hb lead his precious daughter down to the table where the Registrar will marry her and Tom. I got a lump in my throat watching them. I am glad their backs were to me and they did not spot my misty eyes! 

After the wedding will will be able to stay overnight as there are 10 guest bedrooms on site which have been built from the old stable block. Just the very immediate family will stay and we will all have breakfast together the next morning with the newly weds.

This is the breakfast room

Here above on the left are a few of the guest rooms. There is also a lovely sitting area and outside space.

We had such a great "vibe" from this gorgeous venue that I know that next July is going to be a very special day.

As my daughter lives very near to the New Forest the next day we spent a glorious sunny afternoon there.

The sunlight made the forest glow and the colours were beautiful...

I looked out for the pigs which have recently been put out to eat the acorns. This is an ancient practice called "Pannage"

The acorns are poisonous to the New Forest Ponies and the pigs solve this by enjoying the feast of acorns on the forest floor. Sadly we did not see any but we did notice some signs that the pigs had been there.

On Sunday evening we decided to have  a Sunday Roast at one of Milly's great old local Pubs.

The view from "The Jolly Sailor"  looks out to the marina.

There were outside tables but it was far to chilly at this time of year to sit there so we went inside into the cosy pub.............

...where we enjoyed roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and my Hb had a beef and ale pie. Delicious!

It was a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend. It only seems like yesterday that Milly and Tom got engaged but it was nearly a year ago and their Wedding Day seems to be fast approaching. I can't wait!

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek? The next time I have photos of the venue it will have been after "The Wedding" and they will be Mr and Mrs ;0)

It's been a pretty dreary day here and at 4.30pm it is now pitch black outside...winter is certainly looming. Time to shut the curtains and turn on the heating. Billy has come in from the garden and is making his way to his comfy chair to settle down for the evening. Enjoy yours.

Back soon ,

Bye for now,

Jane x

Bright and sparkly

It's another card challenge for me...this week the theme is "Bright and Sparkly" over on the Lili of the Valley challenge blog.
Here is my entry..

I used the super cute stamp called Rosie Posy. I coloured her with some bright promarkers. She is such a happy soul and I have made her dress bright and sparkly by adding some red stickles glitter.
I also added some sparkle to the flowers in her bouquet

and also a lovely bright cherry charm to add some "bling!"

I also turned up the sparkle to these lovely mulberry paper flowers by adding some glitter to these too.

I finished off my "Bright and Sparkly" entry by adding a "Happy Everything" sentiment.









Thanks for looking at my card.

I had a wonderful weekend visiting Milly in Southampton. We went to The Wedding Venue and Oh My Goodness it was SO lovely. I have some sneak peek photos which I will be back with in a couple of days.
I hope you all enjoyed the weekend too....it is finally cooling down here but the sun continues to shine!

Bye for now,

Jane x