Progress

Remember Shimelle’s Christmas Manifesto?  I think we’ve been over-achieving in the sparkle department already, with quite a few of our most elegant friends joining us on Sunday to celebrate the start of the season.  Those of us on “the home team” (the Son and Heir was here too) had a great time enjoying the company of our guests whose lively conversation and witty banter made the occasion another one to remember.

So, “Appreciate Sparkle”

I think we can also tick off “Cherish Family and Friends”, don’t you?

We’ve written and posted our cards already, so “Write real Christmas Cards”

The Stuart Singers Christmas Concerts were another huge success this year, in a packed Minchinhampton Church both Friday and Saturday nights.

“Sing Songs”

Not bad, so far then.  What about “Indulge in Sweetness” ?  Hmm, that’s not hard!

We cracked open a couple of bags of sweets we brought home from Boston, intended for the party on Sunday but sadly, forgotten until too late.  Candy Cane Kisses and some odd-flavoured M&Ms like Cherry Cordial and Pretzel just beg to be sampled and of course, our elegant friends brought along some rather elegant gifts

I’m hoping those berries will count towards my five a day?

 

But this year, we’ve been enjoying sweetness of a different sort as well.  On Saturday, we went to watch one of our small friends dance and sing in a delightful version of “Cinderella” in the little hall just up the road.

Then yesterday, it was the turn of her younger sister to be part of her school nativity play.  Having only just started school in September she did so well in her role as the donkey and we agreed, she did “wear a marvellous costume”!

(Full marks to the maker of the camel outfit, too, with that great mask and wonderful humps!)

So, I think we can now also say we've “Indulged in Sweetness”

Brilliant idea

A pity it’s not mine!

Recently, I’ve been discovering all kinds of interesting and attractive “magazines” online and of course, it’s the season for a visual feast of ideas and inspiration.  One of my favourites is “Sweet Paul” magazine and today, I came across this brilliant idea for fun gift tags and immediately wanted to make some for myself.

I opened Picasa where I organise all my photo uploads and used the “people” feature to identify a sweet photograph of each person for whom I have a present this Christmas.  Some of them need more than one tag, of course.  For the children, I found pictures of them as babies and they can have the added challenge of identifying themselves.

Having selected the thumbnail mugshots, I exported them to a folder on my desktop and then printed them onto white card in grayscale directly from Windows because I found that printing through Picasa opened up the whole original photograph and not just the face.  Printing nine to a page meant that they fitted my tag punch perfectly.  I punched a hole in the top of each and they’re ready to go.

Thank you Sweet Paul, for a brilliant idea.  I think they will go down very well.

At home today

Plenty of seasonal activity going on here, with a new face appearing amongst the old favourites.

This little chap joined us in the summer, from a market in Yalta.  We don’t generally buy souvenirs as such, but we thought he’d make a pleasing addition to our Christmas collection and he brought a smile to our faces as we opened up the Christmas box this morning.

The other activity was in the kitchen, where a plate of finger food is required for this evening’s WI meeting.  As a change from mince pies and chocolate truffles, I made gingerbread, which I then cut into house shapes with liquorice chimneys.  Sprinkled with “snow”, they make a bite-size village and yes, of course, they’re twinkling!

Tiffany windows

When we were in Boston, I was captivated by the Christmas windows of Tiffany’s jewellers which were themed on paper snowscenes.  You may recall seeing one of them in a blog entry already.

I’ve much admired the work of Su Blackwell, finding that her creations press all the right buttons for me: precise, imaginative, crisp and clever.  So following a link to her blog today, having googled cut paper decorations, you can imagine my surprise to read today’s entry.

I hope someone at Tiffany’s offers Su an explanation.

The story of the glitter

Remember these from last month?  I’ve gone into chandelier production here and soon found myself short on the silver glitter.  Looking around the room, I can see twinkles everywhere which might explain why there wasn’t quite enough to cover the next chandelier – it was covering everything else!

It was lovely, fine glitter, though I really couldn’t expect such a small pot to go very far.

I hunted around and found another tube of silver in a cupboard, but this was pretty coarse stuff and the end result was a bit heavy handed

Anyway, it didn’t go far either.  Time to buy more.  Except that in Cirencester yesterday, there was not a single bit of silver glitter to be found anywhere (except on me, of course…I was twinkling with the best!)

The Pound Shop had this gold glitter glue but really, not only is a nasty colour, it’s more glue than glitter and wasn’t good at all.

So, today, in the Gloucester branch of Hobbycraft, I picked up a large pot of silver and a small one of white, for a little alternative if needed.  I left the empty pot there for size comparison – I don’t think I’m going to run out now, am I?

I also bought a couple of fine tipped squeezy bottles, to better control the glue and avoid that horrible lumpy look in the photo of the chandelier above.

That’s when I spotted the silver glitter paint.  Hmmm.  Might be a better option.  It was very cheap – less than a pound – so I dropped it in the basket as well.

If only I’d found this first.  Silver glitter in an aerosol spray: so easy, so quick!

Comes with the added benefits of solvent, too.  We are happy.  We have silver, glittery chandeliers.

Finally.