Christmas Alphabet..........

Well what can I say folks? It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.......la la la la laaaaaaa........

Now truth be known I'm not the most christmassy person and I think this is mainly due to the fact of having worked in retail for far too many years to tell and when Christmas goods start appearing in your deliveries to go out on the shelves from October, that and the same Christmas tunes for 3 months solid, and watching people consume consume consume, well by December you've practically lost the will to live. The enormous commercial consumerism can just strip away the magic that I feel Christmas should have.

Anyhow that thankfully is now a life away from where I'm at now *sighs*.
I wanted to share some Christmas magic with you. My parents have a myriad of vinyl yes records! they have a large variety of various types of Christmas music from instrumental to choral, from traditional to Motown. So I wanted to share one tune of these many with you, I think my parents have a slightly different version but this I think is the original, so hop on over to the link below, in fact open it in a new tab, put it on loud, come back here and scroll through the pics I've patched together for your visual delight to (try!) and accompany this wee song. (all pics have been gathered from home, further afield and some blooming lovely dressed shop windows).
Here's the link: Christmas Alphabet - Dickie Valentine

C if for the candy trimmed around the Christmas tree


H is for the happiness with all the family


What? look at the wee sweet gingerbread and robin families!

R is for the reindeer prancing by the window pane


I is for the icing on the cake as sweet as sugar cane

This is the window from Choccy Woccy DooDah, all sorts of chocolate goodness in there, it is truly amazing the things that they create

S if for the stocking hanging on the chimney wall


T is for the toys beneath the tree so tall

you just know there are lots of toy goodies wrapped up in those packages!

M is for the mistletoe where everyone is kissed


A is for the angels who make up the Christmas list


S is for the Santa who makes every kid his pet

Be good and he'll bring you everything in your Christmas alphabet!

And here's just a few more festive shots just because I can........


Ahhhhhh the turkey, a must for so many of us




And so you don't feel all brittle and about to break into a million crystal pieces.....


wrap up against this sort of weather or better still stay at home and just be.

Remember the magic is in the wishing, seeing friends and family, the eating of dishes and the taking of a tipple or two(!), the giving and sharing of gifts and most importantly the loving of being with those you are with.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and ala tiny Tim 'God bless us every one'. Have a fab festive season ;0 X

The Print Block

Well I have mentioned about printing and the little course I had been on in a few previous posts, so now here is my full post about it.
I did printing many years ago now and have not been able to find a course (that ran!) or facilities that I might have been able to use to do some more. So when I found out about The Print Block in Whitstable I quickly booked myself on one of their short printing courses. I have been itching to use more print combined with stitch in my work for ages and this has given me the chance to do that. So thank you Suki and Emrys for bringing The Print Block to Whitstable!



shelves filled with glorious inks to print with


screens galore that students have produced


I have always fancied one of these, although far too big for the normal household space! a drying rack, great for storing your printed bits and pieces so that they can dry without being squashed


screens in use



And finally to a few pics of snippets of work I produced over the few weeks there


combining print with stitch and fabric fragments to create one off simple tote bags



prints in the progress of being combined with snippets of fabric and larger panels as well as machine and hand stitching for fabric scarves



I had so much fun on this course and was so pleased that it ran. I was so fed up of not being able to attend a course because they didn't run due to lack of numbers. The classes at The Print Block are perfect as they are only small groups which means you will get the guidance and advice you may need much easier as well. They have recently run courses to print your own run of Christmas cards as well as wrapping paper, could you get much more handmade, personalised and perfect for Christmas!!??? So please if you live in, near or around the area and fancy printing then be sure to check them out. I'm looking at joining up to be able to use the facilities again for some more experimentation with my work, so maybe I'll see you there!! ;0 x