FaeriWood

I LOVE CHRISTMAS. If you look at previous Novembers on Faeriwood.com you may have seen my grumbling about Christmas coming too early and needing to stay in it's place. Well I'm older and wiser now and infinitely less grumpy. My tree goes up mid November - as I take my Halloween decorations down - and it just makes me happy to see all that festive glitz in my home. Of course it's difficult to fill my home with all the festive glitz and glam that I feel inside when I live in a one bed flat which is full the brim, thanks to my hoarder notions. Since moving out on my own I have been using a tiny hand-me-down 3ft Fibre Optic tree. I moved in December and it was the first addition to make my house a home. Christmas is an anniversary; a celebration of everything I have achieved since making that crazy jump. I always get a little bit retrospective for this reason. This year I decided that left over decorations from my previous house and a miniature hand-me-down tree just wasn

In Newcastle, Co. Down, hidden above Annetts Childrenswear is a hidden gem. The Craft Loft is the love child of Phyllis Annett who after years of helping to run the successful childrens clothing shop with her husband - his family's business for several generations - was looking for a new  creative outlet; something that would bring business and life to the upstairs of their gorgeous converted townhouse.  And so The Craft Loft was born. Myself and a few other Northern Irish bloggers were invited down to sample one of the various workshops offered by Phyllis and her family. Whether you want to paint a piece, learn how to decoupage, upholster furniture, or build your own lamps, Phyllis and her family have a number of wonderful classes for you to take all based around the use of the famous Annie Sloan chalk paints and fabrics. I opted for the Paint A Piece class because I wanted to start with the basics of chalk paint and furniture decoration but also because my flat is