Wrapping and unpacking

Just emerging from the other side of the Christmas/house moving extravaganza and actually looking forward to getting back to something like normal. It's my birthday on Saturday though, so I never fully feel that the festive season's over till that's passed.

Needless to say nothing very artistic has happened for a few weeks, so this is just a little sketch of Nick's last minute present wrapping. Hopefully I'll be back later in the week once I've worked out where we packed the creativity...

Sunday Sketchblog #44

A little break from the EDMs, here's a festive flower instead.

Dashing through the snow.

It's December, so my self-imposed thinking about Christmas ban is over!

I think this is going to be our Christmas card this year. I was feeling quite uninspired until I came across two images on Pinterest that just seemed to be asking to be combined... this one and this one.

Obviously, it's an entirely realistic depiction of Nick's and my tree-selection process. Staines is bound to be covered in snow, and is of course surrounded by deep pine forests... I do have some furry black snow boots, though!

It's beginning to look a bit like...

... the month before you can start thinking about Christmas. But certainly wintery and festive, thanks to issue six of Wrap magazine with its 'Nordic Lights' theme.

Cover art by Rjorn Rune Lie

Darling Clementine

Lotta Nieminen

Riikka Sormunen

Feed Me!

Organised, domestic goddess types have probably made their Christmas cakes already and have devised a schedule to regularly feed them with brandy, ensuring they're* properly tipsy by Christmas Day. 

I don't tend to do that... I  like fruit cake, but firmly believe marzipan was created by someone attempting to replicate ear wax as a viable food source. So I just make an easier version nearer the time. This year I think I'm going to go for Nigella's Chocolate Fruit Cake (you can't really taste the chocolate, it just adds a little bit of depth) so made a trial run at the weekend. It tastes like Christmas pudding, is perfect without marzipan, and is much less demanding the the traditional sort...

* Cakes, not goddesses.