E is for... Right Now

Right now...

- crunchy leaves underfoot
- a chill in the air
- the bangs of fireworks
- "penny for the guy"
- dark mornings and dark evenings

I (heart) autumn!

E is for... Sunday Snippets

Hello - here are my Sunday Snippets from this week. 

I am reading " Making" magazine. Enticed by the beautiful cover, I couldn't resist this on my way through WHSmith's. As well as containing some lovely projects and pretty photography thoughout, the mazagine even feels nice to hold... there's something about the heavy weight pages that make them satisfying to turn.

I am speaking French. Having resumed French lessons after more than 10 years off, I am now attending an evening class in Manchester. As part  of a group of 4, it's impossible to hide at the back, so I'm doing my best to practice as much as possible. Ooh la la!

I am making make-up bags. Using a scaled up and slightly modified version of this tutorial from Noodlehead. I love love love the Amy Butler fabric you can see here. Due to the price of this stuff in  my locaa Hobbycraft, I only allowed myself 1 meter of it, and so far everything I have made with it has been given away as a gift. I must be sure to make something to keep for myself before it all runs out!

x

E is for... NCE (Near-Christmas-Experience)

I'm about to use a phrase that I don't use very often, so when I do you will know that I mean it - OMG! This is very exciting!

This morning I witnessed two (count them two!) Christmas adverts on the TV. I thought maybe I was coming down with an illness, maybe it was some kind of hallucination, but I picked my jaw up off the floor and got myself to work.

Well, wandering through Manchester this lunch time I had two more Near-Christmas-Experiences that tell me this thing is here already, and by my calculations we've got just about 3 months until the fairy lights come down and the trees get packed (or thrown) away.

What was it that got me so excited, I hear you ask!

Well, first there were those Christmas decorations for sale in Paperchase. Last year we were late getting our tree and all of the usual shops had sold out of decorations by the time we arrived. So our tree got the very finest (and probably the most expensive) dressings which I wouldn't normally be able to justify the cost of. Now I'm so pleased we splashed out on Paperchase's russian dolls, owls and beautifully coloured baubles. I can't wait to get them out of their boxes again. I now have a whole two months until we get our tree to decide what to add to the collection for 2010.

The icing on the (Christmas) cake for me today was the appearance of "Snow Fairy" shower gel in Lush. Only available over the winter, this is my favourite product in my bathroom. It smells of candy floss and babies and magic... well that might be an exaggeration, but heck am I happy to see my old friend. Now I need to resist bringing a bottle home as it's strictly the stuff of Christmas presents.

I'm so excited to have more NCE's over the next few months, I'm thinking mince pies and Christmas music in the shops. Oh yeah, and this reminds me, there are only 11 weekends to go before Christmas. I need to get cracking on all those handmade presents I have planned.

Em x

E is for... Sunday Snippet

Hello! Here are my Sunday Snippets from this week. At the moment...

I am reading "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Ever started reading a book and thought it must have been written with you in mind? That's what this book did to me. I cannot put it down!

I am watching "(500) days of Summer". I loved this at the cinema last year, and I loved it just as much the second time on the small screen. There's so much to look at, artistic style reminiscent of Amelie, and Zooey Deschanel is just cute as a button. To top it off the soundtrack is brilliant.

I am eating broccoli and cheese soup. My hunt for the perfect soup continues. Any kind of cheese is good. I've been throwing in double the recommended amount of mature cheddar, just because I can't say no to cheese. Next batch I'm gonna throw in some stilton too- yum!

I am wearing my favourite autumn clothes, featuring thick tights and warm hats. With my ever growing hat collection I have one to match almost every outfit. My office wear is stepping up a gear to include my favourite high waisted pencil skirt and high heel brogues.

I am loving "Sublime Stitching" by Jenny Hart. This book has been in my collection for the past year, but somehow I could never bring myself to cut into the pages until recently. At first I was sceptical about the transfers, but they worked great and the designs are so cute and easy to stitch they are a joy to work with. In fact I need to go get some new hoops asap!

Em x