Maree('s) Muses

Guess what! I have a special musical treat for you! Think of it as a Christmas present from me :) It's a compilation of some of my favourite Christmas songs and carols. If you find yourself too busy with last minute tidying, wrapping pressies or you're stuck in your cosily warm kitchen, tied to the cooker, preparing some yummy loveliness for your family,... I suggest you click here , where you will find a neat little youtube playlist of all the songs listed in this post, so you can listen to them while Christmas is knocking on your window sills. Starting off with something bright and cheery: this is my all time favourite rendition of the Christmas classic "Jingle Bells" , performed by Ondřej Havelka & His Melody Makers , featuring The Swings (vocal quartet). By this time, it should be no surprise to you that I am into this kind of old-timey swing music. Also, the video is quite funny, be sure to watch :) Slowing down only a little bit, still swinging

Now that all the cards I've made this year have been recieved by my dear friends, I can finally show you what they looked like without spoiling any surprises :) I've been at a bit of a loss for inspiration this year. All I knew was that I wanted to use some bits of patterned paper that I got recently. (A stationery shop nearby opened a new section with lots of papercrafting supplies and it's all so dangerously cute! I must consciously try to avoid going there or else large amounts of money would end up being spent on papery things.) Anyway, in the end I only made a couple of cards for my nearest and dearest friends. It all turned out quite simple, heavily based on the patterned paper and then touched up with cute little bows and a few drops of glitter glue, just to give it some sparkle. Except for this one, which I made for my Whovian buddy and general cultural friend. It's a card that's bigger on the inside, like the tardis, and making it lit

December is well under way and Christmas is getting nearer and nearer... I wanted to write something about what I've been up to, how I like to spend the Advent time and get ready for Christmas, and how I don't like all the commercial frenzy surrounding the holiday. One thing I struggle to understand is people waiting for the 1st December and then whipping out ALL of their Christmas decorations and trees and everything at once, because "it's officially Christmas now". No, it isn't. It's Advent. I myself prefer to build up the atmosphere gradually. Also because, being religious, I see the Advent period as time to prepare for the actual holiday, not as a way of extending the cheer for as long as possible. That is not to say that I don't like the decorations or Christmas markets in the streets... I just don't like it when it gets too intense too early. When by the time Christmas is here, you're sick of the carols because you've been hearing t

Is it me or does the time really fly by faster and faster? We've turned our calendars onto the next month and you know what that means: that I should be sitting down and writing up some music. Here it is :) Music-wise November has been very optimistic. Not just music-wise. I'm still putting on a brave face and refusing to get upset about life things. Yay! First up, let me play you something a little bit personal. On the very first of November, the choir that I sing in had a little launch party for our new CD :) Technically it's our 4th album, but the first that we recorded properly in a studio, so it is quite a big deal for us. The record is a compilation of (mainly) advent and Christmas songs from all over Europe, in our own arrangements. Sometimes I say that it's our attempt to see how many languages we manage to mutilate within one hour :D Then again, we are not linguists, we are musicians and what we lack sometimes in pronunciation, we make up for with our hear