Gifts to My Sisters

My last post was a catch-up on all about the gifts my sister T gave me for Christmas.

This post is about the gifts I gave her and my other sister C.

With the £10 budget I had to spend on C I bought her this longer length top

a brand new cushion cover,

a set of Gisela Graham heart shaped frames,

a Spread the Love sign,

a glass vase with heart motif,

a red glass candlestick which I was very tempted to keep,

a snowflake patterned table runner,

a festive coffee/hot chocolate pot

and a biscuit barrel. These first 9 items were all a pound a piece.

This butterfly t-shirt

and the mint sauce jug with dish were both 50p each.
C loved this little set in particular. It was actually the last thing I bought for her,  a great little bargain from the church Christmas bazaar.

This is only part of the gift I gave to my sister T, she who gifted me the marvellous puddings.
I was really struggling with a present idea for her until I went to the Christmas event held in my local high street. 
There I spied this storage jar with it's Whisk me Away motif.
She is a very tidy and organised person so I knew she'd be able to make use of the jar in some way, if only to keep together all the bits and bobs I was giving her.

So what if you do get whisked away?
Why then you'll be in need of some travel items.

I bought her a set of plastic bottles, the kind you use for decanting shampoo or shower gel into.
The set I purchased also came with a little funnel to make this job so much easier.
I added a small fabric drawstring bag which could maybe be used for putting more delicate items of clothing into. As it was a Christmas gift I went with polar bears. 
Also I thought they were incredibly cute.
The final item was one of these macaroon cases, the perfect little receptacle for stashing away earrings or other small items of jewellery you want to take away with you.

Maybe you know someone who would find a gift like this useful. I like it when I stumble across gift ideas. I jot them in my planner to help when inspiration is needed.

Puddings A Plenty

Despite Christmas being over a month ago there is no way I couldn't share the gift I was given by my sister T.

Long term readers will know that I like a theme when I give presents and my sister is no different.

My Christmas present from her was Pud-tastic.

I think I may have actually squealed with delight when I unwrapped this notebook.

She had bought a plain brown craft paper covered book and used silvery stickers to personalise it.

 She even stamped each page with a Christmas pudding.

There then followed a plethora of pudding presents.
First was this mesh food cover. 
I've seen these in shops in the summer time decorated with flowers or bees but I've never seen a Christmas pudding one.

How cute are these gloves? I absolutely love them.

A Christmas pudding door stop.

Christmas pudding decorated coasters.

Christmas pudding earrings. 
I love these so much.
G also bought me a pair of pudding earrings, those were slightly different to these, so I now have two pairs in my burgeoning festive jewellery collection.
You can never have too many pairs of earrings to wear in December.
Actually I continued to wear the more discreetly festive ones into January too.

A pudding purse. Who knew there was such a thing.
I didn't. 
But I'm glad there is and that I now own one.

Last, but by no means least, is a hand stamped serving spoon, reading, what else, More Pudding Please.

What do you think?
Is this treasure trove of presents something you would have loved to receive as much as I did?

January

Hello there!
I'm crossing my fingers and toes and really, really hoping that my blog break is well and truly over and that normal blogging, in all it's random and haphazard nature, will resume once more.

Thank you to everyone who left a message on the last post I did in December. 
Not only did I have comments left by long time friends but also by new to me readers and I wanted to say how very much I appreciated each one.

Going back to December, Christmas was a quiet affair. 
I knew it was going to be different this year, for a variety of reasons, and it certainly was. 
That's not to say we didn't have a lovely time, we did, but it was just different.
As you can see from the flattering photos above our silly table present tradition remained just the same!

This isn't a subject I'm going to dwell on or talk about in any detail but it does need to be mentioned.
As you know I took a break from blogging because of a situation we had here at home and so, to help S, in early January, we began therapy sessions. 

We have had two of these now. I'm not sure how long we will participating in them for but taking this step has been a very positive move indeed.
S is happier and more relaxed which in turn means we are happier and more relaxed too.

I'm on leave all next week which I'm thoroughly looking forward to.
I'm planning on setting an hour aside one of those days to look at getting my daily activity challenge back into being.

I missed recording our Jumble and Jelly life and I have missed visiting all the people here in Blogland to see what you've all been doing.
Here's to happy days.

Shoes, Snow and Santa

Monday was one of the most straightforward days yet.

Wear Brown Shoes Day meant just that.

I had a really lovely day out Christmas shopping with my mum and sisters and these comfy brown flat lace ups were perfect for that excursion.

Tuesday 5th December was the birthday of Christina Rosetti. I don't know much about her other than she wrote the words of the carol In the Bleak Midwinter. I have to say I find the tune of that particular song a bit of a dirge. 
The first verse mentions snow and as it is now December and I am working my way through my stash of festive jewellery I went for the snowflakes earrings and this jolly snowman who looks just the opposite of bleak!

Today is St Nicholas Day and so it was time to change over from using my normal dotty keyring and thread the keys onto this jolly Santa one instead. Little festive touches like him make me happy.

Advent

A couple of years back my sister's and I began a new tradition.

During the year we gather 18 little gifts and then add to these with 6 more which can either be drunk or eaten.

Making a total of 24, one to be opened each day leading up to Christmas Day.

We have a rule that no gift should cost more than £1.00.

Keeping an eye out all year round means you can pick up some real bargains along the way.

At the end of November we gather together to exchange them all ready for the first of December.

This year I bought gifts for my sister T, T bought for our sister C and C bought for me.

I am going to attempt to share them, if not daily, then as often as I can.

My first gift was this reindeer cake tin.

This morning I opened the first edible gift. 
A packet of Viennese biscuits, the kind that melt in the mouth and once opened don't last very long!!

Origami

Folding an old style £10 note so it looks like the queen is wearing a party hat may not be the first thing you think of doing on Origami Day but I love it and it's provided me with the ideal way of gifting money to the grown up children of friends of ours this Christmas.
All I need to do now is pop a Christmas message on the bottom of the card.
I was thinking 'One is wishing you a Merry Christmas'.
Any other suggestions?

Remember, Remember

Thursday was All Soul's Day.

A day to remember those we have loved and lost.

A candle on the mantle was lit for both mine and G's dad.

.

Friday was Fountain Pen Day. 
Last year I bought one of these disposable fountain pens in Peacock Green for writing out my Christmas cards.
I like to make card writing into it's own little occasion.
There should be nibbles and a Bailey's to hand and Christmas music playing, all helping to create the right kind of atmosphere.
I have a set of alphabet stamps and some festive stamps for addressing and decorating the envelopes and for this year I have chosen a new pink ink pen. 

Saturday was the birthday of Marguerite Patten. My brother-in-law bought me this set of cookbooks for Christmas a few years ago and they really make for interesting reading. I have made a few things from them and they really came in useful when both the children needed to take in food for a WW2 tea party when at junior school.
My plan had been to do a spot of baking yesterday but I'm trying to do some decorating as well as everything else and, well, something had to give and in the end it was the baking.

Talking of decorating I was painting our bedroom floor today and in the background I had on the movie Leap Year, which I know I have mentioned on here before.
Today is Love Your Red Hair Day and as Amy Adams is a natural red head and I love this movie it seemed like a good choice to go with.

Making A List

And checking it twice.
And then many more times after that.
For this is the book which contains my Christmas present to buy list.
I have updated it today because today is my kind of day.
It's Checklist Day.
Oh how I love a list.
I don't always like having to do all of the things on my list and very rarely does a to do list get completed.
The undone things just make it onto another list.
I need a list to give me structure, otherwise I get side tracked and then frustrated that nothing is achieved.
Also I have a dreadful memory and if I don't write things down when I think of them they slip my mind.
Being a list addict also allows me to indulge in my love of pretty stationery,
And I know I'm not alone in this.

Seeing as I have already mentioned Christmas in this post I thought I would also share this new bedding I bought in Asda recently. 
Of course I hadn't gone in to this store with the intention of buying any bedding but this Scandi Winter Scene design had been reduced to half price. It will be perfect to use in the winter and during the lead up to Christmas as it isn't overly festive. I bought three sets, one for me and G, one for S and one for T's old room in case we have overnight guests over the holidays.

Cards

This first card is one of many G received today because it's his birthday.

His mum, sister and family friend J all came down from Salisbury.

T picked them up in his car from the train station and drove them to the local pub where we were meeting for lunch.

Then it was back home for birthday cake.

The second card is one I made for World Card Making day.
At Christmas time there are two adults and two teenage children to whom we give money.
I could just go and buy some money wallet style cards and pop the dosh inside, but I like to do something a little different as seen here and here.
This is my first attempt at sewing a felt stocking onto card. I plan to pop the note inside along with a small bar of chocolate.
I only have 4 to make and I thought a little forward planning now will help me towards plumping for the final design.

Warning- This Post Contains the Word Christmas

Yes I know it's only March, but I just had to share in case someone finds this useful.
I was shopping in Tesco a day or so ago and saw they had quite a few of these miniature mirrors for sale at a vastly reduced price of 50p each. They measure (approx) 16cm by 10cm and as you can see one of them found it's way into my trolley.
If only they had been around when I was compiling this White Christmas gift. Lots of people, in blogland and 'real life' commented on what a lovely gift they made which is why I thought I would post about the mirrors now, just on the off chance it should prove to be useful to someone else.

12 Days of Christmas Swap

For the 3rd year in a row my very good blog friend Jo at Through the Keyhole and I have exchanged a 12 Days of Christmas swap.

One gift per day is opened starting on 25th December and finishing on 5th January.

I like to save mine until mid evening when all jobs are done and it's time to sit down and relax, hence a lot of my photos are taken when the light isn't great.

Let's start at the very beginning.

What an appropriate book for our swap this is!

I started reading it on Boxing day and finished last night.

A very light and lovely Christmas read, I would certainly recommend it.

Day 2 was a scalloped edged egg cup complete with a chicken shaped cover. I love a boiled egg with soldiers and so my new egg cup will be well used.

Who doesn't love cute stationery and sets of notelets don't get much cuter than these two little girls in their red head gear.

I have failed miserably for being able to share day 4's glittery silvery tealight holder.

It was on the mantelpiece until I packed all the Christmas decorations away and is now nestled in tissue paper up in the loft. I'm hoping Jo has been as organised as she normally is and has a photo of it I can link to.

Item number 5 is a very handy magnetic notepad which is now on the front of the freezer, on hand for jotting down grocery items I need as and when they occur to me.

No swap is complete without chocolate and day 6 was a great day when I opened a package containing 2 of my most favourite bags of festive edible treats.

Day 7 made me smile for two reasons. One was the red polka dot pen, Jo knows me and polka dot obsession very well. The second reason was I bought this exact same notebook for my sister back in November. All I can say is great minds think alike!

Number 8 is a shimmery butterfly coaster. Jo told me she bought this whilst she was on holiday and it really does echo the sights and colours of summer. Initially I put this next to my bed but now I've decided I will take it into work to have on my desk.

Back to the chocolate again on day 9. Cadbury's dairy milk, need I say more.

I can't wait to use these paper straws and ice cream tubs from day 10. These have given me a plan for a little Sunday afternoon high tea in the near future.

My feet will be so oh cosy thanks to my gift on day 11. You can never own too many pairs of snuggly socks and if they are decorated with snowflakes then that's even better.

My final gift on day 12 was another polka dot item. Some mugs are just comforting to hold and this is definitely one of those. I absolutely love it. 
T was very proud of the fact he bought all of his own Christmas presents this year. He was very generous, so much so that he bought a Tassimo coffee machine as a gift for our family. At some point over the weekend I shall be enjoying a caramel macchiato in this cup and considering myself very blessed indeed.

Thank you Jo for all of my presents, I love each and everyone.

Herds of Reindeer

I'm ending the year here with reindeer.

Try saying that later on this evening when a few glasses of new year cheer have been downed.

First up are the wrapped reindeer chocolate bars which I made for all my work colleagues and took in on the last working day. When I say all I must admit I did forget one or two and thankfully had a couple of spares but there are still more to take in as some people were off until the New Year. 

The idea came from this pin.

Thieytook far longer than I bargained for but luckily S was at a loose end and agreed to help me with the sticky dot noses and she even did a bit of the name stamping too. 

It was all so worth the effort to see people smile when I handed them over.

My second herd I had planned on making with S but she didn't want to partake. I do miss our Decembers of advent activities and so I think I shall have to spend some time coming up with a few ideas with which to keep me busy next year.
Who knew that fairy cakes, chocolate icing, red smarties and bars of curly wurly could look so cute.

On this last day of 2016 I want to wish everyone who visits us here at Jumble and Jelly a very happy, healthy and peaceful 2017. 
Thanks for popping by and I look forward to sharing the next 365 days with you.