Christmas is for children!

The first weekend in December marks the tradition, in the Peabody house, for the children to 'do' Christmas. They each have a small tree and a box of decorations to delve into and are left to their own devises, to decorate their rooms exactly as they like!

The nativity, bought from the Early Learning Centre to celebrate the arrival of Sophie 11 years ago is always a treasured item - it is now shared and alternately spends Christmas in each of the rooms.

The top landing gets the festive touch and then it all begins - tinsel and paper chains galore!

The tree with it's old and loved decorations.

Handmade Christmas decorations.

Handmade, colourful paper chains in Sophie's room.

A handmade advent calendar welcomes you into Sam's room.

And the tinseliest tinsel Christmas tree you ever did see! He is VERY proud of how much tinsel he managed to fit on!

All the Christmas bits and pieces come out, made or bought over the years that all hold special memories or remember when we.......

And then there are more paper chains and more tinsel!

The main tree won't go up for another week or so - so this is a good compromise to start the festivities off. The main tree is a more co-ordinated affair and I'm afraid not a piece of tinsel in sight!

A lovely feature

The other evening I was on twitter and someone asked if I had I seen our products featured in 'Your Home' Magazine (January edition) - to which I replied a simple NO! I've always thought it odd that magazines don't let you know - or the company you sell with don't inform you either. She went on to say it was a lovely picture on page 8, so I thanked her and added the magazine to my shopping list. So the first thing I did the following morning was rush to get myself a copy and what a lovely picture it was too! It still makes me puff up with pride when I see something I have created in print.

So that moves me nicely on to the proofs I received from the printers. Again, it always feels slightly different seeing them in print format from my original paper copies.

All these designs will be available in the new year - there are 12 new designs in total - something for every occasion! I am really pleased with the whole collection.

We have also received 4 press requests this week, all obviously looking for copy for the New Year/ Season editions. It's all very exciting. I'm already starting to design and think about my 2011 July launch products - I don't want to put myself under so much panic and stress as I have been doing of late - designing as the deadline approaches. It's a little early to start writing New Year's resolutions yet but that will feature when I do! When or really I should write if, I have a spare moment, it will be filled with designing.

Tomorrow is December....

And that can only mean one thing - the start of Advent and officially the start of Christmas in the Peabody house!

The red and white spotty stars have come out of hiding, in preparation to decorate the advent garland and the little enamel buckets have been filled with surprises.

The wreath has been put out on the front door.

The fairy lights which adorn the house all year round are lit earlier and are adding their own sparkle of Christmas magic and excitement.

The Christmas coffee mugs have made their seasonal trip out of the cupboard and onto the dresser.

The advent garland meanders it's way up the stairs, overloaded with daily treats for the children.



And an advent calendar each, to open every morning in the build up to Christmas, lines the kitchen cupboard doors.

Christmas cards will begin to be written.

And the favourite Christmas stories will be shared.

And of course, the Christmas spotty chocolate tin is filled to the brim with yummy treats for any visitors.

I love the build up to Christmas - the excitement and anticipation. The tree won't go up until the middle of the month but it's super to slowly build up the fun and festivities.

Christmas at the Barn

So this morning we woke up to this ...... snow!

The view from my studio or rather 'igloo' as it's aptly named at this time of the year, was beautiful.

The only one brave enough to venture out into the cold first thing was Sam - brave boy!

It was Freezing!

But by mid morning we were all wrapped up warm to head over to 'Christmas at the Barn' over in the Tithe Barn at Mells near Frome. The event was run by Rebecca from Edamay and how lovely it all was too.

Her wish of a dusting of snow, to complete the scene was granted and it was truly magical driving through the snow capped country lanes to get there.



My daughter did comment that it was the most Christmassy, Christmas Fair she had been to - ever! The very sensible Rebecca had laid on 'things to make and do' for the children, which kept my 2 nicely occupied whilst I had a natter and a good look around.

All the stalls were lovely - full to bursting with beautiful handmade arts and crafts I did snap Rebecca's stand - firstly because it looked beautiful and she'd worked so hard to organise the event and secondly it had lots of spotty things there for sale.

The snow didn't put people off and the barn was full of festive shoppers - a lovely hour spent doing what I like best - talking and shopping all at the same time!

In January - I will be exhibiting at my 2nd Trade Fair - the design led show at Earl's Court - Top Drawer. It's always very exciting to plan your stand - the above photo showed our stand space at Harrogate - our first show in July. We quickly realised it was a very small space and decided we could afford an extra half a meter. We booked that size stand for Top Drawer and I was very happy with that until I received a phone call the other day, asking me if I'd like an additional meter!! Well my mind went into overdrive the possibilities of display with extra space!

So today I went over to visit my friend with a card spinner and box of dots and spots goodies as she's opening her very own flower shop on Monday. It's only about 30 minutes away but it is in the same vicinity as an adorable little country furniture shop.

She has the amazing collection of really old, lovely bits of furniture. I always pop in on the off chance and always end up coming home with something. The minute I opened the door - I saw it - this lovely little blue painted dresser - it will be perfect for Top Drawer. A cupboard for all the bits of paper you need to hide away and a perfect display space for all my tapes, place setting cards, notebooks and magnets. And the best bit of all - it was just £75.00!

I loved my stand layout at Harrogate but it's always good to change things around. Of course there is the question of fitting everything in the car - but I'll worry about that nearer the time!

The perfect stocking filler!

So, at last (it feels like I've been waiting ages) both our magnets and stickers are for sale on our website. I am so pleased with them all.

The magnets can be bought individually or 14 of our designs can be bought in pairs.

Just £1.99 individually or £3.50 a pair.

And then there are our stickers - a set for boys .....

.....and a set for girls.

For just £2.50 for a pack, you get 2 sheets of 15 designs - that's 30 stickers in total.

The perfect stocking filler this Christmas!

Coming Soon!

Its exciting times at dots and spots with lots of new products and designs soon to be launched. Our magnets and stickers will be on sale in the next few days (want to be among the first to know when they 'go live'? Then make sure you're signed up for our e-newsletter - click here and fill in the simple form on the bottom right of the screen) and earlier in the month I shared with you some sketches for my new decorative tape designs

Well I've received the proofs from my printers today and I'm so excited that I wanted to give you a glimpse of the final designs!

Baubles

Cupcake & Stars

Spooky!

These decorative tapes aren't available for sale yet, but I've got some great tapes that you can buy now.
They are flying off the shelves - I think that decorative tapes are going to be the 'must have' accessory for 2011!

http://www.dotsandspots.co.uk/