A Giveaway - Christmas Crafting In No Time

I recently bought" Christmas Crafting In No Time" by Clare Youngs...

... and liked it so much I have since bought another copy to offer as a giveaway gift.

I'll also include a bar of my favourite chocolate.

To enter: please have a blog, stay in the UK (to keep p&p costs down) and leave a comment on this post by midnight on Fri 18th Nov.

It is a lovely book, full of wonderful craft ideas just perfect for Christmas. When it arrived I was surprised at how thick it was - 176 pages - lots to keep you inspired. Here are just a few pages to tempt you...


I've already had a go at the owls:-

I'll be making more as they're to be donated to forthcoming school & nursery Christmas Fairs.

So far I like the purple one best. I got the eye beads from ebay (here's a link)

I also had my first attempt at quilling. More fiddly than I expected but I think I was trying to make my spirals too loose.

I finally managed to clear my desk so I could "arrange" my Christmas crafting materials on it. Now that I'm starting to gear up for the Christmas Fairs there's no time to finish off the crochet blanket...

...last seen here chasing the cat. It's the one furthest away, some of those pesky ends can be spotted trailing from it.

By the way (as they say) I bought both copies of the books from The Book People (here). They also have the KirstieAllsop Craft book which I'd browsed in TK Maxx (too expensive at £12), noticed on Amazon (still a little pricey at £10) then bought from The Book People for £6.99. It's the most I'd pay for it, it seems a nice book (have only really flicked through it so far) but contains too many photos of the contibutors for my liking.

Pass The Book Giveaway Winners...

Thanks to all who entered the pass-the-book giveaway begun by Emma of Silver Pebble.

The names of all those who wished to take part were put into A's lovely summer hat.

And the winner is...
... Country Girl of Life on the East Coast!

The runners-up were drawn from the hat in a similar manner...
So the first runner up is Lyn of Everyday Life, and there was enough tablet for two further runners-up - rockinloubylou of A Country Mouse Writes and Louise of Handmade in Gibraltar.

Please could you all send me you addresses ASAP (so I'm not tempted to eat any more tablet!) my email address is andamento@hotmail.co.uk, thank you!

We had a very busy robin in the garden today. I think at this time of year they start to defend their territory and he seemed to think his reflection in the french doors was another robin. This evening I can hear him singing away in the garden as I type.

You may have noticed my name slips for the draw were arranged on this book in the first photograph. I'm trying to use up some of our courgettes and am a little bored with savoury dishes, any excuse for a cake and this particular one requires grated courgette. I made it this afternoon...

I had to bake it for about twice as long as directed, plus I didn't line my cake tin - I think I've learned my lesson now as the lovely sticky coconut base is, well, stuck, so the cake comes apart a little on serving, my fault. Still tastes nice though and it's relatively fruity and low fat so it's not too guilt-inducing (unlike the tablet!)

Earlier this morning I took a trip down memory lane, thanks to being pestered to read to A & N from a charity shop annual. I defy anyone not to be cheered up by listening to this, enjoy!

1st Blog Birthday Giveaway.

Finally!

It was to have been my 100th post giveaway but I wasn't organised enough. However, my momentous first post ever was on 27th April 2009 and as it's now 29th April 2010 I'm only 2 days late for my blog's first birthday, and as anyone who knows me (not that I've told many who know me about my blog!), a mere 2 days late for a birthday is a pretty good achievement for me.

I started my blog to promote my leaded glass business. That was a complete shot in the foot! Any spare time I now have is spent blogging and crocheting (which I discovered through blogging) and my "business" has been left to languish (along with the housework!).

Anyway, on offer is a leaded tealight holder which I have managed to find time to make recently. I've made two designs to choose from...

...a robin (not just for Christmas!), or...

... a sailing boat.

The leaded glass piece is slotted into a little wooden holder which has a recess for a tealight candle. The lead has been left in it's natural finish but polished to a shine.

A word about my leadwork...

All my leaded items are decorated using the stained glass overlay method. This differs from traditional cut stained glass in that coloured films are applied to a single piece of glass, and adhesive lead is then applied on top (in traditional stained glass, pieces of coloured glass are cut to the required shape and the lead is used to hold then all together). For the small items I make I find the overlay method to be a good medium. It also means that my designs are not as restricted as they would be using the traditional cut glass method (a method which I have used in the past having completed two years of stained glass evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art). However, personally, I would not recomend the overlay method for exterior use (I just don't think it would last as well, the manufacturer's guarantee for exterior use is 10 years "with an estimated life expectancy in excess of 25 years"), or for large areas of window decoration (the effect is just too flat and you don't get such beautiful light transmission as you do with real stained glass). It is, however, ideal for the mirrors I make as it allows them be created using a single sheet of mirrored glass thus keeping the reflected image undistorted. Instead of plain film I like to use those with marble effects, wisps and lustres which have added depth of colour and interest. I use natural lead and am therefore able to solder lead joints which gives a quality finish to the leadwork. The lead is either polished as-is for a natural lead finish, or treated with a patination fluid before polishing which give the lead a darkened antique finish.

So there you go!

Also in the giveaway will be...

Some nice dark coloured tealight candles (white ones stand out too much against the wooden holder), otherwise available from good old Ikea.

One of my beaded bracelets, and...

...a pair of fridge magnets that I have made.

All you need to do (if you've managed to get this far!) is...

1. Have your own blog
2. Comment on this post and let me know...
(a) Whether you'd prefer the robin or the sailboat.
(b) Which colour of bracelet you'd like.
(c) Which two fridge magnets you'd like.
(d) Whether you prefer milk or plain chocolate (can't have a give-away without chocolate can we!)

That's all, except to note here how much I do appreciate all the comments any visitors leave on my blog. As I said, it was to have been a crafty business blog but has developed into a cycling, crochet, baking and garden blog, which I don't really mind at all!

Oh, and you have till midnight a week today to enter, good luck!









.