Merry Christmas, happy new year and #25 festive days.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! 

I took part in a photo challenge on Instagram over the festive period.  Angela set a Christmas-sy theme for each day then we all tagged our photos with #25festivedays, it was really nice to collect my own festive photos and see everyone elses.

These are my photos,

On Christmas day my Joe asked me to marry him, with a beautiful golden daisy ring, I said yes, in the running for our official engagement photo is the one above (the only photo taken of us that day!) of me wearing a child's hat and Joe headbutting my back like a friendly cat.  I think it sums us up pretty well.

I hope you enjoy the end of the year, and that 2016 brings you many happy, lovely and sparkly moments!

Thanks so much for reading and for being my friends in 2015 xxx

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Christmas cards and crafts.

I haven't made many Christmas presents this year, only a couple of hair clips for my nieces and a brooch for me.  

I'm quite pleased with them though!  I made this kitsch deer brooch for myself to make my work uniform prettier.

These cute little deer hair clips are for my cute little nieces

I made a few Christmas cards, mainly for family members, using cute toadstool paper, 'Merry Christmas' washi tape and more deer buttons.

If you fancy making your own brooch, clips or cards my tutorials for them all are available for free on Guidecentral.  

Kitsch Christmas deer brooch.

Handmade deer hair clips.

DIY deer and toadstool Christmas cards. 

Have you had a crafty Christmas?

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What do vegans eat at Christmas? Seasonal vegan treats and snack ideas.

People always ask me what do vegans eat, so here are some yummy festive vegan food ideas.

Morrisons Pigs and Blankets crisps.  These crisps only appear on the shelves at Christmastime and they are super yummy!

Jus Rol Pain Au Chocolat.  We eat these a lot in our household and we plan on having them for breakfast on Christmas day. 

Yummy food from a Christmas market.  This year we went to the German Christmas market in Birmingham, as usual.  I ate a pretzel and German fried mushrooms and potatoes, as usual.  Then we found a New and Exciting stall selling vegan churros!  Just goes to show it's worth asking the stall holders if their food is suitable for vegans, you might be surprised! 

Vegan Christmas chocolate.  Tis the seaon to eat chocolate, fa la la la la la la la la!  I look forward to Aldi's own brand Choceur dark chocolate reindeers coming out, they're suitable for vegans and yummy!  I tried a Mini Moos selection box for the first time this year, it's the best vegan 'milk' chocolate I've ever eaten, the bunny comb bar is the best, just like a crunchie! 

Vego chocolate bar.  Speaking of Christmas chocolate, have you tried a vego bar yet?  Perfect for you if you like your chocolate hazelnutty and as large as your forearm!  (seriously, it's huge!).  You can buy Vego vegan chocolate bars from Ethical Superstore.

New York Bakery Co. Cinnamon Pretzels. Isn't Chritmas all about the toastables?  These vegan soft cinnamon pretzels are a lovely snack warmed up in the toaster.   We're also fans of the new giant crumpets!

Satsumas.  Well, you have to eat something healthy in between all that yummy Christmas food!  

photo c/o Vegan Life Magazine.

December's issue of Vegan Life Magazine has so many ideas for festive vegan snacks and treats, triple chocolate brownies, canapes and a handy cut out and keep guide for veganising Christmas dinner.  You can subscribe to Vegan Life on paper or digitally.  There's also a handy app for digital subscriptions. 

Disclosure - I was sent a Vego bar to review by Ethical Superstore.  I only write about companies I like and my opinions are, as always, my own.  

More disclosure - I have been provided with a free digital subscription to Vegan Life Magazine in return for reviewing this publication.  I even have my own page in the vegan bloggers section of their lovely website!  All opinions are, again, my own and always will be.

(Please note - these products are vegan as far as I can tell - items have suitable for vegetarians or vegan labelling, no dairy/eggs in the allergy section and the ingredients list contains no animal ingredients that I can see, please remember recipes sometimes change, please check for yourself if you're in any doubt.)

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Photo an hour, December 2015.

I'm feeling quite proud of myself because I've taken part in photo an hour every month for the last year!

The day set for this month's photo an hour was 19th December, and I posted my photos on Twitter and Instagram throughout the day.

Photo an hour is organised by Jane and Louisa and you can find round up posts on both of their blogs.

Here's my day,

8am - Reluctant to leave my house and go to work, but at least the sky was pretty.

9am - Walking through town to get the bus.  The day was grey.

 

10am - I got to work and put the Christmas tree lights on, because priorities.

11am - Essential supplies (phone, chapstick, chocolate biscuits, snack tin, library key).

12pm - Part of our library Christmas display.  I had quite a nice day at work, lots of my cute little customers wished me merry Christmas, a customer bought us a box of chocolates and it was actually quiet for once!

 
1pm - Waiting for my bus home.

2pm - Still waiting for my bus home, there's supposed to be one every 15 minutes, but I sat there for about an hour, and had to buy a bag of crisps to keep me going.  While waiting for the bus a small boy referred to me as a 'bus wanker'  He could have only been about 10 or 11.  By this point I was unimpressed.  And cold.  And it was raining.

3pm - Finally got home, I had to pick up a few things in town and it would have been rude not to pop into a couple of charity shops.  The blouse was off the pound rail and I couldn't resist the kitschtastic donkey!

4pm - Sitting down quietly with a blanket, a super-yummy mini moos vegan chocolate bar (which tasted exactly like a Crunchie!), catching up with an episode of Made in Chelsea.

5pm - Reading some blogs (the one in the photo is Nerd Burger, reviewing some graphic novels and comic books.)

6pm - I can't believe I'd not seen Arthur Christmas before, it's such a lovely film!

7pm - Sooo not a healthy dinner.  Although in my defence those are vegetable spring rolls!

8pm - I found The Nightmare Before Christmas on the TV so watched that.  I half love and am half terrified by this film, so I was hoping the boy would come home before the most scary bit (with Mr Oogie Boogie) but he didn't, so I had to look at the Christmas tree and think nice thoughts when he came on!

I stopped taking photos here, because I had a little lie down on the sofa then went to bed!

I quite like days like this, where I don't do very much, but they're not very exciting to photograph!  I get back from work after 7pm on a Friday, then if I'm working Saturday it's an up-earlier-than-usual bus ride away, so I'm usually pretty sleepy on Saturday afternoons if I've been working in the morning.  Add in an hours wait for a bus in the cold and I really wasn't going to move again once I got home!  

Did you take part this month?

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Charity shopping, the one with the weaving loom.

Here are my latest, lovely charity shop finds,

I bought this retro weaving loom on Ebay a while ago (after I got over excited about weaving when I got a free kit from Mollie Makes magazine!).  I haven't used it yet, but only because we're still doing lots of house stuff and there's no room, I can't wait to start!  I've been really inspired by the weaving on Stories of Objects, she makes lovely things!

£9.26 including postage, Ebay.

 

This lovely retro duvet cover is destined to become a dress!

£1.99, charity shop.

I don't know what this curtain is destined to be, but it's cute!

£1.49, charity shop.

Have you bought something lovely from the charity shop lately?

Check out my retro & vintage Pinterest board for more inspiration,

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Library love.

This month I've been reading these lovely library books, 

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

I've loved everything Rainbow Rowell has ever written (Eleanor and Park and Fangirl are my favourites!), and I loved this book too.  In Fangirl Cath writes fanfic about Simon Snow and Baz, this is their story.  It's set in a school of magicks, had ghosts, adventure, love and is really funny.

The Boston Girl - Anita Diamant

The Boston Girl is such a lovely, lovely read, I've been recommending it to everyone!  Addie retells her life story, growing up in the early 1900s and through WW1, her education, friends, family and jobs, and her story is quite simple and gentle but absorbing.

My Tiny Veg Plot - Lia Leendertz

I've read lots of books in this series, there are ones on camper vans, caravans and allotments, I really like this one!  It's all about growing veg in small spaces, like balconies, windowsills or an empty swimming pool.  If you're looking for inspiration for unusual gardening then this book is for you!

The Princess and the Pony - Kate Beaton

This super-sweet children's picture book is about a cute, round pony with a wind problem.  Love!

Have you checked out any good books from your local library?

P.S.  Goodreads friends? 

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Make one small change - ditch the wrapping paper.

Adopting eco friendly habits can be easier taken one small step at a time.  Lots of small changes add up to a big difference.

An easy change you can make in time for Christmas is to ditch shop bought wrapping paper.  There are tonnes of ideas for alternatives to be found online, from making origami boxes to using your kid's artwork.  

I like to keep it simple, so I use newspaper or fabric to wrap my presents.  The UK uses 83 million square metres of wrapping paper each Christmas, so it makes sense to recycle that newspaper or use that old scarf to wrap your gifts.

How do you wrap your Christmas presents?

Linking up with Flaunt it Friday.

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Hogwarts in the snow.

I went to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour of the Harry Potter sets last year, but I couldn't resist a return visit when I heard about Hogwarts in the snow!

The Hogwarts Express was my favourite bit I think!

Have you been to the Harry Potter Studio Tour?

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Vegan junk food, Jealous Sweets from Ethical Superstore.

Ethical Superstore stock loads of lovely eco-friendly, fair-trade and vegan products, like these yummy vegan sweeties made by Jealous Sweets.

 

The sweets come in pretty boxes and look really classy, they taste lovely too!

There are loads of flavours to try, my favourites are the fizzy friends and the grizzly bears, they're so delicious!  There are also yummy bears, wild cherries, tangy worms and sour beans to try.  

The texture of the sweets is spot on, sometimes vegan gummy sweets can have an odd texture, but these are really, really good. 

It was hard, but I even managed to share some with my Joe, he agrees with me that the texture of these sweets is great and enjoyed the more unusual flavours, especially the morello cherry and orange tangy worms!

Have you tried Jealous Sweets yet?  I'm going to have to buy some more grizzly bears and fizzy friends, I can't stop thinking about them! 

Disclosure - I was sent some Jealous sweets by Ethical Superstore.  I only write about companies I like and my opinions are, as always, my own.  

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Easy green actions and articles, December 2015.

Here's this months round up of easy eco-friendly actions and articles,


Sign Sum of Us' petition against supermarket food waste and check out the Stop the Rot campaign.

 stoptherot.org.uk
 
Be sure to check out Love Your Clothes' 12 Jumpers of Christmas competition, there are some great prizes!

"In the UK, we’re likely to spend in excess of £300 million on Christmas jumpers this year. Our new research has revealed that over ten million people are likely to buy a Christmas jumper and 40% of Christmas jumper wearers plan on wearing them just once or twice this festive season."
loveyourclothes.org.uk

Use Friends of the Earth's online form to ask your MP to save solar power.

 foe.co.uk

If I ever have a kidlet I'd love to send them to this kind of school.

Despite Lancashire's council saying no to fracking, the government is pushing to control and overthrow this decision.  There's an online action to ask to keep Lancashire frack free from Friends of the Earth.

"The Government has decided to take Lancashire's locally made democrativ decision away from local people - meaning there is a real risk this could be overturned by ministers in Westminster.  If fracking is forced on Lancashire, it could be forced on all of us."
foe.co.uk 

Join in with CPRE's campaign to secure government funding to keep our homes warmer.  

Ask your MP to vote to protect our drinking water from fracking.

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