I'm still here!

And I haven't forgotten about showing you the button brooches I have been making either - just a bit busy! I'm going out for lunch to a play area with my friend Nicola and her little boy so that's why this is a short post - I've got to try and get another Cuteable post done before I go!

In other news I have joined the Gardening 365 group on Flickr - it's meant to be able to motivate me to do something with my gardens. Hmmmm we will see! Here's a piccie of my garden last September - it has been tidied up a bit but I quite like this overgrown look!


Be back later!

Oh - nearly forgot!

Weekly weigh-in this week was 12 st 4 so the same as last week! I'm sure if I had more time to put into it then I would loose weight quicker but it's going well so far!

Fame!!

So I know I was going to post about my button brooches but I'm going to write about some publicity that I have been receiving lately. The first bit of publicity was from Muddle Jewellery who featured me in a Treasury she made over on Etsy. I think Chicken Pox fitted right in!!

There he is cosying up to the green and white spotty bag on the second to bottom row. Thanks Muddle!

And imagine my surprise when I logged onto Dawanda this morning to look for things for Cuteable and there were my recycled chicken gift tags staring back at me! And in the top row too!

Right, that's it from me today as I have just put Tara down for a snooze so Anya is going to help me tidy the craft room :)

Giveaway!!

I was hoping to get the giveaway done in the 201st post and today the weather has been beautiful and sunny so I could get the photographs taken. I said I had been making ATC's and here they are. They aren't up to the standard of Jenny Flower's but I like them all the same! I have shown them to people outside the family and they have been well received (if not being laughed at is well received!)

First the Cheeky Chicken ones - snorkelling!


Buying a new house!

Going sailing

At the beach

Swimming in the lake!

And in the countryside.

And next up the alien disco ones!

So what do you think? A little naive I think but then again I'm not the worlds best artist! So the giveaway - leave a comment saying which 2 ATC's you like best and then I will draw a winner on Saturday 26th April and you will win your favourites ATC's!

I've also been button brooch making but you'll have to wait until another day for that!!

200th post!

Gosh I talk a lot!! So this is the 200th post but I'm afraid there won't be a giveaway until the 201st or 202nd post as I haven't got any pictures of what I will be giving away! Hope that made sense?

Anyway, I haven't been here for a few days as we have been away at the in-laws for the weekend helping to organise the quiz to raise money for the church in their village. P and O seem to get the short straw and organise most things to do with the church where they live but they also enjoy participating in the quiz. Dilemma until Matt states that he will run the quiz and I went along as a helper/scorer. I got to sit and make some things while I was there too - mainly ATC's. I don't have any photo's yet of them or of the button brooches I have been making but I'm sure some will come soon.

I do have photographs of my organised magazine piles though (and my craft room is slowly getting there!)

And some of the fancy labels :)



Anyway - it's bedtime so I'd best be off! Night night x

How much do I need this!!

Some clever straps that turn your magazine pile into an impromptu stool!!!! Wonder if it work for piles of magazine pages?

198!

For want of a better title! I can't believe that I am nearly up to 200 posts!! I think I talk too much! Well not a lot to say really other than I am busy sewing more business cards as we are away this weekend and finishing them off is something I can do while sitting chatting to everyone - good multi tasker me! I've also got some new things up in my Etsy shop - you have seen the button brooch already so I'll not bore you with that again but I have a new chicken doorstop up too. She's called Gertrude as 'red, black and white chicken' just didn't have that nice ring to it!!

Of course there were the jokes about what is black, white and red all over? The new Swirlyarts chicken of course! I prefer a sunburnt zebra as the punchline but Gertrude was having none of it!

One of those days - and weigh in!

You know it's going to turn out to be one of those days when you are woken at 2.30am by your elder daughter climbing into bed and she proceeds to wriggle for another hour after that! After a severe telling off she went back to sleep but then her sister started!! Anyway I woke up with a massive headache which I'm positive is a migraine as my teeth and face hurt too which tends to mean (with me anyway) that it's a migraine. Anyway, enough of the woes! I weighted myself and I'm down to 12st 4 which is down on last week. It's not a great deal over the past 3 (?) weeks I have been doing it and I'm sure I could loose more each week but to be honest doing it like this is working well for me!

I had a lovely surprise through the post yesterday - an ATC from the lovely Jennyflower. She was one of the ladies I sent my swirls too and she re-payed me with this little beauty. Isn't it fabulous?
Once my craft room is sorted (it's slowly getting there) then it will have pride of place on one of my shelves. And I finally finished one of the felt brooches yesterday and I'm pleased with how it's come out. What do you think??

I was nearly finished with the magazines in the front room but guess what I found upstairs this afternoon? Yep, another box of magazines waiting to be turned into envelopes! At least these ones have mostly been trimmed so they only need putting into the correct boxes!

Busy day!

I have a busy day planned today - we are going to a local play centre with some friends to have a big run around and a play and hopefully I will get some sewing done! I'm not planning on staying long after lunch as the magazine pages are nearly all done and I would like to get a photograph to show you the before and after pictures! I also got a lovely white linen skirt at the charity shop yesterday and I'm going to make it a bit brighter and more colourful so I might get something done towards that today - if I can find the fabric I want in all the mess upstairs!! Oh and the craft room still needs finishing off!!
See you later!

Oooopps!

I'd not realised that it had been quite so long since I last posted - sorry! I have been busy but just not sorting the craft room! It's still a tip although time has been put aside this week to get it finished. It would be simple if I was just tidying it but I'm going through each and every item and checking to see if I am going to use it again and whether it will be going to friends or end up being sold. And as you can see by the previous photo's there is an awful lot of stuff to get through!! I have also undertaken the mammoth task of rearranging this little lot into useable piles!

In case you are wondering what it is (!) it's my pile of magazine pages waiting to be turned into envelopes. It used to be a nightmare to wade through if a customer asked for a particular type of magazine i.e. comic or wedding. I'm now sorting them into the appropriate piles and then trimming the edges so they are ready and waiting to be turned into envelopes. However as there are about 1,000 pages there it is taking a while. I'm about 80% of the way through and it's looking a lot better - and I've got pretty coloured boxes to put them all in with fancy labels to go on the front!

I'm also working on some new brooch ideas that was inspired by a trip to the scrapstore a couple of weeks ago. They had these fab felt circles that are the perfect size for brooches and they will be 'blinged' up with buttons. I'm hoping to get one sewn tomorrow while we are at my mums so hopefully pics soon!