Stats all gone - neocounter vanished!

The gremlins have been to my blog and taken all my visitor stats with them, little blighters!! Neocounter was happily sitting at the bottom tallying up all my lovely visits when puff it just stopped working. Can't get to their website either............ it's just pants ;o(

Now I only had just over 400 hits so far but every little helps and was looking forward to doing something when I reached the 500 mark!!

Anyone else had gremlins? Anyone know how to fix it?

Crochet - Vintage 1950s Pattern

As a child I used to crochet all the time, I made a double bedcover out of crochet squares when I was just 12 years old. Sadly I don't know what happened to it, think it stayed at the school as it was part of a display of stuff we kids did. I also used to crochet irish rose squares and made needle cases for my nans, think one of them may still be in existance. It's sad but when I was in my 20s we didn't think about keeping hold of things, it all appeared to be junk back then! Many a thing has ended up discarded over the years. Wouldn't dream of throwing these things out now, they are part of our history, what made us into the adults we become.

Anyway I digress, on one of my thrifty trips with my Aunt when they were over we picked up a 1950s crochet pattern for a baby's hooded cape which had a lovely stitch on it. My Aunt is a very talented lady and has just made her first 'reborn' baby and it is amazingly life like! And she makes all the clothese for them herself, hence the pattern.

I loved how her cape was turning out but didn't necessarily need one, so I thought I would have a go at making a babies blanket for my mum, no she's not expecting, gosh that would be shocking! She loves baby dolls and has two of them in a moses basket that rocks, what can I say, she's special my mum ;o)

Here's a peek at what I've done so far.....

I think it's turning out rather well, am liking this stitch alot. I can feel a couple of cushions coming on for my bedroom. Am hoping to have it done by the weekend, ambitious I know but can't seem to put it down!

Thrifty Finds

The sun shines right into my bedroom practically all day and this prompted me to go through my wardrobes and drawers the other day. The result was a few bags to take to my local charity store. This time I chose Help the Aged, I seem to be favouring them more as I do think they get a little left behind in the charity stakes as being perceived as not as important as some of the others. Anyway I handed over my donation and then of course I had to have a look around didn't I, it would be rude not to!

I have been looking for some little tea plates as I only have large ones and they had these for 50p each. Just right for my fave cream horns. There were 2 matching saucers as well but no teacups, I was gutted! I wonder what happened to the cups?

Then I popped on over to the clothes section and there was this lovely paisley patterned sun dress in a 12, which I am not, but tried it on and hey it fitted - £2.99 perfect for over jeans!



All I need now is some sunshine to wear it in!

Country Homes and Interiors Magazine Offer!

Ooh another magazine offer! You get 3 issues for a bargain £1!! All you have to do is go to the link below. Just remember to cancel your Direct Debit once they have taken your £1 out of your account.

http://www.magazinesubscriptionsipc.com/ipc/subs/subsorder.asp?title=XCH&promcode=i001

Don't forget the other offer in the post before this.
x

Country Living Magazine Offer

This is one of my fave magazines and at the moment you can get 3 issues for just £3!!! Just go to the link below. All you have to do is remember to cancel your Direct Debit once they have taken the £3 from your account.

http://www.isubscribe.co.uk/title_info.cfm?prodid=331

Now you can just sit back and wait for them to arrive x

Kraft Card - is there any out there?

I've been seeing lots of lovely projects using Kraft card so thought I would pick some up to have a go myself as really like the colour. Easier said than done, do you think I can find anywhere in the UK that stocks it, not so far. Am I going mad, am I not searching using the right words, does it really exist? Well it does seem to thrive across the pond in the USA, many a stockist one can find but I would really love to be able to get it over here.


So I thought, all those lovely crafty bloggers out there just might, oh I am hoping they just might, know a place or two that I can part with my cash to purchase this elusive craft element. Any help/pointers would be gratefully received, just pop them into a comment. xx

Topsy Turvey

I've got bored with the look of my blog recently, not enough pattern. Hence you may notice constant changes when you pop by! Not being much of a whizz at HTML it is a slow progress of trial and error. I'll get there eventually ;o)

Now if I had been a good girl and completed my Web Design course that has been sitting in my draw for a year now this would all be a breeze ;o)

Red and Blue

On Saturday I took my Aunt and Uncle to visit the Peterborough Festival of Antiques held at the East of England Showground. There were over 1700 stallholders there, we are talking huge! This was my first trip there and we were all looking forward to it. I have to say it is very well organised, easy parking, lots of food and restroom facilities and people can even bring their dogs with them which was nice to see.

Most of the stalls were under cover either in the very large sheds or the Executive Suite that they have, we just didn't know where to start. As it was such a lovely sunny day we started with the outside stalls, and within a few minutes I had stumbled across this lovely man who was selling all sorts of old haberdashery items, oh my god it was heaven. Needless to say my mum, aunt and myself spent ages rummaging through whilst my uncle just looked on, he is such a patient man, doesn't harrass you in the slightest.

Am very aware of my budget at the moment but managed to buy a few bits from him in my new favourite colour combo of red and blue.

The bakerlite needles were £1 a pair, old wooden cotton reel was £2.00.

Duck egg blue velvet ribbon on original card was £2.50 and there is 14 metres of it!

I had never seen an open top thimble before so had to get one and the row counter tied in beautifully with the needles. So grand total spent came to £8.00, not bad and had enough left over to scoff a scrummy bacon roll and latte!!

There is another one of these fairs in October and I shall be returning, I was impressed by the wide range of stalls selling everything from battered old rolling pins, to the finest antique jewellery and china, something for everyone and every budget.

We all went home very happy and very worn out.

Mother's Day

I would first just like to say that my thoughts are with Jade's family, so sad that she has gone and on such a special day too. Really feel for her little boys and all the other children that are without their mummies right now.

Okay as promised here is a piccie of the card I made for my wonderful mummy. I used Anna Griffin papers, cream cardstock, Prima flowers, Doodlebug stick with it letters and flocking. We had a lovely morning with coffee and homemade muffins, have to say mine were a bit of a disaster but luckily my sister had made some which were much better. She loved her pressie and can't wait to start decorating her bedroom!




Hope you all had lovely days with your mums/nans, they really are the best and we wish they could stay around forever. xx

Antique Sparkle!

Been out and about over the past few days with my Aunt and Uncle from the states. Sunday we went to a couple of boot fairs and today we went to Ampthill Emporium which I discovered the other day. This place is an aladdins cave spread over 3 floors in a beautifully restored Victorian Department store, it's amazing. Here is a couple of piccies from inside, didn't get much chance to get anymore but trust me I will be going back there.

(This is an original till and pharmacy that they had restored as their checkout!)

(A cabinet full of bags and they were all sooo pretty, there were loads more!)

My aunt got a beautiful victorian babies gown with the most esquisite lace edging (piccies to follow). I picked up a lovely hand crocheted place mat in soft cream and pink for £2.00.

Now to the sparkly things, these were picked up at the boot sales on Sunday and came to the grand total of, wait for it, £2.50! I know they are not perfect but that kinda appeals to me. There's quite a few piccies as I couldn't decide what to post so put them all up!

(Antique belt buckle)

(beautiful clasp on the pearls)

(think this necklace might end up attached to an evening bag I have)

(bit worn looking but still lovely)

Lastly towards the end I managed to get this gorgeous turquoise ribbon and some old hook and eyes for 20p!

Happy days xx

Friends Birthday - in the pink!

It's my friends birthday today, am off to lunch with her soon. This is the card I made for her. She loves pinks just like me.

The papers were cut using my new Purple Cows Ultimate Trimmer that came with 13 different blades. Have to say it is the best trimmer I've used, the click down system that holds the papers is just fab.

I chose designer papers and sentiment stamp from my Anna Griffin stash, used my Mega circle and scallop punches to cut out the sentiment and the flowers are from Prima. Hope you like it. x

Mother's Day Gift

This caught my eye down town yesterday, just the perfect gift for my lovely mum! She is about to embark on redecorating her bedroom and this will look lovely on her french style dressing table.

I had a little play with some of my jewellery collection, so pretty. Am now rather wishing this was my pressie ;o)
Now I just need to make a card and gift tag and I know just the set that may be perfect for this. My newly purchased 'simply delightful' download from Pink Petticoat.

Yanks are in town!

Been a bad blogger, but have a good excuse, my lovely aunt and uncle are over here visiting us from Boston, USA. Oh it is so lovely to see them. They are staying with my mum and nan who live just round the corner from me so get to see them loads. They also bought me some more nestibilities over, the rectangle ones this time, saves bundles on postage & packaging and the sets are hard to get over here still.
They also fill their cases up with boxes of 'Lucky Charms' cereal for my niece and nephew. You can get it over here but it's highly overpriced, I think this is the stuff, bit sickly sweet for me though.

So over the next two weeks we will be going out on day trips, they love Windsor and Oxford. They are also like me and love rummaging round car boot sales so am taking them to a huge indoor one held at my local animal shelter this Sunday. They also have a little thrift shop and a lovely restaurant. I just have to stay away from the cattery as who knows what will end up in my shopping basket! With 3 already there really is no room at the inn ;o) Speaking of the devils am off to take them for their annual boosters now. Have a good day x

Sassy Designs - Fabulous Blog Candy!! Wow!!

Susie at Die Cut Dreams has an amazing giveaway on her blog. There's a Martha Stewart punch, some Quickutz dies, K&Co, Making Memories, oh the list goes on and on, it's just fab.

Closing date is 21st March. Good luck to all!

Nothing to do with crafting, but made me smile

Was browsing through blogland (see here) and came across this cartoon that I just had to share with you all. Am liking this approach to exercise!!! My niece is always banging on at me about my lack of fitness, will be sending her a copy ;o)

Beautiful Sunny Monday - love it!

Here in Cambridgeshire the sun is out and the sky is a sea of blue. There's a lovely little corner of my garden that gets the sun first thing and I have been standing out there just soaking it up, it feels wonderful to have warmth on my skin again ;o)

Anyway with the light so good I just had to take some piccies of something I bought at the weekend. It's a chaise longe pin cushion from John Lewis, it just lept into my basket as I walked past it in their sewing section! Now I know I could make one myself (and yes I will one of these days as I have seen lots of inpiring ones here in blogland) but it will sit perfectly in my new craft room. Am currently moving it from the box room into back bedroom as since getting back into sewing I need more room to create!


Oh and right next to it was a few things by one of my fave designers Cath Kidston, could have had them all but went for the cute little pin tin in the end, so pretty.


Right the brushes and cloths are out and I am off to do some spring cleaning. Hope it is sunny where you are.

Pinch Punch

and no return ;o) Oh my gosh can you believe it is March already. Woohoo spring is on it's way. I even spotted a purple crocus out in my back garden yesterday. I went out there to sort out my strawberry and blueberry plants, they were looking a little neglected and sad to say the least. After a bit of tidying and pruning they look much happier and it inspired me to tidy up some more. A couple of hours later things were looking much brighter out there, and I was feeling much brighter for doing it. Gardening is very theraputic, just love it ;o)