the gruffalo:)

ahhh!! I have just this second finished watching the 30 minute animated short of the Gruffalo... and flippin loved it!!

I must confess I was expecting it to be a 'fantastic' mr fox FLOP...but it turned out quite the opposite!! Beautifully animated, a cross between stop motion and cgi i just couldn't look away!! the storyline is so simple but genius and i loveee how the narration rhymned and flowed:)

oh and the main character little brown mouse is possibly the cutest thing ever... i just want to pop him in my pocket and carry him everywhere! 
haha i think i might love this film a little bit too much! ... just going to go watch it a couple more times:p if you havnt seen it already its still on iplayer so go and chchcheck it out:D

<3

christmas!

After months and months of Christmas build up… its all over. Working in retail this year, Christmas has been the hot topic of conversation since august!... gifts we want, the food we will eat, the friends and family we are looking forward to spending time with, parties, the excitement and anticipation... but after a speedy 24 hours its all over. The day is gone, the presents we have been dreaming about have been opened and played with. And its time to take down decorations. We are left with a gap, a hole, the feeling of ‘was that all??’

Im not saying that celebrations and gifts and everything else that goes along side Christmas is wrong… not at all! I must confess I love love love things like that. But we can't look to those things to satisfy, or to put hope in to make our lives better… Christ alone truly satisfies.  He is the eternal lasting hope we are to long for and live in anticipation of.

For Christians, Christmas isn’t just remembering Christ entering the world as a baby, its reminds us of the big salvation plan, the cross! That by Christ’s death and resurrection we can be washed clean and have a relationship with the living God!

 ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.’
Philippians 2 v 5-8 esv

We had an Easter/Christmas service this christmas morning! We sung resurrection songs and Maurice preached this sermon…
you might not find the images so helpful on this video, but just close your eyes and listen:) 

company!

I am so blessed right now to have one of my very best friends Chok wen jie staying for a couple of weeks☺

...after months of lonely only child syndrome it is super lovely to have my sister lucy AND chok home!!!
sooo iv been making the most of it by playing GAMES for more than one person ☺ like YAHTZEE, contraband, table tennis, and…..
BADMINTON!!

xX

the twelfth of December has been a pretty special day:)

here's some stuff ...

the sun shone GLORIOUSLY

... soaked up some rays on a wintery walk of joy round the village:)

decorated the TREEEE

hung up my hand made wreaths everywhere

 - random picture of me being full of christmas joy!!

set up the tableee

 

three of the LOVELIEST people in all the world

Isasas, Olly and Olga came over, alll the way from PERU

andddd......

we had christmas dinner:D

 

(i know it doesnt look like it in this picture... but we had HEAPS of fun!!)

christmas cards!

Last night i had the joy of attending a festive Christmas ladies evening in church... the youngest one there by a fair few centuries but it was so much fun!! Some of the women in my church are such legends!

we sat round candle lit tables drinking warm fruit punch, did a christmasy quiz, mince pie testing (for the record aldi's tasted the best AND were the cheepest!! good old aldi ey!), ate chocolates, sung some carols, and i was part of an EMBARRASSING drama involving ladies knickers... but thats a story for another time. There was a gospel centred talk about why we celebrate Christmas and what it means:)

... aaaand I was asked to do a Christmas card making demonstration. arghhh... having not made a christmas card since primary school I was slightly stumped on what to do. So after work one evening I just had one crazy trolly dashing BLAST round hobby craft, grabbing anything and everything.. and ended up with a right old random bunch of stuff. all in all though im quite pleased with how some of them turned out :)

advent days

my very talented big brother richie is doing a doodle a day over the 24 days leading up to Christmas... so chchcheck it out! clicking on his blog every day is ALMOST as good as opening an advent calander! ... but due to lack of chocolate content im afraid it only comes a close second

http://richwells.posterous.com/

enjoy :)

more pastels!

iv got the DRAWING BUG today! haha especially old people it would seem! had a trip down memory lane when i found photos of these two lovely peruvians from the refuge... vaginia and max:) and just HAD to draw them :) hope you like!

pastels ahoy!

So this is of an old man outside Aurangabad fort, in India, who asked my dad to take a photo. (which i dont quite understand.. because he would never get a copy himself or anything)... BUT i am exceptionally glad the photo was taken non the less! Flippin loved drawing this... i had so much fun trying to get the depth in his wrinkled face :o) It was done with some good old winsor and newton artists soft pastels, whilst sitting by the fire with Graham Kendricks classic christmas CD blasing out of the getto blaster:o) joyful times! x x

encouragments :)

1 Cor 9:24-27 

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Hebrews 4:14-16

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us HOLD FIRMLY to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with CONFIDENCE, so that we may receive MERCY and find GRACE to help us in our time of need. 

im really not the best at saying things, or theologizing ... otherwise I would write lots about these verses... but I just hope that they are as much an encouragement and challenge to you as they have been to me this week:)

<3 words just can't express the JOY of living in Gods grace <3

archie's pet

finally done it! ... uploaded 'archie's pet' :o)

sorry for some of the more embarrassing rubishly animated bits, time management has never been one of my strong points...but i hope you enjoy it all the same! the cracking voice over was done by my good friend adam johnson and the music was composed and created by my fabulously talented little sister lucy:o) x 

 

 

hello there!

there's something about felt which just makes me smile :)

the humble onesie

In my third year of uni i lived with three of the loveliest ladies in the land.

jen, bridge and mim made my year! The only problem was we didn't choose our house quite so well as our housemates. the large rooms, victorian style high ceilings and humungous windows were all very alluring when choosing to live in 54 hartington road... unfortunatley the tables turned rather speedily and they soon grew to be our worst enemy!

Billowing frosty clouds when we spoke or breathed, ice cold nights and not enough money to have the heating on continually... there was only one solution...

ONESIES!!

... practical

...stylish

and well... rather fun!!

x X