Happy Birthday to me!

You may have guessed by the title that it is my birthday today - I'm 34 :) And I'm a very lucky ducky - just look what I had to open this morning!

This record player brooch was bought by Tara - isn't it cute? It was made by Sugar Cookie and I love it!

Anya bought me this gorgeous purple button necklace - she knows me well! It's from Planet Button on Folksy.

I LOVE Mikiep so Matt ordered me this Best Friends print :)

And he also got me some badges from Bean Forest :) I love their badges!

And we also went to an antiques place* yesterday after lunch (we ate out!) where we purchased these 10 Martin Beck books for the grand sum of £2 - yep 20p per book :) I'm hoping we enjoy them (I've heard good things) but for 20p per book we thought we couldn't really go wrong!

*I know these aren't antiques but they have a shelf full of books at 20p each for Help the Heroes and needless to say I always seem to come out with something from there! Plus we did buy some things as presents but I can't show you them here just in case my parents get internet before Christmas :)

My Place and Yours - Green

Yay - Vic has brought her meme back and as I like a bit of green I'm joining in!

This quilt top was out yesterday as a picnic rug for the girls and their friend who came home with us after ballet.

My nasty dining room carpet - it was put in by the previous owners and will hopefully be going this year :)

It must be a sign - the top of the newspaper showing off a booklet about how to make the most of your time. Do you think I will make time to actually read it??

The mint green roof of the girls toy house.

The view from our bedroom window - even in winter it's fairly green. It must be all the rain! I'll try and remember to take a photo in the summer - gorgeous with the trees full of leaves :)

A money plant in our bedroom - I'm glad it's green as there is an old wives tale that if a money plant survives and thrives then your home will never be short of money :)

And Andy Android - a present for Matt at Christmas from the girls. Seems he likes relaxing on the cheat quilt which is currently on our bed!

To join in with the green theme head over to Punky and Me.

Thrifty and fabulous Thursday

Thursday was a busy and fantastic day :) I went to see two shops - one already stocks Swirlyarts items but the chickens just weren't selling there so I collected them and have arranged to take in some new stock to see if that fits the area better than the chickens did! Fingers crossed! The other shop is in Accrington and is called One Planet and stocks Fairtrade, upcycled, and recycled goodies along with local items. As my stuff is upcycled and eco friendly AND I'm local I thought my work would be a good fit. And the manager agreed! So I have another order to make for there too :)

As you may have guessed it was also a good day for thrifting - and when I say good, I mean fantastic! Be warned - they are lots and lots of pictures!

The bottom 3 books were 3 for £1 and the top one was 20p. All look brand new!

These magazines were 20p each and have already been cut up for my inspiration book!

This is a huge piece of fabric and it was only £1!

This pair of tablecloths was also just £1 :)

Two shirts - the one on the right is a Fat Face one and cost £2.95 and the one on the left cost £3.49 and has tiny birds all over it!

This dress was £1.00 and is for Tara.

This tank top is for Anya but I'm not sure she likes it so her sister may well get it instead! It should have been £38 but I got it for £5.99 - still complete with tags :) It's handmade too!

Two cardigans - the one of the left was £4.49 and the navy one was £3.99.

This large button is actually a mini sewing kit :) It was mine for £1.

The Fraggle Rock jigsaw and the napkin rings are for Anya's Attic - I couldn't resist!

This little guy is part of a pair of bookends and were £2 :) He is resting on the best buy of the day......

A bookcase for £4! Yep really :)  The girls books were stored in two orange boxes and they weren't easily accessible so I'd wanted a bookcase for that space for ages. The thrift gods answered my prayers!!

And these clogs were £1 too!! I'm not sure if they are branded or not but the label inside is ripped.

I'm sure I have seen clogs with this kind of yellow and blue label before but I can't for the life of me find any reference to it at all. Does anyone else know if I'm right or if I'm imagining things? :)

*Yeah* The Eternal Magpie swooped in and told me that they are Torpatoffeln clogs :) I don't have to wrack my brains (and google) now to find them!

Love is in the air :)

Or it may well be with these new gift tags!

I listed them on Etsy and Folksy yesterday and they have already been featured in a treasury!

Fabric

My friend wanted to go to Sams yesterday so I just had to accompany her didn't I? She actually wasn't sure of the way so I had to go really! I got a *few* more bits of fabric and I photographed the best two for you.

Cute robots :)

Magic trees :)  Both fabrics are by John Lewis and quite expensive normally. Lets just say I paid nowhere near the retail price!

Look it's me! Being slightly famous!!

Artists' Hang Out from Lewis Rennison on Vimeo.


I'm in the red skirt being the life model! I look really cross and grumpy but I was trying to concentrate on not moving :) If you are near Colne/Skipton etc and are interested in attending Artists Hangout then look at the group on Facebook - it's a great way of meeting lots of fellow crafty/artistic/musical people.

The video was made by Lewis Rennison :)

My next big project!

About a year ago I blogged about the camp blanket that my mum gave to me so I could cut the badges off to use on my own blanket for the sofa. Well I have finally 'found' a blanket that will be perfect for it. I say found in inverted commas because the perfect blue blanket was in my stash all along and I didn't realise! Oooops! Maybe a case of too much fabric?

The patches are a mixture of some that belonged to my mum (and my sister as she gave me her camp blanket too - nice sister!) and some that we have collected since then. It's surprisingly tricky to find sew on fabric patches when you visit somewhere new!

Although judging by the pile I have, I'm not doing too badly!

The blanket will be backed with something (I'm not sure what yet though) and the amount of patches to be sewn on will keep me busy for a wee while!

{This Moment} Mummy and Tara drawing

Tara - home from school with a sore throat but not ill enough to lie on the sofa and she wanted to do something so I printed out some colouring sheets.

Me - desperate to catch up with some work. My work is in the foreground - all blurry - but I am drawing robot gift tags.

Inspired by Soule Mama.

Lovely things :)

I entered a competition to win a Betty Jo upcycled brooch and didn't think I would win......but I did! It was for a hybrid brooch and you had to come up with a mixture of two animals. I joined together an owl and a dolphin to make an owl-phin.

And there he is swimming and flying around! Isn't he cool? It arrived on Tuesday - only 6 days after it was posted in Australia! Liz makes brooches out of discarded lino, buttons, embroidery and lots of other things so is right up my street as a fellow upcycler. And I got an extra brooch too which is perfect for me!

An egg brooch with a chicken attached! Isn't it fab? I just have to decide which one to wear first!

Good and Happy Things!

I've been following Pip's Year Of Good Things and I have been joining in but not documenting it. Matt and I did a good thing this morning by going to see Anya in her recorder assembly and cheering her on - she was fab! I also did a good thing yesterday and went shopping with my mum - she had to return a dress and wondered if I would like to go too. So it was a good thing for her and me! You can totally do all the good things for yourself if you wish but I think it's good to strike a balance - strangers, friends, family, loved ones and yourself. So while I was shopping I bought a couple of things and decided to share - sharing the goodness as it were!

A cute Cath Kidston beaker for 50p - it's going in Taz as an extra cup, mug etc when we can't be bothered to wash up!

An apron - I can't decide whether to keep it as an apron and sell it in my vintage shop or to use the fabric for chickens.

And the cutest green velvet doggie draught excluder ever! He is called Dereck and he is fabulous! Love his little tongue!  I found him in the second shop we went in so I had to carry him around for the rest of the day. My arm hurts today but he was worth it :)

So good things all round!