Win Country Living tickets

I have two sets of two tickets for Country Living Harrogate (28th November - 1st December*) to give away!

And because it's nearly the weekend I am giving away a set of Robin gift tags with each pair of tickets! You can either enter here or on my Facebook page (or both and I will count you twice!)

I will draw two winners (one from here and one from Facebook) on Sunday 10th November. Good luck!

*These tickets can't be used on Saturday 30th November - the other three days are fine though.

Ooooooh - win some of my things :)

Look! You can win these 5 sets of gift tags made by me :) There are also a whole host of other prizes up for grabs over at Retrash. There are 6 weeks of giveaways organised ahead of the Kickstarter book launch (I'm going to be in the book too!) so keep visiting to try and win lots of upcycled goodness from people around the world!

Giveaway results!

Sorry for my tardiness in being late in delivering the giveaway results! They are here now and Mr Random number generator decrees that the winner is number 5!

See I even included the date and time at the bottom :) So congratulations to Dropstitch. I will be in touch soon!

Don't forget my giveaway post!

The original post is here - please leave a message on that post not this one!

You can win these gift tags!

You can also customise your own chicken pincushion/paperweight. Just tell me which fabrics you like and we can go from there. It includes Liberty and my Nana chickens but just be aware that I may not be able to replicate a particular chicken due to the upcycled nature of my materials. There will also be some other paper goodies on offer but I haven't decided what quite yet!

So go and enter and you can win some cool goodies :)

Giveaway time :)

I haven't had a giveaway on the blog for a long time so here is one to cheer up May (it's miserable, cold and wet here in the UK, not like Spring at all!) I will be offering a custom pincushion/paperweight*, and some gift tags sets including these lovely Lego ones.

I will probably throw in some other bits and bobs too so well worth an entry! I'm not going to make you jump through hoops and 'like me' on Facebook etc (although by all means feel free to!) so just leave a comment on this post saying hello, telling me a joke or just imparting a bit of knowledge :) Anything really! Just make sure I have some way of contacting you to let you know that you have won. I'll end this next Saturday (the 25th) so you have plenty of time to think up jokes! International people can enter too so tell your overseas friends!

Good luck!

*By custom chicken I mean that you can choose the type of fabric you want - colour, type, design - and I will email you photographs of the fabrics I have and we will go from there. Nana and Liberty chickens are included so fill your boots :) But do bear in mind that I may not have the exact fabric style you want so a bit of give and take will be needed.

Garden fun :)

It was another beautiful day here yesterday so I decided to get out in the garden and do some digging! 3 hours later and the patch where the rhubarb plant is going is clear of plants and so is the patch where the tayberries and gooseberries are going. Want to see some pictures?

The patch at the front is where the rhubarb is going - I just need it to arrive!

I'm in two minds as whether to move that camellia/magnolia bush at the front there as it's exactly where I want the rhubarb to go!

This is some sort of alpine that I planted when we moved in - it's still going strong.

The bin was rather full! Luckily Matt was gentlemanly and moved it round to the back for me :)

My bench needs re-oiling but doesn't look too bad from this angle.

Even though it hasn't rained for a few days it was still muddy out there.

Dirty fingernails - the sign of a good gardening session!

Oh and I haven't forgotten about the giveaway which ended last night. I asked Matt to tell me a number between 1 and 25 and he chose 19 which is Say It Says. Congratulations and I will be in touch to find out your details!

Giveaway time!

It's traditional to give something away if you are taking part in Blogtoberfest but not mandatory by any means. I wasn't going to until I spotted Lily Pad chicken in the pile waiting to be listed as one of my Liberty fabric paperweight chickens. He'd gone missing for a couple of days earlier in the week and when he got back from wherever he had been, he would only lie on his side and he moaned a lot. Lets see if you can spot what is amiss - you'll have to look carefully!

That's right - he snuck off to a plastic surgeon and had a bum lift! Now, many people wouldn't notice this, and he insisted he hadn't had anything done but I can spot chicken surgery a mile off* And of course all Swirlyarts chickens need to be 'au naturel' to go in my shops so he couldn't be sold. He doesn't want to live with me any more (he muttered something about control freak and I think he swore) so it's best he goes to live with someone else who doesn't mind his bum lift or his slightly sweary ways :)

So if you would like Mr Lily Pad to come and live at your house (with some other goodies thrown in too) then just leave a comment. It doesn't have to be anything fancy - just a hello will do! I will let this competition run for a week so comments will close at 8pm (UK time) on the 10th Oct. Good luck and don't forget to tell your friends!

*Of course I made a little mistake sewing him up (not tricky when surrounded by screaming children at ballet!) but it seemed much more interesting to make up funny stories about the characters I make. And I'm in good company although Jodie's stories are much better than mine!

Lucky girl, that's me!

Why, you ask? Because I have won two giveaways in the past few weeks :) I didn't even realise I was included in the first from Laura at Dropstitch. She reached her 4th blogeversary the other week and rather than holding an actual giveaway, she decided to send some things out to 4 of her readers. And guess what? I was one of them which was a very nice surprise!

It's a very cool emergency sewing kit :) I love it and can't decide if it's going in my bag or Taz the campervan!

It's upcycled from a paint chip card.

And the contents. It will prove to be very useful :) Thanks Laura!

The second giveaway is one that I knew I had entered! I had to guess how many bowls there were in a picture on Facebook from Dove Street Pottery and I guessed near the amount :)

The colour is much better than this photograph shows - a subtle green shows through and the colour is much more vibrant.

And the stamp to show that David made it :) I love it!

It's National Stationery Day today!

I bet you didn't know that did you? To celebrate I am going to host a giveaway of some of my stationery goodies :)

I will make a batch of upcycled goodies especially for you that will include stickers, envelopes, cards, gift tags and maybe a notebook too.

So the photographs don't relate to the products but I couldn't have a post without any pictures could I?

Just leave a comment on this post by Saturday the 28th May at midday (BST) and I will contact the winner that afternoon. I will post worldwide too :)

And the winners are......

The winner of Marie Claire Idees is.........

Number 17....... Therese

And the winner of the Swarovski Crystals is..........

Number 6 - LittlemouseLilly

Congratulations - I will be in touch soon :) And thanks to everyone for joining in!

Phew - last day of Blogtoberfest

I made it! 31 days of continuous posting! I didn't think I would when I realised that we would be away for half term in France but with some frantic blogging and timed posts I made it! So to celebrate I am hosting yet another giveaway :) This time it is for you jewellery makers/lovers of sparkle!

On offer is a mini drawstring bag of Swarovski crystals - there are about 50 in the bag ranging in size from tiny to quite substantial. Some are flat backed and some are the more traditional gem shape (you can tell I'm not a jeweller can't you!)

I will post anywhere in the world and the giveaway will end on 4th November at 12 midday. Just leave a comment and it doesn't even have to be in French this time!

P.S. Congrats to fellow Blogtoberfest bloggers - we made it!

First giveaway for Blogtoberfest

Grab yourself a copy of Marie Claire Idees which is a French publication chock full of gorgeous items :) There are tons of pretty pictures and the need to read French isn't necessary. Want to see some pretty pictures?

To enter the giveaway (and I will post anywhere!) just say something in French to me :) Nice things would be appreciated!

Edited to add that this giveaway will close on Friday 4th November at 12 Midday :)

Giveaway winner!

Morning! I've been up since 5.30am but lets not dwell on that :) The giveaway winner is revealed below*.

It's number 11 Oh Sew Beautiful. I'll try and get in touch with you to get your address :)

*I included the time and date at the bottom so you could see that there is no cheating!

Giveaway!

Some cute sewing instruction cards :)

It includes things like how to re cover chairs, wash crocheted items (you should never wring it apparently), certain stitches and these fab ones below.

You can make these fabulous pop group rag dolls - check out the sideburns on the one on the left :)

Funky kids play mats

Or this funky flared skirt.

All you need to do is leave me a comment and maybe tell me what you would make from these cards. The giveaway will close on Sunday 26th June in the evening!

P.S. There are more cards than shown here and I will post anywhere in the world :)

Sad and Lonely monster

Want to read about this cute, but sad and lonely monster that came to live with us last week?

Then you can do so over here :) Enjoy his tale!

Raffle for Japan

You are bidding for this group of Swirlyarts handmade goodies. There is a buttontastic doorstop chicken, a pincushion/paperweight chicken, three sets of recycled envelopes, four blank cards and eight sets of gift tags. In total this set of goodies is worth £50. (see below for more detailed photographs)

Bids are to be made in GB£ and each raffle entry must be a donation of £5. To enter, go to Global Giving and make a £5 donation, when you have done it come back to this post and leave a comment with your receipt number and you must also leave a valid email address. You can write the address in the format of mymailname ‘at’ hotmail ‘dot’ com. You may enter as many times as you like but each time you need a new receipt number. If you wish to donate £10 then donate two lots of £5 and enter the raffle twice! For help with the donation you can refer to this post http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-make-donation.html

Raffle closes at 12.00pm GMT 26th March. If you make a mistake or forget to add you email address please delete the first comment and re-write it. Winner will be drawn randomly. I will ship internationally so feel free to enter wherever you live!

The giveaway / raffle / auction is being held on this blog, in cooperation with a Bit of This and a Bit of That. We are in no way affiliated with global giving, that's just our chosen method of getting funds safely to the affected area.

Lots of sets of gift tags including Richard Scarry, chickens and recycled story books.

Set of four blank cards made from upcycled catalogues and magazines.

Charlie Brown, French and English dictionary recycled envelopes.

The chickens!

Good Luck and lets see how much we can raise :)

A few things

1. When I get out of the habit of blogging everyday it is very tricky to get back into it - does anyone else feel like that? It's not that I have nothing to talk about but I just can't seem to find the time! I will try to find the time this week but I am attending a fair on Saturday (more later) and need to get organised for that. Also point number 4 might get in the way of that too!

2. I have bought the binding for the baby quilt and only have two more squares to quilt before I can start attaching it. I don't think it is going to be ready for Monday as it will need washing and drying before it is gifted but hopefully this week.

3. I have loads of stock ready photographed to list but again it is all about finding the time! I have lots of chickens, hundreds of badges (and I'm not exaggerating - Matt is speedy on the ol' badge machine!) a few stickers and some gift tags. Oh and a bag full of stock that has come back from a stockist that I need to go through and see if I have photographs before listing it all!

4. I am taking part in the Quake Appeal for Japan that is being organised by Jo. I'm not sure yet if I am going to do a raffle or an auction and as yet I am not sure what exactly I will be donating but more on that later in the week. There are some good crafty names involved so far and if you want to join up then Jo would be ever so grateful I'm sure. Just get in touch but be aware that she is in Japan and they are being urged to conserve energy so it might take a little while for her to get back to you.

5. Anya woke me up at 6.05am this morning (on a Sunday too!) but I am going to take the extra time given and get on with our day. We might go to a local car boot sale but I will see if we get organised enough. We haven't had breakfast yet......

6. That is all!

My Creative Space

Today is all about finishing off the lavender hearts from yesterday (and they will be finished today!) If I get some extra time then I am going to continue with some Christmas presents I have started. I'm determined to get organised this year as I ran out of time last year. 2011 will be the year for being organised (hahahahahaha!)

I won these little fabric squares in a giveaway and I'm pretty sure they were from Jo at A Life In Lists but I'm not 100% certain. Anyway, they are going to be made into very simple patchwork quilts for the girls teddies. The girls themselves are getting quilts for Christmas (when I start making them) and I thought these scraps would be perfect for mini teddy quilts.

This is as far as I have got so far - not far at all but it's a start right? For more Creative Spaces, head over to Kirsty at Kootoyoo.