Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year
from
Lynn and The Girls

Hi Everybody

Well, this is different from our normal newsletter, isn't it? To say we have been having a problem, over the past few weeks, with our website and email, would probably be the understatement of the year!!

Thanks to the lovely Karen, though, things are now being sorted - but it does mean that I am having to get used to a different newsletter system, thats the bad news!, the good news is that more of you should be receiving this. More of you can sit and read my ramblings!!

Can you believe that the end of the year is coming around again, so fast? It seems like only yesterday I was sending out the last Christmas wish. And what a busy year it has been.

We had the birth of Freyja earlier in the year, which was wonderful - Ruth got a pink grandchild at last and Catherine got a daughter to dress up!! The on-line shop went live around this time (www.themulberry-bush.com), which gave added fun for Catherine. Between Freyja and the website, Catherine has been kept very busy with both her babies growing by the minute.

Tracy opened her shop, with Karen, down in Plymouth. We had the Retreat in early October (that was such fun!).

And then, of course, we had the birth of our baby - only this one is growing faster than anything I have ever seen and you cannot contain him in a playpen!! I am talking about Buzz, our new Labrador, who was 6 months old yesterday and makes a shire horse look small!!

I am not sure who is the most mischievious, Buzz or Bridie. He is certainly keeping us all on our toes. Poor Kip (our old Lab) is definately not impressed and we have had to change our Christmas decorations this year, the tree is up high on a unit so that Buzz does not pull it to pieces.

It will be fun on Boxing Day, when Jet and Helen arrive. Jet, presents and Buzz. Hmmm....I don't think any snoozing on the sofa will be going on in our house!!

What else has gone on this year? We have had workshop, demonstrations, shows - so much going on and all too much to mention. Our workshops this term fizzled out at the end, mainly due to the weather and everybody being busy, but we did finish it with a wonderful demonstration of the Efcolor Enamelling System with guest demonstrator, Fiona Jones.

And here we are again, back to another Christmas and it is going to be a white one!! How wonderful.

So onwards and upwards into 2011, but first I had better mention when we will be closed and open over the Christmas period:

24th December - 9.30 'til 1pm (closing early!)
25th until the 28th December closed - feet up, wine flowing!
29th December - open 11 'til 3pm (see SALE details)
30th December - open 11 'til 3pm (see SALE details)
31st December 'til 5thJanuary CLOSED for Stock Taking (yuk!!)
6th January all back to normal (hooray!!)

Did you see the mention of a SALE? Yes, we are having a two day sale!!!! There will be 25% off of all Christmas stock (get yourself sorted for next year!) and 10% off of all Jo Sonja's stock, 50% off of the decoupage sheets (including the Paper Nations), and an extra 10% discounts on the rubber mounted stamps.

Also I will be running a prize draw - if you come into the shop and let me know how many times I mentioned the word 'Christmas' in this email, your name will be put into a draw to win a Photo Storage Case, priced in the shop at £12.99!!

Now for next years workshops. The new brochure is available, Joanna has done another wonderful job on it. We have got copies in the shop and it will be available from the new website once we have learnt how to upload information!!

We have got some new classes starting in January and a new pricing set up for the beading classes, so read it very carefully.

There are two things that have not been mention in the brochure. One is the Parchment Club on a Thursday afternoon. There was a slight blip a few weeks ago when we thought it would be closing, but I am pleased to say that the Ladies are going to be keeping going with it. So Thursday afternoon, 1 'til 3, is still Parchment Club.

Secondly, on the 22nd January we will be having an Enamelling Workshop with the lovely Fiona Jones at the helm (check out Fiona's work at http://www.projects4crafters.co.uk/)

Fiona came to demonstrate the enamelling a few weeks ago and has agreed to come back to run a workshop. Again, the full details will be on the website in the next week or so, but basically it will be from 10am 'til 1pm. Fiona will teach you for the first hour or so and the next two hours will be play time. The guarantee is that you will go home with a minimum of 5 completed pieces of enamelling. The cost will be £20 and places are limited. So email or call me to book yourself in.

After the workshop has finshed, Fiona is going to sit in the Bead Shop and demonstrate the use of Fimo for making beads and embellishments.

So maybe it would be worth bringing your packed lunch on that day!!!

What else? Well I think I have written myself to pieces and bored you all for long enough. It is time I went and finished making the Christmas pressies for everybody. If you did not make yourself a drink before you started reading this, you probably are desperately in need now!!

So have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Come and see me next week. Remember to count the Christmas words!!!

With love and best wishes

Lynn and the Girls. x