Folksy Friday

This week sees the start of our summer holidays from school so I decided to cheer us up my Folksy Friday would be...... BEACH HUTS

A Pretty Beach Hut Filled with organic lavender by Pants and Paper

Handpainted Beach hut greeting card by Original Art by Clare

Framed driftwood beach hut collage by Kirsty Elson

Beach hut napkins by Charlotte Macey Textiles

Hope you have enjoyed a trip to the beach

x

3 Years ago....

my Baby Boy, Noah looked like this...

I can't quite believe its been 3 years! and what a gorgeous boy you have grown into!

Although you drive me crazy and I sometimes say that you are annoying, I love you more than words can say and I wouldn't want my world without you

You always put a smile on peoples faces just by being your cheeky self, you brighten up the worst days and because of you I see things in a completely different way.

So on this day I wish you Happy Birthday and hope you continue to be the sunshine in my life

x

Beautiful Dress

Over the weekend I found out that I had won a beautiful dress from the wonderful All About The Boys, the dress is by Poppy and I can't wait to see Grace in it!

Just in time for Noahs Birthday BBQ at the weekend, can't believe my baby boy is turning 3 tomorrow!

Oh and why not try winning yourself something as Karen has another competition running to win some books

x

Fruits of our labour

We will really miss the fruit trees and veg patch when we move and heres the reason why!

We didn't get any cherries last year as the birds beat us to it so this year I suggested we threw a fruit net over the tree to see what happened and as you can see it worked, we didn't get many as it is a small tree but at least we didn't lose them to the birds as I LOVE CHERRIES!

Also you can see we are now starting to pick raspberries with loads more to come, loganberries, gooseberries, our dwarf beans are starting to produce and our first runner bean! The bean plants look like they need to grow a lot more but hopefully they will continue to produce well into the summer and fingers crossed once we move too as we will be taking them with us (suggestions on how to do it are welcome!).

x

Force India F1 Summer BBQ 2010

Today was the Force India Summer BBQ and what a day it has been. The company decided to have a family BBQ at the factory next to the Silverstone circuit whilst watching the qualifying on big screens in a huge marquee with the rather loud hum of the cars in the background and helicopters flying overhead. We turned up not knowing what to expect but it was great, there was a bouncy castle for the kids, sports day races, drink, hog roast, BBQ, 2 race cars to look at and photo, raffle, and face painting....

and at the end look who turned up and signed the kids trophies (they won at the sports day races)

VJ Mallya (the owner of Force India) who thought Noah was a bit of a cutie

Tonio Luizzi

and Adrian Sutil (who gave Grace a huge hug)

Oh and in case you are wondering Adrian is scrummy! Sorry Rob but its true!!!!

x

In all the madness...

Alot of you will know that I am having to move house. I have loved living in my little paradise where the kids can run free in the paddock, we can enjoy the sunshine in a beautiful garden and enjoy the fruits (and veg) of our labour from the fruit trees and veg patch. Unfortunately our landlord has now sold the house and we are currently looking for a new house to call home (hopefully for only a year whilst I get my PGCE and then its onwards and upwards!).

Even with all this happening we decided to continue to grow some fruit and veg for this summer (hopefully we will be able to harvest some of it and take the rest with us) so we have planted strawberry plants (of which we have not had any strawberries!) we had other soft fruit already planted and are eagerly awaiting the raspberries, gooseberries and currents that are ripening beautifully.

We also planted some dwarf beans

some runner beans

Some tomatoes (which I have been sending plants out in the post to several other twitter and blog favs of mine so would love to know how theirs are doing)

We have also got some other bits and pieces but this was a complete surprise and was saved from being strimmed and how pleased I am now that it was noticed and yes it will be dug up and taken with us!

x

Folksy Friday

As I have been working on something with butterflies on I decided my folksy friday will be all about Butterflies.

This beautiful scarf is by Broomhead Designs

How cute is this bookmark by Jinja Jewellery

Something new but extremely gorgeous from Pants and Paper

And how bright & colourful is this brooch from Applique Originals

Maybe soon I'll be able to show you what I've been working on

x

Cupcake Swap

A few weeks ago I decided to take part in the Great Cupcake Swap on Twitter, I got given a swap partner and was told to buy 4 items for £5, unfortunately I didn't take any photos of what I sent so hopefully my swap partner did and I will post when she has done some photos. Anyway, I got given some cupcake cases in a pretty pink, some silver triangle toppers, some multicoloured stars and a star cutter which you can see below.

I wasn't sure what I was going to make so just decided to go for it, good job I decided to make 2 batches of cupcakes as my first batch ended up in the bin, the one thing I wont miss when we move is the old gas cooker that doesn't keep temperature, burns the stuff at the back and doesn't cook the stuff at the front! Luckily the second batch was ok, not great but ok.

So once cooled out came the icing and the glitter. I decided to make a classic white Christmas selection and a fun girly party selection, then the kids decided to decorate the remaining large icing stars with the left over coloured stars which looked really funky if you wanted to do as an alternative Christmas idea.

Let me know what you think of the cupcakes, just wish you could taste them too!

xxx

How Very British

I have managed to do some sewing today as I was trying to stay in the shade due to overdoing it yesterday in the veg patch and getting a bit of sunstoke.

Have been wanting to make some teacosies for a while and today was the day I managed to put everything else aside and make not just one but two!

If you like them you can find them in my folksy shop

x

beans & veg

We are lucky to have a veg patch the size of most peoples gardens at the house we rent at the moment but it does take a lot of work and has been neglected a little recently whilst I do revision for my teacher training exam but as the weather is getting better and the beans are ready for planting I thought I would spend some time in the garden! so the plan at the moment is to spend the mornings doing housework and gardening and any household chores and then the afternoon is revision, sewing, tuition prep etc. We will see how it goes!

Here is the veg patch this morning, as you can see I did start it at the weekend, but I'd like to get it all done by the end of this weekend so that we can plant everything and then just keep on top of the weeding.

And after I spent an hour and a half digging, weeding, turning over, playing with Noah, getting a horrid blister in the centre of my hand!

What do we think, any better?

Will tackle the rest of the stinging nettles round the gooseberries, redcurrents, blackcurrents, rhubarb and raspberries tomorrow I think and fingers crossed I don't sting all down my face again!

x

Exciting News

I've been wanting to tell you this for a while I was asked a few weeks ago to do a project for a magazine, yes, I'm in a MAGAZINE!!!!

Its a relatively new magazine called "MAKING GIFTS" and its full of lots of different projects, including stained glass, papercrafts, textiles and many more, its available from Hobbycraft and other craft stores and some of the bigger stationery shops (I think), it should be in shops tomorrow or Saturday.

Here is a my finished item and also my feature, let me know what you think

xxx

Brackley Craft Fair - April 2010

This Saturday I was at Brackley Craft Fair, I love doing this fair so I can see some of my friends but this weekend it was rather slow going for me, which means the rest of the weekend I spent contemplating craft fairs.

Here is my stall (I did hide the ikea bags after the photo was taken!)

and my friends Zenia from Handmade By Zenia and Jenny from Jemini Crafts stall (no point in hiding girls!)

Maybe you could leave a comment about what you think about fairs (any), my stall and any suggestions on how we can all make fairs better.

xxx

Fairies and Cakes

Yesterday Grace had a fairy tea party, there was 4 little fairies and a little elf (plus a couple of older brothers and sisters playing in the paddock)

We put up the gazebo and decorated it with balloons, pink and purple of course, cupcake paperchains (now in the playroom) and bunting (made from the leftover fabric from my cushions). The fairies came and played on the swings, then did some colouring of paper hats and such lovely colouring it was. We then had our tea; teeny tiny sandwiches, crisps, mini sausages, mini scotch eggs, mini porkpies, and lots of mini cakes!

Pass the parcel was played with a TinkerBell pressie at the end for each fairy and then it was back to the swings!

Think the party was a success!

xxx