A Fresh Start

Usual excuses for being away for so long and the added extra of Christmas. Thank goodness that is all over for another year and I wish you all a very prosperous and happy New Year.

To get me going again here are just a few images of what we have been up to the past few months:
Enjoying the Christmas fayre in Paisley

Staying warm with big hairy ginger cats on our laps (What a sight!)

We officially had a white Christmas and the snow is still here....time for it to go now I think.

Enjoyed all the sparkly lights *****

Sis made loads of yummy food over Christmas including this gorgeous chocolate yule log..mmm

and together we cooked our first ever stuffed turkey and it was amazing! Pat on the back sis xxx

....the cooked bird in all it's glory....

....and we ate the lot!

Opened up one or two presents!

Went for a snowy walk on Christmas Day...brrrrrr

It's nice to be back xxx

A Sad Day

I've had to close my knitting shop. I decided it was for the best as it wasn't really financially viable (the knitting was taking hours to do...precious hours that I could be painting) and I'm not able to keep up with my orders at the moment. My pregnancy is making me very tired but I am also itching to make things for myself and my home. My sister is laughing at me cause she thinks I'm 'nesting'...grrrrr.

I want to make decorations for the house such as a Christmas tree skirt and a mantel piece decoration. I have bought all of the material I now just need my mum to help me get my sewing machine up and running again. Every time I go to use it it jams!

Last Christmas was pretty stressful with the amount of glove orders I had so I'm looking forward to a more peaceful one. I plan on coming back to Etsy next year with a new shop, but selling something that is quicker to make, but the ideas can wait until the new year.

The Christmas lights get turned on the Saturday in Paisley and the reindeer's (yes real ones) come to town and I'm really excited cause I every year I am working and always miss it. So there are benefits to being self-employed :O)

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the cold weather. I had left my washing out over night on Monday and when I went to collect it it was rock hard with frost. I couldn't even bend it to get it in the washing basket! So we had puddles of water all over the house as it defrosted! Not the brightest thing I have ever done. Love L x

Off to the Framers

Finally finished my two paintings that are going into the Christmas Exhibition at scotlandart.com's Edinburgh gallery. The exhibition opens on the 28th November so feel free to drop by and have a nosey if you are in the area of Stockbridge.

Boats on Loch LomondView of Loch Laich from Appin

Some Exciting News

I am proud to announce that the Smith family is expecting a new addition to the family next April....
I'm doing good. Just a bit tired and getting annoyed that I can't do as much as I want to. Grace is so so excited and kissing my bump every day!

I am also officially self-employed. I'm just waiting for a letter from the tax man so I can open up my business bank account. I'm very excited but a bit daunted by the whole tax thing but I'm sure that my mathematical genius of a husband will help me out.

As promised here are my three new items that I have added to my shop today. Still more to come (I hope!). I have possibly two craft fairs coming up in November/December so I had better get knitting!

Oh and something scary from the weekend! I spent most of yesterday feverishly sewing and making Miss G's costume but it was all worth it. Grace went trick or treating with her wee pals and came back with a booty of sweets like I have never seen before! She then sat on the kitchen floor dividing the sweets into ones that she likes and ones she doesn't like...all the more for me x

Hubby carved the pumpkin...star job x

New tunes

Thought I would share some new tunes that I am into at the moment.

First is Alexi Murdoch. Born in London, brought up in Scotland, but now lives in California....such a gorgeous voice to listen too. He really came to my attention when i went to the movies to see 'Away We Go' by Sam Mendes who uses Alexi Murdoch's tunes throughout the movie. I thought it made the movie and I highly recommend it. You can listen to some of his songs on his MySpace page and I urge you to listen to 'Orange Sky' and 'All of My Days'.

The next artist to catch my attention is Regina Spektor. I just heard her on the radio one day and fell in love. You can either listen to some of her tunes on her MySpace page or here is a couple of my favourites of hers from YouTube. Happy listening x

Drum roll please....

...and the winner is...... Kelly Ann. Hooray! Well done you. My lovely assistant drew the name out of the bunch. Snow White always scared me...along with Pinocchio. I'm much more a Aladdin or Little Mermaid kinda girl and Singing in the Rain is definitely way up there in my top 5 movies of all time.
Thank you to everyone who entered. I promise I'll have another giveaway soon.

Here's a sneaky peak of something new that I plan on adding to my shop soon. I'm now off to watch Masterchef the Professionals....Happy Monday x

Happy days on the East coast

Just spent the last three days enjoying clear blue skies and chilly climes on the East coast of Scotland visiting my Mother-in-Law in Forfar. We went for a couple of lovely long walks out in the countryside and I had so much fresh air I was going to bed early every night!

On Thursday we all went for a two hour walk around Brechin (not so clear skies but very mild). Grace did a grand job and only really complained about being a bit tired and hungry towards the end, but a story of Cinderella told by mum kept her going!


On Friday we went out for lunch (which took FOREVER to be served to us!) then went for a walk along to the Reekie Linn waterfall. The walk to the waterfall is a very narrow path with a 120ft drop down to the water! So daddy had a tight hold of Grace there and back. Such a lovely walk and such a wonderful view.


PS. This post is dedicated to my fantastic sister whose birthday it is today....happy birthday sis xxxxxxxxxxx