Thanks to Freecycle and a Card and Choccie!

Recently I discovered the wonders of Freecyle. Not sure how I missed it as has been around since 2005! So far I have given away some garden chairs for a thrift shop wanting to serve teas and coffees. The most sweet old lady turned up to collect them and I will be visiting her shop for a rummage on Friday. Have picked up some old roof tiles and carpet to stop the weeds at the bottom of my garden, and an old fashioned wooden freestanding towel rail to go in my kitchen. All the people have been lovely and it's great to know that stuff isn't just going to the tip!

But by far my best find was a nearly new Markor oak bookcase from Ikea! This is going to sit proudly in my new craft room and will house all my fabrics.
I was so thrilled with the bookcase and the kindness of the lady I got it from that I just had to take her a little something when I picked it up. Here are some piccies.

Simple with lots of layering

Loving the pink and black theme

Who doesn't like chocoloate!

Supplies used:
Anna Griffin Papers
Bazzil cardstock
Anna Griffin Clear Stamps
Black Organza Ribbon

Cath Kidston Cake - eat your heart out!

Three posts today, am definitely making up for lost time ;o)

Oh my I just saw this whilst blog hopping, a Cath Kidston inspired cake, it's just stunning and I want one!

This was made by the talented Louise over at the Cake Journal.

That rose is to die for!!!
What a stunning wedding cake this would make

I am now sat here browsing her blog feeling extremely hungry and wanting a big fat slice of cake and tea xx

Another Award - from the lovely Sassy and Vikki

The lovely Sassy over at Sassys Secrets and Vikki over at Vikki the ScrapJunkie have given me this Karma Award! Wow, thank you so much Sassy you are very kind :o)

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. "

Now you are supposed to pass it on to 8 other bloggers, but as I love all the blogs I regularly visit and some of those already have been given the award I would like to choose to congratulate everyone on the time and effort they put in. It makes for a lovely community and gives us a great source of inspiration! So here's to all the blogs I follow, you are all little stars who shine brightly!! ;o)

Keep writing xx

A week has gone by - busy times

Golly just realised I haven't posted anything since last Tuesday!! I do have a good excuse though as my mums bedroom is nearly ready now. We are just making the blinds and waiting for the new carpet to be laid. So I now have time to catch up on some blog reading. I have to say I have missed seeing what you are all up to ;o)

It is a very dull rainy day here in my part of the world, such a contrast to the last week of sunshine. Have to say it is not motivating me very much. Think I'll just go and start sorting out my back bedroom, this is going to be my new craft room. I currently work out of the box room which was fine a year ago but I have outgrown it now big style. It is also very difficult to do my sewing in there as not a lot of desk space. I'll have to post some piccies of the existing one before I start to clear it out for a before and after comparison.

Cath Kidston available at Next!!!

My second post today I know but just had to show you this.

Look what I just saw on the Next website! Didn't know they were doing CK goodies, am in heaven ;o) Click here to go to the page below on the Next Directory website.

Now all I have to do is save my pennies!

Been a good daughter today

My lovely mum is redecorating her bedroom, it hasn't been done since we last did it together 7 years ago. Luckily she lives very near me so I have been over there all of today helping her. Of course we would have to pick one of the warmest days so far to start and her bedroom has the sun it all day!

This lovely wallpaper by Monsoon is going on the wall behind her bed.

But in the colourway below (couldn't find a full piccie in the right colour)

The other walls are to be painted a neutral colour with all the woodwork in white. She has a built in wardrobe for which we have ordered these lovely glass door knobs, just divine.

Her old wooden bedframe is to be given the white treatment and she is making the roman blinds herself for the large bay window, very good at sewing my mummy, she made my sisters bridesmaids dresses, my nieces prom dresses to name but a few.

After doing the prep work and painting the ceiling and walls today in white we are now ready to put the new colour on tomorrow. Boy I hope my arm and shoulder have recovered by then! I love this bit as this is when it all starts to look like it will finally come together. I have some piccies of her old room somewhere and will be taking some of the new one so look out for these in a future post.

I love helping my mum, she is such a star and does soooooooo much for me and everyone else you wouldn't believe. Always puts other people first, she is amazing. Love her to the moon and back!

Boot Sale - some goodies

The forecast was good, so I picked up my mum and off we went to a couple of boot sales. It was jolly breezy and not very warm first thing but we managed to find some goodies.

Really love this shelf unit, a bit of paint and it will look lovely with my small jars of buttons and glitter on - £2.50!

Have always wanted one of these baskets and the hooks are great too - 70p the lot!

This jug reminded me of one my nan had, it's to put my flowers in on kitchen table - 20p!

Just had to have this dress coz the fabric is so pretty - 50p!

Lastly this picture frame, with a little love and that hideous painting removed it will be fab - free!

My mum got some lovely bits for herself too including an old fashioned wooden high chair for £3.00. All in all a good morning out and just as we were heading back, yep the sun came out!

K&Company Card

Sorting through my photos on my PC as there are loads of them all dumped in date folders from my camera. Whilst sifting through the craft ones I came across a photo of a birthday card I made a while back using some of my enormous amount of K&Company stash.

The dotty circles were done using 7 Gypsies self inking stamps which I love.

Quite like the tag shape, although think the shape could have been a bit better.

I even covered the back, don't do that so much now with cards.

Crochet Flowers

In an earlier post I referred to crocheting a flower needle book for my nan way back when I was just 10! Well you'll never guess what my mum found for me, yep my nan, god rest her soul, had kept it all these years. It is a bit dingy but still in one piece so I just had to photograph it and share with you all.



This spurred me on to look for some free flower patterns online. Found a couple and have been having a play to see if I can still do them. One is for an Irish Rose and the other is for a Daisy Flower. Both are american patterns so had to check the terminology as their stitches are slightly different to the UK. Life would be so much easier if stitch definitions were the same across the board don't you think.

I didn't have the right hook size, think it was a bit big for the wool that I had to use up, but they didn't come out too bad.

Think my favourite is the daisy flower (the white one) as it is a bit more flouncy and full.


I really enjoyed doing these and once you get the hang of them you don't have to concentrate too much. There are plenty of other flower designs on the site so will have a go at some of them too. Great way to use up all the odds and sodds of wool that I just cannot pass up in the charity stores ;o)

xx

Oh my gosh I have recieved my first award!

This was such a lovely surprise from Vicki, thank you so much I really love it! Have never received an award before so am new to all this but here goes:

THE RULES

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award
3. Nominate 10 blogs
4. Put links to their blogs
5. Leave a message for the nominees

Here are my Top 10 in no particular order:

1. Little Gems World
2. All About Eden
3. Valentines
4. Happy Loves Rosie
5. Stamping for Sanity
6. Katherine's Dream
7. Sassys Secrets
8. Purely Stamping
9. Our Shabby Cottage
10. Simply one of a kind

Thanks again Vicki xx

And the winner is.......................

Carol from Katherine's Dream!! Congratulations Carol, please email me your address details so I can post your goodies to you.

as chosen by:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2009-04-13 23:16:13 UTC

Thank you once again to all those who entered, it was great fun!

xx

Candy Draw - now closed!

I would like to say a big thank you to all of you lovely bloggers who entered my candy draw. There were lots of lovely comments left which were great to read and I enjoyed visiting all your blogs.

I will do the draw tomorrow and post the winner by end of the day. Good luck to all xx

Cath Kidston - Competition and Magazine

Just been onto CK website and they have put up a competition to win some of her goodies! How fabulous! All you have to do is make an egg cosy and submit your piccie of it by 1st May 2009. So girls what are we waiting for!

Here is a snapshot of the instructions, just click here to take you to competition rules page.

Oh and the new magazine is out and available here have ordered mine, yum!

50th Birthday

We're off to have dinner with our friends to celebrate a 50th Birthday! My other half booked a hotel with a nice restaurant in St Albans so it's smart dress for us all which is a bit of a challenge after the winter months, things are a bit tight round the waistline at the mo! The weather is not inspiring me very much either, been dull and drizzly here since Thursday which is not good for the hair ;o)

For her card I chose a blue colour theme as opposed to my normal pink/green combos of late.

The dress was made using an idea I got from Patty's Stamping blog in the US, she does some lovely things with her Stampin Up goodies. I have to say it works really well, you just die cut a large scallop circle and then connect the scallops on the back to make the dress shape and cut out. I used to hand draw my dresses and this is so much more professional looking.

The blue dot paper is by Anna Griffin and the brown/blue patterned one is by Amy Butler for K&Company.

For the borders I used my glass glitter that I've had for a while, wee bit tricky to use as if you press down with your fingers you can get splinters, best to wear gloves, but have to say it is worth the effort! Way more luxurious looking than normal synthetic glitter.

Products:
Papers - Anna Griffin, Amy Butler
Die cuts - nestibilitie scallop circles
Ribbon - Anna Griffin Satin
Glitter - glass glitter from Etsy
Sentiment - my own from computer

It's Choccie Time - Happy Easter!

Couldn't let the weekend pass without wishing all you lovely bloggers out there a wonderful Easter.

Am looking forward to lots of these

and hopefully some of this

so I can to go to one of these on Sunday

Have a good one xx

Cupcakes and Flowers - yum!

Had a lovely day today with my niece. We made a special trip to Morrisons to purchase our ingredients then it was back to mine to bake. Flour and icing sugar flew all over the kitchen, we had frosting all over our fingers but after much faffing around this is what we came up with.


We used a recipe from this month's Easy Living magazine that she had bought and we think they look very much like the ones in their article, maybe not quite as posh but boy did they taste yummy.

Oh and this little fella had come out in my garden, the sun was shining brightly on it so just had to take a piccie.

And these smell divine! Haven't a clue what they are though?

Finally here is the humble dandelion, not ugly as you can see, but sadly to gardeners this is just a weed and therefore it's life is always short lived in most gardens. My niece wouldn't go near it for fear she would wet the bed, good ol' wives tails eh!

Spring is just the best! xx

Crochet Blanket - it's finished

A few weeks ago I gave you all a sneek peak of my first attempt at crocheting a babies blanket from a 1950s pattern, see here. Well I have finally finished it! Once I got into it I really enjoyed doing the pattern and will be using it again. I made the border up myself, which is not perfect but it does the job. More importantly my mum is very happy with it and can't wait to put it on her moses basket.

Just need to place between two damp towels and pull into shape, at least that's what my Aunt told me to do so hope its right. It is ever so slightly wonky you see, not sure how that happened ;o)

I am now looking for some nice soft white wool to make a cushion front for my bedroom. My hands are already getting fidgety at night with nothing to crochet, I was amazed at how quickly I got hooked (excuse the pun!) on it.

I also want to do some irish roses so if any of you lovely bloggers know of any sites that have any patterns for these I would really appreciate it if you could leave me a comment pointing me in the right direction ;o)

Oh I'm in love with these cards!!

I was catching up on some of my lovely blogger's sites when my eyes were greeted with the most beautiful pictures of flowers and china over on Le monde voit l'avenir en rose. They are from a company called Abacus Cards and she had spotted them in her local Homebase.

One of my favourites is this delightful teacup one.

I popped on over to their website to have a browse and found these lovely set of vintage ones. Here I have picked out a couple of my favourites.

These bags are so pretty!

How lovely to get ready at a dresser like this!

Although I make cards it is sometimes nice to have some photographic ones to send out but ultimately I will be going there to find some that I can maybe display on my stairwell. I just love to have pretty pictures up there, reminds of me of country/stately homes ;o)

500 Hits - It's Candy Time! - THIS IS NOW CLOSED

Woo hoo, can you believe I've had 500 hits to my blog since I started last year. Now I know this doesn't come close to the amazing number of hits other bloggers have but for me it really means something that you guys pop by.

So what better way to celebrate than to giveaway some goodies. I've gone with a pink and purple theme and you will get some 8x8 papers, 2 sheets of stickers, chipboard and foam diecuts, 2 A6 cards, 2 ready to make gift card holders, some ribbon and buttons, d-rings, purple glitter, tassles and a sweetie bag with topper.

All you lovely bloggers have to do to be in with a chance of winning is:

1. add a link and piccie to this post to your blog
   
2. then leave me a comment letting me know you've done it ;o)

Closing date will be Easter Monday 13th April and I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner so it's totally fair. Sorry but this is only open to UK residents.

Good luck to all and hope you enjoy your visit. xx

Orange dots - birthday card

My friend wanted a birthday card for her daughter. The sun was shining brightly where I live today and this inspired me to use lovely warm sunny oranges and yellows. I had been sat in my garden earlier just watching the breeze blowing my washing around, I find this always relaxes me, strange I know! This gave me the inspiration to make some pinwheels for the embellishments which I just adore.

The cardstock and papers are from Anna Griffin's range, brads were from my stash. I glued two pieces of A4 patterned paper together then traced out the pinwheels using my Anna Griffin templates. I trimmed the 12x12 dotty cardstock down to fit a spare envelope that I had.

Simple but effective and very cheery. Hope you all like it. xx

Neocounter is back!

Emailed their support team and now it all seems to be working again, don't know what they did but I am a happy bunny now ;o)

Thanks for your lovely comments, nice to know there's help and support out there!

xx