A Shopping List

As seen in the new (scrumptious) Cath magazine....going on my wish list for my visit to Windsor next month...complete with my 15% off coupon that was in this months Easy Living ;)
I don't think I will ever tire of Ms Kidston...but thats not a quote!!! Certainly not while she keeps bringing out lovelies for me to drool over..........

racing car mug..my last CK mug purchase ever!!! (thats what I promised Mr D with my fingers crossed!!)...would I use it (the flask that is!) too pretty perhaps to spoil with hot drinks stuff!!

I love these...and I'm sure I saw a different design in Country Living this month described as Tupperware..are they the real thing..I thought you could only say Tupperware if Tupperware had made them??? In which case £8 seems cheap.....
(blimey how many times can I write Tupperware in one blog post lol!!)
Be rude not too when it matches my china.........
I love these, but it depends on the toe cleavage..they look low cut (iyswim!!) and I HATE toe cleavage!!!
One of my fave prints......
because I am selfless..and small boys feets will look cute!! Although is 5 to big to wear them??? Hope he doesn't refuse!! (R has freaky fat feet that NO shoes fit!! Except special imported things that cost a fortune!! Oh and crocs -thankfully!!)

But one last thing - this next one just made me go whaaattt!!
I know not everybody has access to a fabric stash or scrap box to make ones own but seriously...whhhaaaattttt?!?!?!!
(sneaks out quietly before someone comes along and tells me they bought them!!!)
(in which case - I'll cut you your next lot out for a fiver lol!!!)

I have been sent a cath mag plus have an extra that mother in law gave me from easy living magazine...does anyone need one? Or want one..as I don't think need comes into it!!!
Maybe somebody overseas??? Give me a yell.....

Thank You's

To all of you xxx
Big Thank You's!!!
I was overwhelmed by all your kind and lovely words, offering me lots of good luck with my new venture.
I had a great first day.....thank you to those of you who went to have a peep..and extra thank you's to those of you who placed your orders xxxYour parcels should be with you today, so do let me know what you think...about the important things like, is the colour of my tissue paper nice lol!!!
I got myself an early night last night.....dreaming of ribbon!!!I said the other day that I had been having some giveaway good luck...well I was fortunate to win Mel's giveaway.
It came yesterday...and made me have the biggest smile ever for the rest of my afternoon..
Mel you spoilt me.....CK wrapping - that alone made me smile...and I bet I'm not the only one who would have so so carefully opened the paper (cutting the stickers to minimise damage lol!!) -
Here is what Mel sent me

the fabbest buttons I now own!!!

Ck tissues...love the print....some cute pegs, will use them in my 'office', and a choccy bunny.
Inside my CK wrapping
was a fab handkerchief (I have a plan to turn this into something else....) and a pocket mirror in the new cherry print. Love the cherry print :)I live a gazillion miles from a CK shop, so I have to rely on the catalogue to see what Cath is up to..and we know how long those things take to get to us sometimes!!
Thank you Mel for my lovely card and all my fab pressies!! xxxx

Mel sent me the latest catalogue..and my favourite for a long time..it got my heart racing again...lots of circles will be going in this one!!!
(some pages and things I love)I only bought 2 new mugs in John Lewis last week (to replace the 1 lovely husband broke!!)

but I spied with my beady eye a new design, vintage cars,

...is on the wish list now..the boys in the house need boyish mugs!!!
Floor Tiles............aaaggghh!! Cowboy print. I am still wandering round the house wondering where I can have them....at £40 a square metre somewhere small!! The toilet maybe??? The bathroom???
In fact I love the whole of this boys bedroom....

Thanks to Victoria and Kelly - I also neeeeeed the wine glasses.

Actually if I'm honest I need new wine glasses like a fish needs a bicycle!! But they are so lovely. And reasonably priced...John Lewis had similar glasses when I was there last week and they cost more ....can you spot the spiel I give my husband to justify them lol!!!
More post pressies to show you tomorrow.......

Bibs 'n' Bunting

I have made a few more items for ginger pudding.......


Cath Kidston fabric baby and toddler bibs

Non Cath bibs too....... Perhaps a bit too nice for splodges of carrot but great for parties!!!!

Stars and Stripes Bunting for a little boys room


Vintage embroidered bunting....dresser sized!!

Wish List

I know there has been much discussion of CK's popularity lately...is it waning?? I personally don't think so...... Overpriced?....hmm...yes sometimes.....but whilst ever she continues to churn out the vintage replica pretty stuff, I will probably be saving my pennies and buying them....I like what I like not because it has a certain label but because it makes me happy, be it clothes for me, fabrics and trimmings or pretties for my home. I get immense pleasure from finding a true vintage item in the charity shop or car boot, and I wish I could find more vintage fabric, but the truth is with one thing and another I don't have, or I don't make, the time to trawl and search for 'original' items.

I know there are other pretty things out there that aren't Cath...and if I see them then I don't not buy them because it isn't CK, but I have 4 boys, 2 preschool and 1 a total bleeding nightmare to take in shops so it suits me to have my catalogue plop on my mat and to let the drooling and wanting commence :)

(who am I kidding I would still 'want' from the eye candy catalogue even if I did get out to the shops all the time lol!!)

And the latest catalogue had me doing just that - lots of 'I wants' this time......

Already on my wish list, infact I have the pennies saved for this already...

the textured rose messenger bag I bought in the Spring has been used almost daily since and is the best bag for daily use I have ever had...a bit more than I would usually have spent on a bag but definately good value.

But I'm going to need to save some more pennies......
Love this new Cowboy meal tray...even if it is a bit like what prisoners meals are served up on in jail lol!! So cute and we have the cup already so its up at the top of the list!!
And while I'm shopping for small boys aaaggh!! how adorable are these proper 1970's stylee Y fronts......C will be wearing them and the two big boys ought to think themselves lucky they only go up to age 6 lol!! I love these so much and yes I can get a pack of 6 in Asda etc for the same money but I love them very much and if it makes me happy it can't be a bad thing!!
This is the last thing on the need it now section of the wish list...flour dredger to match my china, it makes me happy like the butter dish did when it first came out...I'm easily pleased it used to only be shoes that could get my heart racing - now its a flour dredger too!!!
This little boys bedding is cute but it doesn't rock my world that much however lovely husband spotted the stickers on the wall and noted that our little boys room was the same colour blue and therefore the aeroplane stick ons would look great...good value I thought at £30 a pack and apparantly the picture shows just one pack.........

Moving down the wish list......

Theres something about this crayon tin...

I love the rubber duck bathroom design and think the bath towel would make a great new baby present...

New shape pin tin...do I need 2 pin tins???I'm wondering how long this suit cover is, will have to check online, its too nice to hide inside my wardrobe though...These frogs were oohed over in a I could make them kind of way......in fact I may well have a go....And I have fallen in love with the chairs in the catalogue.....similar/same as the chairs you would find in store - just lovely....I love the patchwork.

I like the extra magaziney bits in the new style catalogue. Now does anyone clever know is this recipe a make and keep in the fridge eat soon kind of thing or would it keep like jam?? Looks and sounds delicious.....

pink sewing box

the sewing box - started here....finished during May half term but just plonked in spare room and forgot about!! Need to cover a lampshade to go on top of it.

Painted in Cath Kidston, Nursery Pink and drawer lined with CK antique roses wallpaper (thank you Wendy for the piece of white, knew I'd put it to good use xx!!)

The inside is painted with CK apple green...I bought that with the plan to paint my freecycled (last year, really must get a shake on!!) dresser, but it is far too green!!

So thats one thing off the to paint list painted - lots more to go!!

the week that was!!

Long rambly post alert!!
I have had a week where everything I touched turned to poo!

Crafting wise the start of the week was a total wash out....not the ideal situation when you are late with one swap and have a deadline with the other!!

I have lots more scraps in my scrap basket, and scraps are always handy, yes???!!!

For example, I made a cushion for my (hopefully opened very soon) blogshop, was really pleased with it, started sewing on the embellishments and noticed that the fabric on the reverse had been sewn on the wrong way round!!!

Like so!! Spot the (not so) deliberate mistake!!!

Then I decided to make some fabric covered hangers...sounds simple? Thats what I thought....I googled and there are very few tutorials and I couldn't find one that would make the hangers look how I wanted them to..with lots of gathers and with the fabric tight to the padding...

So this is my effort....

Can't see on the pic but I needed to shape the corners that was an oversight on my part!! But it doesn't look how I wanted it to :(

I will be keeping it and using it (it'll look great with a cardy on covering it up lol!!) because the flipping handstitching took ages!!

On top of this I had the dreaded 'Flu' symptoms all week...I wasn't 'ill' merely unwell!! I went into the pharmacy on Friday for anti sickness drugs and he took a step back and told me I had SF symptoms!! Well thankfully it hasn't come to much - I feel well again today!! But a week of feeling sick, well took me back to pregnancy - and not in a good way!!

It wasn't all bad....

On Thursday I recieved some samples of CK fabric - without 'sample' stamped all over them so that brought a smile to my face. I smiled all the time I was on the phone placing an order with Cath!! (free p&p with the code that came with the samples!!)

I will be making my friend one of these bags for her birthday next week, so this fabric has come to live with me

and these 2 tshirts for C...they were in the sale....I won't pay £15 for a tshirt for me let alone for a 4 year old lol!! He'll be banned from staining foods so that they keep nice for his younger brother too - I love recycling!!

Is it inappropriate to put a 4year old in a bib???

He likes Stanley best - I prefer the planes!! And a little bird told me (well Mary Poppins!!) that Cath had brought out a new crush mug design......be rude not to buy one when Cath has designed it just for me haha!! And lovely husband is often heard moaning about the amount of girly mugs we have - so I ordered it for him ;)!!

Some crafting went right by the weekend...and a parcel is currently in the care of Royal Mail on the way to a special swap partner :)

And these worked too.....well so far they have worked.....I am looking forward to embellishing my interpretation of a dream catcher :)

The week ended with a trip to see my old friend Harry.

Now, forget the JK bashing that inevitably takes place when a film comes out, I fail to see how anyone can dispute that the Harry Potter films are good family films. I am a harry fan, books have been read within 2 days of release, over analyse the plot etc etc!! But even my lovely husband who has never read the books enjoys and looks forward to the release of the films. The film is a 12a and I strongly recommend for the sanity of the other viewers you don't take a child under 9 or 10. We had to endure a running commentary from the dad behind us explaining things to his 6ish year old son..is that snow? is that his old house? are they really flying? (on a broomstick aaggh!!)

Also go with an open mind..its a film...for older children....... man walking out behind us at the end..

" what a load of rubbish" - sat thru 3 hours though didn't you???

"missed out loads" - well yes the book took longer than 3 hours to read didn't it???

" nothing like the book" - well actually having read the book yes it was - but movies are seldom identical to the book!!!

plum!!! I don't go to the cinema very often - I am not a tolerant cinema goer!!

That was that week - this one is new...and we have no school (whoop!!) for 6 lovely lazy weeks :)

And today was sunny enough to wear my new (thrifted) skirt - its billabong, still had tags on and i think its my new favourite - £2 well spent!!!

Excuse the messy - part re-vamped crafty drawers behind me!!