Christmas

Two of my favourite thinks, apart from raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, are being creative and watching ballet.

I embellish pointe shoes with silk ribbon roses. The ribbon is hand dyed to give an ombré effect and I use all kinds of things to make each one different. This can be antique lace, Swarovski crystals, pearls, feathers, fringe etc

I love the little Giselle book in this photo. When I was a child in the late forties/early fifties we were only allowed to read it if we were unwell, as a treat. I never saw an actual ballet until my husband and I visited St Petersburg for our silver wedding and we were lucky enough to have been booked a box at the Kirov. The ballet, of course, was Giselle. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

I was delighted when @Grishko recently used a photo of one of my decorated pointe shoes to start a competition for others to decorate a shoe.

The link, if you wish to enter is #Xmasgrishkodecor

Good Luck

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For me, wrapping a gift is a really satisfying thing to do. There are so many options available, with beautiful paper and trimmings available. I tend to use embellishments I already have – these include foliage & herbs from the garden, brown paper and twine (great for gifts for the men in your life). For ladies I sometimes embellish with broken jewellery pieces, recycled ribbon, scarves etc.

Last week I had a necklace to wrap to give my daughter. I did have a black box the right size but it was too plain and had writing on it. I glued a piece of lovely flocked wrapping paper from @Costco on the top then added red velvet rose trimming I purchased in the amazing Garment District in New York. I then wrapped the decorated box with the same paper and felt this made it really unique, she can throw away the outer paper and keep the box (below) with the necklace in it.

If I am buying paper I like to get it from Costco, the fact that is has squares marked on the back makes it so easy to cut and crease. A few years ago I was featured in the Costco Connection magazine and using the the lovely paper and ribbon they provided made wrapping an absolute joy. May I add I am not being paid for this post.