the last one of the year

Musings:
It's the last day of 2007. I find it quite I scary thing that the year has passed so quickly, and if I stop to think about what I have achieved it seems like I have just wasted a year (of course this is probably not true, but what I mean is that I don't know how many landmark things happened in 2007 for me personally).
Some years, lots of things can happen, and I think 2008 might be one of those year for me. I know I will move house (need something bigger) and I might get married (might) and I might have a baby (might) and I might give up my day job and be a full time designer (might) but as none of these things happened in 2007 perhaps I'm just going to cram it all into 2008.

It would be good to revisit this page on the last day of 2008 to see if any of those things actually did happen.

No resolutions here:
because I really think you can resolve to do something at anytime of the year (why wait until the beginning of a year to decide to do something?). The things I mentioned above, well they are my dreams for the future and I guess they'll happen when they happen be it this year or in a few years time.

Anyway, back to the here and now, and I thought I'd share one of my christmas pressies - 'the cute book' was on my pressie list. I really love this and will be making some of the cute things in it soonI went to my sisters on Christmas day and took a pic of her fireplace with the nice garland I mentioned a few posts ago - as I said, the original pic didn't do it justice - perhaps you just need a nice fireplace for it to look good (!?)Both me and Mr Monda have spent the last few days full of a cold. Sneezing, coughing, blowing noses and worst of all, not being able to taste anything! I hope I'm feeling much better tomorrow because I'm making a new years day lunch for my Sister and the gang - my first chance to use my extending dining table!
We're not going out tonight - first time in many many years, but we really just wanted to stay in this year - we have the Simpsons movie on DVD and an evening meal of Ham, Bubble & Squeak and Pickles. Will probably be the best new year we've ever had!

Happy Happy Christmas

Just popping by quickly to say Happy Christmas to everyone out there who reads my little blog.

and before the madness of Christmas day happens, this is the view into Mr Monda's christmas stocking. Some of you might spot something rather familiar in there...
and some proof that cats also like christmas:

I'm back at work for a couple of days on the 27th and 28th December but I have a whole week off after that and I'll be getting straight back into the blog and making some new softies (already have a few ideas up my sleeve!)

Have a great Christmas time.

Monda
x

Where have I been?

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, but have been rushing around like a mad thing trying to get stuff done. I haven't even had chance to catch up with any blog reading let along blog posting and the only semi creative thing I have done in the last week is table decorations for the Christmas ball and taking up a pair of jeans.

The Christmas ball was fab - I don't really drink an awful lot, but on this occasion as it had been a long time in the planning and by way of a celebration of my efforts I had a drink (well quite a few). Needless to say I had a great time. The following day we were trying to do some food shopping but due to the after effects of the night before I wasn't managing very well - all I can say is it's a good job that out local sainsburys supermarket has a starbucks in it - I had to go there for a much needed drink and chocolate cornflake square in order to perk me up a bit.

After the inlaws had left on sunday we packed our bags for a spa break getaway for Mr Monda's birthday. The spa (which I have been to a few times in the past) is great and we had a nice relaxing time. In this pic, you can see the dessert that Mr Monda had after his evening meal. 4 desserts on one plate - this is what dreams are made of! I stopped in to see my sister on the way back from the spa today and she had some really nice christmas decorations - she bought them online here
I have to say the pics really don't do them justice, she has this simple yet effective felt garland hanging on her fireplace and it looks great
I finally got my car back today - all fixed and looking lovely - they cleaned it inside and out too. Such a relief and so much nicer than the courtesy car I was given. This makes me very happy indeed.

This week is already zooming by at great speed. I have some christmas pressies still in the making so I must crack on with those now.

Christmas card freebie winner

in a very non technical, cut up a post it note draw, the winner is monkee maker! MM - the cards will be in the post for you tomorrow.

Christmas seems to be taking up way too much time effort and energy this year. I love christmas time but I feel a bit bah-humbug at the minute - probably because I still feel a bit poorly - I dragged myself into work for the last 2 days, but today I admitted defeat and stayed at home. I have the Christmas ball on Friday so I need to feel better for then.

This weekend, Mr Monda's parents are coming to visit, which is fine, they're nice people as in-laws go, but I've still go some last minute christmas gifts to buy and it has to be this weekend as next weekend I'll be seeing my family for the christmas present swap, so I guess I'm going to have to excuse myself and pop off to the shops.
Mr Monda's birthday is on Monday (how inconvenient, just before christmas) so I need to be prepared for this too - and I'm not quite prepared yet, so a shopping trip tomorrow after work is needed.
I haven't made anything for what seems like ages. I'd like to say that I'd made these Christmas decorations: but alas no, I bought them from a lovely local shop that sells all kinds of oldy worldy stuff.

I had a second secret santa last night (another work night out) and got the best presents - a monkey mug, some charlie and lola plasters, a pencil with a Russian doll on the top, and some deco tape. Of course I don't know who bought this for me, but it's someone who knows me pretty well
I love Lauren Child's Charlie and Lola illustrations - she is very clever indeed.

christmas card freebie

Just a quick one from me today - i'm rushing off to do my food shopping in a few minutes
If you'd like to have these monda christmas cards then please just pop a comment on this post.
I'll be back on Wednesday to draw the winner. Good Luck x

oh christmas tree

As I predicted, it has been a really busy weekend. Saturday morning first thing I was at ikea buying a dining table. I have one already but what I really wanted was one that extends, and now I have one - a nice solid birch one. After eating an ikea hotdog (with mustard and ketchup) for breakfast I was home by 12, and next on the agenda was a trip to Windsor to do some christmas shopping, but it really started to rain a lot, and I was also overcome with tiredness so we decided to leave the shopping till Sunday and build the new table - which meant almost dismantling the entire room to have space to build it. Feeling the need to do something semi constructive with the remainder of the day, I decided to wash living room curtains (I'm so rock and roll!)

Sunday - Christmas shopping in Windsor - bought a few bits and a nice skirt for my christmas party on Friday but my heart really wasn't in it so I left at 2.30. On the way home I headed for B&Q (DIY store) to get some brackets for the curtain pole I had bought in ikea, but I couldn't even get near B&Q because the queues of traffic were massive - I guess everyone was buying christmas tree's and decorations, so instead I went to the local garden centre and bought a christmas tree, which is now decorated and sparkling in my living room.

Stevie hasn't seen a Christmas tree before, so immediately investigated by climbing in it:We had to quarantine her into the spare room whilst we decorated it, otherwise we would have had all kinds of carnage on our hands.

Here are some decorations I couldn't resist buying in accessorize today. The knitted christmas puds are lovely This is a selection of my decorations before they are on the tree:and here is my lovely tree:We have put quite a few bells around the bottom so we can hear when stevie in attacking it!
And lastly, this pic is for Sarah - I bought some of her decs and they look great on my tree - The snowman fits in perfectly with the red and white theme - Sarah you are a clever clogs indeed!
I feel like I'm coming down with a head cold - I've been sniffing and sneezing all weekend - so I think an early (ish) night is in order.
Tomorrow I'll be giving away a few of my christmas cards, so pop back if you'd like some freebies.

cards = haircut

I've been really busy this last few nights finishing off christmas cards. Stupidly I didn't take any pics - they just got packed up and taken into work to sell there. I sold £22.50 worth today - not so bad although I have to say they are a steal considering the amount of time I have spent on them - it's just a good job I like doing these things because I really don't make any money on them.

If I have a few left after work tomorrow I might pop a couple into the etsy shop and maybe have a last minute christmas freebie - we'll see how it goes.

£22.50 paid for a haircut today (a work colleague cuts my hair for half the price I'd pay at a salon)
Christmas party season is here. In the next week I have 3 Christmas nights out with work. One is tomorrow - a team thing, one on Tuesday - another team thing, and the one on Friday next week is one that I have been organising - a black and white masquerade ball for the entire company. A sneaky peak at my glitzy mask:And lastly, I've found some great stuff on etsy lately so I thought it rude not to share this lovely litte owl made by thecupcakegirlsNow I'm off to wrap my secret santa gift for tomorrow, which also means I'll get my first christmas pressie tomorrow, woohoo.

RIP

don't panic, nobody died. These are my RIP - Robins in progress! Soon to be sewn and made into christmas cards...

where did the weekend go?

I fear all weekends in the run up to Christmas are going to be like this one has been. The time has flown by. I only had a few hours this afternoon/evening for making christmas cards, in between making soup and cleaning cupboards (an unplanned but necessary job).
Here are a couple of the card designs I've made:
Must go and iron something to wear to work tomorrow and then get myself off to bed!

and the freebie winner is...

Thanks to the help of a random number generator:

The winner is comment number 3 - Creme Brule! Congrats to you :o) Please email me at:
monda (at) homecall (dot) co (dot) uk with your address details.

Sorry to those who didn't win but take comfort in the fact that there will be more freebies on the horizon (probably in the new year).

I also wanted to mention that if you are in/near London this weekend you might want to pop over to the Cockpit Arts Studios in Deptford. They are having an open studio weekend where you can buy lovely hand crafted products and meet with the talented people behind them.
Sadly I don't think I'm going to be able to fit a visit in myself this weekend but wanted to spread the word nonetheless.

habitat toys

I went to habitat on Sunday, because I love all the christmas decorations they do - well I love most the stuff in there if I'm honest.
The kids toys this time of year are always good and I was snapping away on my mobile at these (a selection of my faves - apologies for the poor quality pics). Robots and monsters are definitely the way forward
Also we bought a couple of bargain toys (for ourselves!). I bought this red bird for just £2 and Mr Monda bought this knitted Walrus for just £3
I think it's great that at the grand age of 31 we are both happy to spend our hard earned wages on stuffed toys.

This evening is last chance saloon for my purple freebie, so pop down and leave me a comment if you'd like to get your mits on some monda christmas decorations.

Getting all Christmassy

I'm getting all christmassy.
Today I'm making some christmas cards and I've replaced my blog header with this:
new christmas one:previous non festive version:

Don't forget about my purple freebie below or find it here

Christmas Freebie

It's been a while since I had a freebie and as Christmas is almost upon us, I felt a christmas freebie was in order, so here it is:
3 Christmas Decorations in purple colours, 12 pink and purple buttons and most importantly (but not made by me) some Dove regenerating hand cream - because this time of year my hands really suffer in the cold weather, and everyone knows crafters need nice soft hands.

If you'd like to win this little lot, then please just leave me a comment in this post and it could be yours (as long as you post a comment before midnight on Wednesday 28th November - GMT).

Monda
x

tickets, cars and freebies

I must start by apologising for the lack of photographs on this post.

Today was a bad day.
It started well - I managed to get tickets for the Foo Fighters. The tickets sold out in about 15 mins so I was quite lucky really.
My luck didn't last however because on my way home from Ikea this afternoon some guy smashed into the back of my car. Thankfully me and Mr Monda are OK (although my neck is a little stiff right now) but I can't say the same for my car.

My car was only 6 months old when I bought it (it's just a year old now) but I don't know what the prognosis will be on it because the back bumper is squashed in on one side and the boot doesn't close properly.
My initial reaction to this was just to be really angry as a couple of years ago the same thing happened to me - once again someone drove into the back of me and last time my car got written off.
The guy who hit me was not from the UK, and didn't speak good English. He kept saying. 'is ok, I have insurance' but he didn't really want to give us any details, and said he didn't have an address!
Mr Monda was very calm throughout the whole thing and was trying his hardest to get the details from the guy and his passengers, whilst I was yelling 'it's not OK, you've just driven into the back of me'.
The guy then proceeded to to try and bash my bumper back into place with his fist, at which point I got really mad, and just told him to get off my car and leave it alone.
If my insurance company can't trace the guy to make a claim, then I will loose 2 years from my no claims bonus, my insurance will go up, and I have to pay £150 excess on my policy too - perfect timing with Christmas coming up.

Anyway on to much more pleasant things. Tomorrow I will announce a freebie, so be sure to pop by and take a look if you fancy getting your hands on some monda goodies.

custom made stamps

a while ago I was told by someone that they had seen someone peeling my sticker (with my name and details) off the back of the card they had purchased from me as if to make out they had made it themselves. Well in some ways this is flattering but of course I was also a little bit annoyed by this - so my solution to this little problem arrived today:You can get your own custom made stamp from here

I've popped my christmas decorations into my etsy shop this evening. I'm going to have to make some more though because I like them so much. Black and purple are big this christmas so maybe I'll try a few in these colours as well as the traditional red and blues.
I received 2 lots of felt today so I have plenty of supplies to be going on with.

and only one more day of working from home and then I can make a start on my Christmas cards on Friday. I really hope I can get some made because I've just read about some tickets for the Foo Fighters going on sale on Friday morning and I need (yes I need) to buy these, and also the idea of a trip to Ikea has been thrown into the mix which means a drive into Wembley for me which could end up taking up a huge chunk of the day.

Wednesday...Heroes is on tonight...Yay!

dec the halls with monda's felt things, tra la la la la la la la la

Did you just sing this to see if there was enough 'la's'? I did :o)
I've been busying myself these last 2 evenings making some christmas decorations for my etsy shop.
I'll pop them on tomorrow (getting way too late to do it today) but you can have a little look at them now. I'm pretty pleased with them so I will be making a few more for my own tree tooand I managed to use some of the buttons I bought last week. I must have secretly known these decorations were on the horizon.

a big christmas shopping day

I did a huge Christmas shopping trip today. I would probably say at least 50% of the Christmas presents are bought now. I'm trying to do it a bit earlier this year because it always seems like a frantic last minute rush to the shops and it all becomes a lot less enjoyable. That said, the shop I went to today was jam packed with people evidently doing the same as me.

My grand plans to make cards today were clearly just a dream (because I spent too long at the shops). At least my christmas decorations are a WIP and I did order a custom made stamp for my cards (you might get to see it later in the week when it arrives), and I have bought some more felt to make a few more decs before the week is out.

I have a hospital appointment tomorrow (nothing to worry about really - a minor surgical procedure so I'm told) so I'll be at home this week - 3 days will be working from home and I have a day off on Friday so I can really make a start on those Christmas cards.

it's starting to feel a bit like christmas

I have had fleeting thoughts about what colour my christmas tree would be this year, and buying a new extendable dining table, so christmas is definitely on my mind.

I haven't really done very much today which is maybe a good thing because when i did try to do something my creative juices just weren't flowing and I didn't like anything that I was making. I felt like I just wasted away hours and all I ended up with were cut up bits of fabric and thread everywhere.
Towards the end of the day, these 2 little christmas tree decorations were made and I'm actually quite happy with them so I will be making a few more tomorrow.

I plan also to make a start on those christmas card designs which have been in my head for the last few weeks. It is starting to feel a bit like Christmas.

It will be a busy day tomorrow. Also on the agenda is christmas shopping. I'm only going to one shop but I know I will get quite a few things whilst I'm there so hopefully it will be a good trip.

On Friday Mr Monda bought me a really pretty bunch of flowers so i took a pic of them whilst they are at their loveliest. I just love the thistles
My email seems to have been down all day today and I can't access the website of my service provider (not a good sign). If anyone has emailed me but I haven't responded I'm not being rude - honest! I do have access to other internet sites however so at least I can go off and read some crafty blogs until it's time for bed.

help, I've got a problem!

I am addicted to buttons. I buy far more than I have plans for and I can't seem to stop. Here are some that arrived today (mmm lovely buttons)When I asked Mr Monda if he thought I had a problem and that I was addicted, he said, 'well at least it's not crack!' LOL, and I suppose in the grand scheme of things this is just a small non life threatening obsession of mine.
I expect you'll see these on some monster/card/brooch sometime in the not too distant future.

I started work at 7am this morning, which meant I could finish at around 3.30pm. I had grand plans for monster making this evening but all of a sudden this head splitting headache came out of nowhere and knocked me out so I had to go to bed at 6.30 for a couple of hours. I feel much better now, but sadly no monsters were made this evening. I did pop the Christmas monsters into the etsy shop though.

Also, I'm pleased to report that I'm over my disappointment of the NEC craft shows. When I read this post again tonight I think I sounded like an angry old lady. LOL.