Day to Day

Ravelry + knitting + Amy Butler + blanket

Yay...I finally joined Ravelry!  If you knit or crochet and aren't a member, go and join up now because it's a really awesome site - so many cool patterns and projects.

Here's a sneak of James' blanket for you Salihan.  Only 10 squares to go I think.

Oh and my new knitting project, a cardigan for myself :)  The pattern is out of The Sublime double knitting book #607.    I'm just doing one collar though and I'll probably just add a normal cuff - not the rolled back one like in the photo.  I'm using Cashmino Heirloom yard (10% cashmere, 55% merino ultra fine 35%microfibre). 

Look what arrived in my mailbox too - two new patterns compliments of Amy Butler (thankyou so much!).  I'm dreaming of a laptop now because I love the laptop cover - Bella is dreaming about Mummy making her the mp3 case and I might just do that - after I make the bag for myself ofcourse.  I'm really impressed with the birdie sling - it's very me actually. I love those comfy kind of cosy looking bags.  I might try it out of denim with a touch of red for the top brim and handles.  Don't forget to check out Amy's site and especially the free patterns.  I've finally bought the beads to make the fabric necklace on there, I just need to settle on fabric. Does anybody else have problems deciding which fabric to use for which project?

The swap

Leslie and I did a sweet swap of lollies and our (huge) box of goodies arrived in the mail yesterday (talk about a good mail week!). 

We are all in love (and obsessing) with Japanese lollies - they have THE best packaging and THE cutest little lollies that we've ever seen.

There are little sticks that you dip in chocolate and sprinkles, teeny packages for round bubblegum balls..oh and sweet little chocolate men/creatures. 

Thankyou so much Leslie :)

 

Kids Autumn Craft - handsized tree collage

Yesterday Bella created this autumn tree collage.  What we did was trace around her hands (right down to her elbow) to form the trees and branches.  Then she coloured in her hands and pasted dried leaves on to create the trees.

Dianna questioned if I homeschooled James and Bella.  I've been asked this a few times before as well.  No, I don't homeschool.  Both of my children go to an awesome school close by - I just love doing extra activities with them when they are home.

Something special arrived in my mailbox today - a gorgeous package from Sarah (check out her blog, she makes some really pretty things).  Sarah sent me some beautiful wool and a cool doorstop (you fill the bag with rice).  Thankyou so much Sarah, that was really sweet of you :))

Picnic

Bella's Easter canvas is finished and I'm in love with the teeny basket overflowing with eggs and the egg trail that leads off the side.  James is still working on his :)))

We ventured out on a picnic today to a little park in Judbury that has the coolest cubby houses made from hollowed out trees.  It was hot though, super hot so we kind of felt like we were melting away towards the end...thank goodness for air conditioned cars! We took the gas cooker as Rich had promised Bella bacon and eggs (since it's our bacon and egg day today).

Thankyou all for your super sweet comments too!  Here are the answers to the questions (some of them I've emailed you directly but here are the left over ones that I haven't managed to answer yet).

With the left over egg from the egg blowing we made omelettes in the omelette maker :))

Meagan the holes for our eggs are reasonably small - as in skewer size - so larger than a pin hole.  If you give the yolk a really good poke (with the skewer) once you make the holes inside, it breaks it up and lets it blow through the egg much easier.

Yes Denise, we always blow the egg.  Each year (except for this time around because we're keeping them for ourselves) we make little Easter baskets and put the dyed eggs into them as gifts for people.  We don't use them for an Easter hunt (what a lovely idea that is though!) instead these ones will sit on the table in a bowl to look pretty.

Lastly - Sarah, I'm probably a strange kind of scrapbooker. When I'm starting a page I usually don't think too much about what is going where or what I'm going to use.  9 times out of 10 I just grab a photo and decide on a background colour for the layout.  Once that's done I just more or less start adhering bits of paper here and there leaving room for a title and some journaling.  If I think it looks a bit bare I add some embellishments...but once it's adhered down that's it...I never unstick anything or change my mind.  Most pages take me about 20 - 30 minutes from start to finish unless I do some handstitching.  I used to spend forever obsessing over which embellishment looks best etc.. but now I just like to get it finished and in the album so that I can start on the next layout.  Sorry, that probably wasn't very helpful for you :((

My lovely assistant James just drew out the giveaway/RAK winner:

That's probably a bit hard to read from the pic:

I just stumbled across your blog and I'm so excited I found it. What lovely
inspiration you provide with your projects. This bunting looks gorgeous,
will have to try to make some for myself.

Posted by: Sarah | March 15, 2008 at 08:29 PM

Sarah, if you would like to email me your address (goodsellmx@internode.on.net) I'll get your goodies in the mail for you.

I'm sorry that there wasn't a prize for everyone - I'll try and have another giveaway sooner rather than later :)))

Easter crafting & giveaway.

I thought it was about time to start some Easter crafting so we started this morning with our yearly egg blowing/dying session which is something that both James and Bella really look forward to doing every year.

After the eggs were finished they added spots of dye to some tissues, which will be nice backgrounds for the Easter cards we will make later on.

We then set up more mess on the dining table and while I sewed up some 'Happy Easter' bunting, James and Bella started work on a new painted canvas each. 

Bunting is really hard to photograph I've decided!!  The super cute ribbon and dangling chickens were part of a gorgeous Easter package that the super lovely Fiona sent me through the week.

This week my stats have just gone over the 200,000 mark - so somebody out there must be reading my daily dribble....lol.  To celebrate I'm doing another little blog give away - a couple of a4 pieces of dotty felt, some embroidery cottons, a selection of Basic Grey 6 x 6 papers, ribbons, chipboard flowers, acrylic stars, wooden flowers and Queen & co felt. 

Leave a comment today or tomorrow to be in the draw.

Ask me a question in your comment, tell me a fab Easter craft to make (or do) or just say hi :)))

Moss stitch & Easter

Yay, I've mastered moss stitch and managed 1 square of Bella's blanket.  These are the colours she chose and it will be edged in white.  I'm really slow with the moss stitch though as this took possibly twice as long as knitting one of James' squares.  It's very tempting to keep knitting with these lovely new shades though - but I'm being firm with myself and still saying no more squares until James' is all sewn up and on his bed.

Inbetween the knitting last night I stitched up two of these felt bags to hold Bonnie and Oscar's Easter eggs.  I used this tutorial from my Easter buddy Fiona's blog.  They are seriously so quick and very sweet to hold little eggs.

I then wrapped the goodies in cellophane and printed out two sweet Easter tags from this Easter Elegance download available from Tarisota Collections.  I'd really love to make the Tussie Mussie from the same download too - maybe next week :)))

Finally...the beautiful Pay It Forward gift that I received from Tanya (all the way from France)  A gorgeous little tissue holder and coin purse that are going to be perfect in my handbag!!  Thankyou so much Tanya, I love them :))

I'll be having another blog giveaway this week - probably in tomorrow's post :)))

Thanks for reading :))

More herb garden plus cupcakes

A few more of my Herb Garden layouts for Tarisota.  There seemed to be soooo much in the pizza box this month - I think I scrapped 9 layouts with the collection and I still have a mini album and heaps of extra product left over, so that's awesome value.

Also, I wanted to share these super duper cute hand knitted cupcakes....Sarah and I did a swap of some goodies. She mailed me these adorable little cakes (plus some other scrummy things) that she knits herself (so so clever!).  Bella was especially in love with them and has big plans to have a special birthday party with her monkeys, her teaset, quilt and the new cupcakes...in the mean time they do look pretty sitting on a shelf in her bedroom.

I'm also really way behind in answering emails and replying/or visiting blogs from all the lovely comments that have been left here - James and Bella go back to school on Thursday so I hope to catch up shortly after that :o)

Feeding the ducks & Amy Butler

With the girls gone we've been slotting back into a normal routine around here.  The house is so super quiet - we miss them already and they've only been gone a day!

This morning we popped down to visit and feed the ducks (as well as the friendly birds that were more than happy to share the bread).

Bella was a little hesitant of the ducks, running to me for cover when they became too demanding for bread - she was nipped on the finger as a toddler by one and hasn't forgotten it.

I've also been meaning to post a photo of my new Amy Butler patterns that were so generously mailed to me last week from a lovely lady at Amy Butler.  These are 4 of their new patterns and are so so cool!!  When school goes back and I track down some nice fabric to use I'd really love to try and sew the Lotus tunic and cami or the Anna tunic to begin with - I've never sewed clothes before but the patterns look fairly straight forward and I think the tops are seriously cute. 

If you're looking for inspiration you really need to check out the Amy Butler website too - beautiful photos, gorgeous fabrics and even some yummy free patterns - quilts, fabric leaves (gorgeous), fabric silhouettes (which would be very cool on my wall), etc.. and the most adorable fabric necklace that I'm dying to sew for Bella.

Giveaway winner

Wow...so many comments for the giveaway (it took me 13 pages of printing to print them all out!)....Sarah Latham was the lucky winner - Sarah if you could email me your address please that would be great(goodsellmx@internode.on.net). 

I'm sorry that there weren't more prizes for you - I'll try and have another giveaway in Feb.

Thankyou for all the blogging suggestions, there were some great ideas in there. I can't believe the number of people that asked for more children's craft (about 1/3 of the comments).  More scrapbooking, cards and recipes. More tutorials/step by steps, sewing ideas and low cost gifts.  Lots of people suggested more themed projects (like my 25 days of Christmas craft) too.  Many other topics too that I've written down in my diary....wow, all these things should keep me busy blogging for a while...so thankyou :O))

We have my two nieces staying with us at the moment from the mainland - such lovely girls, really really lovely girls.  We went to the beach this afternoon when the chill eased a little in the afternoon.

Giveaway :o)

I thought it must be time for another give away to say thankyou for all the visitors and lovely comments that I receive here each day.

Leave me a comment about what I can blog about in 2008 or photos I could include here - I do like to do a 5-10 minute post everyday to record little things but sometimes I run out of things to say!

I'll close off the comments section tomorrow night and draw the winner the following day.

The giveaway includes some funky monkey fabric, my latest Daring Card Makers card (from the post below), a felt house pencil topper, Heidi Grace flower stamp, silver bookplates and a selection of 6X6 Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter paper.  I'm happy to post overseas too.