Happy Christmas!

I've completely lost track of the last few weeks - there was a boy's birthday, swine flu, Christmas shows from the small people, and then the snow. There's been baking - a Christmas cake marzipanned last night, a chocolate banana cake for the boy's 4th birthday (requested, but not eaten - this boy does not do cake, but the rest of us loved it!).

The presents are all but wrapped, children are excited, and I'm looking forward to listening to Driving Home for Christmas in the car (I make no apology for the cheesiness - I balance it out with The Darkness's Christmas Time; got to love a singing robot).

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas! I'm taking a break for a bit, but promise to be a better blogger and blog-visitor in the new year!

We Make Craft fair

Well we're back, we survived, we sold some handmade things, and best of all I got to spend the whole day in the company of Joanne and Florence, chatting, giggling and eating cake (though standing well back from the handmade goods!). It was so lovely to see everyone who popped in on the day, like Lisa and Al, Mary and her little girl, my sister, so many etsy friends and the Reading outcasts. We also got to meet the lovely Mr Joleo and, more importantly (sorry Mr Joleo), baby Fitz, who beamed at everyone and made a number of new friends!

My husband also came along in the guise of fetcher, carrier, and official photographer. I was so amused to flick through all the photos on my camera when I got home to see the flavour of the day from Mr Angharad's point of view. Here we are presenting our 'public face' to the world behind our stall:

I have to admit that my 'public face' does border on the lunatic, but I was high on lavender fumes. I did manage to keep the lunacy mostly under wraps, I hope, not counting bursting into tears on a very overcrowded tube on the way home, but I can blame the pregnancy hormones and post craft-fair exhaustion for that.

And this is the one that really made me laugh - the 'before' shot, a few minutes before opening, which I think really captures how all three of us had been feeling in the run up to the fair - more than a little harassed!

It turns out our worries were unfounded - we had made more than enough between us to cover 2 stalls, fitting it all in was the main problem!

Here are some of the things I made for the fair -

There were stacks of lavender sachets

tissue holders

pencil cases

make up bags

and coin purses

Back home, I'm busy updating the shop with the things that came home with me and it's nice to see it filling up after being so badly neglected for the last couple of months. And talking of neglected, I'm also trying to give my children a bit more of my time now that I'm not permanently attached to my sewing machine. This week, we'll be mostly being Christmassy, with plenty of make and do, and having a lot of fun in the process.