First Post of 2011

Happy New Year!

I hope all your Christmas and New Year celebrations went well - don't forget, it's Twelfth Night  and you need to finish getting those decorations down today!

Most of ours came down on Monday after the last of our visitors had left for home.  I've struggled with the whole festive thing this year so tbh I was quite glad to start getting the house back to normal. I've not really had much pc time over the holiday period so my blog has been very neglected and it's about time I got back into the blogging habit.  I thought a quick clear up of the Christmas bits and pieces would be a good place to start. 
I'd like to show you my completed "tis the season" journal, but as you probably guessed, it's nowhere near being finished - I wonder if I can get away with making up some of the daily entries.  Ah well, if nothing else it's proved to me that there was no way I'd manage to keep up with those that did the 365 journals last year hehehe
OK, so here's a pictorial round up

First, the card I made for hubby:

 Thank you to all those crafty friends who sent a Christmas card - I displayed all the handmade ones I received together on the lounge door and they looked just wonderful - I made this photo bigger than I usually do so that you can get a closer look!

 And now some photos from Christmas Day

My hubby likes to surprise me with some unexpected gifts - like the pink hammer that was in my Christmas Stocking!

 Another big surprise was the envelope with a voucher for us to go on a segway off road rally experience!  That should be interesting! (you can see video example here)

We had a power cut on the afternoon of Christmas Day (great, eh?) I discovered that whilst we've loads of candles, we've not many things to put them on/in!  Still it made for this pretty photo oportunity!

Sometimes I think my man is completely nuts!  Somehow he managed to hide this parcel behind the tree where I didn't spot it - I think I might have guessed what was inside.....a lovely new purple Radley handbag, of course!

 I've been looking around for a more feminine sort of camera bag for ages.  Doing some googling over the last few months, I discovered that I'm not the only woman looking out for something nicer to hold a camera than the usual ugly bags and which also has room for the other stuff we like to cart around with us. Sadly, there's not much available in the UK, but over in the US there's a company called jill.e 

who are addressing the problem - you can find a few of their bags over here, but the choice is limited and hubby ended up ordering mine from the States.  For those who are interested, this one is the small size and is plenty big enough for my camera in the middle and lots of space for my other junk too.  There are lots of padded velcro'd  dividers inside and extra pockets at either end and on the front and back.  As well as the two straps you can see (long enough to go over your shoulder) there's also a detachable long shoulder strap included.  The wide zipped flap has room for filters etc.

 Right, I really must get started on my already long to-do list. Hopefully it won't be long till I actually have some new crafty stuff to share - and hopefully it won't be too long till I get some blog-hopping time too - I know there'll be lots to catch up on from all my crafty blogging friends - it's going to take ages!