Extended break

Starting from today (and I know it's not August yet!) I will be taking an extended break from my shops and blog for the whole of August. I will also be stepping away from Twitter (eeeek!) and Facebook too. Cuteable will still be going but with only 2 posts a week. I am long overdue a break from trying to cram in posts and network and a whole month without posting fills me with dread and makes me feel quite giddy at the same time!

I will be spending time with these monkeys and my bigger monkey too! I have banned myself from making anything to go into my shops and only to undertake craft things for us/gifts (I couldn't do a whole month without making anything!) I am allowed however to design new things on paper and develop ideas but not actually make them.

Wish me luck with staying away from technology although I may sneak in from time to time as a month is a fairly long time! Promise to visit when I come back? :D

My Creative Space

Remember the fabric strips from Monday? Well I've only gone and ironed them and started making something! And I said it would take a year - pah! :)

I had a definate plan for these rectangles but it keeps changing so I am going to leave them on my table for a while to see when inspiration strikes. The grey below the rectangles is a wool blanket type material that I picked up from Sams thinking it was felt but it is much better and I'm going to have to look for more!

And these are the fabrics I am working on today (and hoping the first bit will be finished today too) I tried to budle them up artfully but it looked rubbish so here they are laying on the floor :) There will be no wip shot for this piece of work as it is going to be a birthday gift for a little boy who turns 1 at the very start of September and I think his mum reads my blog!

For more wonderful Creative Spaces then you need to visit the queen of the Creative Space, Kirsty of Kootoyoo.

Craft Juice Tuesday

Now without fail I do these every Tuesday over on Cuteable and I thought it was about high time I did one over here! What is it? Why, it's Craft Juice Tuesday where on a Tuesday you choose the things from Craft Juice that have caught your eye and blog about them - simple! Here's my picks for today (and you can see 10 other things I have chosen over on Cuteable!)

I think it's the colours in this bag that I like although the shape is pretty pleasing too! Get this cool bag from Jentwinkle.

I've chosen this beautiful baby book as it was made for us (well our new baby niece!) by the very lovely Ruth of Tip Top Toppers. It's so well made as well as looking gorgeous!

I just fell for this riot of colour - isn't it fabulous? These polymer clay canes can be bought from Deco Sweets.

To balance up the baby genders I thought I would feature this cute card from Molly Moo Designs.

Star Wars with added bling - how fabulous is that? Get this funky necklace from sassyNpunk.

Why not head over to Craft Juice and find some things to make your own blog post - let me know if you do so I can check it out!

Fabric strips - mmmmmm

Don't they all look dreamy there drying on the washing line?

I got these fabric strips from the scrapstore on Saturday and I initially only picked up a couple as I was going to use them for my handmade business cards. However, an idea struck so I grabbed all the bits that I could see that didn't have selvedge along one side (and thinking of it I should have grabbed those bits too!) The idea has stuck and you may see the fruits of this idea by this time next year, going by my track record anyway! Btw the whole lot of these cost me £1 - yep for two washing lines full!

I also grabbed these wool offcuts as they are the perfect size for either chicken doorstops or pincushions. The wool is deliciously soft but firm and I can't wait to get making with these :) Louise said that they had rolls and rolls of this a while back but it all sold - good job I make good use of scraps!

What a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

We had such a fun afternoon yesterday at the Leeds Scrapstore - we all went, Matt, me and the girls and met up with lots of lovely people such as Kirsten, Mich, Tracey and others including Louise who runs the scrapstore. We managed a good rummage through the stock, a good natter and of course, some tea and cake! The girls also had a rummage and then made things with what they had found.

There are lots of lovely bins and shelves to rummage through.

There are lots of things to look at - I love that heron!

Look at the giraffe and the chandeliers.

I was good and resisted the buttons (but didn't resist some fabulous fabric!)

Kirsten and Matt having a good natter!

Two busy crafters!

It was a great day out and come Septemeber when I will have full school days to myself I will venture over again :)

Some more fabulous post!

I really am a lucky ducky this month - I recieved yet another fabulous parcel yesterday. Alison at Tweed Delights had ordered some fabric but the print turned out to be bigger than she thought so she sent it to me :) And look how perfect it is!!

Campervans :) :)

Ethel here is my favourite!

Thanks Alison - such a lovely thought and it's perfect for me. I will just have to think of the exact right object to make with it!

Sports Day

I honestly thought that sports day would have been rained off earlier this week but it carried on despite there being a fair amount of rain. The action only stopped after half an hour as the skies opened and it looked like water was literally being poured out of buckets onto the children! Here are some shots of Anya in action - the last two show the amount of rain if you look carefully!

Hockey girl

I think she spotted me! Check out what the little boy next to her is doing :)

It went in!

Junior javelin

My schwartz is bigger than your schwartz!

Erm what do I do with this again?

Tara and friend pinched my umbrella so I got wet through!

Views of the whole field - and yes, it really was that dark and gloomy at the end. Oh and I wrestled the umbrella back :)

Mmmmmmm snotty frogs spawn!!

It's not really snotty frogs spawn - it's Kiwi fruit jam! I whipped up a quick batch this morning using my mother in laws quick microwave recipe.

And I can tell you that even though it doesn't look very nice it actually tastes delicious! This would make a great addition to a Halloween party/kids party :)

P.S. Don't panic over the two posts in one day - normal slack service will resume tomorrow!

My Creative Space

Has been taken over this morning by two crafty little girls. We were up at 6.45am starting the end of school year teacher presents! Well the jam had been made earlier in the week but the cards and other presents were made/written this morning.

The class teachers got a jar of homemade raspberry jam (the girls picked the raspberries and helped me make the jam) a notebook with their picture on it (lovingly drawn by the girls) and a card (eagle eyed readers will recognise them as leftover party invites from Tara's party!) Above are Anya's class teachers presents - Mrs A - we love her!

And here are the presents for Tara's teacher Mrs W. We love her too :)

And the teaching assistants get a notebook with their picture on it too. They were going to have jam (goodness knows we picked enough raspberries!) but I didn't have enough jars! We are taking them up today so hopefully the teachers will be appreciative!

See the queen of creative spaces here - Kootoyoo.

Joan of Arc and her sporty little sister!

I bet you didn't know that Joan of Arc had a sporty little sister did you? Well she does!

Looking rather nice

Being pious

And ready for battle. I certainly wouldn't argue with her!

And here she is in battle with the marauding English or as she is better know, Sporty little sister :) Tara has sports day today hence the leggings!

She wanted to make sure that the teachers knew who she was and that she wasn't an English knight. Do check out the chainmail detail - it took me 4 hours to draw that all on! Remind me next time that it would have been easier to make Anya a long skirt!

What I am doing today

I am going to magically turn this little lot into a Joan of Arc costume for Medieval Day at school tomorrow!


I am going to be sewing up yet another hole in this much loved teddy bear.

I am going to be cheering at Anya's sports day (weather permitting)

And I am going to be doing all that with a bruised arm because of these new additions!

Have fun whatever you are doing!

P.S. Did you know that it is very hard to get a photograph of your right wrist if you are right handed and have a heavy camera? Well it is!

The two Bruces

Following on from Tara's successful day as 'Bruce' on Thursday I have these out-takes from teatime that evening. Anya wanted a Bruce moustache too and then they both hammed it up for the camera while eating tea :)

Funny girls!