Festive Birds

I've finally made a start on writing my Christmas cards and wrapping some gifts and while gathering my supplies together I noticed a clear birdie theme appearing. I guess this shouldn't be too surprising as I do love birds!

The cards I'm sending this year include these Birds & Berries cards from Dee Beale...

... and Holly Birds cards from Kate Slater:

I'm wrapping gifts with some of Kate Slater's lovely Robin gift wrap...

... and some of the lush Charley Harper bird gift wrap I bought from Fred Aldous last year which isn't specifically Christmas-y but who cares! The more birdie goodness the merrier, I reckon.

(All images borrowed from the respective stores I've linked to).

P.S. If you're looking for some nice tags for your Christmas gifts, do check out the printable gift tag round-up I posted a couple of months ago - lots of lovely things, including several birds (of course).

Photos from a Busy Week

The Christmas posting deadline for UK orders is looming ... please place your order by the end of this weekend if you want your parcel posted before the last posting date!

The last few days of the pre-Christmas season are always pretty hectic. I've kept meaning to blog but kept forgetting - or forgetting to charge my camera batteries / take photos when it was sunny / etc.

So, here are a few catch-up snaps from this week :)

I've been using a yummy new tin to store my current works-in-progress:

It's shaped like a giant bourbon biscuit... I didn't get to eat the biscuits that were inside it originally, but my mum remembered that I had the matching giant custard cream tin and saved the bourbon biccie tin for me. What a star.

Also very yummy - some Charley Harper goodies I treated myself to this week. I saw the gorgeous gift wrap over on What Katie Does and just had to buy some for myself... and couldn't resist buying a few more Charley Harper bits & pieces from Fred Aldous while I was at it. A girl can never have too many things with Charley Harper birds on, right?? 

Talking of What Katie Does, I am rather in love with her new Tea & Books themed print:

The print is available from her Etsy shop, HERE. I may have just ordered one for my new studio...

A nice bit of surprise post arrived yesterday from the nice people at Folksy - a copy of their winter sampler, a mini newspaper with news from Folksy and a gift guide of some of the lovely handmade things for sale on the site.

They also included a rather lovely knitting-themed postcard... I don't know who designed it, but it's quite gorgeous and perfectly suits their new "Modern British Craft" tagline. 

In crafty news, I've made a start on sorting out the pieces for the vintage felt bird ornaments ready for some Christmas crafting... 

... and I've started knitting a very soft and fluffy scarf from some fun faux-mohair yarn:

I bought a whole bundle of this fluffy yarn at my old knitting club's fundraising yarn sale this summer. I didn't have a plan for what I might make with it, but it turns out that two strands knitted together makes a fab chunky knit that's perfect for scarves... plus knitting on those large needles is so quick and easy, it's such a satisfying project for the winter evenings. 

Right, I'm off to eat some home-made mince pies now (my dad bakes a mean mince pie) and do some more knitting...