In the 1970's there was a show aired called The Good Life where 2 people attempted to change thier lives by becoming self sufficiant. A more up to date version known as River Cottage focuses more on what you can do with the foods you grow and the ideal of wasting as little as possible. 

After a 'trial run' of growing a few veg in a small patch in the back garden my husband is now making plans for next year.

My husband will be blogging about our adventures in Chasing The Good Life I am also going to be trained into a more domesticated woman, cooking more things from scratch not wasting anything when it comes to cooking.

We will never be totally self sufficiant since in this day and age it's not really possible especially when you have children to think about but we hope this change will help us change for the better, eat helthier and reduce our carbon footprint in the process. 

During this process I will also be writing my own recipie book (of course the book I will be writing in will be handmade.) and posting the recipies to my husbands blog. 

I'm far to excited now to talk anymore my first fully homemade meal of chicken and winter vegetable soup. Which is being served with my husbands batch of wholemeal tin bread. 

Ever wanted to learn a little more about my work and how my life and family influence it? You can now read my Featured Artisan Interview on Artdaily.

My jewellery is my escape; I love to have ideas buzzing through my head and feel things taking shape through my fingers. Read More of the Interview

It was all excitement on Monday evening as my husband was coming home with our Christmas tree, it turned out that by the time he got to the nursery it was bucketing it down with rain and he battled with the rain and the car boot to get the tree in. 

Thankfully he got home safely after having to drive with next to no visability he looked like a slightly drown rat but he was home. We put the tree up but with our boy sleeping off a very exciting day we decided to save decorating it.

After school on Tuesday it was time to decorate the tree, everything was exciting for our little boy since it was the first year he has really understood what is going on. As my husband untangled the lights I was charged with stringing the baubles (apparently I was the best person for that job) Me and my husband added all the decotations to the tree and we were slightly helped by the boy who really wanted to add baubles (all the ones he added got put in the same place.) A quick move around of those and we were ready to turn on the lights.

The tree with all it's lights 

Lastly is was to cute, my son placed the star of the top of the tree with daddys help and he stood and looked up to admire his handi-work.

Something that I have always said I would do, every year around this time I slap my head and say doh! (Homer Simpson style) since it's another year I have missed NaNoWriMo.

For those of you that don't know what it is NaNoWriMo Stands for National Novel Writing Monththe goal is that from 00:01 November the 1st to 00:59 November the 30th to write a 50,000 word (175 page) novel. The plot doesn't have to be fantastic, infact the offical website states that alot of the novel will be crap but the goal is about encouraging writers to write on the fly and use the experiance to develop.

I would like to be able to write a novel (fiction) each year when I realise I have forgotten again my head buzzes with ideas Last year I wanted to do a follow on 'fanfic' of one of my favourite novels "Goodnight Mister Tom" This year my idea has sprung from my old blog title "Confessions of a Housewife Crafter" and evolved to "Confessions of a Serial Crafter" In an effort not to forget about NaNoWriMo next year I have already decided to forget about it and start writing a little at a time when I can right here in this blog.

I might not be the fastest writer and I'm hoping my NaNoWriMo will extend the whole of 2010 writing a chapter here and there. Maybe this time next year I can be unveiling the final chapter or at least have a healthy start made. I would be honoured to know that you are reading it, not that I think I will be swamped with what happens next messages but as the plot develops I would love opinions.

I will be basing the central character on just about every crafter I have met. However she currently remains nameless. This is where you all come in. Offer me your suggestions for character names in the comments and just before the new year I will put up a poll of my favourites, everyone can then vote on these and the winner will be the characters name.

Exciting? you have the chance to contribute to the novel.

Ready? Get suggesting.

Well what a month, I can't belive that wee only have a week left of November before we go into December, it doesn't seem a few minuites ago that we were starting the month and the rush for getting ready for Christmas had begun.

I've had a rather busy month preparing for craft shows, the first was last Saturday I'm now preparing for one on Wednesday. After that I just have Saturday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to go before I get to pack away all my displays and stands until February. While I get a break from shows there certainly won't be any resting as I prepare for the new year launch of the Impressions Collection, some new children's items and a range of items for your home.

Don't forget that until the 30th November you can get 20% off all the items in my studio. All the prices are already discounted. And the last order dates for Christmas delivery are;

Far East - 2nd December
US and Canada - 13th December
Europe - 18th December
United Kingdom - 20th December

These are for standard first class postage (as included in the listings) If you would like priority mail please contact me before making a purchase for a quote on priority to your location.