I went to picnik to see if I could do with a photo of me, what Mum did with a photo of herself, on her new blog Sue Elvis Writes Notes


Nomal Sophie




Black and White Sophie



 Sepia Sophie


1960s Sophie


Gritty Sophie



Pencil Sketch Sophie

That's all. I hope you like the photos as much as I do.http://www.picnik.com/app

There are so many things to do and so little time before Christmas. Don't you think the same?
We are making our own cards for Christmas this year. I think that home made cards are so much prettier than shop bought ones.

First we got out lots of pens, pencils and paper. We drew some pictures and wrote Merry Christmas on some of them. Then we coloured them and inked them. The cards were beautiful but Mum had another brilliant idea. Her idea was that we should make little tags to go on the Christmas tree to go with them.
Mum found some nice holy pictures in a book and scanned them. Imogen was in charge of our job. Our job was to cut out pieces of card and stick them to the pictures.

Charlotte went on the computer and printed off some little pieces of paper saying 'Merry Christmas from Sue, Andy, Duncan, Callum, Imogen, Charlotte, Sophie, Gemma-Rose'. It was all in different fonts.
We are almost finished with the cards and tags.

Making things for Christmas is a lot of fun.

Yesterday was the first Sunday in advent. The night before we found the advent wreath and the nativity scenes. We have two nativity scenes.

We had to get up very early on the Sunday because we had to go to Mass. Mass was lovely just like it always is. Then we went home for a big breakfast.

After breakfast Mum and Dad went out to buy some candles for the advent wreath. Mum made the advent wreath 12 years ago out of salt dough and it is still just as good as it was when she made it.
The colours of the candles we got were three purple and one rose. The purple candles our for penance and the rose candle is for Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday in advent.At dinner Dad lit the first candle on the wreath and we all sang an advent hymn.

Gemma-Rose and I could not wait to find the three wise men. Mum hides the felt three wise men in all sorts of places in the house. She moves the three wise men when every one has found them. She will let them join the nativity scene on Epiphany.

I love advent but I love Christmas even better.

Yesterday I thought that my blog would look nice with a blog banner.

Gemma-Rose is the best sister ever. If we get into fights she always will forgive me.

She will play board games even if she does not like them.

One day when I was out shopping with Mum, she did all the weekend jobs without me. She even did under the bed.

I am so glad that I have Gemma-Rose as my little sister instead of anyone else.

I am glad I share a room with Gemma-Rose. We can do anything together that way.

Even though she was getting bored of me reading out my story to her she listened to me until I had finished. I try to be patient with Gemma-Rose but I lose my temper way too often.

I think that the way to be a good sister is to be kind and to forgive. From now on I will try to be a better sister to Gemma-Rose.

We're going on a beach holiday. Mum's has booked a lovely beach cottage by 'Swan Lake.' The cottage is called 'Swan Lake Cottage'. Four years ago we went on another beach holiday.

"Swan Lake Cottage" has three bedrooms. They all have queen beds. One bedrooms bunk beds as well. On our last holiday there were four bedrooms, with two queen beds, one set of bunks, and three single beds. The house was much bigger with two storeys, three bathrooms, and two living areas. this house is small and cosy.


"Swan Lake Cottage comes with six bikes and a canoe. I want to learn how to canoe. Dad knows how to canoe so maybe he'll help me. On our last holiday the boys went kayaking.

"Swan Lake' has black swans living round it. It's right next to the sea. In spring, whales and dolphins come to the coast. There's no jellyfish in the lake. There's really nice sand and the water is shallow and clear, just right for swimming.


I'm so excited about this holiday. I'm looking forwards to learning how to canoe, sleeping in a queen sized be with Gemma-Rose, and buying souvenirs. I'm going to take lots of photos and write a diary every day.

After our last beach holiday we made a scrapbook of all our diary pages, postcards, photos, and stamps. For this holiday we want to do the same.