A very sweet Christmas at the Hazelnuts´

Dear Readers,

Two years ago ,I received the Hazelnut Dormouse family as a Christmas gift.
Even though I haven´t introduced it to you yet, this family has become one of my favourites since then.

Two years later, they are fully settled in Sweet Berry Valley and ready to celebrate the festive season in the comfort of their own home.
I´ve been quite busy lately so I didn´t have time to post this entry earlier in December.As I´m on holidays at the moment, I had time to make some christmassy ornaments to decorate the Hazelnuts´ home and to take some pictures of this adorable family at Christmas.

Making a wreath for the front door is one of the first Christmas activities that gets the Hazelnut family involved.

Going to the forest to pick up foliage and berries to decorate their home really gets the Christmas spirit flowing.

Mona likes to decorate her home with natural elements and scented candles which fill her living room with a wonderful forest and christmassy smell.She has to warn little Ned not to touch to candles when they are lit.

Baking is another activity that brings the Hazelnuts closer together.The children enjoy baking christmas cookies but the part that they like most is eating them.

Mona knows her children have a sweet tooth and she wants to spoil them with a special dessert for Christmas dinner. She is very proud of the Yule log she made this year.

The favourite Christmas activity at the Hazelnuts´ is the decoration of the Christmas tree.
The children were reading the Christmas cards they had received from friends and relatives when their dad knocked on the window and said from the other side :"Kids,the Christmas tree is here".

It was a cold snowy December evening but it was nice and warm inside.

The Hazelnuts not only enjoy eating sweets and cookies,but they also like to use them as Christmas tree ornaments.Well, as you can see little Ned prefers to eat candy canes instead of hanging them on the tree.

Without any doubt the Hazelnuts are going to have a very sweet Christmas!

"Ned,you´re going to have a tummy ache if you keep eating so many sweets,love".

A family photo is also a Christmas tradition at the Hazelnuts´.

Just one more picture of little Ned wearing the outfit his mum made for him to wear on Christmas Day.

He is such a sweet cute little boy! Don´t you think so?

Hope you have enjoyed today´s post.
I intend to give you a proper house tour at some stage but I wanted you to see the Hazelnuts´living room before they put their Christmas decorations away.I think it looks very festive and cosy at this time of the year.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and my best wishes for the New Year to all my Readers!

A Christmas parcel from Nina!

Dear Readers,
One more year,Nina who owns the blog "At the Periwinkles" sent me a lovely Christmas package full of goodies and gifts! 

Tanya and Munchie were as excited as I was!
Let´s have closer look!

Tanya loved the velvety feel of this beautiful burgundy bag,however Munchie was only interested in knowing what was inside .

"A chocolate Santa" Munchie exclaimed with joy ,but his excitement faded away when Tanya said: "It´s for Cutata, Munchie.Didn´t you read her name?" 

Don´t you worry Munchie,Nina was very generous and she sent plenty of sweet treats for everyone. She knows we have a sweet tooth!

What do you think of this cutie? It contains hand lotion and it smells really nice! I will use the container to store minis and other bits and pieces when there is no more cream left.

What will it be inside this box?

Let´s see...

AWW! Look at all these miniatures. Aren´t they lovely?
Munchie is delighted with the sleigh. It´s just perfect for his size!

Wow!There is still one more gift to unwrap!

"It´s a CALENDAR!" "Look! It´s Jemima!"
All the pictures are LOVELY!
What a thoughtful gift from Nina and the Riversiders!I´m over the moon!

She also sent this lovely Christmas card of the Periwinkles with Santa.

Everything is so nice! Even the napkins that covered the gifts are lovely.Don´t you think so?

Nina, THANK YOU SO MUCH for this wonderful package! 
I really appreciate your generosity , kindness and friendship!
They mean a lot to me!

Hugs!

Thank you Florence!

Dear Readers,

Hope you all are fine.

I have been very busy lately so I didn´t have time to dedicate to my sylvanians.

I missed them but when real life gets stressful, I usually lose interest, motivation and inspiration to write new stories and set up scenes. That´s the reason I haven´t been active on the forum and blogs, including mine.

Today, I´d like to show you a package I received ,a couple of months ago ,from a very kind member of the Sylvanian Families Collectors Community. 

If you belong to this community, I´m sure you will agree that Florence Holiday is a great asset to the forum. I admire her creativity, crafts and stories which always bring a smile to my face.

She is always kind and supportive to everyone and I feel lucky she made possible the friendship between Peter and Peace and Apple and Juice, two of my favourite characters from Purrchester, her sylvanian town where all the inhabitants are cats.

She wrote a lovely story she posted on the "Penpals´thread" of the day Apple and Juice visited Sweet Berry Valley. It was then, when they met Peter and Peace and they became friends.Florence was extremely kind and generous to send me all the crafts she made for that story along with other cute minis.

Let me show you what was inside the lovely wrapped envelope.

What do you think of these outfits? Aren´t they cute?

Peter and Peace are delighted to wear them and want to say thank you.

She also sent me a cute orange bag and a bright yellow basket. Both lovely and handmade. She is so talented and good at crafts!

Peter was over the moon when he received this skateboard. In Florence´s story, Peter was skateboarding when he met Juice.

The flower pendant was a present Peace gave to Apple as a sign of their friendship the night at the beach party.

Florence has great ideas.

I also got this lovely card and lots of yarn shands. She even created a crafting store where Apple and Peace met for the first time.

Apple and Peace bought some yarn shands that day. Peace made a white jumper herself with the white yarn she bought at the crafting store.

(Just between us, her jumper is made out of one of my children´s socks but just let´s pretend Peace made it)

They also got some electronic devices to keep in touch with their new friends. Peter and Peace were excited at first but a bit disappointed when they realized there was no internet connection in Sweet Berry Valley.

They´ll find the way to be in touch with their cat friends, that´s for sure.

Actually, Peace has already been able to e-mail Apple while she and Peter were in the city. They went to give a hand to Peace´s sister to move house .Peace´s sister got a new job in town and Peter and Peace offered to help her settle in.(The laptop is supposed to belong to Peace´s sister.)

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Peace is writing an e-mail to her friend Apple from one of the fancy cafés in town

Dear Florence, Peter, Peace and I really appreciate your lovely gifts and we cherish your friendship.

These little gifts made me so happy that I wanted to share them with you all.Hope you liked them too.

Take care, my Friends!

Hugs!

An autumn day with the Hunter-Smyth Family

Dear Readers,

"Welcome Autumn" was the theme for Challenge#18 in the Sylvanian Families Collector Community . Even though real life is keeping me quite busy lately, I really wanted to join this challenge as autumn is my favourite season.

Autumn is also Camilla Hunter-Smyth´s favourite time of the year.As you can see, her kitchen wallpaper is proof of that.She absolutely adores the colours of autumn and she does everyhing she can to incorporate those colours into her fall decorating inside her home 

and also outside. Camila feels very proud of the autumnal wreath on the front door. She made it herself with the help of Rebecca Dingle, the village florist, who organized a workshop at her flower shop to show how to make autumnal wreaths and flower arrengements.

Here, Camila is decorating a huge pinecone she and her kids found on one of their walks in the forest.

The idea of the pumpkins was inspired by her three triplets. Autumn is also their favourite season. Playing in the leaves and Halloween is a lot of fun for them.

By the way, I can only spot two of them.Where is the other one? I´m afraid Georgina must be under that pile of leaves!

"What are you up to, kids?" Camila went to keep an eye on her youngest children. They get on quite well and have fun together but they are prone to get into mischief too.

"Just playing with the leaves,mum".

When you think of autumn,I´m sure most of you think of leaves falling from the trees. Leaves turning to set the wold ablaze with colour, leaves crunching under your feet, leaves to play with and leaves to be raked into piles. That´s exactly what Charles and his son Hector are doing. Truth to be told,Hector would rather be stomping on those crunchy leaves instead of raking them.

You have already met all the members of the Hunter-Smyth family except for Isabella, who is having a glass of milk in the kitchen.
"I´m going to the market, Isa. Would you like to come with me?"
"Yes, of course,mum!I´m just going to put on my cardigan and I´ll be right back."
The weather is still nice and mild but the air is a bit crisp and breezy in the morning and Isabella is a bit sensitive to cold.

"We´re going to the market. Kids, behave yourselves! Be good,ok?"
"Sure, mum!" (Look at those cute little faces!) 

When Camilla and Isabella came back from the Farmers´Market the triplets were surprisingly quiet and busy making an autumn craft that Charles suggested.
"Look, daddy!" Georgina said showing her leaf to her father.
"That´s lovely,sweetheart! Good job!" Charles praised her little daughter´s craft.

One by one, the tree of them  showed their leaves to their mum who was happy to see her youngest ones had behaved very well while she went shopping.

She liked her triplet´s leaf crafts so much that she put them on the fridge door. They were perfect as autumn decoration.Meanwhile, Charles took out the fruit and vegetables from the basket.
Georgina and Gerard, who were a bit hungry,couldn´t keep their eyes off those tasty apples.

Charles cut an apple into pieces and gave them to their kids.

They love apples especially in their mum´s apple pie, but they also enjoy them fresh as long as they are crisp and juicy.

"Some more? Yes,please!"

Camila started preparing lunch.She was going to make her delicious pumpkin soup which is one of her family´s favourite dishes at this time of the year.

While Camilla was preparing lunch, Charles and the children went for a walk in the forest.
Autumn is all about nature and nothing beats a walk through the forest in a beautiful autumn day.Leaves changing colours is one of natures´s finest moments for the Hunter-Smyths.

As the pumpking soup was cooking slowly, the kitchen was filling with a lovely scent that Camilla always associated with autumn.Inspired by the gorgeous outdoors and the sweet spicy flavours of the season,Camila felt like baking some biscuits. 

Autumn leaf biscuits! Her kids were going to love them!

"Into the oven!"

Meanwhile in the forest,Charles was trying to teach the triplets the difference between poisonous and edible mushrooms.

Come here everyone! Isabella shouted. These mushrooms are safe to eat! Let´s pick them up!

Back at the Hunter-Smyths´home, the soup was already cooked and Camilla placed it into a large ceramic serving pot. She tasted it and it was perfect!

There was a lovely smell of cinnamon and nutmeg in the kitchen. The biscuits were ready to be taken out of the oven.

Then, she put them on a lovely plate just perfect for the season.

Charles and the children should be home soon so Camilla set the table. She knew her kids were going to be starving after their walk.

When she finished setting the table she headed into the forest. Her family must be on their way back home and she went to meet up with them.

The triplets were specially excited to see their mum.
"Mum,we saw bad mushrooms, the ones that make your tummy sick and we saw a squirrel but not like the Walnuts, mum! This one had four legs and run very fast and dad has a basket full of good mushrooms and....and..... we are very hungry!"

Thomas was very tired and his brother Hector gave him a piggyback ride.Gerard,didn´t leave his flag for a second. He said he was the forest guide. Anytime they go for a walk into Acorn Forest he takes his flag with him. "Follow me everyone! This way!"
Even though he is still very young, he already has what it takes to be a little bit of a leader.

It was lovely to be back home.The wonderful aroma from the kitchen greeted them as they walked in the door. There´s  nothing  quite like a bowl of homemade soup with bread after a walk in the forest in an autumn day.
Her husband and her children thanked Camilla for such a tasty meal.
"A big clap for mum!" Isabella and Hector cheered  and the triplets clapped their little hands energetically.

Mmmm! Yummy warming soup!

They all enjoyed it!

As for the biscuits, they were all gone in the blink of an eye.Just some crumbs were left on the plate. 
Atumn leaves are great not only to play with but also to eat!

"Mum, will you bake some more,please!"
"Of course, I will" Who can say no to these three cute babies?

One of the reasons I like autumn is because I love the array of colours that you get outside. I love the bright colours of yellow, gold, orange and red that ushers the season. 

That´s why Charles and Camilla´s oufits inspired me to chose The Hunter-Smyth Chocolate Labrador family to feature this story.Besides, it was a good opportunity to unbox the baby triplets (they are truly adorable),the kitchen play set and the dining room set.

For this challenge I made some crafts, such as autumn leaves, the wreath on the door, Isabella´s cardigan and a little basket.

I made the leaves out of real leaves. I used two different leaf punches.

I used the small leaf punch for some of the leaf biscuits. I punched them on foam. The other shaped biscuits belong to the Village Cake Shop.As you can see, each side has a different colour.

Before baking

After baking

The plate were I put the biscuits it is just a plain plate but I put a sticker (for fabric) on top of it to match the autumn decoration.

As for the wreath,I made the base using very thin branches of a this kind of bush.

I shaped the branches into a round shape.

Then, I painted it brown using acrylic paint but actually there was no need for it. I stuck so many leaves that the base can´t be seen. I was so entertained sticking leaves on the wreath that I completely forgot to take  pictures of the process. It turned out too big.I was meant for a different house but it was too big for its door.

I also used faked moss,plastic flowers and orange ribbon.

Isabella´s cardigan is a piece of an old(but  clean)sock that I was going to throw away.I cut a little piece of fabric and made two holes.Not perfect but it will keep her warm.

For the little basket and the pot at the front door I used the cupule of an acorn.

The funny pumpkins and the big orange leaves were a gift from Nina,an on-line friend from Germany that I met through her blog "At the Periwinkle´s"
I also made the door mat pasting a printed picture on brown foam.

Hope you all enjoy the autumn season!(or spring if you are in the southern part of the globe)
Hugs!

Ilustration by Susan Wheeler