I had my first order from Russia this week, which inspired me to make a visited countries map for my parcels. As you can see, I am slowly taking over the world!

Having a single order to both Russia and China really helps fill things in but I’m even more proud of my multiple orders to places like Luxembourg and Greece. If I could be bothered pulling all the data out of 5 years of orders, I would love a colour coded one by number of sales. However, I can safely say my top three countries for orders are the UK, Germany and the US. Thanks to all of you who have placed an order, especially those of you in far flung countries and with interesting addresses – it really makes order packing days more fun!

You can also have a browse of my Google map, which has all the towns and cities from the last year – they only let you view a page of placemarks at a time though, so I can’t see everything at once. Boo.

Needless to say, my actual visited countries map would be less impressive – just the UK, Holland, France, Japan and Thailand.

My end of year sale finishes on the 31st so make sure you don’t miss out! Once it’s over, all the Christmas things will be going away until the Autumn and the rest will be going back to their usual prices, so if you want to get super-organised for Christmas 2012 at knockdown prices or pick up some cheap gift wrap or the last few pairs of rainboots, you best get to it. There’s free calendar postcards with all orders too.

It’s Friday the 13th so let’s have some bad news. Paperchase have stopped making the heart clips I use to make Book Heart bookmarks so it looks like the end is nigh! I’m down to my last 50 or so and I don’t expect those to last long as they’re always popular for Valentine’s Day. If you want to get your hands on a few book hearts, then don’t delay!

I’ve already removed the gocco printed book hearts from my stores and I only have a handful of Travel Book Hearts (made from vintage maps) before they run out. Then it will just be Washi Book Hearts left. I also only have a handful of Book Heart Kits – once they’re gone I won’t be making any more.

It’s possible they’ll start making the heart clips again or that I find an alternative but then again I’m not going to be looking too hard. I’m proud to have invented Book Hearts and have sold thousands of them, but maybe it’s time to let them go.

If you fancy buying any of my zines, it’s 3 for the price of 2 over at Pushpin Zines this week. Buy any 2 zines and you can add another one for free! Here are all my zines, but the offer applies to all zines, books and PDFs in store so have a browse.

If your Christmas cash is burning a hole in your pocket, why not treat yourself in my end of year sale! I’ve reduced the prices on some things I’d like to clear out, including acrylic charms, the very last wooden Bread Slice brooch, 2012 calendar magnets, the last few pairs of my Sew Cute rainboots and of course Christmas cards and gift wrap, if you want to get organised for next year.

I also have a very few copies of my 5 Year Diary left, which are now just £10. I’ll even pop them in the postbox within 48 hours of your order so you can get started on your entries as soon as possible. I won’t be ordering any more so this is your last chance, until next year’s edition in the Autumn.

I’ve packed and shipped all my orders, wrapped and posted all my gifts and have one more day of work to do – then I have two whole weeks off! I’ve closed my Folksy and DaWanda shops, but my own shop and Etsy will stay open, though orders may not be posted until January 5th.

While I am looking forward to having a bit of a rest, I’ve got plenty of projects planned. I’ve already started on a couple of zines I hope to finish soon. I’ve also got a little giveaway planned to thank you all for your support so look out for that!

These are a few photos from my weekend wander around Glasgow Green. Quite a contrast between the icy river and the warm winter garden.