Slightly less busy than an elf... for now...

Hello,

 

I hope everyones Mondays were not too bad :)

 

My making and crafting craziness has slowed down slightly now, my elf boots are all done:

 

 

And the Christmassy biscuit village I decided to make for when my friends came round on Friday didn't go to badly either :):

 

 

I think they enjoyed it, I thought it was quite tasty!

 

Hehehe, Lalaloopsy had her eye on it before my friends came round, bu I told her she'd have to wait :P

 

 

Saturday morning I managed to get all the headbands I wanted to make for my little cousins, all ready for Christmas eve! I am really thrilled with how they came out- I hope they love them:

 

They are modified version of the gnome hat pattern I made for the innocent smoothie, I added a gem, ribbon and a pom pom to make them super girly and kawaii! :3

 

Hehehe, they barely fit into the bags (Which I popped a chocolate freddo in too :P)

 

 

Just as I started to finish all my Christmas crafting projects, I and my family(!) have managed to start another- a Christmas table runner! We were watching the Christmas episode of the great British sewing bee and they did this group table runner project where each of them decorated their own square on the table runner and then they all got sewn together. It was lovely and we thought it would be nice to do the same :0)

 

I took some measurements of our table and came up with a design:

 

The middle panel and two end triangles are in red Santa fabric, all of the borders and dividers in a gold Christmas fabric and the four rectangles (with a cross in them in my sketch :P) are the rectangles me, my mum, dad and brother are going to decorate one of each!

 

This morning I drafted up the pattern, cut out all the fabric pieces and started sewing, here is one of the triangular end pieces so far, just to give you an idea of the fabrics:

 

Hehehe, now I just have to come up with a design for my square.... I have a couple of ideas so far.

 I will keep you updated on my family project! :D

 

Speak to you again soon,

 

Byeeeeeeeeeeee XxXxXxXxX Tis the season to be jolly, falalalala la la la la! xxx

 

P.s. My shop will be closing on the 18th of December for Christmas, so get in quick if you have any last minute shopping to do :P But it will be opening again shortly after Christmas day, with new stock coming for the new year! :)

 

Bye OXOXO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fathers day bunting

 Hello,

As I am sure many of you will know this Sunday is Fathers Day :D As my dads handmade gift I wanted to make him something fun and happy. I picked up some cool ice cream/lolly fabric in Rainbows in the Isle Of Wight but I wasn't quite sure of my plan when I bought it but it made me smile. About a week ago I decided on bunting! My dad had to throw away his other bunting as it had faded because it was outside in the sun (and rain) for the last two summers. I found some more fabric and ribbon from my stash and..... here it is all finished:

 

 

I have wrapped it up ready, I hope it likes it :0) I went with Chelsea football club blue (my dads favourite colour because he loves Chelsea! :)

 

On Sunday we are all having yummy banana splits to celebrate Fathers Day too :P mmmmm.... I can't wait.

 

Hehehe, I hope you all have a lovely weekend whatever your plans are!

 

See you all soon,

 

Bye XxXxX

Gift Wrap Giveaway!!!

Hi guys,

 

I thought it was about time for another giveaway- this time I thought I would make it a bit different though :) Usually I give away things you can add to your creations but this time I thought I would giveaway a bundle of items you can wrap your creations with so that you can have fun making them extra pretty for when you give them to people as gifts!

 

Here is the prize package:

 

 

- A packet of butterfly stickers (to decorate labels or notes :-)

- 5 crochet heart danglies (made by me, to tie onto bags etc...)

- 8 large coloured parcel labels

- 8 cute mini white labels

- 8 pink stripe candy gift bags

- And 3 little ladybird clips

 

Here are some close ups:

 

The giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere, any age!

 

All you have to do to enter is:

 

1. Be a follower

2. Leave a comment below

(Make sure to include some way for me to contact you in case you win e.g. a ravelry name or a blog/email address :-)

 

And if you want, just for fun you can mention in your comment your fave ever gift you have made someone :P

 

Giveaway entries are open 1st of June and the winner will be announced on the same day.

 

I hope you like the prizes and gooood luck!

 

See you soon,

 

Byeee

xxx

Driving teacher gift and the K-factor!

Hi,

A few posts ago I mentioned I wanted to make my driving teacher a little thank you gift. I thought about loads of different things and looked at patterns on ravelry but when I was out I saw a cute teddy with 'Best teacher ever!' written on its little shirt and thought instead of making I might do some customising, to turn it into a best driving teacher teddy! I did some stitching on the shirt and added a little felt learner sign, here is the finished product! :):



Me and my mum wrapped him up in some cellophane with a bottle of wine too as an extra gift :-) I see my driving teacher tommorow as I am doing an extra day of driving called the Pass Plus Scheme (just some thing meaning you get to practice motorways and stuff), I hope she likes her customised teddy!

In other news....

Recently my mum bought some books and the company were doing an offer on the K-Factor knitting book (just £1!). My mum very kindly bought it for me as a little surprise present because she knew how much I enjoyed the K-factor stuff a while ago on Harry Hills program :P My dad also found it really funny so I thought I would make him something from the book for his upcoming birthday. I decided on a mini knitted character (a mini version of the main knitted item on the program :)

He came out quite sweet so I was happy, the book is really funny to read too so I had a laugh whilst making it!

Im sure my dad will like him, hehhehe :P

I'm off to get a good nights sleep now, ready for my day of driving!

See you all soon,

Bye XXXX

My first Mochi Mochi

Hello everyone,

On Sunday me and my family went round my dads friends house, for Christmas him and his wife and kids got me a copy of the Mochi Mochi knitting book. All the stuff is very cute but as of yet I hadn't got round to making anything from it. I wanted to make something to take round but couldn't think of what, then I thought why not make a decoration out of one of the mini Mochi Mochis in the book! I had a look through and decided to make on the mushrooms (I left out the little side mushroom and just made the big one part). I was quite pleased with how it came out, especially as it was my first time of using DPNs too (Yay, I learnt a new skill! :P):

He matched the blue bag we took some other favours in too :)

Mr mini mushroom was liked alot, especially by my dads friends wife :0)

I hope you are all having a fantastic week!

See you all soon,

Bye Bye xxx

Gifts galore

Hello,

As many of you will know it is Father's Day on Sunday! I down yesterday and thought about what I should make my dad as a gift. I have bought his other presents (a teapot and two teacups with a bunting decoration and a Queens Jubilee commemorative PG tips tin with the monkey on it- we love the little monkey and my dad loves tea :0). I thought of a couple of different things but then I saw the custard cream keyring kit on top of my cupboard, I promised I would make my dad one when I got the kit from my nan for Christmas but hadn't yet got  round to it yet.

I thought what better time to make one for him than now, it even fits with the tea time theme of my other gifts :P Here is how it came out:

I hope he likes it :-) I had to knead the clay A LOT it was very hard, my fingers kinda hurt now!

But, that didn't stop me doing a bit more work on the bag I am making for my Nan for her 70th. I finished the embroidered design a while ago and today I stitched down the straps, now all I have to do is stitch the finished straps to the bag. I have until Saturday evening. I will get back to stitching tomorrow when my fingers are OK again because I have to hand sews the straps rather than machine sew as our machine can't sew through that many layers!

Hehehe, I tried to make the flower look super happy :D I hope it make my nan smile!

I hope you are all having a brilliant week!

See you all soon,

Bye XXX

Jubilee pin cushion, nans birthday present and naming a turkey!

Hi everyone,

On Tuesday I finished the last of my AS exams so since then I have had tons of lovely wonderful crafting time! :D I have got so much done, It's amazing how many hours there are in the day when they are not full of revision, hehehe :-)

I finished my Jubilee pin cushion:

I didn't add a message to the back in the end as I liked it just plain :)

I also managed to start this tote bag:

(Hehehe, you can see where I have had the embroidery circle! :P)

I stitched the bag using the sewing machine after cutting out the fabric using a cardboard template I made from using another bag I had as a guide. Now I am just stitching the flower design on the front and then I have to add the handles. I think I might stitch a little smiley face on the flower :)

I am making it for my nan as a present for her 70th birthday, I will keep you all updated on my progress! I hope my nan likes it when it is done :0)

Some of you were probably now wondering about the 'name a turkey' part of the title, well let me explain.....

Before my exams my mum said as a treat for working hard at the end of my exams I could have a little treat (she also bought me some more vegan marshmallows to munch on during my revision :). As many of you will know I am vegetarian and I also am often concerned on the welfare of animals in the food industry and one day when I was looking up what producers used free range eggs, out of interest, and by chance came across the site of a place called Hen Heaven (http://www.henheaven.org/). It is a sanctuary for rescued battery hens and turkeys. I thought the rescue work they did was brilliant and when I saw their name a turkey appeal I knew what I wanted my exam finishing gift to be!!!

I had great fun trying to think of a name and in the end came up with 'Lord Gobble Gobble' hehehe, I thought it sounded very regal! :0) Yesterday my mum paid and sent off the name I chose and hopefully I will get a certificate through the post  sometime soon :) One day maybe I may even vist little 'Lord Gobble Gobble' :0)

I am going to do some more stitching on my nans birthday gift and dream about all the cute little turkeys at Hen Heaven :) I hope you are all having a nice week,

See you soon!

Bye xxxxx

Brother's Birthday! :D

Hello everybody,

Tomorrow is my brothers birthday! :D This year he got his cake a bit early as my dad had to work on Saturday so wouldn't of had time to finish it for Sunday then so he started early and presented it to my brother yesterday. My brother loves space and anything to do with it, this is the cake design my dad came up with for him this year:

A to-scale (and factually correct) cake representation of the first footprint on the moon!!! The flag behind the cake is also made of icing and the ridges underneath it are made of chocolate rice cake crispie and the moon rock chunks are made of coloured icing, so everything, as usual is edible :-)



It is super delicious but after two days we have barely made a dent! Hehehe my dad said there was 36 eggs (!!!!) that went in to it so luckily we all have good stamina when it comes to eating cake :P lol!

I didn't quite create anything near that scale for my brother but I did design and make him this little ami Nasa astronaut:

I tried to get it a little bit factually correct by adding the little badges and straps on the space suit, I really hope he likes it :0) I also got him a Domo plush because he keeps admiring my collection and two trading card thingys with real moon and mars rock on them!

In other news I sent of these ten chicks/snowmen I made for a cancer charity's chick knit that some of you may remember I participated in last year:

It took me longer than expected to complete them but I am glad I managed to finish and get them sent off before Easter :)

I'm off to eat some more cake now, hehehe :P

See you all soon,

Bye xXxX

Mothers day bracelet

Hello,

For mothers day I wanted to get my Mum a special piece of jewellery :) I looked on lots of different websites at some very beautiful pieces of handmade jewellery but I didn't know that any of them would be able to arrive in time for Mothers day :( I was talking to my Dad and he said why not just make my mum a special bracelet or necklace? I had a think about it and had a look in all my craft boxes and found some bits and pieces that gave me an idea for a bracelet inspired by the one my dad bought me for Christmas:

After being slightly worried at first about how my jewellery would turn out (especially as it was going to be one of my Mums main gifts) but I am really happy with it :) I hope my Mum likes it!

I was also happy because I learnt a new skill, making felt beads :D I had lots of wool in the needle felting kit I got the Christmas before last so I had a large selection of colours, they are fairly simple to make and there is a great tutorial here! :-)

Now I have go to finish some of the little knitted chicks I am making for charity, like the ones I made last year! :)

See you all soon,

Byeeee xxx

Mums Birthday!

Hola!

Today is my Mums Birthday :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!!

Hehehe :)

As always I like to make a handmade gift, as well as giving bought gifts when it is my family's birthdays and for my Mum's birthday I decided to make her a mug cosy. I made one using one pattern but then when I had finished it it wouldn't fit any mug in the house! So I looked for another pattern and found one for a lovely cabled mug cosy :) I am happy with how it turned out, I hope my mum likes it! She is opening her gifts when we all get home from school/work:

I used a little heart button to fasten it :-)

I'm off now to sing Happy birthday! hehehehe,

Bye xxxx

Im back! (+ valentines day update)

Hola,

I am back from holiday now, I would have kept you all updated but there was no internet where I was so I have had to save my pictures till now :) Hehehehe, I will try not to bore you all :0)

First up HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!!!!!! I was a bit sad I couldn't wish you all a happy, lovey, dovey day on the 14th so I had to do it now! My family loved their bookmarks so I was very happy :) I was also super happy because my dad gave me this lovely chocolate lolly from 'Chocolate island' (one of my fave shops on the IOW) as a valentines gift...

It was sooo delicious, I had to wrestle it off Domo, Etty M and Candy first though! Hehehe :oP

For dinner my dad also made heart shaped pizzas and garlic breads for dinner too, here are the garlic breads but the pizzas got eaten before I could take a picture:

They were super yummy too!

I really hope everyone had a lovely day :-)

In other news, I now bring you a picture of the infamous choc dipped Ice cream, I think I wrote about these in my last IOW holiday post but didn't remember to take a picture, but this time I did and this time I had a super duper double one.... mmmmm....

It was very big, but not quite as big as the one outside the ice cream shop.....

hahaha :D

I will leave you all with the picture I took of view of the sea I saw as I strolled along eating my ice cream :)

Keep an eye out tomorrow as I will be opening my special giveaway of the little parcel goodies I picked up whilst on holiday :D

See you all soon,

Bye! xxxxx

Families Valentines gifts- all finished!

Hello all my lovely readers! :)

Last week I finished my mums valentines book mark gift, meaning all my valentines gifts for my family are complete :D I have really enjoyed making them all, I hope my family like them :0)

Last night I wrapped them all up and added 'Handmade with love labels' here they are- all ready for the 14th of Feb!

For my mum I decided to do little birds in the end. The pattern is a modified version of a little bird motif from an old cross stitch magazine my nan gave me a while ago :-)

I am sooo excited about giving them to my mum, dad and brother, so far I have managed to keep everything a tip top secret....... Now all I have to do is get them to the Isle of Wight, where we are going on holiday to tomorrow!!!!! :D

Wooooo, I am excited about that too :P As many of you will know I visit there regularly and really love it <3

Whilst there I am going to look for some bits for a special giveaway when I get back

Hehehehe, see you all soon,

Byeeeeeee XXXXXXX

Valentines family gifts - WIPs

Hi everyone,

This year for Valentine's day I decided I wanted to make my Mum, Dad and brother a little gift to remind them just how much I love them all! >o<

<3

I have been in a cross stitching mood lately so I thought I would make them all a cross stitch book mark as they all read a lot more than I do! :-P

For my brother I decided to use the pattern I got in the cross stitch kit I was sent by my swap partner in the space swap as he really likes space and reads lots of space books. I moved the different motifs around (so they would fit on a book mark shape :) and then added some extra little stitched stars:

I made the little astronaut blond, so he is like my brother, hehehe:



It is backed with material and I added a little ribbon 'loop' to the top with one of the 'handmade' charms I was sent in the Christmas swap by Laura. I'm going to do the same with my parents book marks too when I have finished stitching them :-)

Here is what I have done for my dads one so far...

I am really happy because I designed this cross stitch pattern myself! It is the first ever full cross stitch pattern I have designed myself :D

My dad loves teapots so that is why I chose them as the theme for his bookmark.

I'm going to try and finish his off tonight so I can get started on my mums ready for the 14th! I haven't decided on a theme for my mums yet though.... I'll have to get thinking!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend ,

See you all very soon,

Bye! xxxx :D

Last preparations for Christmas!

Hello everybody :)

ITS NEARLY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! :D

Today I was doing my last preparations ready for the big day :) My dad baked the biscuits for me and my brother and then we decorated and put together this very yummy looking (if I may say so myself :0) shortbread biscuit house, I shaped the snowman biscuit at the front:

Hehehe I think the side bit looks like a face :-) We had to add the round biscuits and wafers as I messed it up and decorated the side pieces the wrong way round so there was a big gap between the sides and the  roof  :P Silly, silly me! But oh well, it worked out in the end and I've got lots of it to eat in the morning! mmmm.... :P

Tomorrow is the day I always go round my nans house for the evening so I made sure I got her Christmas mouse all done today, here he is (o:3

He is one of the Dickensian mice  from Alan Darts pattern. I adapted one of the hat style patterns slightly and added a bell to the top to make it look more elf-ish and then gave a little snowball. Finally I added a pretty Christmas star (from my Christmas swap parcel) to complete the look!

Tonight I am also going to make one of my quick n easy Christmas tree decorations for my Aunt who will also be at my nans tommorrow :)

Now all thats left to say is.....

Image from: here

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!

Just in case any of you are too busy having fun on Christmas day and I don't get to wish any of you happy Christmas then :)

I'm off to get started on this decoration then, see you all soon !

And remember.... You better not pout, you better not cry because Santa Claus is coming to town o<]:0)

Bye :D xxxx