Easter Fun and fluffyness

Its been over a week since I blogged, that makes me sound as if I am in therapy!!! I have been busy working, gardening, selling excess avon and trying to find a new job for when my temp position finishes this Friday, I have also been helping the kids to make their easter projects for school too, Grace had to make an easter bonnet and William had to do something creative with a hard boiled egg, so we had fun with these on Sunday and here are the results of their hard work.

I cut the card and stapled it together for her, but Grace did all the sticking and glittering, it was supposed to look like a broken egg shell, but looks more like a crown, but what the heck, its pretty, she did a marvelous job.

Here is Ramesegg the First!!!!! we had three choices of name and hubby chose the one he liked best. William is fascinated by Ancient Egypt and wants to be an Archeologist when he grows up, has done for about 3 years and is only 8, so one hard boiled egg, 2 metres of white ribbon, 2 chenille pipecleaners and one bucket full (well not quite but it seamed like it) of PVA later here he is. I think he looks fab, one of the rules was that part of the egg had to show, which is why we left the eye bit open and William drew on the eyes.

After seeing Caz's post on Its a Creative World last week I had to go shopping for this book, I found it on Amazon at a reasonable price and its fab, I will definately be trying some of these squares when I have finished the basic blanket I am doing right now, there is one throw in there that I want to try for Graces bed, its all pretty and girly looking.

While on the subject of crochet I have been trying to find a pattern for a tea cosy that I can understand and do the stitches for, but to no avail so far, but I did find a very easy knitting pattern for one, which I printed off and tried using some very fluffy yarn that I had, I love it, although it does look like some strange green furry creature had eaten my tea pot, but I don't care, it keeps the pot warm and makes me smile when I walk in the kitchen.

Do you see what I mean about the furry creature LOL!!! It only took me 2 evenings to do this one so its very quick and easy, but the yarn made me all itchy and sneezy while I was knitting, the next one will not be fluffy!!! The lovely Felicity from JoshyandBelle has offered to root out a tea cosy crochet pattern and pop it on her blog for me after me commenting on her lovely knitted one, so hopefully I will be able to crochet one too.

Well, thats it for now, thanks for visiting

Trish xxx

Sewing again

I have started to feel a little more crafty recently (hoooraaahhhh) this morning I have made a patchwork cushion cover using This tutorial as also seen on Lace Hearts and I love it I will admit to buying some red fabrics to boost up my limited supply of reds to make this, but I am sure they will come in handy for other things too.

It looks very pretty on my sofa. I also stitched some fabric samples onto a plain canvas shopping bag, it has been sitting (pinned) in a drawer for months and I found it this morning while sorting out the fabric for the cushion cover, so thats another UFO finished.

I am so happy to be making stuff again, finishing off the greenhouse and digging our new veg patch may have had something to do with my need to be creative too.

I keep forgetting to update on how I am doing with the grocery challenge, well January we came in under budget by about £38, but this month we may be slightly over our £310 budget as we have already spent £261 and have a week to go, but we will see.

Trish xxx

Advent Calendar and Toothless Grins!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Sheffield Crop run by Jo and we made advent calendars using baking tins, magnets and bits and bobs from our stash, this is my effort.



I had great fun making this, using loads of bits and bobs that I thought would languish in my craft stash forever!!! Its still not fully finished, I want to get some holly punch outs round some of the edges just to fill a bit more space (hate leaving space lol) The kids have always had an advent calendar each, but this year I will have one too!!!! am getting a little over excited about Christmas now.

And now for something completely different (said in true python fashion) my two toothless kids, 3 teeth out in just over a week, the toothfairy is now officially skint!!! Grace has always had one tooth missing (she only had nineteen) its there but not ever come through, so it may well come now, so at the mo she has 17 teeth William has (at long last) lost the tooth that has been moving for a couple of months, his other top one is on its way out too, anyone want to loan the toothfairy a quid???
Trish xxx

I have been playing......

.....with paper and fabric this week, I have made 14 fabric, lavender stuffed hearts for a sale I am doing tonight at brownies and one I am doing in Winchester next weekend with my sister along with dishcloths and jewllery bookmarks.


I hope I can sell them all, mind you they do smell lovely so if they don't sell I am sure I can find a home for them somewhaere in the house.

I have also been playing with paper, lace, ribbon, sparkly bits and glue decorating a couple of bottles that have been lying around waiting for something to be done to them, they had candle sand in them originally and I didn't want to just throw them away and last night I just got loads of bits and bobs out and played.

The printed image is from The graphics fairy she has a new downloadable image every day. I don't think it is quite finished yet, but am not sure what it needs, but i know it needs something. Now I need to decide what to fill the bottle with, if anything.

Thank you for stopping by.

Trish xxx

Christmas on IACW

I know it might feel a little early for the 'C' word but today Di and I did a Christmas Bunting project on IACW mine was made from a cornflake box and lots of pretties, and Di made 2 fantastic fabric ones. I had fun with this project and plan to do a smaller one to hang from the pegs under my shelves in the hall.

We have a month full of ideas for Christmas so have a look everyday 'cause there is bound to be something for everyone :)

I have been making lots of dishcloths to sell at our Brownie Christmas sale evening which is coming up in a couple of weeks, I must get some bookmarks and small jewellery bits made up too, I am off to Sheffield tomorrow to the monthly crop (haven't been in about 4 months) so will get the jewellery done there.

Trish xxx

Bargains and Knitting

I have bagged myself a fab bargain this week, well I think so anyway, a trip to the local charity shops proved fruitful this week. The local hospice shop is sometimes the best place in town for my bargains and thats where I got my lovely pinny, I am sure it is vintage fabric, but how long ago it was made I don't know as it feels like new and it was the grand total of £3.00

You can just see one of my new cushion covers peeking out from under it, I made two last week and they really do brighten up the sofa.

Now, onto my knitting, I am not the best knitter in the world but have wanted to have a go at knitted dishcloths for a while, well this week I ordered and recieved two balls of dishcloth cotton and a pair of knitting needles, so I got to work almost straight away and the result is these.....

Two dishcloths, I haven't used them yet but I have heard that people using handmade dishcloths like these never go back to mass produced ones, so we shall see how I get on with them.

Thanks for stopping by, take care

Trish xxx

Another Award

I have been so busy with visitors this last four weeks, but they are all gone now so hopefully I will be able to keep up with the blog again.

Elaine has given me an award, its a creative one, so thank you Elaine hunny. I have to pass this award on to others, always a toughy as there are loads of wonderfully creative people out there in blog land.

So, first up will be Di, she does the most wonderful crochet and is as mad as a hatter!!!

the next one will be Ted and Agnes she knits and sews beautifully.

Third, will have to be the lovely Debbie what can't this girl do, she is a scrapbooker, cardmaker makes fab bags and paints furniture like a professional.

I think I will have to stick to three, as am totally stuck now *blush*

It was my turn on the Creative World blog today, this is what I have done, pop over to get the full step by step.

Shabby Chic June Swap

I have been so busy this week, working at nursery every day and getting the AVON out as well.Anyway, here is what I received in the Shabby Chic Forum June swap, isn't it fab, the theme was strawberries and cream, the wonderful Bliss of Country Bliss was sending to me, I have a gorgeous jug cover, I used to have one years ago all lace and beads but it seems to have disappeared, so am so happy to have another one, a beautiful smelling strawberry sachet, it smells just like strawberries :) yummy!!!!! The next item has been commandeered by Gracie, she loves it, its a lovely japanese crocheted strawberry toy, its sooooooo sweet also a lovely handmade card too, so thank you Bliss hunny, I love it all xxx

I really wanted to get out in the garden and get some pictures of my climbing rose bush today, but its tipping down with rain, so hopefully it will stop later. We were also going to go to the Glossop Carnival later, but I think 2 miles is too far to walk in this weather, especially for the kids, and the traffic will be horrendous so I am not driving. Its on tomorrow too, but Martin is back at work and I really wanted us to go as a family this year, oh well never mind.

Trish xxx

Painted Shelves

At last these shelves are finished and I love them, they are in my dining room above my computer, with 2 of my tea sets on, the top one is what I got from a car boot a couple of weeks ago for £2 (bargain) and the doily was 25p the other day from a local hospice charity shop.

We are hopefully going to finish the chest of drawers tomorrow, a few bits need gluing back on!!! I am happy with it though and it is the perfect size for putting the towels in, in the bathroom.

Recently on the Shabby Chic forum someone asked if anyone knew how to make stuffed boots, well yesterday I had a play and made one for me and one for Gracie for her bedroom, which she loves, I am really pleased with them and may make a few more for gifts for Christmas (yes I know its only June)

Anyway, thats enough from me for today

Trish xxx

Something old

I haven't taken any pics of much the last few days, so thought I would show something I did about 18 months ago, I had taken part in a jigsaw swap on UKScrappers and really enjoyed playing, so thought I would do one on my own. I bought a set of four puzzles from a local £1 shop and used the nine piece one, I wanted something for Graces room, that would stand the test of time and that she wouldn't grow out of, I had an ATC pad of vintage children images so used that, along with lots of cream paint and some lace and this is the result.

Grace loves it and so do I, it has pride of place on a shelf in her bedroom.

Trish xxx

FA CUP WINNERS

I am a very happy bunny today, Portsmouth Football Club won the FA Cup yesterday, I may live in the North West now, but am a Pompey girl at heart, we lived there from I was 3 years old until I was 33, Our house was so close to Fratton Park that when Pompey scored, you could hear the crowd. I have been to my fair share of Pompey home games (in my youth lol) and William went to his first match a few weeks ago at The City of Manchester Stadium, he loved it, unfortunately Postmouth lost to City, but after 69 years of waiting we got FA Cup back!!!!!!!

On another note, look what I got through the post on Friday, she is called purdy and is hand crafted by the lovely Elaine of mustard seed gift shop isn't she gorgeous, she is sitting in pride of place on my new shelves.

trish xxx

Bling a Little Birdhouse in your Soul

I have been doing a lot of blog hopping recently and found some lovely blogs and posts, one which really stuck out and inspired me was this one by Beth of Gathering Dust 'Bling your Birdhouse' as I scrolled through the pictures I found the gorgeous beaded one she had done, I thought to myself, oooohhh I like that idea, but with buttons, so, thats what I did, I had the birdhouse already, so painted it with acrylic paint in a deep red, then made a start on the buttons, now, I ran out of my faithful 'Glossy Accents' and because I didn't want to wait (very impatient I am) I used super glue, well I am sure you can imagine the mess I made of myself!!!! I used fabric glue to stick the pom pom braid and ric rac on and also the vintage flowers button on the apex of the roof. The image of the bird is one I have had floating around in my pictures for ages, I got it from a free site, but for the life of me can't remember which one (sorry) I used a faux optical lens over it which covers the hole that is there for the tiny mini birdys to get in!!!

The finished object isn't as 'clean' as it would have been with the glossy accents, but I love it just the same, it will sit on my dressing table now that its finished. I would like to say thanks to Beth for letting me use her idea and the link to her blog (you must have a read while you are there).

Trish xxx

More Painting!!!

I seem to have found a love for painting bits of furniture, I bought these shelves on saturday, they had been sanded, so i just gave them a wash and got started with the paintbrush, now like the muppet I sometimes am, I forgot to take pics before and before I put it on the wall, so this was the best I could do I'm afraid, as I have to get at an angle to take it :)

On the top is the angel I made using the pattern from Tona Finnangers Sew Pretty Homestyle
the middle shelf has an expresso set from AVON on it, on the bottom shelf is a piggybank that I have had for about 20 years and it was quite old when I bought it and my lovely new trio I bought from a charity shop this morning for £1.99.
Trish xxx

Productive Day

Hello, i have been quite productive today, made these 2 hearts, I think I might sell them at my next jewellery party, need to get a few more done too. We also popped to B&Q today too, I got some lovely vintage white paint and 6 lavendar bushes, the paint is for the bathroom cabinets that I am going to shabby up, they are both that horrible orangy pine (yuk) I have taken before pics, but you can wait til they are done till you see them and the after pics. The lavender plants are to go alongside the path at the house end of the garden, they are quite small at the mo but by the time they are fully grown we will have a full hedge along there.Oh well back to work and school tomorrow, I will be out all morning delivering avon also in the evening too, Martin is off though so I might get him started on the cabinets.

Take care all

Trish xxx

Back to School

Well the kids went back to school today, it was nice to have the house to myself for a while, then a friend popped round and we ended up going to IKEA (not much of a struggle) I was good though and only spent £24!!!

I have been working on a memory board for a while and was hoping to get it finished in time for the IACW blog, but unfortunately didn't, but its done now and here it is, it looks lovely in my bedroom with all my other red and cream bits on my dressing table, I want to do one each for the kids now.

Another day

Morning, I have been such a lazy bint this morning, I have only been up an hour, shocking!!! Luckily I put my project on the IACW blog last night just after midnight, so at least that was done. I have done a craft mini pinny this time, a good way to recycle those old jeans that are pooped!!!

Pop over and have a look at the other pics too.

Well, just having a lazy day today, tomorrow we are off to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester with the kids, so hopefully will get some good pics while we are there.

Summer Hols

Well, we are half way through the summer holidays, me and martin have both been ill, he still has man flu!!! The kids have been having fun and enjoying the sunshine, until yesterday when the rain started again. I have got all their school uniform and stuff reafy apart from the shoes and pumps, they can wait til next week I think.

I really need to pull my finger out and get some more jewellery done, I haven't made anything in ages now, the reason being I have been making stuff for christmas, I know I know, its only August, but I love Christmas time its my favourite time of the year, I have made all my cards already, and the decs for a swap I am in on the WL site and decs for my tree too, I can't help myself I am so excited already.