TARRAGON & THYME

I went into town at dinner and on my way back to the office I called in at the Works cheapie book shop.  Prior to Christmas they had some lanterns for £10 each which although lovely I was not prepared to pay £10 each for. Move on a few weeks and the next thing is spend £15 and you would get one of the lanterns free. Today I went in there were not many left.  However they were £5 each.  So I snaffled a couple and they are in the box ready for next year's Christmas.  Which is very appropriate as tomorrow is New Year's Eve and the countdown to another year. These two lanterns will look lovely on the long oblong mirror I have which is in a white frame which I proposed using as a table centre with the edge surrounded by Greenery.  Together with these little lanterns I have four of each.  You can put tea lights in but I managed to get some battery operated flicker tea lights so no naked flames at all although you could if yo...

In recent years where I can I have been having a go at making Christmas decorations from foliage, seed heads etc where I can just to add a little bit of me into the Christmas decorations rather than it all be bought baubles and glass and bits of plastic. I chanced upon this lovely tutorial for making home made Christmas Star decorations with a twist.  The stars have been made out of cinnamon sticks in place of twigs, which Rosy had taken her inspiration from.  I in turn at the moment cannot obtain long cinnamon sticks I only have the tiny ones which are not really big enough  for this project.  So in the same principals of being inspired I have some Indian version of Cinnamon which is more like the outer bark rather than the cinnamon itself so I am going to use them together with some star anise and some dried rosemary and probably some other seed pods.  A little bit of inspiration goes a long way.  Although I have sourced some larger cinnamon sticks at Ho...

I have been very pleased with my attempts at decorating my front room this year. They have turned out better than I hoped. I have a go at things and have a clear picture in my mind's eye as to how I would like things to be but sometimes things go wrong and not quite how I really want them, but hey thats all part of the learning curve. Next time round because have made before they usually come even better. Unusually this year I have not bought or made any Christmas decorations at all. I usually make some or buy some new ones. Unfortunately for my family I am a bit nuts about Christmas - but then for me it is the most important festival I celebrate during the year as it is about family and extended family and all my efforts throughtout the year usually culminate in the Christmas celebrations. I feel very much the seasons but feel disconnected from the land yet these customs and traditions give us all something to look forward to and give some shape and form and reason to who we are w...