Give-away time :o)

The give-away has been launched on my other blog...off you go for a chance to win some FABULOUS goodies.

Button Swap

When noodleBubble posted on twitter about a button swap I just couldn't resist ;o).  My partner was the lovely Anthea over at Tales from Mount Pleasant.  We swapped our buttons last week and here's mine...

 ...aren't they just gorgeous.  I think my favourites are the love hearts button and the yellow cats eye type button, athough it changes everytime I look at them.  Here's the buttons I sent to her...it's funny how mine are all bright, darker colours and hers are pastel colours.  I just love how we're all different and steer towards certain things :o).

I also sent a felt Button Fanatic brooch too...think I'll have to make some more of these ;o)

Autumn or Winter?

Think we can safely say that today is winter :o). Took this picture this afternoon once it had melted slightly - it did look much nicer this morning. I love the sound (or lack of) when you have a good layer of snow - blissful.

I'm sorry to say that one of the craft suppliers that I love is closing down so I thought I'd take advantage of their sale - go take a look over at altered element before it finally shuts.

I took part in Polly's ornament swap and mine arrived this morning - just look at these gorgeous gifts. Got to post mine on Monday then I can show you what I made :o).

More supplies and.....

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous fabric from ebay.

Bargains from the charity shop.

........a necklace I made out of waxed cord and beads from a necklace that my delightful JJ snapped.

Fab day.

Supplies

Charity shop finds at the top, then a few buttons from a shop on Ebay.

Finished all the san pro (phew) so I can now start on the bags again.

Catch up

Cor blimey - I've got buttons swimming before my eyes!! I've spent the last three evenings sorting out that bag of buttons and integrating it into the household collections. There were so many that the kids button shoebox is almost full, and I've re-arranged mine too. I was in the charity shops again yesterday looking for jars to put them in and found three - perfect - and they only cost me £1.30 too. I already had the 2 old yankee candle jars so now I've sorted mine out by colour.

I also finished the baby snuggly for Claire, but in my haste to get it in the post, I forgot to take a piccie :-(. Never mind. Same for the holly fairy too, which was for Joxy. My mind is working so fast these last few weeks that I seem to be getting ahead of myself, only to realise later on that something has been forgotten (sigh).

Other piccies are my new book, which was ordered at the same time as the others, but they were awaiting stock, and the summer Living crafts magazine. Haven't had a chance to look at these yet because of aforementioned buttons, but hopefully later. Lastly is more alpacca wool from a lovely GP mama. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Lastly, we spent a lovely hour today picking more elderflowers for more cordial as we seem to be drinking it at an alarming rate ;-).

Can't be bothered to think of a title!

Bottled up the elderflower cordial this morning - there's actually 7 bottles but I'm pants at taking pictures so you can't see them all. Me and JJ have nearly finished one already (we do add water!)



This is the 'pencil crayons' tin that I made last night after I got in from my bereavement counselling group. I decided not to do one for the paint brushes as it will just get ruined by wet brushes.

And finally, father-in-law has been to an antiques fair today and stopped here on the way home with a carrier bag half-filled with buttons - it is sooo heavy. So this evening will be spent sorting buttons and doing some sewing (hopefully)

Don't you just love charity shops

While browsing the local charity shops again on Friday I managed to find these goodies...

2.5metres patterned fabric, and a green sheet and pillowcase (to use as fabric)....

buttons (of course) and 2 bamboo knitting needles (odd sizes but at 10p for the 2 who could resist ;-) ). I actually have 3 odd bamboo needles now, so if I keep looking I'll hopefully end up with a good set - all bought in the charity shop. Also in this picture is a bag with lead weights in for putting in curtains - another bargain at 30p. Altogether I spent £4.30.

Now to balance out the bargains I went for a stroke of the wool in a wool shop (I really don't need to buy any) and came out with some buttons - but they are just so gorgeous aren't they? These were 40p each so I only got 3 - not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but they are lovely to look at.

I hope you've had a look at the lovely handmade showcase since I put it in the sidebar thingy. I'm trying to persuade my brother to set up an online shop for his drawings as they are absolutely fantastic, but I think I'll have to keep working on him.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been 4 days since I last updated here!!! I've had a very busy week so far - started my group bereavement counselling on Monday evening, been out walking everyday, been very busy at home, been crafting, wooooohooo. It's been a good week.

I just had to show you these tomatoes that came in our weekly organic veg box...they are just gorgeous. Made them into a mozzerella and tomato salad.

I've got the scarecrow bag all finished with the liner and everything. I've also made the liner for the cottage bag but the lady asked if I could add a cockeral as well, so I'm just waiting for a gorgeous piece of fabric to arrive so I can finish that completely.

These arrived in the post yesterday morning from the very talented Claire - thank you so much (I'll be emailing you later my lovely).

Right, must dash as I'm supposed to be somewhere in 5 mins and I still haven't sorted out my hair, but I'll be back later with some other stuff.

Snippets

Firstly, apologies as we didn't do Free Food Friday last week because it rained Friday and Saturday so we didn't get out to pick anything.

The above piccies are of a couple of bargains that I found in the charity shops the other day. I actually got a metre and a half of gorgeous lace (looks handmade) which I'll have to photograph in better light as it's so dainty.

My cousin's funeral was today which I wasn't looking forward to, but it actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Bless you Tony.

Something about that cottage didn't look right so I've stitched some greenery around the door. Photo tomorrow.

Also got another bag order, and I've been informed today that the lady I'm making the other 2 bags for wants some more - I think she needs to see, and hopefully be happy, with the others first, but anyway - think positive :-).

Right, I seem to be waffling so I'll see you tomorrow with some more piccies.

Negatives and positives

Thank you all for your comments, they are greatly appreciated. Now I need to look at positives as there are far too many negatives going on at the minute so you'll have to forgive my next indulgence.

My ivory mirasol t'ika arrived this morning. It looks like the colour of a wash cloth when it's on its own but when put with the green it looks gorgeous. I've got 7 squares done with is so far.

Now I know I said I wasn't ordering any more bits but I went to make some of the things that had popped into my head the other day, only to find that I didn't have any of the felt that I needed - I hadn't realised that I'd used so much of my stash. Anyway, I went on Altered Element and placed an order. The service there is fantastic - I ordered 2 days ago and it arrived at 10 this morning.

Jute ribbons.

Hessian.

Buttons (of course).

And the much needed felt - woohoooooo. Right, off to keep my hands busy and try and stop my mind from whirring.

Felt and buttons and bits

I made the green keyring last night - I just love all those buttons. It should go in the Misi/Etsy shops - think I'll have to do it straight after I've finished here otherwise it will end up on my keys.

Anyway, before hubby went to work he asked me to make him a felt bag/case for his phone. He wants an iron cross on the front and a drawstring top. I've made the bag part but I'm going to get him to draw me the iron cross bit as I'd hate to get it wrong (he's very big into old VWs and this is one of the prominent symbols) so I'll hopefully show you that tomorrow.

This evening I've also made the CND symbol keyring (after checking whether it is copyrighted) and I've started another button thing - not sure whether this one will be a brooch or a keyring. I'lll definitely be making the CND bit into brooches as well as I'm really pleased with how the first one turned out. I'm going to do different colours as well as I didn't just want to do the black/white one.

Good Friends

Made the birthday card for my very good friend's birthday yesterday. She came today for lunch and it was lovely.

While sitting on my bum yesterday I also managed to sort through some more magazines my MIL had fetched for me.. Not as much inspiration in these as there was in the others that she brought. Good for recycling now.

And in the post today was a lovely parcel from another very good friend. Although we have never phsically met she knows me very well - buttons and ribbon for my hoarding addiction!
Thank you Claire - I'll get on with another 'designed by shell' item.

I've also started on another bag. I'll hopefully post more on that later.....

Too tired to think of a title

I should probably wait until tomorrow to post this lot but I know my head will be whirring if I leave it, so....

Here's the owl I made last night. Very quick and easy.

I won! I won! I frequent the paper-and-string blog where Sarah holds a give-a-way once a month - well I won this month, so thank you very much Sarah, it's gorgeous.

My Mother's Day present arrived today (and, yes, I have it early). I am sooo enjoying this TV programme - full of great things.

My MIL was sorting through her stash of magazines and asked if I wanted to look at them first. So here's a years worth of Country Homes and Interiors from 1998! I'm hoping to find some different inspiration in them.

Last, but by no means least (and the reason for my tired, tired person), are my charity shop bargains. My sister and I spent an hour browsing the 2 in my local town and I came home with a few things - buttons (of course), an embroidery hoop, pure wool (for penguins), tape measure, press studs, and a straw bag for carrying wool projects.

There were a couple of other things too, one being a must have book for me, no the kids, oh alright me, on Ivor the Engine (blushing). I'm sure this is the reason I love trains .... right, that's enough confessions, I'm off to bed.