Operation Craft Room

Oh my, where did the last three weeks go!!

Anyone else feel like time is whizzing by too fast?

Just a quick post to say that work is finally underway on my new craft room (aka the garage). I'm currently using hubby's bird room as my sewing room but he now needs it back so today we decided to start emptying the garage, listing the big things on eBay and taking the rubbish to the tip.

I'm really looking forward to recording our progress on "Operation Craft Room"

Happy Easter

I hope you are all enjoying the Easter weekend, the weather hasn't been that great here in Essex so not much venturing outside has been done but today there was a small glimpse of blue skies which meant we could have our Easter egg hunt in the garden. I seem to have become a "last minute mum" as I hadn't really decided on what sort of hunt to do. I had three Easter eggs and a couple of packets of mini jelly eggs to play with and two teens and a seven year old to please!

 I had a quick look on Pinterest and found a cute Easter bunny template that I could make into a basket. I made some smaller ones for the jelly eggs 

and three medium sized ones for the sweets that came with the eggs 

and three big ones for the golden eggs themselves. 

Luckily I had some leftover scrap booking paper in my workroom that was fairly spring like so I used that. I very nearly ran out of ink with the printer but a purple sharpie pen came up trumps in adding bunny noses and whiskers!

Tomas used the basket he had made at Hyde Hall earlier in the week to collect the mini jelly eggs and I added each of the children's initials to the medium and big eggs so that it was fair. 

Tomas was off like a shot around the garden looking for the hidden baskets

 and very soon all the baskets and the treats had been found.

It didn't take Jack long to devour his chocolates and Tomas wasn't too keen on sharing out the jelly eggs but we all had some fun and as Rachel said 

"You're never too old for an Easter 

Egg Hunt"

Not bad for a "last minute mum"!

The Simple Things

I've been enjoying the simple things today....

....is it wrong that I can't wait to try out my new toy!

Who knew window cleaning could be so much fun!!!

This afternoon Tomas and I spent a lovely hour on the sofa colouring and watching TV.

I'd forgotten how therapeutic colouring can be and I think I might have to treat myself to a grown up colouring book and some new pencils.

I'd love hear what simple things you have been enjoying lately.

Hello March and a February round up.......

Hello March!

Did anyone see where February went?

February half term seems a distant memory but here is a little snippet of what we got up to, it was lovely to get out in the garden even if it was only for a short time. It's amazing how much fun a few bed sheets and a table can be when you are six.

Spring is definitely on it's way but winter seems to be keeping a tight grip on the weather making for bright, sunny but extremely chilly days. 

The snowdrops are out but we are still waiting for the daffodils, a friend gave me this beautiful bunch which has really brightened our orangery. 

Happy Post has continued to drop through the letterbox, really it's left by the driveway gates but that just doesn't sound as nice - I miss the sound of letters dropping through the letter box.

Kimberley from Creative Chaos has replenished my New Zealand Earl Grey tea supplies, she also included this super soft cotton dishcloth, I'm building up a good supply of these now and they are just great around the house and wash up beautifully, once you get over the fact that they look too good to use.

The chocolate and liquorice didn't last long and I didn't share either!

Our penny challenge is going well, hubby is doing a sterling job of putting coins in the pot and I'm doing a grand job of ticking off the amounts on the sheet. We (I mean he) has been putting in extra so at the moment we are ahead of ourselves by a few days. I do think we will need a bigger jar before too long though.

And last but not least my self imposed fabric buying ban is also still going strong, I haven't even been that tempted either so lets hope that continues. I've been having a good tidy up in my workroom, a new regular "crafternoon" with some friends is helping me to keep it tidy and I have sorted quite a few of my fabrics which I hope to use in my upcoming projects. 

Well that was February, I'm looking forward to seeing what March brings as its a double birthday month (me and Tomas) and I am coming out of hibernation. 

Initial Heart Swap

Back in December I signed up for the "Initial Heart Swap" over at Cheryll's blog "Gone Stitchin".

This is a secret swap with the idea that you make and send something with a heart and initial on for your swap partner.
I received this bright and cheery fabric hanging heart from my swap partner Ali.

It is hanging very nicely in my workroom.

There were also some delicious Lindt chocolate balls included but, being the kind Mum that I am, I gave them to my daughter for a get together with her friends!

Ali doesn't have a blog (yet!) but I hope she is reading this as I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to her for being a wonderful and very quick swap partner.

My secret swap victim partner, was Carin over at Ullharvan.

I did a lot of secret stalking over at Carin's blog and ummed and ahhed about what to make before finally deciding on a knitting needle and crochet hook roll. 

 I love this colourful apple print fabric but I knew it would be too busy to add a heart and initial if I used it all over the outside of the roll 

 so I teamed it with some gorgeous olive green linen from my stash and added a splash of orange.

I found the perfect button in my stash too.

And as for the initial heart, I made it from some super soft orange felt and 

free hand embroidered the initial C.

One of these days I will get around to making myself one!

Send A little Love Swap

Happy Valentines Day!!!

I hope you have all received your "Send A Little Love Swap" parcels, I have already seen a couple of posts sharing what has been sent and received and they all look fab!

We don't do Valentine's Day as a couple, Mr Mad About Bags tells and shows me he loves me every day but I do always like to receive happy mail in the post from far flung places.

My swap partner for the send a little love swap was Angela from Pretty Little Things in a Box and my parcel came all the way from Singapore.

Lots of colourful stamps, and inside were all these gorgeous things. 

I love the beading detail on the edge of my crochet heart.

pretty Russian doll fabric

A lovely pin brooch with felted heart.

a needle felting kit which I can't wait to try as it's been on my list of crafts to try,

a heart stamp, some fuchsia pink lace and some pretty heart motifs.

I do love this hand printed tag that Angela made too with its little crochet heart embellishment. I would love to try out some stamping but I haven't a clue where to start, so any pointers would be gratefully received.

As usual in my rush to send my parcel off I only took a few photos, so I'm hoping that Angela might have a few more photos of what I made and sent to her on her blog.

Angela told me that she loved fairies and I found this pretty fairy fabric in my stash and made this project/lunch bag for Angela using a tutorial I found on Pinterest.

I did add some more things to angela's parcel but completely forgot to photograph them, they included a heart cross stitch kit and a hedgehog cross stitch chart.

I hope you all enjoyed the Send A Little Love Swap and thank you to everyone that took part and a BIG thank you to Angela for being some a lovely and generous swap partner.

You can add your Send A Little Love Swap link to the list below xx 

Hibernation Mode

I have been in serious hibernation mode recently, I really don't like these cold grey days so cosy socks and slippers, wearing a woolly scarf indoors, eating comfort food and drinking caramel lattes are mostly what has been happening here!

I haven't been completely idle, those of you that follow me on Facebook will know that I recently ran a charity auction on my page to raise money for three fabulous cancer charities, The Teenage Cancer Trust, Macmillan and Clic Sargent, following one of Jack's friends (Isaac) being diagnosed with leukaemia. 

I was overwhelmed with the generosity of my fellow crafters who donated their amazing makes for the auction, the album was full of wonderful goodies. It was a busy three hours, with bids being placed as soon as the auction was open and continuing throughout . It was also a nail-biting time for some bidders as the bidding continued right up until the very last second. 

We raised a staggering £400.50.

Isaac's family and friends also organised a coffee, cake and cocktails event and the total amount raised so far is just over £3,800. 

Cancer is such a bloody awful disease and these three charities work hard to support families going through treatment and beyond that I was glad to help in a small practical way.