Lovely weekend :)

I may be burnt and i may be stinging but boy is it lovely out there still (its now 9.10pm and its still glorious sunshine!) We have the most fabulous neighbours here - one side passed over some 2ft high tomato plants that were excess to what they needed and the other side passed over 2 paddling pools (grandkids had bought a bigger one)!! Needless to say the boys have had a field day today, even once the water was emptied out they still carried on playing! Thats what washing machines are for! LOL

Here is a quick card i made this afternoon from the fab Bird Watching set from PTI I glossy accent'd the birds and the background is the new text stamps from this months release too :)I will have something special to share tomorrow, until then though, shhhhh ;)

A little too much sun...

Im not moaning, honestly im not - even though it stings like heck and feels like ive had a chemical peel! Im not moaning, i dont want the sun to go away, its never here often enough so i dont want it to take the hump and go away. Im not moaning that i have so much more to do in the garden and darent venture out there today for fear of making it worse........Im not moaning......Honest!! :D :D

Today im thinking a lot of aftersun, a lot of water and a lot of work INSIDE the house! LOL

Flying by...

..to say hi :) Each month i fall in love with a new set of stamps and this month is no exception! How cute are these little birdhouses! Im even wondering if i can incorporate some of the stamps when i decorate the chicken coop!
I covered the houses in glossy accents to give a shiney rounded look. The birdhouse was stamped and then cut so that when it was placed on the card with the ribbon between the pieces, it looks like the poles holding up the houses are longer than they actually are on the stamp.
I threaded the buttons with the twine and then attached to the ribbon with glossy accents.

Supplies used all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise stated.

Bird Watching Stamp set
Rustic wood buttons
Rustic White Cardstock
Chai ink cube
Cream rustic button twine
Hibiscus ink
Basic Grey patterned paper
Corrigated card (misc)
Espresso adirondak ink
Glossy Accents
Stampin Up ribbon

Blanket update...

As of last night i had it all sewn together and today i managed to finish one layer of the stitching around the outside. I still have a few more rounds to do and all the little flowers to finish off but overall its almost done!! :D How cute is this - and all thanks to Vanessa!!

Just got some new Papertrey goodies so will be playing with those this afternoon while the boys are making forts and mud pies outside - bliss!! :)

101 Giveaway :)

OK, so i was going to do a giveaway today as i reached 100 followers yesterday............then got another follower last night so its now the 101 giveaway!! :)

All you have to do is guess how many buttons are in the jar..........there are a couple of brads too but its the buttons quantity im after. Ive popped the ink pad beside it so you can guage the size of the jar.Post your guess in the comment section below and you get your entry counted to win the full jar........post a link on your blog and tell all your friends to try too and you get an additional entry (let me know if you have done this so i know to count you twice)!

There are also 2 sets of prizes just for posting a comment!

One prize consists of....

2 sets of Sizzix sizzlits
Black Stampin Up Ink Pad
Smirk butterfly ribbon
Celebrate Happy Birthday Ribbon
Thank you stamp
Absolutely Fabulous card
And another winner will receive 6 of the handy books i posted about the other day!You have until midnight on the 1st of June to get your entry in - Good Luck!! :)

Papertrey Blog Hop!

Today is blog hop day for Papertrey Ink. The task this month was to make something summery with the colour yellow. I really struggle with yellow as im just not use to using it! It was certainly a challenge and i have to say i really do like the card :)
Enjoy the blog hop and thank you for visiting :)

Welcome home! :)

Im home! Had a fabulous weekend with the girls. We set off early Friday morning and stopped by Cambridge and had a look around all of the fabulous buildings and watched the punting on the river...on the way down towards our stay near Epping Forest and it couldnt have been better - great company, great food (omg the peach cobbler was droolworthy!) and lots of things made! I did another 12 squares for the blanket (only another 23 to go!) and made a lot of cards..........warm hello (Hero Arts sentiment and Papertrey tea pot)......Happy Everything (Papertrey Tea papers and Butterfly stamps from the Spring tag set).....This way to Happily ever after - erm cake birthday card - what means happiness more than cake! (Cake is from the Anniversary Papertrey stamp set)
......Have an Enormously wonderful birthday. ( Hero arts stamps- Elephants) All papers used on the cards is Basic Grey unless ive mentioned otherwise)Click on the cards for a close up of the glitter spray used - so easy and rather addictive to use too, available via Crafters Companion.

And finally a cute misc card using the elephants set from Hero Arts.

A very productive weekend :)

Back to reality now and I have to arrange delivery of the chickens, sort out the chicken coop, prepare the veggie garden and the sun is shining like we havent seen it for ages - bring on summer!! :)

Hope you all have a lovely bank holiday monday and check in tomorrow for a give away as ive hit 100 followers!! THANK YOU! :)

The chicken house....

....is here!! We went to ask when it could be delivered so i can do it up (you know, the standard wood cladding painted cream with a little Hen Hotel sign) LOL and they said they could bring it straight round with all the feed etc. Oooh and that i could have it for £40 instead of £45! *does funky chicken dance* ;) Its a lot bigger than it looked at the warehouse so i think we are going for 6 chickens which they have said will have ample space (especially when we extend the run etc) :) Its almost half the size of my shed and you can just say see Jakes head popping over the top! Please excuse the garden, due to the rain and bad weather lately its become a little neglected!! (oh yes and with 4 boys you didnt think i would still have all the windows in my shed did you?? I need 2 pieces of perspex to get the 2 windows fixed!)

Ive become ultra organised and im sure dh is going to send me back as im becoming almost Stepford! LOL I wake at 6.30 and have breakfast ready for them all, yesterdays was croissants and OJ, todays was Coco pops and apple juice at the request of Ethan..........not sure how long until the novelty will wear off and they will go back to not wanting breakfast! For now though theyre all happy to go along with my little Suzie homemaker phase that im not going to complain! LOL

I mentioned the other day about not paying Emma B prices for mugs (£15.95!) .....well today in Pastimes they had just taken delivery of some fab EB style mugs (only £5!). Union Jack is currently Scotts favourite so i couldnt resist 2 of these mugs for the older boys :)
I dont think i will have time to update over the weekend as im teaching a class tonight and tomorrow i leave early for a girlie weekend :) Back Sunday night and hopefully to a fully male bonded/everyone friends/no one roped to chairs/all in one piece home :)

Good bargain day and good news!

I tootled off this morning to see if we could pick up some bits to try and get more organised at home and managed to get most of it all from the pound store!! Filefolder, clear pockets etc for paperwork and receipts :) I even managed to get a bargain set of boxes from the catalogue clearance shop - £2.99 for 7 and arent they pretty!!
This sweet little melamine set inside the most adorable little round carry case - £4 instead of £10!The books were 99p and BOGOF!!I also drooled over some Emma Bridgewater mugs and dishes but couldnt even begin to consider spending that much, will put them on my Birthday/Christmas list :)
We got a new bingo machine too because as of today 8pm is switch off tv time (ok so thursdays American Idol final will be an exception!). TV goes off and we play games for 30mins, read for another 30 mins (working our way through the Harry Potter books) then the boys are chosing books to take to bed so no tv then either. We should have stuck with it when we started it last time but im in a real positive frame of mind lately and really sticking to things :)

It looks like we may have the chickens sooner than we thought! We called yesterday to a feed warehouse that ive never even noticed before thats on our way home and the owners are lovely.....talked me through everything i would need and when i asked if they could order in chicken coops she said my husbands made one come have a look. Its a basic rectangle one with a run etc and big enough for 4, she said i could have it for £45 if that was ok as it still needs painting - i mean sheesh like i wasnt going to give it a coat of paint anyway! They have everything else we would need and the woman is even going to sort out the chickens for us too - she said they will give us a ring once everything is together, which could be as early as next week and they deliver too *does happy dance*

*ooh and tomorrow is 7 days since hubbies last cigarette!* If youre reading this I am so proud of you and I Love you sweetheart x

Stacking up nicely :)

Still need to make the flowers for the middles of them but so far the squares are stacking up nicely.....im trying not to get too hung up on having the right number of the same colours (yes im working on a one ending in blue but thats a coincidence honest) and not following the same colour sequence for them! Does anyone else have that problem or am i just a little OCD?? I dont think i have 2 the same so far - i know the time will come and its a bridge i will have to cross when i get there..........if that bridge is too long i may just have a lopsided blanket - then again that would kick my OCD into another gear! LOL *you should have seen how fast i did square number 13 just so i could move on to 14!!* ;)

Ive blitzed the house this morning and im now making lists of things i need to do this week - im a constant list maker! Its raining today so no going outdoors for us, lets hope it gets better as the week goes on :)

All sewn up....

Today i have made boys bunting for the first time - i love how the colours turned out and think it works well :) Ive cut out the bits for more orders and now they just need sewing - too late now so will finish them off tomorrow :)

I now have 12 of my blanket crochet squares done so hopefully i can keep going at this rate and see a finished product soon. I keep drooling over the sherbert colours as theyre stacking up - its certainly not a boys blanket! :)
Back to routine tomorrow, ive something special planned for next weekend and its payday on Wednesday,bills to pay and food shopping to do - oh the joys - bring this next week on!

Happy Saturday :)

It could be the Pimms ive been drinking for the last hour or so, it could be the gorgeous parcel that arrived this morning, it could be the fact the kids are using my shed as a den and when it starts to drizzle they giggle and run in their little 'fort', it could even be the fact that dh is now almost 6 days into giving up smoking - whatever it is its a Happy Saturday :)
I was teaching this morning and made this little mini album and coaster gift set inside a little mini pizza box - yes they made the box too - just the pics to print and add to the front of the box and album (arent i a task master!) LOL
Thank you Claire for the gorgeous box of goodies that arrived today! I am so spoiled, it is all so adorable and well stroked!! Look girls, isnt she a star!!
All individually wrapped.....
Opened to find a beautiful sewn cloth tub to keep my toiletries in, Cath Kidston tissues, a fab little heart magnet, an East of India heart hook....
Cath Kidston mints and the most adorable little Alpine Strawberry plants!
How stunning is this picture - i absolutely love it and may commision her to make me another for my bedroom. I tried this one on numerous walls and kept coming back to the living room. I think its because this is exactly over where i sit so every time i go to sit down i see it and it makes me smile :) Thank you so much Claire! :)
Bargain charity shop finds for today.........bag and gloves £1.99, frame 50p, butterdish 50p
Pimms jug just 99p - was empty when i bought it and was full for a little while but erm....is now almost empty........oops now it is empty!! ;)

Crochet update....

Shall we take a look at what i did yesterday??

I sat making the squares of my blanket while the boys rode their bikes backwards and forwards in front of the house. It wasnt really that warm but it was nice enough to actually enjoy it. Listening to the boys giggle and play while i was engrosed in my wool was a simple pleasure....
Im a cardigan girl, always have been, always will be.....dont you think it needs a little something though - im thinking i might have to crochet a broach! lol
See those frills, yes thats a dress and leggings im wearing! For so long i admired anyone who had the guts to wear what the heck they fancied and one day thought 'what the heck' im only 34 and if i dont do it now i never will. Its a liberating feeling when you give up worrying what others think! ;)
Anyways, back to my squares! Im so pleased with the progress so far and im thinking if i do at least 3 maybe 5 squares a day i should have it finished within a month or so (including sewing etc) Oops i think i just set myself a target! haha
I even managed to make one of the little flowers that sit in the middle - that was a little harder than i anticipated, especially at 2am!! The air was a lovely shade of blue for a little while but i stuck with it and the first one is done and sewn in place and im so happy with it if not a little proud :)
I giggled when i saw the calender page for yesterday, take a look...
Here goes....

1. I can crochet ;)
2. I dont need to be concerned with what everyone else thinks.
3. I can't please everyone so stop trying.
4. I can stick to a diet lol.
5. I love my blog, the visitors, the blogs i visit, the whole world of Blogdom has opened so many doors for me and 5 years ago i didnt even know what one was :)
(there are lots of other things too but i will make it 5 in 5 years)

What 5 things do you know today that you didnt know 5 years ago??

Ooh i could have popped down that i didnt realise how addicting stamping could be! I needed a bookmark yesterday and instead of tearing off some writing paper, or using one of those subscription cards you get in magazines, i ran to my scrap stuff and made one! I adore this sentiment and it makes me smile each time i see it. I love tea too so it seemed only natural that i combine the two, now though i get distracted stroking the bookmark when im meant to be reading the book! (ok so i look at the pictures mainly - but it is Rachel Ashwells shabby chic home book so im allowed to just sit and drool!) :)

On a countdown...

Its that time of month again and if youve been checking the Papertrey Ink site you will know that its launch night for the new stamps. The 15th of each month i get that WOW look when my chin hits the floor and i could catch flies with my open mouth! I swear they outdo themselves each month - go check it out! Midnight their time is around 4am our time though so i will be either having a really late night or really early morning - either way i think i need hooking up to a caffine drip!
This card is made using the cup and tea bag from the anniversary set - the swirl is from the same set but is part of the brackets used for framing the quotes. I think it works pretty well if i do say so myself ;) The patterned paper is their new tea leaves range and is adorable. Thanks to Melisa i also have some new punches.....see the fab zigzag on the bottom?? It actually embosses a stitch all the way round too - thank you Melisa!! :)
Told you Vanessa had me addicted within a couple of days! I swear, 34 years of trying to crochet with no luck and with one tutorial im hooked (no pun intended!).........im going to start on some granny squares today in the hope of eventually having my own handmade little blanket.
OK, not a charity shop find but something equally exciting and most unexpected! Marks & Spencers.........yes you heard that right! M&S have some fab goodies in right now and while i was browsing the most adorable little daisy tealights i spotted these glasses out of the corner of my eye. It said prices start from 50p so i presumed that would be for the little teeny ones but NO, these big glasses are so weighty and beautiful and ONLY 50p EACH!! I took the darker pics so you could see the pattern properly - arent they sweet and perfect for summer punch (the boys have the 4 bobble glasses and us grown ups have the sweet fluted ones - which i suppose could even act as mini vases!!)
In the market there was a stall holder who was selling all the last bits and pieces, you know the 'one off' stall where they whip out more as soon as youve bought your 'bargains' and walked away ;) Well, these 2 cushion covers are MASSIVE, ive placed one of my tea cups on them for scale and they were only £2 each!
American Idol is on tonight and my top 3 are still there! I think i will get all sorted today, tidied round, treats for the kids ready and a dvd ready to pop in their room for them so i can just sit and enjoy :) what are your plans for today??