Julian Beever (the chap in the Santa hat), is an artist who has brought some added Christmas cheer to a highstreet in Surrey through an incredible chalk drawning.

The depiction of Santa's grotto  took Beever four days to create, using a technique called anamorphia, which makes a two-dimensional picture appear three dimensional from a particular angle.

The drawing can be viewed outside the Atrium  shopping mall in Camberley, Surrey, until Christmas Day.

62 year old Timofey Cherepanov has a unique and pretty impressive talent. Using a macro-photography lens he takes snaps of snowflakes, revealing such intricate detail that it nornally can't be seen by the naked eye. The snowflakes range from  1mm to 5mm in size, and being a native to Moscow, Cherepanov takes most of his pictures in his own back garden.

He has said of his work: 'The main problem is getting the best  shots possible before they melt - I have to shoot when the
temperature is no  warmer than -5C. Even on two shots taken within just a one  minute interval the changes can be very obvious and they look melted. The most beautiful tend to be the smallest.'

Brian Dettmer's art is pretty unique - the Chicago local has earned the nickname 'book surgeon' by using dozens of instruments to remove different layers of a book, exposing pages beneath.

He describes his work: 'I begin with an existing book and seal its edges, creating an enclosed vessel full of unearthed potential. I cut into the surface of the book and dissect through it from the front. I work with knives, tweezers and surgical tools to carve one page at a time, exposing each layer while cutting around ideas and images of interest. Nothing inside the books is relocated or implanted, only removed. Images and ideas are revealed to expose alternate histories and memories.'

Dettmer has exhibited his work throughout the US, Mexico and Europe.

Nick Georgiou is an Arizona-based artist who creates sculptures made from local newspapers and books. He says that his work is inspired by the ‘death of the printed word.’

‘Books and newspapers are becoming artefacts of the 21st century. As a society we’re shifting away from print consumption and heading straight towards full digital lives. My sculptures are products of their environment —both literally and
figuratively. As often as I can, I use local newspapers to add authenticity, and the form the sculpture takes is a reflection of the personal connection I feel to that particular city.’

Just how excited about Christmas do you have to be to hang 1,700 baubles from your living room ceiling?

Sylvia Pope from Swansea has been decorating her home since September, and she doesn't expect to be finished until 
Christmas Day. It's an annual occurance, and each year Sylvia adds to her collection of baubles. She's now got so many she's considering leaving them up all year round! Now that is a labour of love...

Here's Banda, a resident of Paignton Zoo, enjoying an early Christmas present. Banda, who is a rare breed of Sumatran tiger, found her gift to be a tasty little meat hamper. Sumatrans can only be found on the Indonesian  island of Sumatra, and big cat experts estimate that there are just 400 such  tigers left in the wild, down from 1,000  in the 1970s.

And don't worry, she managed to get herself unstuck eventually!

Today hundreds of men and women in red suits and white beards flooded cities across the world as part of the annual SantaCon.

SantaCon is effectively a pub crawl with a solid charitable aim, and demonstrations took place in cities that included  London, New York and San Francisco. SantaCon describes itself as, 'non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and
non-sensical.'

The Santas handed out gifts, raced for charity and sang carols to surprised passers-by.

Well, there aren't many people who would miss you coming down the street in THIS.

Ueli Anliker, a Swiss businessman, transformed a normal Mercedes into a bling-tastic supercar with the help of 35 workers and more than £3.5 million. Anliker, who we think must be a little bit nutty, has renamed the Merc the 'Anliker McLaren SLR 999 Red Gold Dream.' We much prefer 'The Blingmobile,' though.

The car is covered in 25 layers of red paint with 5kg of gold dust worked into it. Each car wheel, headlights and door sills are covered with 24 carat gold, and the engine has had its power boosted from 640bhp to 999bhp, meaning it can go as fast as 210mph. 

Inside, there are jewelled indicators, a  gold-trimmed interior and steering wheel and ruby-covered switchgear.  

Anliker is now asking £7 million for this nightmarish creation, and we don't doubt that someone with more money than sense will soon snap it up....

Only in Japan, right? This smoke-spewing Godzilla Christmas tree has taken up residence in the Aqua City Odaiba shopping mall. We thought that intention of malls was to encourage shoppers in, not drive them off?