Concert

I was lucky enough to get to see Hanson in Birmingham last night. I had an absolutely FANTASTIC time!

Firstly a big Thank You to Chrissy & her bf's dad for the lift to Birmingham and home again. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have made it there in the first place. I also met a local girl called Kerry, which was great news as I didn't know there were any fans nearby. She lives the next town over from me :) So there was the 3 of us fans in the car having a gossip all the way up!

They both had Meet & Greets (Which I luckily enough had back in April 2007) so they continued on to the pub while I met up with my friend who had a M&G with me 4 years ago, so it was good to catch up with her and I'm so thankful I have such a cool Hanson friend who I shared that experience with and we've become friends because of it.

Maiyu was 25th in the queue and I was number 28 so we hung out and luckily, look who we bumped into...



I look awful, and very cold lol, but I was so grateful to Isaac for stopping & taking this picture. It was Gareth's camera and I hadn't actually got to play with it, so I pointed out to Gareth that a Hanson had used his camera and he told me we had to wash it *roll eyes*  Although my M&G was one of the BEST days of my life, I often think back over it and cringe as I often act up when I'm nervous and I made a complete tit of myself. So I felt I at least redeemed myself last night by seeing Isaac again.

I had the best time dancing and singing next Maiyu! And luckily after some playing with Gareth's camera, I got the hang of it ;)

Getting my (Christmas) craft on

My December Daily has all the base pages completed.



and I have added a ribbon to keep it closed as it is quite chunky now and won't close :)  I will take some better photos on a day where it's not overcast and with a camera that's not my iPhone



I started on my Christmas gifts too, I have done some candles, some lip balm (though I need to remelt them and add some more flavour to it),



I tried making some "bubble bars" which I tried one tonight, and it worked but didn't last long :\ I may need to use my soap bar moulds to make them slightly larger to see if that makes a difference, but I love this mould! I plan on using it for my bath bombs and for the soaps that I will be gifting :)



and one of my magazines "Making Gifts" had a recipe for indulgent bath melts, which I also tried out...



and then last night we went to see Lee Evans in Cardiff, it was a good show and interesting to see a show Live as I've only ever seen Comedians on a DVD!



in 5 days it's Hanson!

December daily > Coming together

I thought long & hard about which album to choose and what other things I had to hand. I bought some shapes from Silhouette Store and Kerri Bradford, and jumped for joy when I remembered my Glitz and Glitter border stickers - one in particular saying "believe" which I knew just HAD to be on the front cover.



I have done my opener page and that's as far as I've gotten. I am a bit stumped on just what I want to do.



I was so excited to see this lace cardstock shape and I just had to have it, I unfortunately have run out of acetate to stick it on to have it as a pretty filler page, so I need to keep my eyes peeled for some more.



I sat and cut some shapes on my Craft Robo including my numbers for my days (though I may not use them all - still undecided! Eeek!)

I've still got another 2 weeks to have a play and see how things will work out.

December Daily Goodies!

Look at what arrived today!! The papers are so divine... and glittery! My favourite kind :)  I searched through my stash as I have some "just in case" albums I bought years ago (though I admit I did go on to paperchase website and eye up an A5 kraft & clear binder first...)



I have a Sarabinder and a Maya Road one, and I've asked a couple of people and I've had a vote for each. When I was on the paperchase site I was leaning more towards the kraft binder, but now I've seen the albums I already have in my stash, I'm strangely fond of the Maya Road album (but I love Maya Road tons anyway!)

I'm torn! Help!

Craft overload!

I have been devouring my magazines, had my first Red Cup yesterday (peppermint hot choc), and I have watched The Holiday and Four Christmases. My Hollyday papers are ordered for my December Daily, and Gareth has his Starbucks Christmas Blend. We are already in the swing of things!

I have been trying to come up with some frugal ideas, and seeing as my Sister in Law doesn't know about my blog, I felt like sharing an idea I had for her gift...  I save random stuff, I have a bunch of Christmas gift bags ready to regift and I also have some cool boxes I got some presents in. One of which was from a friend from MANY years ago, who gave me a cute toiletry set in this gorgeous wooden box. Kept it ever since thinking I would use it one day. For my sister in law who likes to bake with her son, I shall be getting some cute cupcake liners (with a pretty design) some "emergency" packet mix (because she's having a baby very close to Christmas!) and some sprinkles and hopefully some toppers if they fit in my budget.

And for my nephew oliver, it's a tough one, but thankfully Disney has a Craft site in which I have been collecting colouring pages to make him his own personalised colouring book which I shall print and bind here at home.

I'm doing a lot of searching for printable style gifts. One of my favourite books/mags I have that I normally whip out at Xmas is 101 Hip Handmade Gifts. I have poured over that so much my copy is falling apart :) They have free printables over at the Creating Keepsakes website.
And how freaking adorable is this! I want to make one for myself, I used to have a big bookcase in my room at home and ran my own little library (I would later become a librarian at my school, and I still have a big love for libraries!)

Source: twigandthistle.com via Kirsty on Pinterest

 

Ok, so I shall continue my search and post soon on my progress :)

Time to think of Christmas

I can't get over the fact it's November already. This time last year I was in Florida, at the Animal Kingdom if I remember right and we were attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night (actual halloween had a premium cost to attend & we were worried about adjusting to the time zone as it's 5 hours behind our time here in the UK, so we figured the final Halloween party was just as good though a day after halloween!)

Last night we had a nice peaceful one, I watched Simpsons Halloween specials marathon as I do every year, though I was missing my brother on the sofa with me. That was our tradition. We had no trick or treaters but then we never do, and we had our shopping delivered in which the delivery guy just had to tell us he didn't want any sweets! (Speaking of which, we STILL have a bag of sweets from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party from last year!!)  I carved a Lightning McQueen pumpkin for Oliver as he loves Cars, and I was planning on one for myself but never got to it. Instead I made pumpkin cakes which I didn't like myself but a few people were more than keen to gobble them up!

So now, though we technically have Bonfire/Guy Fawkes night on the 5th, I'm already planning Christmas because for us Brits it's just a straight run to Christmas now (but I know the Americans are lucky enough to have Thanksgiving in just a matter of weeks)

Source: houzz.com via Kirsty on Pinterest

 

I have been busy pinning away most evenings when I have the time, and it's one of my favourite things to do, so much inspiration! Apart from the usual trip to Boots that isn't entirely unselfish, it's 3 for 2 on gifts and any points I collect goes on to little treats for myself ;) I do plan on making quite a few handmade gifts this year.

My work colleagues will get some foodie based gift (choc peppermint creams, cupcakes or something along those lines) and I have plenty of crafty bits to make bath bombs, candles, soaps, bubble bath, shower gel, etc to make for family... So I have plenty of ideas! In fact I may be a little overwhelmed on ideas & am just trying to think of the best gifts for individual family members.

Another thing I've been excited thinking of is a different sort of Christmas album. I've done shimelle's Journal Your Christmas on a few occasions, starting in 2006, but this year I want to try something a little different, & I hope to do Ali Edwards December Daily. I have my sights set on some American Crafts goodies... So that's on my to buy/to do list this month ;)

I have to admit I already have the xmas DVDs ready to watch, Snowed In is ready to play come 17th November, and I have been Oooo-ing over the adverts for Michael Buble's new xmas album thinking that has to be added to my playlist!

You can check out my Pinterest boards as well for lots of inspiration & Christmas images to get you in the spirit ;)

http://pinterest.com/mmmbisto/winter-christmas/
http://pinterest.com/mmmbisto/homemade-gifts/
http://pinterest.com/mmmbisto/things-to-make/
http://pinterest.com/mmmbisto/december-daily/

And just as exciting, coming up I have a Hanson concert this month! Wooo! Can't wait to meet up with my mates :)