Gifts galore..

This post was supposed to be a birthday post, as both my girls have had birthdays this week. I am itching to tell you all about our exciting weekend, but in the last 2 days I have received the most wonderful swap gifts and feel that I owe these kind and talented ladies a big thank you, so I will save the birthday piccies for next time.

My first parcel to arrive was the Spring swap, my partner was the lovely Helen from The undomesticated scientist . They arrived in a huge box, how exciting!!
All the gifts were absolutely perfect, Helen had obviously studied my blog .

I received this wonderful up cycled jeans bag, with such pretty lining. It's already been adorned with a crochet flower and has had it's first trip out to the knit and natter group, the perfect size.
I also received a bright and fun lavender heart with the words " laugh" embroidered on the front, this is hanging near Isla's bed, I am hoping the lavender will help her sleep.
Starbucks coffee was also included, as was the ingredients to make crispy cakes, Helen has obviously took on board my limitations in the kitchen.
I also received several balls of wool, crochet magazine and some pretty ribbons.
Thank you so much. xx

My second parcel was a heart swap, my partner was Debs from Two bones and a bagle .
Debs wrapped her beautiful gifts in the prettiest heart paper with little labels on each, I had every intention of taking a photo to show you, but as I missed the postman yesterday I had to collect the parcel from post office whilst on the way out to lunch, obviously I couldn't be expected to wait until I got home to open it, so I will admit to opening it whilst sat in the car outside the post office, very childish I know.

If you look closely you will see I have already started eating the little heart biscuits, they are very yummy!
Lots of lovely little heart goodies, flip flops, chocolates, muffin cases, heart sandwich cutter, lip gloss and that's just the start, look at this wonderful gift......

..... a beautiful cushion cover, isn't it lovely?

Some beautiful tiny heart bunting.
Debs and I have both had a little chuckle at this as I sent her the very same tiny heart bunting, great minds think alike and all that. The pattern came from the talented Julia Crossland . I was planning to make some more of this bunting to hang above Isla's bed, now I don't have to.

Thank you ladies, I have been utterly spoilt.
Thank you also to Jackie at Sew special bears and Beki at Ramblings of an everyday mummy for organising these swaps.

Just enough time to show you a few little bits I have been playing with this week....

The beginning of some more Royal bunting.

Still enjoying the flowers, this one is now on my jeans bag.

Some little booties for my Folksy shop.

Speak soon xxx

Bieber Fever

O.k, I will admit it, I thoroughly enjoyed last night and think I may have caught the dreaded Bieber Fever !!!
He put on an absolutely fantastic show and there is no denying the boy can sing, dance , play guitar, piano and the drums.
There were guest appearances from Willow and Jayden Smith and I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mr Will Smith himself ( more my age group ), but this wasn't to be.

It was definitely money well spent to see Dylan's face light up for the whole 2 hours.
He grinned from ear to ear, he sang at the top of his voice, jumped up and down and waved his very expensive glow stick the whole night.

This is Dylan ready to go to the show...

Waiting for the show to start, reading his FIFTEEN POUNDS programme ...

His beaming face.....

Mesmerised watching the show....

The only problem we have now is that Dylan want to learn the guitar and have street dancing lessons, but it's OK , he assures me he can already sing !!!

Finally a great big WELL DONE to Lucie, who yesterday pointed, leaped and twirled her way through her grade 4 RAD ballet exam. She has 6 long weeks to wait for the results.

I have a very, very busy weekend coming up as its Lucie's birthday on Tuesday, she is having a surprise weekend, will post again on Monday to let you see what we got up to.

Speak soon. xxx

All is well with Dudley.

Thank you for all the kind comments I received yesterday regarding Dudley, I am pleased to say he is almost back to his normal cheeky chappy self.
We had a bad night with him crying and I had to sleep downstairs with him, but he's gobbled his breakfast and right now he is having a mad moment racing round the room as fast as he can.

Now for a Ta dah moment..............
I started a cardigan a few months back, using a pattern from a King Cole pattern book, I started to struggle on one particular bit ,so it was soon popped in a bag and put to one side, but after a recent visit to town I was amazed to see how many crocheted cardigans, waistcoats and shawls there were, I found myself thinking " I could do that" as I walked around the shops. That evening I rescued my lonely cardigan and tried again, do you want to see? ...............................

I'm itching to make myself something else now, I might be fashionable in 2011 !!!

Speak soon xx

Poor Dudley

Good morning folks.
I am up extremely early this morning as poor Mr Dudley has to go to the vets for an operation.  He has a rather large hernia that needs repairing.
It's amazing how quick you become emotionally attached, I have been worrying about him all night, I think its going to be a rather stressful day.
He is sat at my feet, looking up at me with his cute squashed face, as if to say " hey mummy, you have forgotten to give me my breakfast" .

I stayed up quite late last night and have managed to finish another pair of booties, I am really enjoying making these at the moment.

Daisy green mary jane booties, perfect for Spring.

Hopefully I will get time to post later and give an update on Mr Dudley.

Speak soon xx

Birthday and giveaway winners

A great big happy birthday to my little man, 9 years today!

Nine years since he decided to surprise us a month early, but weighing a very respectable 6lb 13oz.

Nine years of charming me and melting my heart with his cheeky grin.

Showing him how much I love him by having to sit through a Justin Bieber concert next week (aargh) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking forward to watching him grow over the next 9 years into a young man.....hopefully with better taste in music .

                                                      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A big thank you to every one who entered my giveaway, I was blown away with the number of responses and wonderful comments I received.

The winning name pulled out of the bowl is .................Country Girl , and the 2nd name pulled out for the smaller giveaway prize is Clara.

Congratulations ladies, please email me your details and I will pop these in the post to you.

Before I leave you tonight to go and have my third helping of birthday cake, I will share with you some of the little projects I have been up to this week.....

...a few more roses made, still to be finished with a leaf and brooch fastening.

Another little girls bag, this has to be my favourite so far, perfect Easter colours, I have been hoping to get a few of these made up for my folksy shop but they keep getting re homed before I get that far.

A cute little pair of Mary Jane booties. The pattern for these came from a booklet of crochet booties that I found at the charity shop, the patterns were way too frilly and over the top for me, so with a few rounds added and a few taken away  this is my version.
Hoping to pop these lovelies in my shop soon.

Right it must be coffee 'n' cake time.
Speak soon xxxxx

Charity shops and Folksy swaps

I was so pleased with my latest charity shopping trip that  I had to share my beauties with you all.

Just in time for Easter 4 pretty egg cups, I think they may need some egg cozies to finish them off.

I absolutely love these tea cups and saucers, I love the colours and have crochet ideas whirring round my head .

Such a pretty storage jar, it was bought with the intention of using it for my herbal tea, but with the arrival of Dudley it now has a new purpose and is filled with doggy treats . His treats are now close at hand for me to reward him when he is being a very good little boy, which he is all the time.

I have been lucky enough to take part in a fun swap on Folksy this week. I was contacted by Kate via my Folksy shop, to ask if I was interested in a shop swap, the idea being she chose something from my shop and I chose something of similar value from hers. I was definitely up for this after  seeing the wonderful jewelery she makes, a great opportunity for me to treat myself to an individual handcrafted item without feeling guilty.
This is what I chose...

.... a beautiful necklace made with vintage buttons, love it !!

Take a peek at Kate's shop, you can find her here .

Just to let you know, there is a link in my sidebar to enter my very first giveaway, open until March 15th, winner announced on the 16th.

Speak soon, hopefully with some crochet updates. xx

Time for a giveaway !

About time... I hear you cry.
Yes I am having my first giveaway,  this was planned for reaching 100 followers but has taken me a while to get it sorted.

First prize will be this beautiful sewing box...

...a rose corsage, 2 note books, 2 bath melts and a heart decoration.

There will also be a runners up prize of 2 pretty note books and a rose corsage.

All I ask of you is that you leave me a lovely comment... how easy is that !!  An extra chance to win if you mention my giveaway on your blog, just let me know you have done it.

Well it's been over a week since my last post and most of that time has been spent cleaning up wee !!  Yes that is right, puppy and toddler wee, I decided to toilet train Isla-Rose and Dudley at the same time.  Today I saw light at the end of the tunnel, after a trip out to the garden centre I returned to find a clean puppy and Isla-Rose has been wearing big girl pants for 3 days, Hoorah !!
Thank goodness for wooden floors and kitchen roll.

Forgot to mention the giveaway ends on 16th March, This will also be my little mans birthday.

Speak soon xx