Getting ready.....

Yesterday was my only Saturday off in 7 weeks, so I decided to clean the house!!!

It was the annual family trip to Longleat but I thought I'd be working and didn't have a ticket, so I bundled everyone off and then tackled my tip of a house.

Every year I go mad and give the place a really good clean before a single decoration goes up. The sofa's come out, the windows get washed - chaos .......

......but worth it.

I now have a blank canvas to decorate.

Sophie is insisting on getting the tree out and putting on the lights this year, so the tree and decorating will have to be done in the week after school.

I'm off to work over in Maddie Brown today. It's the Reindeer Parade in Wells so could be quite busy. At least I'll have this to come home to and a clean and tidy house.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Small Business Saturday

To celebrate 'Small Business Saturday' tomorrow, we are offering you

 20% off EVERYTHING

 Just use the code SMALL7 at the checkout all day tomorrow 

www.dotsandspots.co.uk 

Christmas cards

  

Tomorrow is all about Christmas cards. I am so behind on my stock packs, that all my spare time tomorrow will be spent making up packs of cards.

Our new designs have gone down very well this year, along with the new mini cards we introduced earlier. All packs come as a set of 6 cards, complete with a festive red envelope.

We have developed quite a selection now - 33 designs to choose from.

If you are interested, you can get them from *HERE*

ADVENT

A Pinch and Punch for the 1st of the Month - Happy December!

Today of course marks the start of Advent, so out came the Advent Calendars and

 the very popular Christmas Chocolate tin!

 It also meant that the Frome Super/Artisan/Flea Market was on.

(the first Sunday of the month)

And boy, was it busy. It was heaving! 

Such a fabulous atmosphere with singing, musicians and a fantastic array of stalls. 

A must see if you are local.

 The very lovely Angela was selling her fabulous prints alongside lots of Artisan Sellers on Catherine Hill.

The Christmas Puds looked so festive.

The Flea was just as busy - a really fantastic morning of shopping and chatting to many friends and family we kept bumping into along the way.

I treated myself to this gorgeous little boat - an early Christmas present to myself.

I also couldn't resist this ceramic holly either.

Oh and this felted mistletoe.

As I said, a fabulous morning shopping!!

On the way home we ended up adding New Look to our adventures. 

More early Christmas presents!! 

My girl is growing up far too fast.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend, wherever you are.

Nearly Advent

It will be the 1st of December on Sunday 

Time to treat yourself to a lovely Advent Calendar, if you haven't already done so.

All I have done for the past week, is pack Advent Calendars. Not that I'm complaining but there isn't much time left. Our Advent Garlands were so popular that they went out of stock early November but we do still have some of our lovely Owl Advents in stock *HERE*

Where did my weekend go?

When I was teaching full time I never really felt I had much of a weekend, as there was always prep, displays, worksheets etc to do. When I changed to part time, I worked my days off, so that I could 'have' a weekend. When I started my own business, I thought I would have the luxury of a weekend off but as I've come to realise, I work harder now than I did then!

I don't actually mind working over the weekend, it just makes one week seem to go into the next and I loose all track of time. This weekend has been super busy. I worked in Maddie brown on Saturday and I did not stop - lots of Christmas shoppers out. I prefer it like that, so busy the day just whizzes by.

Today I have been over at the unit catching up on all my orders, so that they can go out in tomorrow's post. This weeks 50% FRIDAY wrapping paper offer was VERY popular, so many orders going out to happy customers in the morning.

So it's nearly 3pm and I'm sat with a coffee typing this post, thinking where has my weekend gone, no, where has my week gone! I can't quite believe that in 4 and a half weeks time it will be Christmas! I will need to find some time in the next few weeks to write my cards and shop for my own presents but I bet in a couple of weeks time, I will be sat here saying the same thing - where has the time gone.

Have a lovely weekend - the little bit of it that's left x

Display Fun!

Today I have been super organised to make time to help the lovely owner of Maddie Brown, do her Christmas window displays. Sam has the most lovely shop in Wells and another over in Sherborne. We have been friends for years and I have always been a very good customer, loving EVERYTHING she sells. As you know more recently, I have been working there on a Saturday and helping out now and again with other bits and pieces and today was the fun stuff! It's torture working there. I get to see all the lovely things as they arrive and often spend my wages before I even start!

My favourite so far this year, is this gorgeous fabric holly. It's by Gisela Graham and as it's wired, so you can bend it anyway you like.

I've put it out on the side as it's too pretty to put away. In fact over the next few weeks bits and pieces from my Christmas cupboard will start to come out of hiding. 

Well, 5 weeks today it will be Christmas Eve.