Half Term Jelly Brain....

I think I'm seriously losing the plot this week, it hasn't been overly hectic or boringly slow -  just Half Term in February.....

We had some quite a bit of this

A liitle bit of this

Had a fabulous time watching this, even Tompom sat all the way through it

We enjoyed lazy days with friends and busy days with spring cleaning the garage, riding bikes and playing in the garden. There were schools shoes to buy, haircuts to be had and this is why

 I forgot to pick out the winner of the book giveaway

I 'm really sorry to those of you that entered I had it in my mind that I was revealing the winner on Sunday but when I checked it was supposed to be Friday!!! And even then I didn't make the Sunday deadline as I needed to do the ironing before the kids went back to school.

So with out further ado the person who will receive the book is.....

Emma Bear Forever

Thank you to those of you that commented and congratulations to Justine from Emma Bear Forever I shall contact you tomorrow for your address and pop the book in the post to you.

Right now I really must go off to bed as I'm supposed to be trying to get into bed before 11pm each night and with only three minutes to and a lot of tidying up to do I just might not make it...

Nope didn't make it to bed by 11 shall we say 11.15 instead!!!!

Stylish Blogger Award

I was recently (and well not so recently) nominated for a Stylish Blogger Award

 by

SewHappyGeek@ExcellCrafts

and

FairlyGirly

I've been meaning to get around to posting about this for some time and like Dottie Designs I initially thought it sounded like a lot of hard work (I have enough trouble fitting in blogging as it is) but I have to say that by linking to other bloggers this way it opens up a whole new load of blogs to follow and friends to make so thank you Jenna and Lorraine for nominating me.

To accept this award I have to do 4 things:

1. Thank and link back to the person(s) who nominated you

So thank you Jenna and Lorraine, you can check out their blogs using the links above.

2. Share 7 random things about yourself......

I can't do YMCA at parties anymore after seriously breaking my elbow jumping out of a tree.

I wouldn't have met my hubsband Paul if I hadn't of broken my elbow jumping out of a tree.

I live in a house full of gingers (even the dogs are red).

I used to be in the police force and carry a gun, now the only lethal weapons I use are needles.

I drink copious amounts tea during the day.

I once met the Queen.

I developed a love of photography which means that I will ask random people if I can photograph their feet if needed for a photo challenge...

Phew!!! that was difficult either I lack imagination or I'm the most boring person I know!!!

3. Nominate 15 people for this award and link to them

I know lots of you have received this award so I hope you don't mind I've tried to pick blogs that I like to follow but one's that some of you may not have visited yet.

so in no particular order

Yarn Round Hook

Are We Nearly There Yet?

Blooming Felt

Diary of a Tiny Holder

Down to Earth with a Bump

East Witching

Emma Bear Forever

Joy Knitt

Life on the East Coast

Modern Country Style

Scrap my Mid Life Crisis

Summerfete

The Blueberry Patch

The Syders

Woodbank Crafts

There is a real mix of blogs so pop over and say hi.....

Finally I have to let all of the above bloggers know that they have been nominated for this award which I'm off to do in a minute.

I know how busy we all are so please please don't feel that you have to accept this award, nothing bad will happen it's just a fun way of spreading bloggy friendships around the globe!!!!

A very random post......

This post is full of randomness as I'm a bit lapsa-daisy with my posting at the moment, I am hoping to come out of my winter hibernation soon.....

First we have the goodies that I sent to Lucey over at Lemonade Kitty as part of the "Spread the Bloggy Love Swap" you can see what Lucey had to say here.

 Then there are the goodies the I won over at Emma's blog Bagladee.

A lovely felt brooch

 and a flaming fabric brush roll

 Most of you seasoned CS shoppers will know that if you are after buttons you sometimes have to ask for the button box which they either keep under the counter or out the back, these gorgeous sparkly flower buttons should have been 20p, which I think was a number that the lady just plucked out the air, so rather than just 20p I gave her all the loose change from my purse instead....

 Now the kitchen and orangery are finished I've started buying bits and pieces again which is so nice as before I kept saying "I'll wait until we have a new kitchen before buying that" so I just couldn't resist these folkart placemats from Matalan and the red polka dots coasters are from Debenhams.

 Now I obviously wasn't thinking properly on my shopping trip to Matalan as there are only 4 placemats and coasters in the set and there are 5 of us in our family... I did have Tompom and Paul with me and although Paul was perfectly behaved Tompom thought it would be great fun to run up and down the aisles, which wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't been in the china department!!!! Hence we made a flying visit and now I shall have to go back!!! Only for the placemats of course!!!!

I know most of us have been trying really hard to shake off our winter blues and I think I've found just the thing to help motivate me... A new swap!!!!

After the success of her Spread the Bloggy Love Swap Jackie over at Sew Special Bears has decided to organise a Spring Makes Me Sing Swap to find out more just pop over to Jackie's Blog and add your name to the list 

Talking about Jackie reminds me to mention that I was lucky enough to be chosen by her daughter to receive a copy of this book

I'm halfway through it and it's proving to be a lovely light hearted read, especially after my last book, a fantasy fiction novel entitled the Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb which isn't my usual reading material but was fascinating all the same and I am a little tempted to read the next one in the trilogy...but back to A Winter's Wedding once I have finished it I would like to continue what Jackie started and pass this book on to another reader, so if you think you would like to read it or know someone else who might enjoy it then please leave a comment and I will draw a name out of the hat on Friday 25th February and pop it in the post to the winner on the Monday.

It's giveaway time again over at Hookin with LaaLaa, Lynda is giving away some of her favourite things in celebration of reaching 200 followers and her up coming birthday, all the gifts look fabulous and I especially like the retro fabric which would look great in my new kitchen.......to enter just pop over to Lynda's blog here and leave a comment.


Finally this is the most random thing on my post today but I think I finally have worked out where Tompom gets his bright red (ginger) hair from......

No it's not from me or his Dad, although we are gingers too,

it's from drinking IRN-BRU

We had some with our tea yesterday and I'm sure his hair is more orange today!!!!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and a terrific half term......

Crochet Practice

I've neglected my crochet over the past few months but having seen some of the lovely crocheting going on in blogland I decided to get my hook out so to speak...
Seeing as it was dark and cold outside I didn't famcy venturing down the garden to my workshop so I grabbed the bag of wool from Rachel's room to see what I could find. There was a selection of small acrylic wools from a crochet magazine and a large 5.5mm hook. So now the only decision left was what to practice. I would really like to make a blanket for the orangery so I popped over to Attic 24 and found a nice and simple wavy stripe pattern to try. It's great now that I have the pattern in my head and I have also learnt a new stitch which is great and have also tried my hand at changing colours. So this is just the practice run before I go out and buy some lovely soft snuggly wool to make my blanket from. Anyone got any suggestions as what yarn I should use????

Right I'm off to add another stripe before grabbing an early night.......

Spread the Bloggy Love Swap

This was the first swap of the new year and was organised by Jackie over at Sew Special Bears, I was partnered with Lucey over at Lemonade Kitty whose blog I already followed but obviously a little more nosiness was needed, purely for research mind!!! So Lucey and I emailed some of our likes and dislikes across the airwaves and I have to say that we have much more likes than dislikes which I personally think is a good thing!!! But what I want to know is how Lucey knew that my new favourite colour is red, as I haven't posted any photos of the new kitchen with it's red accessories yet!!!. Now Lucey was much more organised than me and sent out her parcel nice and early whereas due to illness and general family life I sent Paul out early Saturday morning to post mine off so that it got there in time for today (Phew! thanks Paul and Posties as Lucey emailed earlier to say that it arrived safely).

I waited patiently until the older two were at school and Tompom was engrossed in playdoh to open my parcel...

...and when I did the smell was heavenly!!! I just wish I had a smellivision monitor thingy so that you could smell it too (come on computer buffs we need smellivision monitors!) Now the package radiating this lovely smell contained this fabulous heart

 

in the sweetest fabric

 and just the right red for my kitchen is also had a handmade label attached made from my favourite Micheal Miller fabric "Springtime in Paris".

I love the "Garden Fresh" button which just happens to be in all time favouritist sage green colour!!!

Lucey I've been smelling my red heart all day but can't work out the scent please can you put me out of my misery???

Now if that wasn't enough red heart gorgeousness there was more to come.....

This super cute Scottie Dog Postcard which is going on show in my workshop with all my other swap goodies and a metal heart cutter with red ribbon which I am going to hang in my new kitchen.

 One of the swap items had to be edible and Lucey sent me this delectable chocolate heart from Betty's which is a shop I think that Lucey has mentioned on her blog before 

which as you can see I polished off whilst enjoying opening the rest of my swap goodies...

 

 

 Fully sated I was able to open this next package sealed with a strawberry label

and inside was this Mary Engelbreit notebook, which I had to prise out of Rachel's hands when she got home from school today, I'm keeping this in my kitchen to for shopping lists, ideas and to do lists.

Also a really unique Love Bingo number card which I'm going to frame and hang in the kitchen too, 

and this rubylicious red beaded bracelet

 which I'm looking forward to wearing to add some colour to my colour lacking wardrobe!!!

Lastly here's a snapshot of all my lovely swap goodies together.

Thanks Lucey for being a fabulous and patient "Spread the Bloggy Love" swap partner and thanks to Jackie for organising such a super swap and if you pop over to Jackie's blog I saw earlier that she's already organising a Spring Swap....

Bleurghhhhhh!!!!

That's how I've been feeling lately I'm not sure if its the come down after such a hectic time with the kitchen refurbishment or just me in general. I just don't seem to have any oomph! My days seem to pass in flash of unfinished never started jobs to do and when I finally get everyone off to bed all I want to do is flop down on the sofa and eat rubbish or sit on the computer looking at what everyone else is doing but not actually contributing much to theirs or mine own blogs etc!!!

BUT........

I decided that that it's time to stop making excuses and  to give myself the proverbial kick up the bum

• YES I have a nearly three year old running about causing wonderful havoc all day (especially when he's tired (read from about 2pm till 6pm) BUT he'll soon be off to nursery school and I wouldn't have missed this time with him for anything.
• YES I have two older children who need time with mum once Tomas is off in the land of nod and who like to stay up that bit later (read 9pm) to watch telly and chat BUT I love the fact that they do want to spend time with their old mum and not shut themselves away in their rooms.
• YES I now have a husband at home full time suffering from arthritis a disease which is a pain in the bum BUT we make the most of the days when he feels good to achieve what we can and take it easy on the days when he has a flare up, it also means he has had the opportunity of spending lots of quality time with the me and the children especially Tomas but also means that he gets extremely tired and achy at the end of the day.

So (I was going to say from tomorrow but what the heck) from right now that's it my bum has been well and truly kicked and it's time for some action........
there's those elephant in room jobs that I need to do, and I have decided that rather that pretend they don't exist I'm going to work through them and get them done, but that's another post altogether!!!! I can feel the shame already! Please tell me that some of you have them too  you know the one's gifts for friends birthdays that you still need to make/finish/start, pen friends to write to, pay it forwards to finish and send to name but a few!

I decided to take the pressure off for now and to just make for pleasure rather than beating myself up about websites/shops etc the list is endless of want to makes/must finish/would like to start/try and I'm hoping the monthly make challenge will help with this.

My photography blog has also been a little neglected of late so it's time to dust off the camera and get snapping, especially as the weather has been really lovely the past few days.....

So that's my kick up the bum sorted anyone else need one too!!!!

If any of you lovely bloggers want to join my in my fresh start by giving yourselves a kick up the bum you are more than welcome to leave a comment below or maybe even post about your own kick up the bum. I've found it to be most helpful (a little sore mind but very liberating!!) and although the journey may be a little bumpy I'm sure  no I know we'll do just fine...........

A Monthly Make 2011 January

Amazingly even amongst the chaos of the kitchen refurbishment I still managed to complete one item this month. Well technically I suppose it's two items as I made two of the same thing!!!!
Jack was invited to a surprise birthday party by the mum's of two of his classmates and unbelievably the children managed to keep it a secret from the birthday girls for over a week....
Jack wanted me to make them a birthday gift and asked for personalised cushions, they had to be exactly the same as the girls are BFF (best friends forever for those of you that weren't sure!)
I have come to the conclusion that I work much better under pressure as there wasn't much time to make these and I made up the pattern as I went along.....


I'm really pleased with the outcome especially using cross stitch for the names and now have orders from Rachel, Jack and Tomas to make something similar for them.....


To find out more and to join in the making fun just pop over to The Felt Fairy by clicking on the picture link below.

Our new Porch

January seems to have passed in a haze of builders, tea, and lack of sleep!!!! Also my 9.30pm computer curfew is still in force (the computer is in Rachel's room temporarily)which means my blogging time has been drastically reduced. I still have some much to show you all with regards to the kitchen but first things first, I promised to show the pictures of the new oak porch we had fitted on the side door. Unfortunately the porch didn't get the recognition it deserved as work started on the kitchen the day after it was fitted and then it was non stop!!!!

So here are the before photos

we inherited a flat roof extension from the previous previous owners, which originally only had one window and the door, and as I like to keep things symmetrical we added another window on the other side to even things out. We then also added the orangery and although the walls are staggered this side of the house is now quite long and we felt that the side door needed and bit more umph!!! Initially I considered a white painted wooden porch because the house is Victorian, but couldn't find what I was looking for. Then Paul suggested an oak porch and we spent several months looking at other peoples porches whenever we were out and about (sad I know). We finally decided that an oak porch was what we wanted and found a fantastic company via ebay!!!!

http://www.richwoodoak.co.uk/

Measurements and design were all confirmed via email (which I have to say was a little scary and I checked the measurements lots of times before finally sending them off) and then Richard and his father in law arrived early on the Friday morning to erect the porch, the quality and the craftsmanship is second to non and I would totally recommend them, we have future plans to knock down the garage and replace it with an oak cart lodge so I've no doubt that RichWood will be visiting us again. Hopefully the weather will be better next time as I did feel sorry for them watching out the window as they erected the porch in the pouring rain....

The pictures below were taken during all the kitchen work as our builder Ben was also tiling the porch roof for us with some clay tiles that we had bought, again from ebay!!!!

And finally here is the porch fully tiled, leaded and ridged!!! (the ridge tiles weren't from ebay but from a local reclamation yard!!)

We're really pleased with the outcome and now my only job (she's says adding it to the long list of other jobs!!!) is to repaint the door, frame and step......