* Storytelling 2010 *

This will be my last post about Christmas I promise! I wanted to write and show photos from our annual Christmas Storytelling event - it was our one best yet!

Children's Storytelling
We had sleepy, shy and excited little faces that were lit by our fire and Christmas tree lights at the first part of our storytelling. Some children were already in their PJ's and dressing gowns which made it REALLY snug! Great stories were told, some by the children themselves, evoking that magical feeling you only get at Christmas.

Hobbes' Storytelling:

Hobbes wanted to tell a story about Father Christmas, but no-one could hear him as he got a bit shy and just meowed into a Father Christmas hat.

'Grown Ups' Storytelling:
Mulled wine, spiced cocoa and marshmallows, roaring fire, homemade treats and over twenty of us crammed into our front room, we also had a magical time, with much laughter and brilliant wintery, Christmassy stories! Some were funny, some were thought provoking, some were imaginative and some made us a bit teary...

...and to complete the Christmassy magic, it snowed that night and the next day too!

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A Shining New Sewing Machine

As part of my path to learn how to do more crafty things and make my own characters, I'm now the proud owner of a shining red and white sewing machine (courtesy of Mum and Dad this Christmas):

Ta-Da!

I had a tip off from friend Charlotte - these cute mini John Lewis sewing machines are a 'snip' (haha) at £50 and come in all sorts of colours - red was the colour for me.
So today, I threaded my sewing machine (with help from Jon) and using some cute fabric (I also got this Christmas from Ma and Pa) I made a cushion cover...

...yay!

I also wanted to give you a sneak peak at one of Jon's homemade Christmas presents - a special book of illustrations just for me!

The title of the book is: A Little Book of Drawings for My Best Friend

This one is a scene from one of my favourite shows, The Good Life:

And here is a Fox Friend!
There were lots of other illustrations and treasures in the book, including a beautiful necklace and a fabric badge from Spitalfields Market. Needless to say - I was very happy :)

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* A little bit of homemade Christmas Presents *

I got the chance to make some presents for friends and family this year - the first one I made was a little owl, stuffed with lavender from Provence. His name is Twink...

...and this is his back.Then I made some Button Hearts with buttons collected from charity shops, garden wire and strong glue:

I also framed my Bunny picture:

Of course, I did have some help - Hobbes was keen to lend a paw...

...and waited patiently for Christmas whilst watching the snow fall.

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Where the Wild Things Are - Inspired Animation

Another beautiful film found by husband Jon - this is a short film inspired by and in tribute to 'Where the Wild Things Are'. Jon and I are keen to make something that kinda copies this - its SO good!

Buildings & Vampires from Nico Casavecchia on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

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* Christmas Friday Treat Time *

My husband Jon found this beautiful film and I wanted to share it with you! It tells the Christmas Story through the eyes of children. Its funny, beautiful and inspiring. Enjoy!

Happy Christmas - not long to go!

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*Christmas Decoration Makes*

I have tried to make my own Christmas decorations this year out of very cheap materials and scraps. The first thing I made was my Christmas Doves:

I had some white felt and red wool left over from another 'make', so I sketched a dove shape and a wing shape and cut them out.

I then snipped a hole in the top part of the dove shape, poked the wings through and tied it up with red wool.
Next, I made some giant snowflakes out of tissue paper and wire, which were inspired by Colour Me Katie's blog.

They are so easy to make, and look beautiful!

...and you can follow some simple steps to make them here!

Happy Christmas decorating!
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Up, Up and Away (to Oscar glory)!

This week I won an Oscar (with my team mates), thanks to some crafting! This is the nearest I'll ever get to co- winning one, so I thought I'd better put it down in writing. Here's the story in full...


So it's Christmas office party time - and Comic Relief's theme was the MOVIES! I was very keen for our team to go as characters Pixar - my suggestion got through the vigrous voting in a team meeting (phew!). The next step was to choose our characters.

My idea was to go as the house from UP (one of my favoruite films of all time). I had to get myself looking like this:


From this:



And here is the result:


And here is my lovely team in all our Pixar glory (with Father Christmas):


...And we won an Oscar for best costume! Hurrah!


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* Christmas Friday Treat Time *

Hurray! It's the 10th December - now we can REALLY start to enjoy and get ready for Christmas! I've made a little playlist of classic, vintage and alternative songs to get us in the spirit - just click on the Christmassy picture!


Enjoy!

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How do you keep a Sausage Dog warm?

Is a question that has been been on my mind ever since our autumnal cold snap (it's still not winter yet, technically). And now that it's snowing - well, I had to think of something.

So here it is, some new ideas that I've created collage style:

...and drawn (for the extra long sausage dog):
Hopefully they'll be feeling a bit warmer now! I hope you're keeping nice and warm in this shivery, but beautiful snowy weather!

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* Christmas Wishes *

Ok, I have made the mistake of looking on Etsy and I'm now in love with a number of items on 'Feed your Soul's' shop:






I love looking at people's art stuff - it's so inspiring! One day, I'd love to be able to make ALL my Christmas presents!

Check out more lovely, beautiful items here...

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