March Monthly Make

Hi everyone I seem to have had a little blip on the blogging front these past two weeks and I kept finding the longer I left it the less I had to say, (for those of you that know me you'll find that hard to understand!!) but now I'm back and I have some photo's to show you of one of my March Monthly Makes.

We have this lovely old leaded light window in the hall which only has a small narrow space to put anything as the front door opens on to it.

 The window has been hidden behind plastic boxes full of books for the past few months whislt we refurbished the kitchen and I have been on the hunt for a small bookcase to fill the space but because of the size I couldn't find anything to fit. I looked into having a pine bookcase made and the quote was around £250 and I wasn't even sure I wanted pine anyhow!!

As I drove past one of our local charity shop recently I saw this dark wood bookcase that I thought might just fit, so in I went and measured up and yes! it was the perfect size. I ummed and ahhed for a few days as I wasn't sure if I could transform it, but then I thought why not have a go and see what it turns out like!!

So here it is in its just bought from the charity shop state....

And here it is after a lick of paint

 (well a coat of undercoat/primer and several coats of Fired Earths VERDIGRIS)

I initally had the idea of papering the back panels with some Cath Kidston papers as I saw that someone on Ebay sold it by the metre but then I remebered that I had seen a magazine at the Co-Op which had some free vintage/shabby chic papers with it and so I bought it and used those to make a patchwork effect.

 Here it is in its new home full of the kids books, I can't believe how well the bigger books just slotted in! 

Now I just need some pretty lovely knick- knacks on the top and It will be perfect!!!

I can feel another trip to the charity shop coming on!!! 

WISH I WAS THERE!!!!

Paul and Jack are in Cardiff today in anticitpation for tonight's game against Ireland in the 6 Nations, and to kill a bit of time they have wandered around the city and as we speak are on an open top bus being shown the sights and sounds of the City and it's castle!!!

Paul phoned to tell me that I would love Cardiff as he had seen lots of fabric and haberdashery stalls in the market and that he had just walked past this shop, just click on the picture to take a look....

Oh how I wish I was there!!!!!!

They sound like they're are having a fabulous time, having already watched Wales' under 20 team draw against Ireland last night they are hopeful for a win this evening.

Meanwhile I will remain jealous that I am not there and will watch tonights game on the TV

hoping that

a) Wales triumph over the Irish tonight for Jack's first International game

and

b) that I catch a glimpse on the boys in the stand!!!!

You never know I might get a few buttons too!!!!!!

a)

Toothache and Spring Giveaway Winner

Thank you all for my birthday wishes and comments regarding my "blasted tooth", I think that is how I shall refer to it from now no. Today saw another emergency trip to the dentist and although the pain had been bad in the morning it was nothing to the pain I was in by the time I got to the dentist in the afternoon. It seems that I have a huge crack in the tooth and although they are going to try and save it I think it is going to have to come out. I'm booked in for an appointment next Tuesday to see how things are, the pain did settle down this evening but has just come back with a vengence so I think I may be back to the dentist again tomorrow!!

Right that's enough about my "blasted tooth" on to nicer things now as I can reveal the winner of my Spring Giveaway




There were lots of entries so thank you to every one that took part and a big hello to my new followers.

Rachel helped me tonight by popping all the names into one of her jewellery boxes.

and the winner is......

Joy

Congratulations Joy
you have won 7 days worth of spring goodies and as soon as "The Spring Affair" book arrives from Greenmetropolis I shall pop everything in the post to you. I shall also post a picture of all the goodies together.

Toothache, Birthdays and Giveaway Goodies

I apologise now for the lack of photos in this post but I woke up this morning at about 4am with roaring toothache!!! and after an emergency visit to the dentist I'm still in agony and although I'm booked in for next week to sort the problem out I think I shall be on the phone tomorrow begging them to see me asap.

Toothache on your birthday is not good!!!!!

I'm so glad that we went out yesterday for evening for something to eat as I would have been a right killjoy tonight and cancelled...we did have lovely time though and returned home suitable stuffed and very tired!!!

This morning I was treated to smellies from Rachel and Tomas and a book from Jack and some lovely cards that the postman brought.

I don't know about you though but I seem to have reached that age where I don't really need anything for my birthday, there's lots of things I want!!! and probably like most of you I tend to treat myself throughout the years to my wants..and then when it comes round to my birthday I feel that I buying something for the sake of it so because of this quandary I still haven't decided what I want!!! A snazzy new camera bag, I know I should make one myself but I saw a saying the other day about cobblers children always being unshod well I must be the only baglady without a bag of her own!!! Or a Sizzix Big Shot!!!! mmmm decisions decisions!!!!

Thank you to everyone that has entered my Spring Giveaway and there's still a little time left as the deadline is midnight tonight. My intentions of posting pictures of my goodies for day 6 and 7 have gone by the wayside due to this blasted tooth but I shall tell you that I have added a fat quarter of my favourite Micheal Miller fabric Springtime in Paris, and a fat quarter each of a co-ordinating cotton in pink, yellow, blue and green. I've also found some lovely buttons too and I shall add some photographs tomorrow of all the goodies together.
 I have also finished the handmade spring surprise gift too and will pop every one's name in a hat tomorrow and then announce the winner!!!!

Good Luck Everyone and thanks for taking part, I've really enjoyed putting all these Springtime Goodies together.


Right seeing as this blasted tooth is still causing my grief I shall try and get some sleep as I think I may be up early again tomorrow waiting for the dentist to open!!!!!

Spring Giveaway Day 4 & 5

This is my catch up blog from yesterday so here we have goodies for Day 4 (yesterday) and Day 5 (today)

A giveaway wouldn't be complete without chocolate so when I spied these Springtime mini figures in my local Co-Op I knew they were just the ticket!!!

Day 5 saw me trawling the GREENMETROPOLIS site (if you're an avid reader (buyer of books - Justine from Down to Earth with a Bump) like me it's a great place to recycle/buy/sell books) I was trying to find a Spring titled book and as I'd spent the past few days checking the shelves of our local charity shops where I couldn't find anything with Spring in the title, not even a gardening book, Greenmetropolis came to my rescue and I found this book

Here's the blurb as my kids would say!!!

When Lou Winter picks up a dog-eared magazine in the dentist's waiting room and spots an article about clearing clutter, she little realises how it will change her life. What begins as an earnest spring clean soon spirals out of control. Before long Lou is hiring skips in which to dump the copious amounts of junk she never knew she had. Lou's loved ones grow disgruntled. Why is clearing out cupboards suddenly more important than making his breakfast, her husband Phil wonders? The truth is, the more rubbish Lou lets go of, the more light and air can get to those painful, closed-up places at the centre of her heart: the love waiting for a baby she would never have, the empty space her best friend Deb once occupied, and the gaping wound left by her husband's affair. Even lovely Tom Broom, the man who delivers Lou's skips, starts to grow concerned about his sweetest customer. But Lou is a woman on a mission, and not even she knows where it will end ...

So a Spring Affair is winging it's way to me as we speak (obviously this will cause a little delay in sending out the parcel but hopefully it will all be worth waiting for!!!!

I thought I'd do a little reminder as to what we have so far....

I still have two more days to go before my birthday so will be adding more goodies tomorrow and Monday.

Closing date for entry is midnight on Monday 7th March and I will pick a name out of the hat on Tuesday.

To enter just leave a comment and for an extra go just take the spring giveaway button in my sidebar and add it to your blog....

Spring Giveaway Day 3 and....

Sorry for not posting yesterday's goodies but I came down with what the children had at the beginning of the week and decided that the best place for me was bed. Luckily it was only one of those 24 hour achy tiredy things so I'm feeling much better today.
So day 3's goodies are three reels of these fabulous grosgrain spotty printed ribbons, one blue with yellow spots, one green with pink spots and one yellow with white spots. They are 15mm wide and have 4ft on each so plenty for all your easter/spring crafts

I've also given you a sneaky glimpse at yesterday's handmade surprise - Do you know what it is yet???

I know it's already day 4 but the light had already gone this evening so I hope you don't mind but I will use this weekend to catch up......

There's still plenty of time to enter and I forgot to say in my rush to post about my giveaway goodies that if you put my spring giveaway button on your blog then you get another chance to win, so come on ladies spread the word......

Now onto the and.... part of this post, as you know we had the kitchen refitted (and yes I do promise to post some pictures soon!!!)well all the cabinets are made from lovely solid maple wood and Paul was keen to bring some red into the kitchen (whereas I love green) to add to the warmth of the cabinets. Well luckily enough we seem to be able to marry the two together so here's a glimpse of some of our ebay and charity shop buys for the new kitchen....

Red and Cream Spotty mug and toast rack £5 from the charity shop

This gorgeous 1940's ceramic thermos flask jug which I just love, from ebay £10.74 inc p&P

a cute strawberries and cream retro sign from ebay £8.50

and when I was in the market today the fabric stall had the most beautiful 100% cottons in the mini polka dots and shabby chic patterns, many of them were in reds and greens so I shall be returning soon are with some cash to make some pretty bunting for the kitchen.....

watch this space.......

Spring Giveaway Day 2

Thanks to everyone that has entered so far, and although the daffodil tissues are great I think that we can do a little better today.......although I can't tell you or show you what it is as I'm also making one for my Spring makes me Sing swap partner Life on the East Coast so it has to stay a secret.

So this one will be a handmade surprise, it's spring related and I'm making one for myself too so it can't be that bad!!!!

I'll be adding more goodies tomorrow so there's still plenty of time for you to enter just leave a comment below maybe even become a follower and if you would like to spread the word about about my Spring Giveaway then feel free to take the button below and add it to your blog etc

Craft Jumble Bargains

Last Saturday Rachel and I ventured out in the rain and cold to go to a Craft Jumble at a nearby village, it was being held in the Village Hall and as the village is quite small I wasn't expecting it to be very busy. Well, you can imagine my surprise when we arrived and there were cars everywhere, we managed to find a parking space and popped in.
There were lots and lots of excited crafty people making the most of the bargains on offer. Here's what Rachel and I managed to buy between us for about £10

This little jars were too hard to resist, they are filled with what we thought were beads but now I'm not sure what they are. They are like bugle beads but without the holes, anyone have any ideas?

We bought frames and hoops and there definitely is a bird theme going on too.

Some lovely corduroy fabric which will be added to my stash.

And quite a few cross stitch magazines, I've been having a sort out of my cross stitch and probably didn't need to buy anymore magazines but there were some lovely patterns so I just couldn't resist.

Not a bad mornings work if I say so myself.......

Lot's to do this morning so I'll be back later with some more goodies for the Spring Giveaway.......

Spring Giveaway!!!

It's my birthday a week today and I really fancy holding a giveaway so this is what I'm going to do....

Each day until the 7th March (my birthday) I'm going to add a little something to the giveaway so that there should be a nice pile of goodies by the end of the week.

Some will be handmade, some bought, some thrifted, some found....

Today's prize in honour of St Davids Day is going to be.....

some Daffodil Tissues...

It's just a little something to get me started as my bed is calling me so tomorrow I will make a button for my blog so that you can share the giveaway news.

To enter please leave a comment below...

Because I don't know how heavy this parcel will be I am going to limit it to UK only, sorry my overseas readers but I will do another lightweight giveaway soon....

Happy St David's Day!!!

Just a quick post to wish everyone a

 Happy St David's Day

(photo courtesey of the stdavidsdaysociety)

being married to a welsh man and having two of  my three children tell everyone they were born in wales, when they were born in essex we will definitely be celebrating today...

Paul and Jack are really excited as they are off in just over a weeks time to watch Wales V Ireland at the Millenium Stadium, it's Jack first time at Cardiff and watching a live international game and he has been practicing "Hymns and Aria's" and would like to pack his suitcase now... (not excited at all)

I'm looking forward to some Welsh Cakes later with a nice cup of tea.....