barmy about bunting

I think I'm obsessed.....

gifts for my friends children

made for Natasha for the friends swap

- recycled embroidered linen, backed with CK. And because I loved it so much..... more for me.

This was a thrifted tablecloth that was badly stained in the middle so I have breathed new life into somebodys handiwork.

personalised for my niece....

for C.

for R.

And thats just made by me..... made by Debbie.

knitted for me by Raspberry Grace.

Its not over either ..... I have plans with oilcloth for the garden and plans to persuade the big boys that bunting is cool :)

Pay it Forward

Continuing the giving from Mel at Shabby Chick.....I'm paying it forward :)

The first three people to leave a comment will receive a hand made gift from me!

The only thing you have to do is participate and carry on the gift giving to three more people...as soon as you have left a comment do a "pay it forward post" on your blog and continue the giving.

Now I'm not sure of the rules around the time limits....but you WILL get a handmade gift from me.....at some point :)

Be back soon - hopefully with a slightly less sore mouth!! And slightly less houseguests!!! Its been great mum being here but I miss not being able to do my thing if you see what I mean!!!!

Xx

Another catch up post :)

Thank You for all your well wishes for my wisdom tooth removal - it wasn't as bad as I thought, i don't resemble elephant man and there isn't the bruising I thought I'd get....I was fine a couple of days after but now all my teeth on that side hurt...a lot!! Now I have a pretty high pain threshhold (10lb2oz with no pain relief lol!!) and although my gorgeous husband thinks I could maybe be milking it...I am whinging a bit about how much pain I am in...and I am very thankful that my other wisdom teeth are all happy where they are lol!!

Whilst I was feeling sorry for myself - the very lovely Mary Poppins sent me a parcel. She had offered to get me some pillowcases to make my life a little easier :) and sent them to me with a parcel of lovelies for me....

All wrapped up in the lovely fabric you can see - a little something to brighten up my dusting experience...a sewing kit in vintage packaging and some CK spots...tissues and a mirror.

And.....check out my boy.......there's a new sherrif in town :) a dribbly sherrif!!!

Thank You Mary - we are both very happy - you are a very good friend xx

(picture taken in beirut...aka the loft conversion....aka the big boys bedroom!!! The green was chosen by themselves and every time I am up there I regret leaving the choice to them!!its not just green ...its GREEN!!!)

These are the pillowcases Mary got for me...after much debate chez us about new bedlinen - we/I decided on plain white with non matchy pillowcases and I fell in love with the CK boats.

(I have bought the Tesco duvet cover as a spare for when we fancy a change from white!!)

I haven't bought the boys (or anyone) a packaged easter egg this year, instead I copied an idea from last months Country Homes and Interiors and I did them a glass dish filled with assorted chocolate easter shapes and eggs.
bit too tempting for picking at when you walk by though!! They didn't last long!

I also took delivery of the latest CL magazine...did anyone else notice the greetings cards offer?

12 cards for £11 something...less than a pound a card...all images from the magazine...subscribers get a further 10% too...and its always handy to have a few cards in :)

I have a few catch up posts to do...we've had a birthday....and a party....and we are off to Featherdown Farm at the weekend...(I have 3 excited boys...1 of them is only excited if food is involved!!!)

Making me smile this week - part 2!

Wedding China...

I didn't have a wedding list but I did send a link to a relative and a friend watched me drooling over the CK catalogue...and I ,oops I mean we!!!, were very lucky to receive 6 place settings of the lovliness, aswell as a teapot, milk jug and my much coveted butter dish.

I am going to add to it, some bowls I think. And we are going to use it. I have decided it is too nice to just look at, once a week we shall use it for a special weekend meal...

The saucers are so sweet...look at the spray flowers hiding under the cup!!

I've had a shifty about on my dining room shelves, .....but now my kitchen shelves look a mess!!!

I have a freecycled dresser waiting to be painted so I think I'll hurry up and do that so I can find everything a home!!

atrocious photos.....I am going new camera shopping this week...not helped by my waiting til dusk before taking them though!!!

I'm almost back in the real world, we are decorating our bedroom so we are a bit topsy turvy with that...I have some crafty ideas for the swaps I've signed up for...now who has hidden all the hours in the day lol!!!

edited to say...thank you for all your comments...I'm not making it round everyone at the minute but I'm lurking a bit!!! Also I should add that the bestest husband is not always so thoughtful with the gifts - this was a HUGE shocker!! I think I've used up a few years worth here!!!

last minute

I love my eldest boy as much as I love his brothers....however, at 8:25 am today he advised me of his weekend plans, which includes going bowling with a friend for his birthday (the big boy thing with NO invitation is taking some getting used to!!)....
and he needed a gift...
I wasn't overly keen on him :)

He said - just get him some sweets...oh and a card.....

Well I thought 'just some sweets' sounded a tad boring so at 2:50 this afternoon (oops, I've been busy and I forgot!) I whipped up this gift and card -

Boys are really tricky to whip up a quick gift for...but I'm pleased with the card using an old battered Beano annual for assistance...and I'm sure he can find some use for a drawstring bag once he has troughed his way through the contents!!

Filled with Haribo sweets and chocolate coins (reduced to 25p in Boots incidentally!!)- I don't think its bad for a 20 minute rush job!!

edited to say thank you for my recent tags and awards...I'm a bit rubbish at doing anything about them but I promise to try and remember to post about them later x

An Award

From Caroline at Lace Hearts.

Thank You very much.

The lovely Lacey also needs another thank you...for sending me a gift.

There is only 1 thing better than pressies through the post, and thats unexpected pressies through the post :)

I have another of Carolines fabric buckets - this time in dotty and gingham pastels. Its gorgeous.

I shall certainly put it too good use xxx

(Now I know I'm supposed to pass on the award to others but everybody I read deserves it and my bloglist on the side is just a drop in the ocean of what I read!!! ) (

More Christmas Preparations....

So as we edge closer to the festivities, I don't feel quite as organised as I did a month ago!!

I have some more pressies left to wrap and a few to buy, but I'm practically done. I had planned to make loads of decorations, more handmade gifts, but its not to be.

I even bought this in order to plan the festivities. But my time management at the minute is ...well, poor to say the least!! And the organiser hasn't made it off the books to read pile yet!

So I shall say again, what I said last year - it'll be different next year the baby will be bigger. no more building work at home, etc etc. Truth is, I will just have to manage my time better. Follow my progress here, next year lol!!!

So although I have no handmade tree decorations and haven't made as many handmade gifts as I'd have liked, (and I still have 10kilos of pickling onions to peel!!) I have made some pretty parcels. (well by my standards - last year folk were lucky their pressies weren't in Tesco bags lol!!)

I've used brown paper and ribbon on lots of parcels ,I bought some cheap tree decs from Tesco- the presents were £1.50 and the reindeers a pound , some skinny silky ribbon and found the Ikea paper string lurking in a craft drawer.

So this is what I played this afternoon, while the baby emptied a whole pack of baby wipes :0 !!

These are bottles of Baileys for my childminders, tissue and florist cellophane with the Tesco present trimmings. (If I looked after other peoples kids - I'd need alcohol for sure lol!!)

This one is sick in a bottle (AKA advocaat) for my stepdad - you can't see closely but the ribbon has gold trees on it.

I've made my own tags on the computer by downloading vintage Christmas images and typing the greeting. (I know its not that personal, but I think I'd appreciate the thought that someone could be bothered to type my name into the computer), and the stickers were something ridiculous like 30p in the sale in January and I use them to put on Father Christmas's parcels as last year he thought he'd use different paper for each boy but then he forgot which paper was for which boy - the twonk!!!

Some more parcels - the green paper was from Lidl of all places - its not the best quality but was a pack of 4 rolls for £1.99 and 1 of them I liberated for birthdays as it has no festive references on it!!

These days we do a secret santa for the adults in our family with a £10 spend limit. Here's one of mine (the other was a sushi themed basket that I forgot to photograph) - I used the would I be happy to receive it principle and I would... handmade bag, LA sign and pretty dishcloths.

Speaking of Tesco...(I did mention earlier - you've probably just lost the will with my waffle!)...Look at these NOEL letters, for my lounge fireplace, a bargain, but I can't remember how much - £3 or £4!?!Really need to get my decs out of the loft so I can see what I have and start planning what will go where....but probably not this weekend as I have to go and visit a new baby, a pink baby, my 1st niece.

So, the giveaway may not get drawn until Monday, just in case anybody thinks I've forgotten!

Applique

This is the wallhanging I made for my friends 40th birthday...she 'gets' the handmade thing. So many people I know don't!

It is a variation on the cushion I made for the autumn swap (pics on Marys blog here..)

I really like it and struggled to part with it lol!!! So next on the list is one for me!!

making

I've been a bit more productive than of late over the past few days -

It was my friends (significant) birthday today - so she has this from Laura Ashley in a handmade bag. And I made her the peg doll fairy too. I was going to make her a cake - but decided she could have one for each of her years instead!!!

Another friend's daughter is 1 at the weekend....so she has one of my obligatory pinnies!! I sewed this when I was tired so my machine control could have been better - but its cute and I'm sure my friend will like it.

And after 7 months of this book languishing on the shelf...I finally made something from it. Surprisingly easy. Except the bit where it said fold in seam allowance - tack - stuff - gather. The thread snapped 3 times whilst gathering - so I used embroidery thread in the end...sucessfully.