Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

It’s here!!  It’s Christmas Eve!!!

One more sleep to go!!

Remember the reason for the season and enjoy the festivities with your loved ones!!

1. O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

2. O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep the Angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.

3. How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given;
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His Heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

4. Where children pure and happy
Pray to the blessed Child,
Where misery cries out to Thee,
Son of the Mother mild;1
Where Charity stands watching
And Faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks,
And Christmas comes once more.

5. O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray!
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels,
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

The day arrived… the Contemporary Craft Shopping Experience 2011.

Sunday 4th December 2011 saw an early start for Gordon and I, we had to leave home around 5am… load the car, get petrol then drive to Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, thankfully the weather this year was better than last year

We arrived to be greeted by the lovely Claire who is the brains and crafty hands of Lady Luck Jewellery and we set to work setting up our stall for what we hoped to be another great day.

We were set up, had breakfast from the lovely onsite cafe and were ready for the opening of the event at 10am. We had already spoken to stallholders we had met at this event in 2010 and everyone was very excited for the day ahead… this is a great event to be a part of.

Nobody was disappointed. Sunday 4th December 2011 at Warwickshire Exhibition Centre was a great day… lots of lovely customers, friendly stallholders, catching up with fellow crafters who have become friends and a lovely atmosphere. Fantastic.

What was our most popular productof the day? There were two!!

Our Snowman Soup was incredibly popular with visitors of all ages… a treat for themselves, a stocking filler for friends and family or a little extra gift for those unexpected Christmas visitors. We almost sold out of these!!

Badger’s Woodcrafts Peg Looms were also really popular – to the extent that by the end of the day we only had ONE left… this is quite possibly the most successful day Gordon has had with his woodcrafts since it was launched. Excellent

Throughout the day, the weather was kind to visitors, although it was cold and a little breezy there was no snow or fog like last year, even the rain held off until near the end of the event – just in time for packing up and trying to fit all the boxes back into the car. Ah well, can’t complain as it was a great day.

All in all, we had a lovely day… met quite a few people from Laura’s home area (Glasgow) who were more than eager to have a chat about the Glasgow area, how it used to be and what’s changed. We are always amazed by how many people from the Glasgow area we meet at events ‘down south’ but we never tire of talking to these lovely people.

Will be be attending the Contemporary Craft Shopping Experience in 2012? Without a doubt, this is one of our best events of the year and we would be delighted to support Claire again in the future!!

We’ll be updating you with our other Christmas events soon… just as soon as I find the photographs

Lots of love and hugs to you all, from

xxx Laura & Gordon xxx

Cards And Candles For All Occasions

and

Badger’s Woodcrafts

Good morning all.

It seems a while since we last updated our blog – all with good reason though, things here at Cards And Candles For All Occasions and Badger’s Woodcrafts have been very very busy as we have been attending craft fairs, working on customer orders, making some of our own handmade Christmas gifts and shopping on various handmade gifts websites.

This year our friends and family will be receiving gifts which have been handmade by ourselves as well as gifts from these wonderful crafters:

Bev Jennings – Bread and Butter Range

Diomo Glass

Silver Birch Crafts

Mystic’s Realm

Mists Of Time

Moon Daisy

Ellie’s Treasures

Minxtures

Owl Loves Panda

Crafty Chics

Treacher Creatures

I would highly recommend each of these crafters if you are looking for something personal and unique – pop over and have a browse!!

Hope you are all well and your plans for a Handmade Christmas are progressing well… hard to believe that two weeks today is Christmas Day!!

Lots of love and hugs to you all, from

xxx Laura & Gordon xxx

Cards And Candles For All Occasions

and

Badger’s Woodcrafts

Christmas Craft and Gift Market

West End Village

London Road

Boothen

Stoke-on-Trent

Staffordshire

ST4 5AA

Thursday 1st December 2011

Open from 1:00pm til 6:00pm

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Contemporary Craft Shopping Experience

Warwickshire Exhibition Centre

The Fosse

Fosse Way

Leamington Spa

Warwickshire

CV31 1XN

Sunday 4th December 2011

Open from 10:00am til 4:00pm

We love the idea of shaped cards, 3D cards and keepsake cards but want to expand our ranges to include something new and eyecatching, something that little bit different from our current ranges.

The latest card I have made to add to our range is this “Double Twisted Easel Card” made in a Christmas design.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this design – is it something you would like to see more of?

Thanks for reading!

xxx Love Laura and Gordon xxx

www.cardsandcandlesforalloccasions.co.uk

Here are a couple of our “Baby’s First Christmas” cards – what do you think?

xxx Lots of love Laura and Gordon xxx

www.cardsandcandlesforalloccasions.co.uk

The recipient loved their little parcel… we hope you like it too!!

xxx Love Laura and Gordon xxx

www.cardsandcandlesforalloccasions.co.uk

Hope you like these cards

xxx Love Laura and Gordon xxx
www.cardsandcandlesforalloccasions.co.uk

Never leave a burning candle unattended

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Burn candles out of reach of children and pets

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Always leave at least 10cm between burning candles

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Do not burn candles on or near anything which can catch fire
(eg. table clothes, curtains, etc)

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Always use a suitable holder for your candles

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Keep burning candles away from vents, daughts and windows

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Never touch or move a lit or recently burned candle

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www.cardsandcandlesforalloccasions.co.uk