A slug and a card!

So while I was making Mr Henry Square-Smith yesterday I also made a cute little creature.

Tara took one look at him and declared he was a slug!! I think he is too cute for a slug but who am I to argue with a 2 year old!

Here he is relaxing in a tea cup - he likes his tea, what can I say!

Do you remember this flower brooch - it was a sample brooch for this order. I didn't want to throw it away so I thought I would turn it into a card :)

I quite like it :)

Introducing Mr Henry Square-Smith

Anya drew this picture of Henry the other week and asked if I could make him into a plush. I said that I probably could but I didn't have time until yesterday.

I started it after lunch and when Anya saw him she wanted a few modifications!

She was happy about the lack of ears (good job as I had forgotten them!) but was not happy about the hair. She wanted more squares on top of the squares that were already there and we had tears when I told her she couldn't! You can clearly see them in the picture but I couldn't translate it to the actual object.

She liked his legs but wanted pink shoes for him so he got some (they have to be square or rectangle as that is his name Mummy!) and I also added arms. Again different from the ones in the picture but she was happy - I'm toying with adding a button at the ends of the arms but we will see.

And she loved his teeth - he has his mouth open like that as he is at the dentist! I also added other bits to his eyes.

So for an afternoons work I have a happy Anya and there is also a happy Mummy as I got to use up more of my stash - oh and it's all reclaimed/recycled stuff too :)

New gift tags

I have been continuing use what you have month and I turned my attention to gift tags. I actually have a huge pile of stuff just waiting to be turned into gift tags and I'm going to start building up some more stock for my first craft fair of the year which is on 6th June. Here are the two sest I made yesterday afternoon.

These tags are Playmobil and came from the huge box that the girls new park set came in. I managed to get a set of 10 tags out of the sides of the top part of the box so there will be more sets likes this!

Matt reluctantly let me have this box from some of his new Star Wars Lego - it was too good to sit on a shelf or go into the recycling box! Both sets are available in my Etsy shop.

Treasury

Yeah - I am in another treasury. My How The Nightingale Got His Voice tags are in the bottom right This time one called Chirp Chirp curated by Boto Designs. Go give it some love please :) And thanks Boto!

Edited to say - the tags sold overnight :)

Thrifty Sunday

This is what I have been wearing today to go out to lunch and generally flounce about! I got the dress in London last summer for £6 from a vintage store - bargain! The shoes are the pink shiny ones I wear a lot that came in the fill your bag for £2 so they cost about 20p. Anya is wearing a dress and shoes handed down from her friend and Tara is also wearing a hand me down dress but with my shoes! Hope you all had a good Sunday :)

FYI - Matt is also wearing a thrifted t-shirt :)

Charity shop goodies!

My 100% thifted outfit yesterday paid off and I found lots in the charity shops of Accrington! The first shop we went into (I went with Alex of Daisie Days) is a cross between a second hand shop and a charity shop. I spotted these fabulously retro cake tins (my mum had a similar set when I was small) but they didn't have a price on. Imagine how pleased I was when she said the whole set of 5 was £2!!!

I have been baking this morning and two of the tins are now full of jam tarts and cakes :)

This picnic rug just shouted at me to be bought - at first I wasn't sure what it was but it is a zipped up picnic rug - perfect for when we go camping! And of course the girls had to test it out. £2

I collect magnets and this one was perfect for 30p!

This skirt is gorgeous and really quite heavy - it also looks like it hasn't been worn! I love the detail around the waist and on the belt too - £2.95

I'm not sure if this dress will suit me as it has a dropped waist and I am a pear shape but if not then Alex has said she will help me turn it into a skirt - well it was her idea so I'm sure she will help :) £3.95

The kids weren't totally left out either and they got 2 new books a a set of pick up sticks.

Now you may recall that April is Use What you Have month and that is why none of the things that follow are craft supplies (honestly!) but look exactly like craft supplies :) *

Imagine this said in my best Marks and Spencers ad voice (for those of you in the UK). This is not fabric but a very long scarf for Anya.

A very, very long scarf - it's about 10ft long!

These are not buttons but sweets carefully constructed to look exactly like buttons! See they are so clever that they have put them on cards just like real buttons!

And these aren't pattens but a cleverly constructed doubled sized book!

And this most definitely isn't a a pair of fabulous retro pillowcases that are crying out to be turned into chicken doorstops - oh no. They might actually get used as pillowcases!

*OK so I totally failed at use what you have month but with goodies like these, would you have been able to resist??

A thifty outfit for a charity shop expedition

The skirt I put on this morning inspired me to go and hunt out more bargains at the charity shops and boy am I glad I did!

Grey/green shoes - a charity shop in Bolton £3
Pink tights - Primark
Blue pleated spotty skirt - 50p from a hospice charity shop in Lancaster last week
Black cardigan - bought about 2 years ago from a charity shop in Skipton I think and it was new with tags still attached
White top - so old I have no idea where it originally came from. Pretty sure charity shop though.

I'm channelling A Cat Of Impossible Colour today although she does colourful tights much better than I do!

I got some great bargains today in the charity shops of Accrington and I'm off to take photographs now. You will have to wait until tomorrow to see the goodies though. I went with Alex - thanks for a great afternoon out chick!!

Don't leave a chicken alone in your craft room!

That is the lesson I learnt today :)

This is the plain chick I left in my craft room the other day.

I thought it would be safe to leave him but guess what i found when I went upstairs today? He has been raiding my button jars - naughty chicken.



So he has been sent over to my Etsy shop as a punishment in the hope he will find a new home to go to!

My Creative Space

I think I'm a day early with my creative space/what's on your desk blogging but there were such pretty colours on my desk today that I had to capture them!

Not such an inspiring shot but look a little closer.

Lots of yummy embroidery threads rescued from landfill via Sams my fantastic scrapstore.

White and palest pink

And as if by magic the whole lot is done! Not much creating but lots of nice and easy sorting from a big pile of easily tangled threads to something I will use much more now. The majority is done but there are enough threads left to fill another 2 of those small compartments - maybe later.

Fabulous Aceo's!

I am really pleased that I started Aceo Showcase otherwise I would have missed these gorgeous pieces of art from 5erg.

As soon as I had blogged about this Golden Willow Tree I knew I had to have it and would you believe that 3 others fell into my shopping cart at the same time - well at $2 a piece I had to really :)

The silver butterfly was destined to be a present but it is staying in my craft room as it is just beautiful - I can always go back for more! These pieces are all made from spray paint and they really are beautiful in real life - I am so pleased with them! I can heartily recommend the service too and the speedy postage. All in all an excellent purchase. I'm going to look at them again now :)

Mum and Dad's garden

There are lots of things I like about my parents garden but the little creatures/ornaments they have dotted around the place are my favourites - here are some of them.

These ducks are normally painted but my Dad has left them out to weather them a bit - I think it's working!

Grandad the dustman gnome - my Dad is a binman (refuse collector) and when we saw this we had to get it for him. It goes into the greenhouse in the winter and makes his apperance again in the Spring and always in a different part of the garden.

Hedgehog was rescued from a house that was about to be demolished - I think he likes living under the hedge.

This little garden of gnomes also like living under the hedge too - they are joined by three monkeys.

Can you spot the rabbit ears?He is hiding because I think he is shy!

And my favourite is this heart stone that my Dad found and brought home for my mum - ahhhh!

What we did yesterday

I thought I wouldn't have a computer today as we are away at the in-laws for the weekend but I do and the girls are outside helping Grandad plant potatoes so I have grabbed the extra time to do some of the boring jobs that need doing online, like whittle down the number of blogs in my reader to only 200! It was 280 earlier today and before Christmas was about 500 so I'm pleased to be down to 200. So while I was doing that I have been uploading the photographs of what we were doing yesterday - we called in to my mum and dad's for lunch and I took lots of photographs. Mum wasn't there though as she was at work.


There was lots of bike riding.

And sniffing of flowers

And posing with the 'Grandad gnome'!

And plenty of relaxing on mine and Dad's part!