: Oriel 1

The art cart was busy on Saturday and we made some beautiful cards! Here are just a few.

Well, we've been pretty busy on the art cart making wrapping paper, squishy stars, paper-plate angels, pop-up cards and garlands. Everyone who came by stayed a while and made some beautiful things. Unfortunately I didn't manage to take any photographs of your work, so if you made anything and are using it to decorate your house please email me a picture!

Here are some of the things that I made as examples and then took home!

Happy Christmas and see you all in the New Year!

On the 30th and 31st of December between 11am and 12.30pm we will be making Calennig gifts(like the one in the picture above!)

At 2pm there will also be a chance for you to sing with the Calennig gift you have created. It's going to be so much fun!

And if you are wondering what the apple on a stick is all about, here's what Trefor M. Owen has to say in his fantastic book 'Welsh Folk Customs':

'The giving of gifts on New Year's Day is an ancient custom once widely observed but more recently displaced by the growing importance of Christmas and Christmas presents. The collecting of calennig (New Year's gift)is a Welsh form of this custom.

[...]the collecting of calennig began early in the day and continued until noon. An account published in 1819 describes the custom in the following words: 'New Year is marked by all the children in the neighbourhood forming themselves in little groups and carrying from house to house their congratulations and good wishes for the health and prosperity during the ensuing year, which are symbolized by each bearing in his hand an apple stuck full of corn, variously coloured and decorated with a sprig of some evergreen, three short skewers serve as supports to the apple when not held in the hand, and a fourth serves to hold it by without destroying its many coloured honours.''

This Saturday on the art cart we will be getting ready for Christmas by making wrapping paper, tags and decorations. There will also be some Christmas colouring sheets for little ones.

As usual, the art cart will be in Oriel 1, St Fagans: National History Museum between 11-1 and 2-4.

The Pop Peth exhbition in Oriel 1, St Fagans:National history Museum ends on January 10th, so there's still time to come and look at Gari Melville's superb collection of memorabilia, play Llwybr Llaethog's keyboard, see how a fanzine is made, learn about Spillers Records, watch music videos and leave your memories of your best gig ever!

We've been getting some lovely memories of best gigs and here are a few of my favourites....

Ashley McAvoy went to see Super Furry Animals in Clwb Ifor Bach in 1994, Nicola Stingl walked into Stuart Cable (previously of Stereophonics), Liz Magee saw The Beatles in the early 1960s but couldn't hear them because of all the screaming, Irwin Richards played tambourine with Supertramp (even though he wasn't invited to...), Beth Thomas saw CSN&Y, The Band and Joni Mitchell in Wembley in 1974, Jared lost his shoe at an Oasis concert in 1996, and lost three days in Glastonbury...Kevin Williams sat next to Robert Plant for an entire football match (Barry Town v UWIC), Stu saw Lift to Experience in Barfly in 2002, and as well as walking into Stuart Cable, Nicola Stingl also goes out with the guitarist in Through Solace. And my absolute favourite of today's bunch of best gigs goes to Laura Kemp who saw Motley Crue in the Cardiff International Arena in 2005 and writes 'I fainted when I saw Nikki Sixx for the first time.'