4 Days To Go

I think I've admitted defeat with regards to bloke's jumper. I am not the Yarnharlot, as lovely as she may be I can't drop everything to knit. There are other fun things to do like decorate the tree!

Its a very tiny tree. Bloke surprised me with it and a few new decorations. Our old ones are still missing. Alas. The topper is a free printable from Jolly Allsorts. I am rocking lots of free printables this year. Mostly on photo paper because it makes them look a bit more polished. 

The lovely shiny baubles have been padded out with some salt dough pals. When I was a teenager I was very into art, painting drawing and the like. The talent has not stayed with me, so I just painted them block bright colours with acrylic paint and did a little fancy gold flecking with a little shiny paint and a dry brush.

Salt dough is easy peasy! Here's how you make it:

You just need half a cup of salt, half a cup of tepid water and slightly more than a cup of plain flour. Work the dough until its smooth , roll it out, cut out some shapes with a cookie cutter. Jab a hole with a cocktail stick or an old pen and bake in a low oven for a few hours until hard. Then you just paint and add some ribbon or string and hang on the tree. If you are particularly proud of your work seal with a water based varnish or pva glue. And just to be clear salt dough is not for eating.

Making salt dough ornaments is one of those things that is usually reserved for small children only, but its a lot of fun and I highly recommend it as a cheap and fun way to pad out, update and personalise your tree. With some patience and a little more imagination and some stunning results could be achieved, but I'll be honest I'm pretty proud of my simple stars, hearts and circles. I'm easily pleased.

I hope you all aren't too stressed by the run up to the big day!

Minnie xoxo

Oh Look another wedding post! Sorry...

No I'm not sorry. I lied! What a terrible person I am! My wedding dress came this week. Its vintage! The seller described it as ready to wear and with out flaw which of course means it was so dirty it turned the water I washed it in turned grey and it needs a fair amount of of seam repair and neatening. Joy! Well it's been washed. It smells a lot better and isn't nearly as stiff. Look the lining is creamy white! Not yellow! hurrah!

Its been a very weddingy few days, tonight I tackle the invites. Not the filling out but the wording and the look. God help me. I understand why we can't just text every one and say "Oi, cake, some lovely feels and the odd photo opportunity. Be there." but only sort of. Can we have a moment to talk about how expensive stamps are? 60p. 60p for a bloody first class stamp. 50p for a second class stamp. So eh we'll be hand delivering most of them. And yes I am aware that e-invites are all the rage but parents and grand parents across the land are crying out "But i can't put an e-invite on the mantel or in a photo album!" Lets not even get on to the cost of save the dates and thank yous. Urk. Being polite is expensive people!

Tomorrow I will say nothing about the wedding, I promise. If I escape from a sea of "we request the pleasure of your company" that is. 

Minnie xoxo

Further christmas preperation

I made a teeny tiny tree! We don't have the space for a real tree this year. Tiny flat is tiny. I used this tutorial off the martha stewart site.  It was pretty simple, there was a Murder She Wrote marathon on and my tiny tree only took two episodes from start to finish, so less than two hours! A few little pompoms and some glitter and it'll be even more festive. It might be a little lopsided but I'm quite proud. 

Minnie xoxo