A handmade christmas with Laura Ashley

So last week I attended the Laura Ashley bloggers Handmade Christmas fair, which was held in Homemade London - a fab little craft shop in the West End. I didn't quite know what to expect from such an event. I'm not a fan of office parties and I avoid networking at all costs, but when Ms Ashley invited me to her bloggers Christmas evening, I knew it was going to be a fun, crafty affair ... and I was keen to meet other crafty bloggers.

I arrived to a sparkly table of treats and trinkets, and was immediately handed a glass of lovely jubbly bubbly by Hannah and Sarah - the lovely gals responsible for the evening (Sarah is pictured above wearing a fab Laura Ashley Christmas jumper). We had a good chat -  talked about Ralphys latest exploits and the my distressed cabinet project that was featured on the Laura Ashley blog a couple of months back. I was lucky enough to be their blogger of the month in July too :-) 

 

Then, the lovely Amanda from Lipstick and curls asked if I'd like to get my hair done! I was about to take offence, then I realised she was doing everybodys hair - so it wasn't because I looked a state. She covered my head in curls while we had a good old chin wag ...

 

Hair freshly curled, I made my way over to a table of sweet delights where I met a nice chappie from Photo Automattey He invited me to have my picture taken in a fab little photobooth! 

 

I then heard a hum of craftie going's on, so I ventured downstairs where I was faced with a beautifully decorated room (all Ms Ashley of course), mince pies, champers and a room full of lovely bloggers, all crafting away making Christmas stockings, floral crowns and handmade cards! This was my kind of office party ...

I met some lovely women, who all write lovely blogs ... on craft, lifestyle, photography, cooking, and much more. I'm relatively new to this blogging malarky so it was really nice to meet and chat with other bloggy-folk. I made hubby a christmas stocking (since I already made myself one last year) and rather than make a floral crown I used my twine to make a length of garland, that I can wrap with foliage and berries at Christmas (or anytime of year come to think of it.)

The evening was coming to a close so I gathered our band of merry bloggers for a piccie. I really enjoyed meeting Laura from We made this home and I'm a little bit in love with Jeska's blog Lobster and swan. I highly recommend you take a peek. Thank you for such a lovely evening Ms Ashley, I suspect this outing might have cost hubby more than he anticipated (hubby - see picture below, I like the one on the left - that's all I'm saying!)

JM x

The bloggy bunch - From left to right we have Katherine,
Emma, me, Natasha, Laura, and Sade.