Gift wrapping

Every year I try and think of a different theme for wrapping presents.   Usually my ideas involved brown paper - brown paper with a pattern stamped on, brown paper with pretty ribbon etc, but this year I've gone for tissue paper and cellophane.  

I think they look like giant sweeties.  Not sure whether they are christmassy enough, I was going to stick to traditional Christmas colours but I saw a pack of multi-coloured tissue paper in one of my fave shops - Paperchase - couldn't you just spend hours in there?

 So I ended up with multi-coloured sweety-style presents - what do you think?

 I had some baubles too, and used them as an additional embellishment.  The coloured tags are also from Paperchase, and the fancy cellophane is from Hobbycraft.

 Maxie Moo Moo was underfoot for most of the time I was wrapping, and photobombed quite a number of the photos.

Do you have a wrapping theme?  What do you think of  the sweet-shop style wrappers?

Night night, Tor x x

Carols in two cities

Two Christmas concerts this week has made me feel sooo Christmassy.  One in my home city of Liverpool, one just down the road in Manchester.  

The first was here, Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral - a fantastic building.  Did you know Liverpool has two cathedrals, either end of a road called Hope Street?  I always love that about Liverpool, there's more to it than football and the Beatles you know!

I couldn't take many photos of the concert, we were quite far back and on the way out we kind of got swept along by what seemed like millions of people, and the rest of the family looked mildly embarrassed when I tried to take a picture of the amazing wreath on the massive front door. I'll take my camera back another time though, I think you'd find it interesting.

There was a sign next to where we sat which was telling us about the Organ Appeal.  Apparently the organ here is the biggest in the UK.  Which made me keep chuckling.  Very childish I know.

For the second of our concerts we travelled across to Manchester on the train - we had a break from the wind and rain and were able to browse around the Christmas market before lunch and the concert.

The market was fab, it's held in a big square outside the town hall and is full of gorgeous sights and smells.

We sampled the mulled wine...yum, and then had lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant - it felt very decadent to be sipping prosecco at 1pm on a Sunday!
The concert was at the Bridgewater Hall, I'd d never been before so it was an adventure for me.  Beautiful singing (not mine, the choir's), the orchestra was in fine form and...

...they even had a blue Christmas tree (have I mentioned we are from the blue side of Liverpool, football speaking?)

I'm not sure that these pictures came out too well, as they were just snaps on my phone, but outside the Bridgewater were these lights, they look like origami cranes, and they all lit up in turn, so it looked like they were flying - it was a fantastic effect.

Hope you are all feeling Christmassy and have had plenty of opportunity to practice your carolling skills in the run-up to Christmas?

Love Tor x x 

Christmas place names

Eight of us for Christmas lunch this year. We soooo need place names otherwise chaos will ensue....ha ha! Well, maybe it's a bit unnecessary but it is Christmas.

We don't really have a theme for our Christmas table, although last year, inspired by mum's crochet doily obsession we went multicoloured. The place names were made by our cousin, Christmas trees with the names on the stars. I pinched them when we were there for dinner. (I did ask first, and I dos wait until we had eaten, I promise).

This year mum and I have made our own place name holders, so now we're going to have to build the rest of the table around them. What do you think?

We stared with the inspiration from a pin on Pinterest. I can't seem to paste a link in here sorry, but safe to say that ours look nothing like them (can you use your imagination to conjure up sparkle and 3D deer?).  I couldn't find any little  3D figures so I bought these from hobbycraft. Don't they look pretty all lined up in an orderly fashion?  

 We also struggled to get wooden pegs. Mum ordered them online in the end, they came all the way from China. Unbelievable really. I bet now we'll see them everywhere - doesn't that always happen?! 

We used the trusty glue gun, and mum glued the shapes onto the pegs while I typed out the names on this typewriter. It belonged to my uncle, and was gifted to me by my Aunty Pat when he sadly passed away. 

I love the font, it seems retro now, and it's bonkers to think that this was standard not so many years ago. 

Here's the finished product, all lined up in their box ready to get out on Christmas Day.

It didn't take long, about half an hour, and although I probably should have been tackling the mountain of ironing, I'm very glad I didn't as this was much more fun...and how satisfying.  Plus I can bask in that smug feeling of being organised in advance.  Well for about 5 minutes anyway, until that ironing pile catches my eye.  Maybe I'll just throw a blanket over it.....

Night night, Tor X

Part 2 - can you have too many advent calendars?

Way back on 3 December, which seems like ages ago but really isn't, I mentioned I might have another advent surprise to share. This one is an annual institution in our family, do you like it?

It's a massive Father Christmas, with pockets on both sides, one for each day in December. None of those fiddly pockets that only hold one sweet. This is advent calendar taken to the next level. 

It was a wee bit delayed this year, as my mum stuffs this with goodies and she pulled a muscle in her arm / side which made it tricky to buy / wrap the gifts. But it's here now! Mum won't mind me saying she's quite a stubborn lady and on this occasion we have benefitted massively from that determination. Thank you mum. Also thank you for being possibly only one of two people reading my ordinary blog. 

This morning the calendar revealed this, a present for the younger household members:

Can you remember the first of these compilations? I can, which probably explains why I only recognised six of the 46 songs in this one. Six! And two of those are cover versions.  Not sure whether to be embarrassed, proud or relieved? 

I finish work tomorrow for the Christmas break. I feel so lucky, I can't wait. 

Night night see you soon. 

Wool Wreath - HandMade

Who fancies some pom-pom loveliness in their lives?  What is it about pom-poms that makes them so irresistible....and they seem to be everywhere at the moment.  

I made wreaths like these for my chums in work and they seemed to go down well.  My pals are used to my home-made gifts, and seem to appreciate them (unless they're good actors ha ha).

This years inspiration came from wreaths made by my mum - you may recall my earlier wreath-related post when I mentioned my mums penchant for wreaths - you can read that here.

 The pom-poms are made possible using these little beauties - have you seen them before?  They enable production of pom-poms without those cardboard rings I can recall using as a child.  In case you are keen to find out the magic of the pom-pom makers, read on!

 Once you have opened the gadget out, the first step is to wind wool around the outside semi-circles (pink in the picture above).  As much as you can fit round will make your pom-pom luscious and lovely.

After folding the coloured parts back into the middle, the next step is to snip all the way round.  It's hard to see at his point how this will become a pom-pom but stick with it, the magic will happen! (nb my continuity isn't great, I know - I kept getting so carried away with the pom-pom making that I forgot to take pics!

Once it's snipped it looks like this.......

Or like the version above if your camera-work is as dodgy as mine - sometimes I just can't get the thing to focus, I definitely need some tips!  At this stage you need to tie some wool around the middle of the gadget.  It needs to be really tight as there's nothing worse than a loose pom-pom!

 Then when you open out the edges an amazing pom-pom will be revealed - TA-DAH!! 

 To make the wreath itself, you need a polystyrene wreath, you can see the type of thing I mean in hobbycraft.  It takes a bit of patience to wind the wool round as it's a bit fiddly, but I persevered and (with a little help from my mum) ended up with this lovely pile:

 How satisfying is that!  

 They look nice even like this, but once the pom-poms are added (with the help of a trusty glue gun) they look even better.  (I love glue guns too, I'm quite easy to please really).  I also glue a ribbon at the top so they are easy to hang.  Here they are,  the finished wreaths:

 What I love about making presents is that you can tailor them to the recipient - so my very chic pal who has a cream and white decor loved her neutral wreath - and although these were Christmas gifts, you really could make them any colourway and change them according to the season.  A bit like one of my all-time favourite blog heroes Lucy and her AMAZING wreaths, which are far more detailed and super-complicated, and would probably take me about a year to make. (Lucy if you ever happen upon this blog I hope you don't mind me referring to your blog here, I'm not 100% on blog etiquette just yet!).

Enjoy your week wherever you are......I'll be finishing work this week so my Christmas prep will be stepping up a gear.....Love Tor x x 

A City Christmas ⛄️❄️

Like so many others at this time of year, we had a busy weekend. A lovely weekend, but busy. We had a family lunch on Saturday, which went well apart from my tomato and mozzarella disaster tart. Everyone said it tasted fine but let's just say I didn't bother taking any pictures of it... 

Sunday involved a trip into the city centre. I don't do that very often, working there means I don't very often need to go, and it sometimes feels a little bit like going to work, especially if a train journey is involved. Just too much like the daily commute. That's a big unfair in the rest of the family though. They enjoy a trip to town on the train, the bustle of the city, the shops, and at this time of year the lights and various Christmas stalls and activities. 

So a trip to town was in order. Just the girls, EB and I. A rare chance to leave those pesky boys at home and shop and eat in peace. 

What do you think of the tree in Liverpool?   

Apparently it's the tallest tree in the UK. I confess I'm not overly keen, not in the daylight. As dusk falls though something happens....(ps I don't know those people in the picture they are random passers-by)...

...and by the time it's completely dark it is really quite magical...

The lights change colour slowly, we stood for ages captivated. We also need to plan another trip, so we can share his magic with the boys. Maybe even book one of these carol-oke huts to have a drink or two and a little sing.....

EB and I didn't buy a lot, secret Santa gifts, a couple of other bits and bobs. We enjoyed a a scrummy meal in Wagamama, chilli squid. I can still taste it now. 

I've changed my lock screen on my phone to this picture of the incredible  Lego sculpture in Liverpool One. Isn't that amazing? 

The reindeer are my favourite part

Even the escalators in Liverpool seem to be in the festive spirit...or maybe they're always like this and I've never noticed before ;)

Hope you had a great weekend, full of sparkle!

Love Tor x

ps sorry about the rubbish pics I couldn't be bothered taking my proper camera with me so these are all taken on my phone, and its just not the same is it?  

Can you have too many advent calendars?

 Christmas is a much loved time in our home.  We ALWAYS have a real tree, plenty of fairy lights and we're big on the traditions here.  Including advent calendars.  You know, when I was growing up (now I'm soooo old ha ha!), advent calendars didn't involve chocolate, or presents - they were traditional, nativity scenes with christmas-related pictures behind every opening.

Is it a shame that the world has moved on so much that it's tricky to find such an advent calendar now?  I'm not sure.  For me, the meaning of christmas has changed over time.  Although I was in the church choir, and attended a church school, let's be honest when you're a child it's pretty much about the visit from the big FC.  As an adult the season changed - going out with friends became the priority.

Now? It's all about family - probably with food a close second.  I spent quite a long time in the supermarket today with my mum looking at party food and five bird roasts.  Yum.

The build up is such fun, albeit in a hectic, sometimes stressful mix of chaos, planning, lists......and counting down.  How many sleeps left now?  I wanted to share the advent calendars we have this year.

1) Star Wars - I guess that everything Star Wars is going to be massive this year.  Do you have your tickets booked yet?

2) Fairtrade - my hubby bought this one for me, could it be more perfect?  It is a traditional Christmas theme but with ethical chocolate - amazing

3) This one belongs to EB.    

4) And this was a present from my lovely mum-in-law.  Star Wars popping up again!  This is such fun, it has lego behind every door - so far we have a couple of space ship type things.  

 5) These are the lego calendars for last year and the year before.  Last year it contained a Darth Vader Father Christmas which was pretty cool.  I AM YOUR FATHER and all that!

6) Last but not least I picked this advent candle up for a couple of pounds in the supermarket.  It seems like a gentler and more reflective moment when we light this, waiting for it to burn down enough just the right amount....

If we wait another week or so I may have another advent surprise - whoo hoo!

Love Tor x x