Moving day

Hi my lovelies. I am moving to this blog to wordpress. Please follow me xx

Different wedding, same outfits.

We've attended two weddings so far this year and have another in a few weeks time. Following the rules of the challenge i have kitted us out accordingly.

Navy wiggle dress - ebay, Fabulous Kate Garey hummingbird purse - gift from the kids for xmas, Yellow heels - ebay. White cardy & yellow belt - New from tescos (i kept missing out on ebay, white cardi's seem very popular)

I even managed to sort the kids outfits too as pink ones dress and blues ones suit both came from ebay, with Nana knitting pink ones cardi and me making blue ones waistcoat.

Hubby did his own styling.

I think we scrub up pretty well xx

  

 On the theme of weddings, i was asked if i could 'recreate' a embroidered heart for a gift. The lovely lady had purchased one for her daughter on the occasion of their marriage some years ago and now as it was her sisters turn she wanted one to match. I only had photos to go on, but i did a spot of research and nervously accepted the challenge.

This is the result, i never thought i would be able to pull off working with satin, organza, embroidery and a beaded trim quite so well. But i think it came out splendidly. Mother, sister and bride all very happy. Which of course makes me happy xx

The 2013 Challenge!

I started a challenge at the beginning at the year,  not buy any new clothes for myself. I will instead be making, mending, up-cycling or charity/ebay sourcing my wardrobe for whole of 2013.

The Make do and Mend Mission 2013

The rules

• I can buy underwear, shoes, socks/tights and t-shirts/vest tops
• I will be able to accept gifts/swaps/hand-me-downs
• Borrowing is allowed too
• I can buy from ebay (just not new items)

I seem to have/have had quite a few social engagements this year, so this has been a bit of a challenge for this self confessed shopaholic. But almost 6 months in i think i have done really well.

The first thing i did was 'mend' my black jersey maxi dress, the elastic had come away from the fabric at the top. A quick hand-sew later and its was wearable again, i do love this dress. i got it in the sale from TU and i have already 'adapted' it by adding some more shirring rows (shirred dresses are never deep enough for me lol) and taken a couple of inches off the length as i am only 5'. I like to pair it with a nice wide belt and a pretty cardi. A very comfy and well used dress.

 Well that was a mend, i've not managed to make anything yet, but hopefully that will be sorted soon.

Celebrate good times, come on!

5 years ago today we had just brought home the most precious of bundles, our 7lb 10oz baby girl and so began our first steps into parenthood.

 

Fast forward to now and we have a beautiful, petite, bright, sociable, stubborn, amazing girl. Who loves pink in a very big way. So much so i have had to repaint her bedroom from the most delightful pale turquoise to pretty pink. Everything she has received as a gift has been pink or purple (as that is an acceptable colour too). Her main present is her pink camera, but mummy still managed to get a few of her touches in too. She wore her No.5 badge to school with pride and absolutely had to wear it again at her party, then there's the knitting kit, i found some sweet little size 4 pins in our local craft shop - they have hearts on the top!! Dunelm came up trumps with reasonably priced pink gingham storage case and i raided my yarn stash for some practice wool. She was very happy. (Phew).

 Oh of course there was the cake too, the brief was a princess cake. i think we nailed that one.

But my little girls birthday wasn't the only thing we had to celebrate this weekend, my dear big Cuz also got married, yey!!

I love a wedding, the chance to get dressed up and party. And i love making things for people i love. Very proud of the way the button picture came out and not forgetting the lucky spoon for the bride. I really hope they liked it.

 

My boy wasn't left out either, he was the dapper little gent in his London icons waistcoat and the best part...we have another wedding next week so can do it all again :)

A Sunny bank holiday

What a lovely bank holiday so far and such nice weather, looks like more of the same today too.

The kidlets and i had the pleasure of attending a darling little man's christening yesterday, i took this opportunity to try out my Easter pressie. I think she performed very well don't you? her name is Elsie-May and she is a Janome MC200E, i'm having lots of fun learning how to use her (more of that later).

I hope you enjoy the rest of your bank holiday, i'll be sorting out the conservatory to enable the smalls and i to co-inhabit peacefully, how did we manage to accumulate so much craft stuff and so many toys??

A slight obsession?

I've started sorting my craft stuff (must be spring or the fact i can't find anything) and spent a couple of weekends photographing and folding my fabric to put in nice neat boxes. Doesn't it look pretty? and eek i have a lot. But at least i can see what i have now. Its all in a folder on my laptop, so much easier.

I also sorted my yarn too.

Other crafty stuff  - cardmaking, beads, ribbon, cross-stitch etc (I am a craft whore after all) is slowly being sorted too. I also plan to attack the kids toys and clothes, oh! and the loft. Can you all say 'car boot sale'.
Maybe i can claim the conservatory back this year as my crafty den (not putting too much hope into that one).
Do you you have an obsession that's taking over? Where is all your crafty stuff stashed?

A little bit retro

A lovely crafty mummy friend of mine has a bit of a thing for the 50's style headscarf and posted a quick tutorial on our group recently.

Of course i was going to have a bash and whipped up these three lovelies the other night. The first two were for her and the lovely green one is all mine.

Check me out having a quick hair n make-up play earlier.

Easter craft round up

I had a very eventful Easter this year, unfortunately starting with the breaking down of our tumble dryer last weekend. Boooo *sad face*
Hubby dug it out, pulled it apart, fiddled, poked and gave it a diagnosis. We then ordered a part and waited.
Part was delivered, fitted and did not sort the problem, shit!
New dryer reserved and then off he popped to collect it Good Friday. And it made it a very good friday, its huge and has a light in it! We call it the space ship and now have clean and dry clothes again. Yeah!

Of course while the 'dryer saga' was happening we had Easter crafts to do also, the pink one and i made her easter bonnet for the school parade and some thumb-print bunny cards. Can you see we made some more of our tissue paper flowers. She loved her hat and wore it all Thursday and again on Friday.

I did a bit of sneaky crafting too and made some felt bunny bags for the kids and my nieces. My friend Hayley had done a tutorial for them on our little FB craft group and i think most of the girls had a go. This is a picture of them flat, you then fill them with treats and tie a ribbon round the ears.

My Easter contribution to the board was an egg cosi tutorial, which was handy as i had to make one anyway for a christening present.

I actually was away on the Saturday night for a sleepover (he he) at a crafty mummy get together. My first full night away from the kids since i went into hospital to have the blue one. We had a fabby time. Beer, pizza, wine, nachos, chocolate, DVD's, feet reading, chakra and aura reading, aromatherapy hand cream making and even a quick knitting session too. I can not wait till we do another one.

...........and finally we had to make the obligatory choccy crispy nests, we also mixed in some mini marshmallows, nom, nom, nom! I hope you all had a fabulous Easter too xx

40th fun and frollics

This time last week i was still in my Pj's 'recovering' from my first proper night out in about 2 years. My first night out drinking proper booze since my blue one and i's breastfeed journey finally came to and end last month. This journey meant i lot to me, i may post about it one day xx

The night out in question was in honour of my lovely friend Ann turning the big 40. We had planned it for months and it involved 12 lovely ladies all dressed in their finest 80's inspired outfits (Ann is still in love with Adam Ant and the 80's and its music would be her specialist subject on mastermind), a localish nightspot/restaurant , a minibus, a cake, poppers and much alcohol.

Me being me, i didn't buy her a card and gift. Of course not, i made them. One button card, one i <3 Adam Ant tshirt, which she wore on the night and one kindle case in a fabric of her choosing. Also pictured as you can see is one hastily iced cake (thank you tescos value range), the yummy 3 course dinner we had and a pic of yours truly in my Vintage 80's finery. We had an absolute blast and despite getting home at 2.30am!!! i didn't feel too bad.

This Friday night was very different and involved, a cuppa, QI & The Last Leg and me starting a crochet blanket destined for a charity project i will tell you all about later.

We woke to snow/rain this morning like most of the country, so staying inside is the order of the day with my new project to keep me company. Enjoy your weekend xx

Mothers day

I know Mothering Sunday has been and gone, but i thought i would tell you about the fabby paper flowers that pink one and i made for Nana & Grannie.

It's a tried and tested method, cutting circles out of tissue paper, folding and giving the end a twist. push into the end of a straw and tape in place. Then open your petals, ta da pretty flowers.

We made a couple of bunches and tied them with a ribbon. Then the really fun part, visiting the grandparents for tea and cuddles.

I also received lots of home-made gifts for mothers day, my blue one (with a little help from my friend) made the lovely card on the right and all my other bits pink one brought home from school. It did make me chuckle at the fact my MUM plaque has some of my donated wool on it.

I'm a very lucky mummy xx

A bit of craft swapping

As well as a craft whore i am a crafty bum. Way back in the day when i was expecting my blue one i was a regular on Babycentre and stumbled across a group called the crafty bums full of like minded creative ladies. Three of these lovely ladies have gone on to create The Craft Bums site where you can buy or sell lots of fabulous home made bits. Off the back of this, they also run a facebook sewing group, knitting & crochet group and a general crafting group. I, of course, am a member of all three.



Now these lovely ladies like to set us a challenge now and again, last year the sewing group had a Made by Rae Buttercup bag challenge. The buttercup bag is a very popular pattern as is can be made from just a couple of fat quarters of fabric and Rae lets us use the pattern free for personal use. This was my contribution, i dubbed it the 'Pretty Woman' bag.

Next we did a Halloween Challenge and this little chap was what i came up with for that, i love him and use him almost daily.

Then it was decide that we could make something and swap it with another crafter and so the crochet pot holder and the mug rug swaps came about. Its quite nerve racking making something for someone you may not know but that's all part of the fun.

Pot holder swap

< I made this one

and received this one >

Mug Rug swap

< I made this one
and received this one >

..and now i want to make more pot holders and mug rugs for my friends and family. (btw my mum actually has my received mug rug, she has a thing for owls, so i gave it to her for mothers day)

and one for the girls

Of course we get invited to girls parties too, and what do many 5 year old girls like??

Well if mine is anything to go by it's bags, shoes, hair accessories (much like her mum) and a girl has to have somewhere to keep all these hair bits.

This is my second attempt at a Hello Kitty style hair clip keeper, i like this one much better than the first one i made, i hope the little girl does too. 

The first one i stuffed and blanket stitched around the edge, i may show you a pic sometime.

And what craftsperson doesn't have a button tin?? i have 3!!. A lovely lady on my Nov10 Mummy craft group has been making some gorgeous cards with buttons and has inspired me to have a go too.

Toys for the boys

Two more parties for two more boys that have turned 5. So two more presents.

Firstly i had a go at a car cosi, it was a bit of a rush, i was sewing up to the wire with it (we were only a little late ;) ). I bought three little cars from the supermarket and built it round them to fit. Pretty good in the end though

Then secondly i thought i would do a twist on the usual crayon roll and went with the tote bag with pencil pocket idea. I'm loving how it came out, it's big enough for popping a mag or colouring book in too.

Wishing i had got some more of the car fabric, as my stash is getting low.

My go to gift

Now my pink one has started school in the reception year, there seem to be a never ending pile of party invitations. She's loves the chance to don her party frocks and spend an hour or so stuck inside a soft-play structure, what other 4 or 5 yr old doesn't?. The 2 yr old is pretty keen too and if i'm honest i don't tend to sit by the sidelines either.

Now all these parties require a gift of some sort and my current 'go to gift' is a pencil crayon roll. This weeks birthday boy loves a bit of spiderman and i was fortunate to procure a bit of up-cycled fabric to do the job. Pretty well if i do say so.

Purdy wellies

I bought a pair of wellies in the sale for a bargain price of £3 with the intention of turning them into ankle boots. I have trouble buying boots, being only 5ft and a fag paper as my dear old dad would say, my calves start lower down than the curves on most boots. I had a pair that i had already done this too but they weren't pretty and only kept for gardening purposes. 

Then it snowed and i needed to wear them, so a quick slit down the back later - wearable wellies. But not pretty yet. 

One pair of prym pilers, some eyelets and some nice wide ribbon later. Ta da!

Passing on the skillz

I've been teaching some of my mummy friends to knit, with the plan of creating a blanket (or two) to auction off in aid of SANDS, a charity very close to our hearts.


So far i have done these 3 squares, garter, stocking stitch and one of my fav's moss stitch.
I am very excited to receive the girlie's squares in the post...watch this space xx

My first cardi

Finished this last night, it's a gift for a friend who has just had a baby girl 7 weeks early. My first full garment and i am rather proud of it, especially with the addition of the flower.
The pattern is from here Baby Kimono Pattern and the yarn is Sirdar Denim tweed DK shade 0631.

Dipping toe in...

Hi Blogland *waves*, having a bash at bloging my crafty doings. Hope you like it xx