nuts anyone?

here are my nutcracker soldiers, waiting patiently for christmas.




Or perhaps not so patientely. they look a bit annoyed, or maybe even bewildered!
don't worry guys, you wont have to guard the fine crockery much longer, i know it is a great responsiblity!

TOday i was going to go into Dublin, to see Andrew at work and absorb some of the Christmas atmosphere, but unfortunately little miss is pretty sick, and i think it would be unfair to her and not much fun for me! so, maybe tomorrow.

It's a beautiful morning here though, blue skies and a lot of frost on the ground... come on Ireland, do what you do best, rain! it would snow now if it rained... fingers crossed..

hoping all of your christmas preparations a going well and wishing you all a white christmas!

An army of gingermen...

marched out of the oven, with a leader amoung them commanding " rise up, ye gingery gingermen, take your purple ribbons and fullfill your mission to be tasty morsels in peckish mouths." and all the little soliders followed him to the tree, where the hung and waited.




(You can see which one is the leader, he has a skip in his step.)

from small scraps of felt grow...

.....holly and mistletoe garlands!

Here is a quick and lovely itea for you, if, like me, you keep every little scrap of any thing!

These are so cute, and i had lots of fun making these up! i think people will enjoy recieving them as they are not your average christmas card!



Also, these take no time at all to whip up, so if your attention span for crafty things is short, this is ideal for you..



All you need is:

Any old scraps of felt, in any colours.
A sewing machine threaded with any colour thread.
Small "unusable" short scraps of ribbon.
scraps of card (there may be some in your recycling bin! just make sure it is clean..:-P)
A hole puncher

OPtional: if you have one of those toys for putting in snaps, you can also use it to put those little hole brads in. Not necessary at all though/

All you do is cut your holly or mistletoe and berry shapes.

Sew them together by feeding them under foot as you approach the end on the piece before.

Punch a little hole in the end, and if you have that tool, use it now.

cut card into ideal size for envelope.

punch a hole, you can also add those hole reinforcers if you have them.

tie the card and the garland together with the scrap of ribbon.

And Voila! All done!

little red men.

As with most people at this time of year, there are a million and one things to do, and so somethings simple things can take a little longer to get done...!

Our advent calendar went up yesterday, and here it is! We are on day 8, so it is a bit late, but better late than never... anyway, i kept us up to date by ensuring all the days where eaten as they came around....



Sorry about the photos, it is a pretty dull day here!




i don't know if you can see, on the top of the branch, there are a couple of little people.... close up this is who they are.




I found them at the bottom of a bag i got in the charity store the other day, and now i keep finding them all around the place! they where insisting on speeding up and down the advent calendar!

Crafty Christmas Markets

Looking for a last minute opportunity to stock up on some special crafty gifts before christms?


photo: Cranberry pop. Paper Bauble Set from www.Tanyamac.etsy.com

there are loads of craft markets popping up all over the place these days! i think it is great!! Buy local!!

Here are a couple that might interest you anyway:

The Crafty Market on this Sunday 4th Dec from 12pm to 5pm in the Dublin Food CoOp, check here for directions.

The D8 Christmas Gift Fair is on at St Kevin's Community Hall, Bloomfield Avenue, just off South Circular Road, Dublin 8 on Saturday 12th December 11am - 4pm. The community hall is located behind what was an old grey stone church building on South Circular Road and is now converted into apts.

Also, The Christmas Fair in the Mermaid Arts Center in Bray on Sat 12th Dec from 2-6pm and 7:30- 10pm and Sun 13th Dec 10am-6pm and 6:30pm-9:30pm , Main st, Bray, Co. Wicklow

Wishing you all well in your preparations and hoping you are all planning on a crafty handmade christmas!

Bibs in store

These bibs have been a huge seller on the stands so far this year, and i decided to put these on my shop.



They are in sets of 2 and 3, are made of 100% cotton and cotton toweling. I've been having reports back from people saying they are super absorbent and excellent for teething babies! Excellent!


so, feel free to purchase some of these from my store, it's free postage in Ireland!

Good news!

This week a baby was born, and her name is Daisy, how lovely!

I made her a little welcome bunting, which is only tiny and we will send in the post to her once i get her address. Welcome little Daisy, we hope you like our world!



ALso good news, Redpossum got in the Irish Times Newspaper TODAY!!! Wow, delighted! If you have one in your hand, it is in the magazine section in an article all about Etsy Ireland! yay!

advent calendar

or the start of one anyway!



i'll keep you up to date on the finished product (must be finished by Dec the 1st!), i always work better to a deadline...

Giveaway!

unfortunately not on my blog, but still a giveaway on the lovely Retro Mummys blog. It is a set of these gorgeous fabrics!



Actually i don't think you should go see it and enter, cause i am going to win them anyway, so you know....

Just kidding! have no fear, i am such a loser, i have never won a single thing in my life, so fear not! go, enter!

snack attack and a fringe

The other day, after having dressed the little one, and trying to brush her hair into some sort of order when it finally dawned on me that it was never going to happen, since she can't handle ANYTHING on her head or near her head. She just looked like a fur ball, you couldn't see her face at all!

So i just took the snippers in one hand, and took one fell snip. Thankfully it was pretty straight, cause i only got one shot at it! now we just have to get used to it!


"Mum, where is all my hair?!"





To celebrate i made a few little cupcakes. Then ate 5 on one go.

Kitch Alpine Christmas

I've been toying with the idea of going all ski chalet in the kitchen this christmas! I actually have a few things already that fit the bill, and i think it is time to crack those boxes open!

Here are some vintage gems from etsy that i think would work nicely...

A day in Galway

This past weekend, i was whisked away by my husband to the enchanting city of Galway, on the west coast of Ireland.

What a lovely lovely surprise!

Here are some of the highlights of our short, but lovely stay!

Sea captain

i found this vintage little "Sea captain's" jacket at an op shop a while ago now, and i put it away cause it was way too big (it still is a bit big), but i just found it a few days ago, and i have it hanging off the wardrobe so i can look at it every so often!



Its a funny little jacket, if it was on an adult, i would expect them to have a pipe in their hand, grey moustache and a monocular. I'm not expecting the same from my daughter thankfully...!



I think i may be inspired to create something like this in a coat version.. lets see if i every get around to it!

blackrock fair

please do come visit! just look for the possum.

grey day

today it is a grey day.

Very cold with a icy wind blowing... ideal for a cup of tea and and Iranian Backlava sweet after a trip to the local farmers market.



Oh and isn't this shop front just great? We have great plans to buy it one day and turn it into an old fashioned sweet shop (you know the kind you buy sweet by the pound), where did all those shops disappear to anyway??!!

snack pouches

I have two fairs coming up, if you happen to be around, do drop by and say hi! (hey that rhymes!). THe next one is Saturday 21st November & Sunday 22nd November 2009 In Blackrock, Co Dublin at The Blackrock Craft Fair.

SO i am busy making lots of snack pouches, bibs, mushrooms and pencil cases! busy busy!!

red shoes from Uncle Eric

Lovely little red French shoes!

Calling all quilters...

Recently i dabbled in a spot of quilting. I'm not normally a quilter, but i am a scrooge.. and i did have a lot of small scraps of lovely fabric, too small to do anything with but make a quilt (or two or three..!!)



so i made this, my first attempt! Definately a test of endurance, but in some ways relaxing, cause while you don't have to think too much, the time involved in making a quilt gives you time to think about other things in life. Kind of like therapy!



now, as i said this was my first quilt, and i decided to do it right by putting in cotton batting.. but i think it is pretty thin. I went to two different shops when buying it, and i asked them if it was too thin, but they both thought this was the normal thickness for a quilt... what do you think??? i'l love to hear!

Vote!

My Etsy friend, Tanya Mac's Blackberry baubles made it into this weeks Voter! Every click counts so if you have it in your heart then please vote for her - Vote for Ireland!)*

snap these up!

I was at the Crafty Market in the DUblin Co-op over the weekend, and it was funny to see so many Etsians there! i felt right at home and walked around as if i owned the place!

Also there, was Alex from Propeller prints. Alex designs and prints her own stationary, and i was lucky enough to snap up a few of these gift tags, which are such good value on her etsy shop, check it here, and stock up for Christmas.

Butterfly tags

You always need a few of these around handy for you know, those few bikkies you baked for a christmas visit to a friend, or that plant you are just dropping over to your Granny...!

Flower chocolate box tags


If you want to read more about her, she wrote an article here.

Handmade Christmas

I'm thinking about having a handmade Christmas this year.

Given that money is a little tight and that i have plenty of time, it has all the markings of a special handmade Christmas :0) It's so lovely to receive a handmade gift that has taken someone time to think about and make!

With this in mind, i should get busy now! I've a few ideas... but i am keeping my cards close to my chest...!

And to encourage other people to have a handmade Christmas, i have a sale on my Emily dolly patterns, so that you too can take pride and make something special for a special little someone you might know!



For this week only! Emily dolly pattern available here

violet

Today we had a little fun in the park, great fun letting the little one run wild in the park!

it was great teaching her to kick up leaves, who knew kicking leaves was so much fun!
Look at the speed on her in that shot, the camera nearly couldn't catch her..!

its not all fun and games though, this item is available to buy in my shop now!