A few pretty things and my first bag attempt

I have just received my first purchase from an Etsty shop Inspiration Cottage of Silver German Glass Glitter! Wow it is soo pretty I can't stop taking photos of it as you can see.

This photo has a lovely set of glass bottles that I found in my local charity store the other day for the grand cost of £1.99, bargain, made me smile for the rest of the day! And guess what I could store in them............ yep glitter.

My beautfil glitter on my mantlepiece, I know, I am sad but can't help it.
Oh and here it is on my dish of roses!
This is my first attempt at making a lined bag, I used up some old calico curtains I had laying around that were originally from Ikea so figured it wouldn't have cost me much if I messed it up. The bag rings came off an old bag of mine that was destined to be thrown out. I do like recycling things it feels so much better than buying from new all the time, much more satisfying. The rose was made up out of an old jean leg and was really a bit too thick as it was difficult to mold and stitch, will use lighter weight fabric for others but really enjoyed making it.

Am now on a mission to find some more glass glitter in an array of vintage colours to fill up my pretty jars.

Saw this over on http://hysteri-cal.blogspot.com/ blog and just had to have a go myself!

What Karen Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Hmmm, think that is me, mostly anyway ;o)

Wednesday Update

Was in the mood for making up some cards today and thought I'd post some piccies, they are fairly basic cards but I do like them for their simplicity. I am meant to be making things out of my fabric finds but haven't got my head round that yet. Hopefully inspiration will hit me in not too distant future!

On Sunday just gone it was a glorious day so I went off to visit Woburn Village with my friend. Such a quaint lovely little place, felt like I was on hols. Drove through the edge of the safari park to get there which was amazing as the deer and stags are all around you grazing in the fields. There were some beautiful buildings there and two that particularly took my fancy were this Interiors shop and an Antique store

England is such a pretty place when the sun shines!

Oh yes and all my ebay items sold so am happy bunny!

Late night shopping

Just bought this from Inspiration Cottage over on Etsy after reading over on some of my fave blogs and just had to try some for myself. Can't wait for it to arrive!!

Don't you just love vintage sparkle.

Wonderful sewing site

Was having a mooch around the internet today some sewing tips and came across this site http://diystyle.net/. It's really rather cool and has videos of sewing projects, downloadable written instructions and there's a forum too. Have only touched the surface so am off to investigate further. Definitely on my favourites list.

The prettiest fabric

Just had to go for a wander down my little highstreet and so glad I did as I found this lovely valance sheet in my local charity shop

It is just begging to be made into something for the ladies, I'm torn between cushions, bags or covers for notebooks!

And whilst I was in there have signed up to do volunteer work at weekends for run up to Xmas! Now am I going to be poor being able to rummage through the goodies as they come in!

2 of my ebay items have bids on them, woo hoo!!!

Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine.

A day for ebaying

okay, it was pretty dull outside today so decided to go through and sort out some of my stash. Did some organising of my papers which took me ages as I looked at some of my faves drooling over them and stroking them. Not sure why paper makes me do this but I just love it! Found some decoupage sheets from one of the kits I had a few years ago, 3d decoupage is not really my thing so set those aside to sell. Next on the hit list were my vast collection of wooden stamps, some of which are beautiful anna griffin ones which I just adore and will never ever get rid of. There were some 'mary hughes' ones that I hadn't used at all, they were mainly religous phrases and lots of floral images, not for me so they went to one side as well. Continued looking through my things, getting side tracked all the time and put some more things to one side. I then set about taking piccies of them and posting on Ebay in the hope that someone out there will like them and want to put them to good use. Thought I was quite good with the digital camera but it is really quite tricky trying to do justice to your goodies. Oh well they are all up there now for all to see, all I can do is constantly, and I will be, checking my Ebay to see how many if any buyers have put me into their watch lists, oh the excitement!

Oooh I did some sewing..........

Not terribly exciting I know but these were long trousers and now they are shorts with matching headband. Now all I need is a 9 year old to give them to ;o)

Pickings were slim

Well the hygenist and dentist went well and as I promised I took myself off for a stroll around the charity shops afterwards. It was a bit of a damp cloudy day but there were plenty of people out and about. Charity shops seem to be ever so busy now and the stock levels are looking mightily depleted!! However that said I still managed to spend over an hour looking around 4 shops!! My purse was safe though as only found a couple of things that took my liking, some pretty tea towels, might end up as peg bags, a tiny lampshade that I just love to look at and an old fashioned sugar bowl with lid.

Ouch!

Just realised had got hygenist and dentist today! Yey what fun! Still the upside is they are in town so to make myself feel better I will go for a wander around my local charity shops and see what goodies I can find. This is one of my fave occupations, I love to look through the racks and can easily waist a couple of hours!! Will let you know what finds I make later. Drill here I come...............!

Rekindled love affair with sewing machine

Whilst rummaging away in my airing cupboard I saw a white plastic thing buried at the back. On closer inspection it turned out to be my long lost sewing machine from days when I used to knock up the odd thing or two! Could it still work? I dragged it out and promptly rang my mum who is guru of all things to do with stitching. Why shouldn't it she said! A few days later she was round mine and I connected it up, and with the magic touch of her fingers the old stitcher chugged into action and it was if it had never been hidden away! The smile on my face went from ear to ear!

So it is now sitting in pride of place on my kitchen table with my plastic spotty tablecloth underneath ready for action. I have an enormous stash of fabric pieces that I have accumulated over the years, never could resist the remenant bins in haberdashers!

Needlecraft is such a lovely thing to do, all children should be taught how, do children of today even know what needlecraft is.................... the possibilites are endless as are the ideas/sketches that fill up my journals.

Piccies of Hotel

As promised some piccies of our lovely hotel room at the weekend!!

Wonderful weekend

I was lucky to be treated to a weekend at the Charlotte Street hotel in London to celebrate 9 years together with my OH. The rain stopped long enough for us to check in without getting soaked and the lovely lady on reception had upgraded us to, oh my gosh, the penthouse suite!! The bellboy took us to the suite and showed me around while I tried not to squeel with utter delight and excitement at the sheer beauty of the room. His job done off he went to order our food and I then got to run around the suite feeling like a little princess and going, aaah!! It had lots of pink in it, marvellous, oh and did I mention there was a tv in the bathroom!! Out came the digital camera and I spent the next 20mins photographing every angle I could think of, lucky for other half food arrived so I had to stop my david bailey act. This was a world I could get used to, we sat there eating our delicious snacks whilst looking out over the roof tops of london through our beautifully dressed windows.......................... Some of my fave pics out of the hundreds taken ;o)

Some piccies of xmas cards

First few designs of my crimbo cards, think the green one is my fave so far............more to follow!

Christmas has started..........!

Autumn has started, which means Winter is to follow which only means one thing........................CHRISTMAS! Oh my gosh how did it get so close? Have been knocking up some sample cards today as last year left it too late, much to my families dismay, they had to buy from a shop! Have gone with brown, green and hot pinks from Dovecraft this year, they just caught my eye in local craft store. Still have lots of AG stuff left from last year which is just delightful, will make some of my posher ones with this I think.

All this crafting is not getting any of my other jobs done, oh well there's always tomorrow..........

The Big Blue Shop from Sweden

Autumn is finally here so what better way to celebrate than a trip to Ikea with my mum. She needs stuff for her kitchen and me well, I just need to go there don't I? Of course will have to have the obligatory meatballs and chips!! Another big bonus is that next to our Ikea is a huge Asda store and I will be dragging my mum in there to get their A5 concertina files for my scraproom! Hope they still have some left for me.