Oh Christmas Tree...

...or should I say trees!!!

Chelmsford have a weekly street market but in the run up to Christmas it has been there more frequently. With all the lights and street decorations it has created a lovely atmosphere.

There are lights in the trees...

...all over the stalls. The Christmas tree stands at the Meadows end of the High Street...

...and gives a starting point to all the street decorations. The photos are not wonderful...

...but I just wanted to capture the glow given off by all the fabulous lights.

Back in Stratford and I promised you some photos of the tree with the lights on...

 ...it wasn't yet dark but the lights had come on and this was the view from the top of the station steps that lead to the Westfield shopping centre.
Once it was dark, this is what it looked like...

 ...viewed from across the entrance to the Bus station. This one was from outside the Rail station...

 ...lots of lights and a hotdog stall...

 ...you can just make out the "Shoal" in the background (the titanium trees at the entrance to the shopping mall).
Back home things are on a slightly smaller scale...

...these are the lights and trees in my hallway...

 ...aqua/white/silver was the colour scheme I decided to go with...

 ...and this is probably the tidiest the hallway has been all year LOL.
This is my Christmas "jelly-fish" - well that's what it looks like in all the photos that I've taken...

 

...it doesn't matter what angle I try, it still doesn't look as good as it does in real life. Never mind, I'm happy with it - even if the making of it has covered the whole of my kitchen floor in glitter.

No more going to work for two whole weeks - yipeeeeeeeeeee!!!.................................................

Christmas Crop...

...and Carvery.

The Eastwood Scrappers have held a couple of their 'all-day' crops at the local Toby Carvery this year and the lovely Carol has allowed Suzie (Weasel) to drag me along.

Saturday was the Christmas crop and as you can see...

 ...the function room was a hive of activity...

 ...and suitably dressed for the occasion...

...Santa hats were the order of dress but many got ditched as concentration and crafting took over.
Over on UK Scrappers there is a Christmas event going on with a new project appearing everyday up to 23 December. Charmed Cards & Crafts very kindly kicked things off with a lovely project to make a recipe book so I thought I'd give it a go. This is what I managed at the crop...

 Ignacio over at Nicecrane Designs recently supplied the DT with a selection of cooking/baking images to link in with Thanksgiving. I didn't think I would get much use out of these as we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in the UK - I was wrong...the images were perfect for this project.

I managed to complete the book and as you can see it contains plenty of pages...

 ...and I kept the colour scheme to white & burgundy for the base.
I still need to decorate the pages but as you can see...

...the Nicecrane images will fit this purpose beautifully.
The project tutorial came with a downloadable embellishment pack...

...which included recipe & note cards that can be printed 'page size'...

 ...or 'tag size'. There are also printables to help identify the different sections of the recipe book.
The pages in the book are a mix of flat pages...

 ...and ones with pockets - surprisingly I have started decorating the Christmas pages before the rest **giggle**
The coloured Thanksgiving images from Nicecrane were just perfect for decorating the covers...

 ...and by cropping this one to an oval shape...

...I've keep the wonderful image but managed to remove the Thanksgiving sentiment.
The Nicecrane sets that I have used are...

... Vintage Thanksgiving Greeting III, which you can find here...

...and Vintage Baking Digi Stamps, which you can find here.
Don't forget to hop over to the Nicecrane blog for some super inspiration from the DT and whilst you are having a hop about - pop over to UK Scrappers to have a look at all the projects the Members & Sponsors are sharing in the run up to Christmas................................................................

All wrapped up...

...in a pretty box.

Sometimes it can be quite difficult to present a gift in a pleasing way without spending a fortune on boxes, bags and wrapping - but that doesn't have to be the case.

I wanted a pretty box to wrap a necklace in and this is what I came up with...

...the box was created using just a single sheet of A4 Centura Pearl CS (the white with a hint of gold) and then I decorated it using one of Ignacio's images from the "Vintage Xmas Greetings Cards (ladies)" collection.
I trimmed the image to fit onto a pale blue matt...

 ...that had been punched along the lower edge with a MS border punch.
The image was beautiful as it was, colour-wise, so all I did was add...

 ...some crystal stickles to the feather on the hat and the neckline of the dress.
The embellished corner consists of...

...3 small off-white roses, a couple of die-cut poinsettias and a music print heart (from the Craftwork cards 'Christmas Post' collection) and pearls.
You can find this collection of wonderful images as well as many others over at the Nicecrane Design site. If you are interested in this particular set, you can find it here.

Don't forget to hop on over to the Nicecrane blog to take a look at all the latest creations that the DT have produced.................................................

Holiday Chaos...

...is the 7 day challenge that has been running over at Catch the Bug.

There has been a different fun challenge every day and I sooooooooooooo wanted to play but I really don't know where this week has gone.

If I get a chance I will add in the other days.

Day 1 - Sketch

Day 2 - Gift wrapped...

 ...anything but a card - so it could be a gift tag, wrapping paper or a gift bag...

 ...as you can see, I went with a gift bag. I have bought a few Christmas presents from that well known coffee shop that I am rather fond of. The gifts have been packaged in seasonal gift bags but they looked a bit bare - this one has been jazzed-up with a label coloured using coppery shades.

Day 3 - Cosy up by the fire. This challenge had a number of options to choose from. I decided to go with "Christmas treats & Glass of milk" which required the use of non-traditional colours & bling. There was also an image provided. The PP is "Rose tinted Christmas" by DCWV - a range that consists of pink/grey/white/black/mauve...

 ...I made a mini step card to display this cute little mouse miss...

 ...and as you can see, in addition to the stickles on her jumper...

...there are also a few mirror tiles.

 

 Day 4 - Ugly Sweater

Day 5 - Favourite Holiday Treat

Day 6 was a photo challenge that coincided with the "Friday Freebie"...

...I've tried to keep to the colour scheme of the photo and the overall snowy feel...

 ...I used some snow covered acetate and attached the image inside against a blue background of snowflake PP.
A Marianne Design tree die-cut attached to the outside...

...was kept fairly simple with just some tiny mirror tiles dotted over it.

Day 7 - Anything goes for Christmas. I used some more of the DCWV PP...

...and the image was coloured using Spectrum Noir pens in shades of pink and grey.
There is some 'bling' using a silver Sharpie to colour the bauble and silver mirror tiles to catch the light...

...and overall quite girly without any frills or flounces.

As I said, I had been hoping to join in all the challenges but unfortunately, life got in the way....................................................................

EDT: I thought the challenge ended this weekend but apparently I have until the 13th to up load my efforts, so I might just make it LOL.

Deck the Halls...

...or in this case - Offices.

Loads of photos folks so grab another cuppa and get settled...

At my regular office in Stratford I am normally the first to get their section decorated and I always have the decs up for the first working day of December. As I wasn't going to be there on Friday, they had to go up on Thursday. This is what we have this year...

 ...trees & parcels on the cupboard next to my desk...

 ...the wrapping paper came from a freebie that Kerryanne English gave last year as part of Simply Christmas - if you go to this year's Simply Christmas button over to the right-hand side you will see that she has offered the links again this year.
Silver, White and a splash of Red...

 ...but as you can see - our section was the only area decorated. However, I think this motivated everyone and by lunchtime on the Monday the whole of our wing was decorated - which was commented on by a visitor from HO who asked why there weren't any decs elsewhere LOL
This wreath hangs by my desk...

 ...the bells jingle and the red lights twinkle.
I love this...

...I found it in the 99p Store last year - perfect for our colour scheme but I hope it doesn't!
Travelling to 3 different sites I get to see lots of different decorations - I've already shared with you the Southend High Street lights. This is what I came across in one of the Malls in Chelmsford...

 ...created in aid of a local Hospice...

...everything on the tree has been knitted or crocheted.
Oh, and Southend now have the tree up...

 ...the blue lights look lovely after dark but it looks pretty lame during the day.
This is the centre-piece in the Mall at Stratford...

 ...surrounded by little trees...

 ...all heavily decorated...

 ...blue & white seems a popular theme this year...

...the walkways this year just have loads of icicle lights - no "Swags & tails" this year.
Outside the Mall on the square in front of the station...

 ...is the Stratford tree...

 ...at least it is dressed for day & night (I'll try and get a photo of it lit when I'm next there).
Southend office has limitations when it comes to decorations - the lights have sensors all over the place so you can't really hang stuff from the ceiling but it didn't stop us...

 ...one suitably decorated tree & table...

...I've even had them making the folded trees out of old magazines so most of the desks in our section has its very own little tree. Plenty of space on this table for sweets & nibbles.

I'm not at Chelmsford until Friday but I've heard that someone objected to some decs that went up in the office as the person claimed they shouldn't be up earlier than 12 days before Christmas...Bah, humbug or what! I think the person must be walking around with their eyes shut as most of the stores have been decorated since mid-November. It will be interesting to see what there is when I visit tomorrow.......................................................................

'Tis the Season of Giving...

...and the lovely Enfys has some super goodies to giveaway.

Over on her "Going Buggy" blog she has goodies for 3 lucky folk - they are a selection of fabulous goodies from Polkadoodles.

Do hop on over there and take a look at what is going on.................................................................

Pinch, Punch...

...first day of the month.

Yep folks, it's 1st December and the start of Advent so I thought it was time to get the bloggy decs up (the real decs at home may take a while longer LOL).

So, did you all open the first window, box, stocking on your advent calendar?

Hope you got some nice goodies - also hope those of you with chocolate advents have behaved and not emptied the complete contents in one go **giggle**

How are the preparations going?

Kerryanne's "Simply Christmas" is in full swing over at the Shabby Art Boutique.

Mrs Dunnit (the lovely Julia) is making a list and checking it twice over at the Stamping Ground.

...and...

UKS have started their countdown to Christmas - there will be a new project every day until the 23rd December.

Oh, and if you fancy the chance to win yourself some digi goodies - there are 7 days of Holiday chaos over at Catch the Bug.

Have fun.....................................................................................