So deck those halls, trim those trees....

.....raise up cups of Christmas cheer

Taken from one of my favourite modern Christmas songs......well I say modern it's about 30 years old!

I had planned a post with pictures but for some reason the lappy is playing silly b*ggers and refusing to work. I have no idea how to put pictures on here using iPad so text only it is.

There is much excitement from the pups as its Christmas Eve. If we could bottle this we could have cheap, environmentally friendly energy for the entire world :)

I'll leave you with the immortal words, originally sung by Judy Garland in Meet Me In St Louis.

"Have yourself a Merry little Christmas"

Oh crumbs...

So the Christmas holidays have officially begun in earnest. Am I the only one it fills with dread? No? Just me then? Ho hum.....
OK dread is a bit of strong word but oh my word it's only day two and I am already shattered. You will of course sit and assume I've been dashing here, there and everywhere entertaining the kids. Nope. I haven't set foot outside of this house for 2 whole days. Cabin fever? Moi?
I've been on my feet all day doing various activities with the pups. Painting and glitter, colouring in Christmas pictures (sadly not one of them has chosen the picture of Mary and Jesus) and generally creating a mess that needs regular tidying in order to preserve my sanity (although I confess it was at breaking point after the state of the lounge again tonight).

There is one activity which is routinely begged for and is a holiday time staple in this house.

Baking.
Special requests were make for Christmas cookies. How I wish I'd never bought those Christmas themed cutters.
Since Pup1 has the memory of an elephant this promise was one I couldn't wriggle out of. So I originally planned biscuits with the pups and that was it. However for some reason I was struck by the urge. To do more baking. Next time I have this irrational desire someone please slap me round the face and bring me to my senses. Don't get me wrong I love baking. Just not 3 different items in one afternoon while practising being a UN peace negotiator.

Now bear in mind I am not a tidy cook, I tend to bake and create in a state of chaos. Add pups to the mix and it's increased tenfold as they jockey for positions to see best at the work top, demand to sniff, poke and stir the ingredients. I put things down and then I can't find them, several tea towels are used and please Father Christmas bring me a dishwasher. I've lost count the number of times today I've had to wash up.

My festive cutters. I hid the angel as quite frankly it's a total PITA to get the biscuit dough out of without severely deforming her wings. Likewise the Snowman one and his silly little brim on his hat. We need simple shapes and these ones fit the bill. Biscuits are now cooked and will be decorated tomorrow with glace icing and sprinkles because why would I want to give myself a break from cleaning up ;)

I've not used this tin for........mumble mumble well far too long anyway and for some reason I decided to bake some doughnuts. Or is it donuts? Really who cares....

Mix the batter according to the instructions. Be sure to dribble lots of excess batter over the tin because it will have been 40 seconds since you last had to tidy up. By the way do you like Pup1's Iron Man picture lurking at the side. Told you I work in chaos, it was dicing with death sitting there.

The finished goods, liberally rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Only it would only really stick to the one side of the doughnut. Oh well who cares. Note to self oiling the pan is totally insufficient to allow the doughnuts to be removed whole. It is necessary to butter the entire pan. Another note to self......even partially broken they still slip down a treat.

Biscotti. Chocolate with mixed nuts. Don't ask me what nuts as I haven't got a clue.
Supposed to also go down very nicely with a coffee or some booze. If I ever get the peace and quiet for 5 mins I'll try it and be sure to let you know.

Will this stuff last til Christmas. I doubt it.
Will I be making it all again in time for Christmas? Get knotted.
I shall be doing as nature intended and serving up Cadbury's Chocolate Yule Log and sitting on my butt watching The Santa Clause. Because for some strange reason I have thing for Tim Allen.

Choo Choo......

So as usual the curse of not enough hours in the day has meant that I have not made a single Christmas card this year <blush> Not even one of the ones I experiemented with in a previous blog. It's been a whirl of Nativity plays, meeting friends and their new babies, meeting other friends for coffee and chats and general running around, keeping house and trying deperately to finish the Christmas shopping. Sympathy? Nah of course not as in all likelihood you are doing exactly the same thing.
So Christmas crafting has been non existant. Til today. Do you remember in this post a mention about a jingle bell from The Polar Express. Well I've finally done the final push to get them finished.

Thank heavens for free box templates on the Internet :)

Pick your card, cut out using a craft knife for ease, score and using double sided sticky tape glue it together. Simples.

Add a jingle bell (from Father Christmas of course) and attach some suitably jaunty ribbon.

Nestled in the box all nice and snug. OK the ribbon will be tucked in but I chose to leave them out for asthetic reasons for the pic......

I sliced some wrapping paper to wrap round the box to finish it off.

Add a little strip to form the bow going the other way and here it is. Father Christmas' first gift of Christmas. Here's hoping the little pups actually get the idea behind it......

I'll show you mine.....

.....if you show me yours. Christmas tree that is.

Yep all you tree purists, it's artificial. I love real trees, the smell of them, the tradition of picking them (A christmas tree farm is about 3 minutes drive away) just the sheer pleasure of bringing the outdoors into your house. However my artificial tree doesn't make my hands itch after handling it, drop needles that small kids and cats can make a mess with and it fits snugly into the same place in my lounge each year. Maybe in a few years I'll switch back to real tree but for now I'll stick with Christmas I can pack in a box. My heartfelt thanks to the person who actually managed to make artificial trees look good ;)

So all you style gurus what adorns the top of your tree? Star or Angel?

I am afraid I pick an angel every time. All the stars we've had were plagued with stability issues, they just couldn't commit to a relationship that involved clinging to the top of a spindly bit of twig for dear life. Whereas my Angel has the benefit of her skirt as ballast.....

I am afraid for us though Christmas starts on 1st December. Yes I know the period we are in is technically Advent but the pups don't really understand that. December is my all time favourite month of the year so I like to squeeze as much fun, joy and excitement out of it that I can. So up go the decorations, out come the lights and break out the Christmas music and DVD's. It's time to bask in the warmth of the love of my family (when they're not bickering of course) and enjoy the season, cold weather and all round general happiness. No that doesn't include the gods of shopping, commercialism and consumerism, but sensible, affordable spending (I can't lay claim to having always done that but I am learning) and if all else fails spend nothing but time those that matter.

Out of my decorations I have some favourites, not all bought or indeed made by me.

 Pasta wreaths made by the pups last year. They had such fun making these and they've survived storage so they are now hanging on the window handles in the kitchen :)

So whenever you start your celebrations I hope you have a happy time.
Time for me to head off and watch It's a Wonderful Life for the 100th time.

Glitter

Don't you just love glitter. I do. Apart from when despite cleaning I cannot shift it from the house. Or my face which for some bizarre reason is where it always ends up.
Anway I have a shed load of red glitter hanging around after some trials at making some Christmas cards. Want to have a look?

The source of the offending glitter. For some reason the actual card  looks a completely different type of red to the glitter card gingy is stuck to. This is not how it looks in real life. I am not sure about this card. I can never seem to get colour cards to look right.

This was made using a die cutter for a bauble which I used on some felt and then sprayed it with glitter spray. Note to self spray glitter before attaching the gold card top as it fetches the colour off!!!

I think this one is my fave. I drew a bird shape on some thicker card and cut it out using a craft knife. Then using a gold and red stamp I stencilled the shape on the card. Added some stick thin legs and a flat backed gem and voila a wee fat robin. Not sure if the card needs something extra or not.......can't decide.

Anyway I've got a couple more ideas for card designs so will try and have a play around another afternoon.

On a misty morn

Now I love sunshine and summer just as much as the next girl but what makes my heart really sing is Autumn and Winter. I just love cosy, dark nights, frost, snow and especially fog. So yesterday morning I was pleased to see the delightful foggy-ness outside.
The Pups and I walked around to Granny and Grandads house so I decided to take the camera for the (litterally 5 minute) journey and snap as  went.

Berries on my Rowan tree (it keeps witches away ;)), Bejewelled with misty drops of water.

Its funny, all along the carefully trimmed hedges there is what looks like candy floss or cotton wood shredded on them. It is in actual fact wet cobwebs (thankfully no spiders.......I don't "do" insects") and I love the fact that most of the time I was completely oblivious to their presence.

He looks like a fun-guy. Geddit? I'll get me coat.........(have no idea what sort of fungi this is but it was like a golf umbrella for a garden fairy LOL)

Pup1 racing ahead in the distance (he's keen than one).

So keep the fog coming Mother Nature and while you're at it some frost and snow would be fabulous too. Oi! Stop moaning in the back, I've bought snow boots and ski jackets for the kids and they had better get used before they grow out of them......

Oh my eyes!

Confession time. I love the idea of jam making and preserves but sadly I don't really eat it. So when people talk of gathering their fruit harvests for jam making my heart pines for an acitivity I shall never throw myself into. That was until I discovered the joy of onion chutney. This stuff is way better than Branston Pickle and with a sack of onions at a local-ish farm shop a mere £3 for nearly 5kg it's too hard to pass up.

Recipe I use requires 2kg of onions. So I quickly (and I mean VERY quickly) top and tail and peel the skins off and then weigh them. Oh dear the weeping that followed.....I resorted to wearing some close fitting sunglasses to protect my poor peepers without much success. Bet I looked pretty cool though :)

 Thank heaven for food processors. They help to take the sting out of chopping onions. Especially 2kg worth!

Simmer in vinegar for an hour before adding sugar and bit of salt (and a couple of other herbs unless you're like me and decided to ignore them), bring to the boil and then simmer again until thickened. Which never seemed to happen the first time I made this and I found out it actually thickens more once it cools.

Spoon into sterilised jars and leave to cool. Please note that I used white sugar when recipe called for dark brown, ergo my chutney is lighter in colour this year. Oh I am such a rebel.

As if making 8 jars of honey coloured heaven wasn't money saving enough here's another one. Do I spent £1.99 on wax discs to put on top of my chutney? Not when I can cut up an empty cereal packet (the plastic bag that holds the cereal). Was only going to landfill so best thing for the environment is to get one more use out of it :)

So whilst I might not make and eat preserves quite the same way my great granny did at least I am having a go at making something I know I will eat and enjoy.
Just wish my eyes didn't have to suffer in the process and that the house didn't stink of vinegar! Don't pop round to my house for a few days unless you want to think you're visiting a chip shop ;)

Run, run as fast as you can

According to a load of Facebook status updates last night Christmas has started as the Coca-Cola advert was shown last night. Actually it's started as I have finally completed another WIP (work in progress) and this has been hanging around on my dining room table for far too long.

So sewing the mouths wasn't my strongest point but I am secretly chuffed that despite a significant number of years going by I have remembered how to blanket stitch.
My mum now wants two to hang on her tree too. So one WIP ends and another begins LOL
I got the shape from a Sizzix Die cutter I bought. I cut out the shape from cardboard and then drew round this on the felt and hand cut it out. Could technically use the die cutter but it cuts out various bits from the body too which I didn't want.

Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread man *




* I hate gingerbread. If the story had been about a custard cream I'd have been in heaven ;)

11.11.11

Aside from the palindrome involved in such a date (a palindrome being a word or number that contains the same characters forwards and backwards) to me today is, as ever, an important day to remember those who have lost their lives in conflict. So shortly before 11am I shall be sitting in quiet reflection. Well as quiet as a 3 year old will let me.

I can't say I am a terribly big lover of poetry, I am afraid my unsophisticated intellect finds a great deal of it rather pretentious. I do however love the poetry of Wilfred Owen, one of the best war poets who was sadly killed in action a week before the Armistice came into effect.
I first heard this poem in an English lesson at secondary school and it stayed with me ever since.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime. -
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, -
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

It is a stark re-telling of what life was like in the trenches of WWI, the horror, the fear, the sheer exhaustion and the fact that there is precious little glory in going to war.

So I will sit at 11am, wearing my British Legion red poppy, with pride but also some hope that we as a species can find a better way to resolve our differences. 

Is that a cliche? A vain hope? Most likely but what's to be gained from being a cynic 24/7. 

Remember, Remember......

Remember, remember the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes
'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament
Three score barrels of powder below
Poor old England to overthrow
by God's Providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and a burning match
Halloa boys, halloa boys, make the bells ring
Halloa boy, halloa boys, God save the King
Hip hip hoorah

I see Bonfire night as a bit like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it. More so if you have pets of a nervous disposition. Add to that peoples inability to show respect for their neighbours by letting of fireworks with the noise level of a howitzer after midnight and you can see why the love/hate relationship exists.
I however love it but then again I do love my English traditions. My Aunt lives in a village whereby the local residents had a flaming torch procession to the village green before reciting the poem and setting the bonfire alight. Bit too "Wicker Man" for some but I love the fact that the passing of 400 years isn't enough to fade the memories of our country's history.

This rather fabulous pile of bricks is a short drive from where we reside

(pic taken from Wikipedia)
It is to this house that some of the co-conspiritors fled. Coughton Court (pronounced Coe-ton) is a National Trust property and is still inhabited by one of the members of the Throckmorton family who I believe have had the house since the 1400's. Pretty impressive that they've managed to hang on to it for so long!

If  you're celebrating Bonfire night then stay safe. If you're not then turn up the TV or the radio and hope it's all over soon. We shall be celebrating with some fireworks in the comfort of our own back garden.

Apologies for the lack of blogging lately. It's been a funny old week with motorbike accidents involving Mr Bitsy (thankfully he's OK but been off work all week), bit of soul searching jobswise and some consideration of my spirituality and where it lies.
Conclusions are I am to become a SAHM and that I am officially a Pagan. Week of discovery I think.

Scooby dooby doo.......

A quick post to show the Scooby Doo cake I made for a friend's daughter for her birthday party. Hope it tastes as good as it looks :)

Another cake update....

Just a quick post about some cake decorating stuff I've done lately.

A cute little princess topper I made for a friend.

Ariel view LOL

My Grans 90th Birthday Cake. Happy Birthday was eventually painted in silver.

Blogging might be a little short on the ground this week. It's half term which means I shall be working full time with a house full of kids. Looking forward to some Halloween preparation :)

Taggie Blanket.

A very lovely friend is expecting her first, very precious child. I've wanted to make something for her and a taggie blanket seemed the perfect gift.

Ribbons were pinned, facing inward, onto the top of the right side of the fleece.

Stitched the ribbons and then lay the other fabric, right sides in, ontop.

Having stitched round I left a 3 inch gap to allow the blanket to be turned the right way.

And voila.......slip stitch the 3 inch gap, give it a quick press with the iron and there is the taggie blanket just ready and waiting for baby to arrive.

Sorry one last pic as I am completely enamoured with the rainbow of ribbons :)

A catch up.

Wow it's been a week since my last blog post. Oh dear must try harder ;)
So here's what's been going on at Chez Bitsy.

At the start of the year I was given this rather sweet little chair. It had belonged to an elderly neighbhour who'd sadly passed away and it had been hers when she was a little girl. A gorgeous wooden childs chair with a lid for a potty. The pups love it however the cushion for it was rather old and lumpy so time to make a new one.



Considering I've never made a cushion in my life I am rather pleased with this :) Used the discarded cover as a rough template and some tweaking and trimming and voila a pretty little cover for my pretty little chair.

Forgive me Husband for I have sinned! I wee shopping trip to Hobbycraft!

Some LED faux tealights, battery operated. Just what I need in time for Halloween pumpkins......can't be doing with naked flames and small pups!
A polystyrene ring for me to attempt a bauble wreath for Christmas.
Jingle bells. We love the Polar Express at Chez Bitsy and I have a dream of making a jingle bell for the pups the same as the boy recieves as the first present of Christmas from Father Christmas. Just hope they are as excited as I am.

Fake snow. I am soooooo gonna regret this BUT they had a bowl in Hobbycraft and I had a wee play. Goodness it was a wonderful sensory, tactile feel. Stuff the kids this one's for me. The best thing is you just add water and after the water has evaporated you can sweep up the powder and do it all again. The gift (to myself) that just keeps giving.

These I am so in love with they are already adorning the mantlepiece LOL Sadly the picture doesn't do their shiny gorgeous-ness* justice. I know some are sniffy about not having matching Christmas decor eg the stuff on the tree has to be a colour scheme and heaven forbid you have coloured light <faints in horror> Well actually what I love about Christmas IS all the different colours, so it's coloured lights and a mish mash of assorted baubles on our tree. Husband insists on white lights outside so that's my only concession. The pups have been threatened with pain of death firmly told not to touch them and with my fake tea light effect they look lovely. Can't wait to use them for their actual seaon.

I am in the process of a few Christmas prep things......if I get my butt into gear I might even be able to show you my makes before the actual event arrives.

*I have no idea if that is indeed a real word but hey I like to speak my own language ;)

Ta-dah!!

At last a finished project! Just in time for the supposed coming Winter snap (although this morning its still pretty warm, no coat required, never mind a scarf!)

Yes this me <cringes> goodness how I hate having my photo taken. Honestly who knew how hard it is to get a decent picture of yourself in twilight via a mirror!

Shhhhhh lets not talk about the towels on the bed that you can see in the background......they're for washing ;)

One scarf down, one more to go........

If you want a rainbow......

.....you have to put up with the rain.

After the stresses of this week this was a lovely sight to see outside my back window. Just a shame that my little point and click camera doesn't do it justice.

And even better there was a double rainbow! Not sure if you can really see it in this pic but I promise you it was there, albeit far fainter than the other one.

I hope if you've had rain, metaphorically or not then a rainbow also appeared for you too :)

Apologies...

.....for me wittering on about cakes so much recently. Every Tuesday night for 10 weeks is cake decorating class so you'll only have to put up with this for another 7 lessons LOL

The writing isn't as good as it could be as quite frankly there was a heck of a lot of cake decorating to squeeze in and not enough time to be precious about it.

Just a shame there are no birthdays in order to present this for!

Work in Progress.

I really don't know where the time goes to each day but over this scorching weekend I tackled a couple of things soon to be deemed the dreaded "work in progress".

A trip to local park with the pups yielded a significant amount of horse chestnuts. I've been slowly collecting what I could of these in order to create a horse chestnut tincture.
What? you may ask. Well as much as I dearly love my beloved pups they have kind of left the body in a less than perfect condition, variocose veins rule. So having borrowed a copy of James Wong's Grow Your Own Drugs from local library I was intrigued to find a recipe for varicose veins. You can buy creams online which contain horse chestnut extract for this very thing but why pay when you can forage for free.

Horse chestnut vodka anyone? Not for internal use. I am soaking the horse chestnuts and will blitz them in the food processor in a couple of days. It won't be a cheaper remedy if it knackers my kitchen equipment in the process. Once blitzed it needs to be left for a month and then the final step of the process can be started.

If you ever wondered what happens when you park a hot scooter exhaust near a brand new, unused tent kept in the garage.....well this it it. Well actually it's not just it as there is another dinner plate sized hole in the ground sheet along with a number of smaller holes in outer fly sheet. So in the heat of the weekend I decided to take the plunge and wrestle the tent into it's upright position. I now have a long list of various sized holes which now need to be repaired. That calls for a trip to the not so local camping shop to buy the tools required. Here's hoping the repairs won't cost as much the tent did in the beginning.

 And finally (said in the style of Trevor MacDonald). It was Pup1's birthday a few days ago. Is this the perfect present? Galaxy Marble Run........contains everything a small pup could wish for.....marbles, a theme suited to his special interest of everything space, flashing lights, intricate twists and turns. Hubby and I spent ALL day (I kid you not) putting this hideous present together in our sweltering hot lounge. It didn't work properly once errected (the instructions required a degree in engineering to read....OK slight exaggeration but they were a pig to read) and appeared to be the biggest let down of all. So much so the following morning Pup1 dismantled the entire thing.
Disappointed? I was so gutted I could have cried. Next time I think something is the perfect present I shall think twice.