Round Robins

On Saturday I did one of those things you always dream about doing, but rarely ever do... a FULL ON pyjama day. My reindeer print Primark jamas never once came off, the duvet was transferred to the sofa and the cuppas/hot chocolates were kept on a loop. It was beautifullll. Apart from when I had the clever idea of watching a nice Saturday afternoon film and chose My Sister's Keeper and I disintegrated into a blithering snotty mess.

Despite the pyjama situation, I was pretty productive - (as much as I love a day doing nothing, I can't actually do nothing. If that makes sense. I get too fidgety.) - and so got all my Christmas cards made. What started off as a simple idea steadily became more fiddly and time consuming, so it took me all morning to make twenty, but I'm a-pretty happy with the results!

I printed a template from online, and bought a mammoth piece of brown card. I then used red felt for the belly, stencilled and painted a wing on each, before sticking a card wing on top. I then stitched in the eyes, and just have the ribbon to attach. In total I spent about £3, and I've still got a load of card left over. That sounds like the worst boast ever. Check out my left-over card. Oo-er.

I just need to attach some gingham ribbon in a loop at the top -  the idea is that these can be hung anywhere, so can turn from card into decoration... fancy ehhhh!?

But someone's stolen my glue gun... (ie. I've definitely lost it).

PS How come I've only just got into Pinterest?!

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Bublé and Baubles

Blog NEGLECT. I'm really sorry! A whole week and a bit. Eep. I had a dream that I'd done a post, which is my excuse for not doing one, as I thought I'd already done one.

But I didn't. So here's a real one! Oh my.

As much as I LOVE Christmas, I'm usually really anti all-things-Christmas until December 1st, but seeing as the Christmas adverts and decorations are inescapable already this year, I too was drawn into a bit of the old November festiveness. Last night my friend Leah and I cracked on a bit of Buble's Christmas album and got crafting. It was magical.

Another reason for the premature festiveness is the fact that I've decided we're going to host a Christmas party. It's our first Christmas in the flat, so I've invited people for 'mulled wine, wine and Michael Bublé.' The only problem is that I've never hosted a party before, and I think I'm taking it a bit too seriously. The food options are already being sourced, the playlist is being compiled and the decorations are being made. I'm seriously considering a pin the nose on the reindeer game. Too much? I'm going to be heartbroken if nobody turns up.

I want to get a real (albeit very small) tree this year, but have no decorations. Soo, to save money I decided to make some baubles! I picked up a pack of polystyrene 7cm balls from an art shop (10 for £3.50 - bargain) and then raided my knitting bag (yes I have a knitting bag) for some wool.

I then popped some glue on the ball, and wound the string around it. Now this is trickier than it looks as the wool has a habit of sliding off the sides. Push a length of wool through some of the wound wool and tie to make the hanger loop. I then decided to sew some mini pom poms on one. It's not exactly festive. Or traditional. But I like it in its own little way! 

Leah showed me up and made this beautiful red one, which reminds me of the top you get on an apple lattice. 

Tonight I'm on to the Christmas cards, and then after that I'm on to paper chains and then after that who knows. Our tiny flat is going to look like Christmas has thrown up in it by the time I've finished.

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A Little Bit of Life

This post is a bit different to what I usually blab on about, and it's based around four quotes I read yesterday which all really resonated with me. They're all taken from the Twitter account of Nicky Gumbel - Vicar, author, Alpha pioneer and all-round good egg.

I started the Alpha course at Holy Trinity Brompton last month as a chance to try and get some answers; to all those niggly questions about religion and life. The talks have sometimes thrown up more questions then they've answered, but the more I do the course, the more I realise that sometimes in life you can't get all the answers, and never will.

I read an article not long ago about the rise in having a so-called 'quarter-life' crisis, where people (especially in the city) start to evaluate their career, who they're living with and their future. And more often than not, begin to panic.

I'm not saying that I'm having (or beginning to have) a quarter life crisis, but I am worrier and an over-thinker, and all too often find myself whittling about the future and trying to analyse what my life decisions will eventually lead to.

Always remember that your present situation is not your final destination. The best is yet to come.

What I'm slowly trying to teach myself is that I can't control everything. I'm beginning to realise that sometimes it's important to stop, and evaluate what you do have. Some things you just have to go with. I've always been a strong believer in the 'everything happens for a reason' idea, and while I know that this often seems extremely difficult to comprehend at the time, I do believe that eventually things become clear. Ultimately yes, some days are just going to be a whole load of different kinds of rubbish, but that's life.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Stay where you are until God calls you into something new. 

God calls us into things, not just out of them.

I also recently read a blog post by athriftymrs.com about the difference between want and need, which I found really helpful. I don't shop in charity shops per se, but the message of the blog is very relevant and I think pretty important. It's so easy to be swept up into this culture of having to have.

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. 

They just make the most of everything.

I really hope this hasn't come off as preachy or clichéd, as I definitely didn't intend it to be. I just wanted to share a bit of optimism, and hope that these quotes might brighten up your Friday.

Have a lovely weekend!

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