Friday 31 October 2008

Got the lurgy

Blurggghh!! I have a cold and typically it comes when the girls are off visiting Nana and Grandad and I am supposed to have time to get ready for the craft fair and get cracking on my nephews Christmas present. Oh well!! I had a lovely time yesterday with my mum, dad, sister and her boyfriend (plus the girls) as we celebrated my mums 50th birthday. I can't quite believe that my mum is 50!! Got a few treats from the charity shops in Ripon but they will have to wait until I am feeling well enough to takes photos and actually organise the bags that are still on the kitchen floor!

Here is the card that my mum got. It was made by Ruth and I love that you can just give her a rough outline of what your recipient likes (in my mums case charity shops and beer!) and she comes up with fabulous, fabulous cards. Thanks Ruth - my mum loved it and so do I!

We made up this mosaic and had it printed on a large canvas for my mums birthday as she is a big family person and loves her grandaughters (and daughters!) to pieces. She has just got to decide where to hang it :)

Thursday 30 October 2008

More envelopes!

For those who don't like recycled envelopes, look away now as here are some that would suit a cartographer down to the ground.

These have been made from an old Ordnance Survey atlas and are available in my Etsy and Folksy shops.

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Creativity runs in families!

Anya has taken to drawing a lot at the moment and loves her etch a sketch as she can draw something and then immediately get rid of it and draw something else without wasting paper! Here is her park.

This is the slide which looks to be very popular!

The caterpillar see saw looks fairly popular too! Apparently it is going very quickly as you can see by the peoples hair :)

And finally we have the ladybird ride.

If you look at the first picture you can see the carrot swing off to the right hand side - she'd eaten carrots for lunch! All I can say is that she has a vivid imagination!

Tuesday 28 October 2008

Some new envelopes!

I don't think I've posted any pictures of the knitting and crochet pattern envelopes I made the other day have I? I'm making lots of envelopes at the moment so there may well be lots more posts like this one - sorry if you don't like recycled envelopes!

One set is on Folksy, one set is on Etsy and one set is due to go on Dawanda soon!

Monday 27 October 2008

Out today...

..been out today over at Mum and Dads as it is my mums 50th birthday this week. So we (me and the girls) took her shopping in Harrogate - Matt still isn't well so the planned visit to Leeds didn't happen and we decided to stay closer to home. Lots of nice things bought but it's late and I don't have any photo's of the things we bought so you will have to do with another picture of another treasury I am in :)

This one is called Blue Cats and Their Friend - can you guess who their friend might be? Yep - a cheeky chicken! This treasury was curated by Linda Boucher.

Ok so it was only going to be the one treasury but then I looked through and found I had been featured in another one too :)

So a big thanks must go to Granny's Table - who also masquerades as I Sew Cute!

Sunday 26 October 2008

More tresury love!

I love the CIC team!!! I'm in another 3 treasuries due to being in the team :)


First up this red, black and white ones that was made by Nicky Bee Shop. You can see my Cheeky Chicken gift tags in there.

And then this pink one is by Fuzzy Dragons. My 60's flower power chicken doorstop is up at the top!

And then this yummy yellow treasury has been made by Tweed Delights. My Lego gift tags are at the bottom right.

I also managed to grab a treasury myself and I knew it had to be a crafting in colour team one as I have received a lot of love from the team recently. It's a spooky themed treasury :) And yes I am in it but only because I could only find 11 spooky things to put in it!

Saturday 25 October 2008

Are you being followed?

Nothing sinister I promise!! Just a new little widgety thing I've spotted on blogger (and I'm sure it's available on other blogging sites too!) down the right hand side of this blog. Here's a piccie so you know what you are looking for.

So if you would like to follow me then just click on the little 'follow this blog' bit. I have the mammoth task of going through the 387 blogs I subscribe too and looking to see a) if they are on blogger and b) if they have the widget up. Although I know there is a way of following a blog before they have the widget up as Ethel and Edna and Foundlings followed me before I had the widget up. Hope that makes sense? Anyway - follow me if you have nothing better to do with your time - thanks!

Friday 24 October 2008

Be kind!!

I'm taking a deep breath and showing off some work I have made that isn't what you would normally associate with Swirlyarts but alongside the chickens and the bright colours this is also a part of me as a crafter/artist. Gosh that sounded poncy didn't it!! Anyway here is the first mixed media piece of work I have to show you.

All the elements of this are recycled/repurposed or somehow second hand (of course!). It's 12 cm x 12 cm so a fairly small piece although I am currently working on another larger piece. Here are some close ups of The Boy and His Dog.


It's currently on Etsy so go and take a peek for me :) And I would love to know what you think too.

Thursday 23 October 2008

Invites

The invitations are finished! They are simple but exactly what Anya wanted and that's what is important.

Sorry for the very dodgy photo but it's late and I wanted to take a pic before they go off to the recipients tomorrow.

And as you can see I am featured in yet another treasury! Yeah!! Thanks to Always Amy :) The crocheted coasters are mine.

Wednesday 22 October 2008

On my desk....on a Wednesday

Well technically this isn't my desk or even my substitute desk (the coffee table) but is instead the chair next to the coffee table. The coffee table is strewn with stuff and I can't be bothered to sort it out yet :)


It's Anya's birthday on the 11th Nov so I am busy making invitations for it. She wanted fairies for the girls invites and pirates for the boys invites. Well fairies I can do easily as you can see and I do have some lovely pirate die cuts from this lovely lady but they are earmarked for boys birthday cards so she couldn't have any of them! I rummaged around and came up with cars but she didn't like them and then eventually I found some bats. Haven't got the foggiest idea what I am going to do with the bats but I'd better get my thinking cap on as one needs to go out tonight to the aforementioned lovely lady :)

Right off to make vegetable soup tonight for tea while my poorly little girl has a snooze and my poorly husband joins her.

Head over to Kirsty's blog to see who else is playing On My Desk!

Tuesday 21 October 2008

More treasuries :)

I've just found out this morning that I am in some more treasuries :)

This one features my electric blue chicken doorstop and was made by I Heart That! Dance.

And this one features Psychedelic chicken! It was made by Linda Boucher.

I love being in the Crafting in Colour team :) Search cic team in tags on Etsy for more from our members.


England day

It's England day at Anya's school today (every couple of months the foundation stage have 'country' days) and she could go to school wearing red and white or traditional Lancashire dress. I initially thought red and white because it's easy but then after Anya was playing with my scarves last night I thought Lancashire dress! And here she is.

She was quite adamant that she wanted to wear a headscarf but wanted one of my brightly coloured 70's ones - I persuaded her to go for the brown one instead. She then picked up my basket , which lives in the kitchen, and said that because they wouldn't have had supermarkets, the ladies will have had to go to the market and that's what she was doing! And I'll bet she was glad of the headscarf this morning as there was an icy wind blowing on the way up to school this morning - brrrrrrr.

Monday 20 October 2008

This is...... my favourite film (s)

I know it's a day late but....

I couldn't just pick one so it had to be 12 Angry Men
and The Shawshank Redemption.

And I have just watched Gallipoli whilst writing this.

Sunday 19 October 2008

Whoooooooo hooooooooo!

100 sales!

Thanks everyone :)

Envelopes!

And no not the ones I normally make from recycled books etc but ones that I got free from Freecycle (although there will be some of my envelopes coming soon as there is a photo shoot scheduled for later today).

Here are the girls with the big box full - they are looking quite scared for some reason!

And here is a peek inside the box - lots of yummy colours there and all sizes too. The lady I collected them from works for a card distributor and they pulp the cards after each season (Valentines, Christmas etc) and they were going to pulp the envelopes but they were saved - phew!!

Right the in-laws are here so off the comp for a while :)

Friday 17 October 2008

Slowly, slowly

The peg bags are coming on very slowly at the moment. I got a really good start to the pile of fabric I had this morning and I sewed the first bits on all 21 peg bags. I think Janine (my Janome sewing machine) was put of by working hard this morning though and didn't want to do much more this afternoon - lots of tangled bobbins and snapped threads. What fun!

Anyway - some of the peg bags are nearly finished and I'm hoping to get some photographed tomorrow. If Janine co-operates that is. Here are some piccies of the fabrics I used - bear in mind that they are inside out (ready for sewing) so the colours are in reality much brighter.


*Edited on Sat morning.* Yeah - the pictures have come out now!! So this is what I will be sewing today although the in laws are popping over for a visit tomorrow so I might be tidying instead :)

Thursday 16 October 2008

We interupt the peg bag making...

.... to show off! As well as the main treasury yesterday, today also finds my goodies in 2 treasury wests!

First up my alien gift tags are in an alien themed treasury and you may notice that I am in good company :)
And then my striped cheeky chicken appears in a Crafting In Colour team treasury - yeah!! You may have guessed I have joined a new Etsy team. I'll be posting more about it soon. Back with peg bags tomorrow - if I get some sewing done tonight that is!

Quickie.......

As I'm actually going to get off the computer today and make some things :) I have a mountain of fabric waiting on the floor and peg bags are waiting to be made.

I'll hopefully be back later with piccies or at least an update of how I'm doing. I'll still be twittering though so you can keep up with me there if you are bored :)

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Treasury!

Yay - I'm featured in another treasury :) And I was wondering what to blog about today too!

Did you spot Bandit Chicken lurking in there - she's trying hard to blend in but her yellow stripes are a bit of a giveaway!!

The treasury is up until Friday evening so if you fancy giving it some love and 'bigging me up' over there in the comments then that would be much appreciated. The link to the actual treasury is here.

Tuesday 14 October 2008

Well, they had my name on them!

And if cakes have your name on them (albeit a shortened version of your business name) then what are you expected to do - just walk past?? And the fact that they were on 2 for £2 or £1.48 each did make it seem a much better offer.

Here's photographic proof of the cakes/name thing.

Chocolate swirly cupcakes and white swirly cupcakes - I'm famous at last!! And as the best before date is the 31st of Oct I really think I should get cracking on them just in case they start to go nasty - just in case though. It's for the cakes good really!!

*Update on Matt - he's home and they think it's a viral infection that has affected his inner ear and therefore balance. Fingers crossed that he start to feel better overnight and less dizzy.

Monday 13 October 2008

Super star!

Well I just have to say thanks to my super friend Alex who some of you may know by the name Daisie. She was a super dooper star today and helped me out. I think I need to make an award for super dooper friends but until then you will have to make do with this. And thanks Alex - love ya!

And here's the link if anyone wants to know how to make a star!

Sunday 12 October 2008

Charity shop goodies!

After being pestered and pestered (!) by Daisie to post my charity shop goodies, here they are!

This was the sneaky peek from the other day - a fab dress. It looks a little shapeless on the hanger but fits really well and has really cool sleeves. Perfect for doing the Birdie Song too! (N.B. the Birdie Song came on when we were in one of the charity shops and me and Daisie were trying desperately not to dance and we succeeded until we got back and I tried on this dress)


I also bought a cardi (surely not!) and it's really beautiful - the buttons are even covered in fine crochet too. And I fell in love with the tag too - Jupiter!

I also found this gorgeous blouse (it's my favourite thing from this trip). It's very swingy and I'll have to be careful to wear it with tighter fitting clothes on my bottom half otherwise I will look like a tent! It came with a matching skirt which will be worn in the summer time with a simple white vest I think! Even though I don't like wasps I really love the print on this top. The only problem is that it will need ironing and I don't iron at all :)

Although you can't see it very clearly in the photo, this dress is made of velvet and is fitted perfectly for my hourglass figure (well it's a pear shaped figure but hourglass sounds better!). The only problem with it is that hideous lace collar which will be coming off straight away. Also - it stinks! It came from one of the smaller charity shops (incidentally where I got my huge button stash from) and I don't think they have the resources (or money) to clean everything before it goes out. It's been through the wash once and is back in again as it still smells - not as badly but still a bit stinky!

So there are my charity shop goodies - I will have to go again with Daisie as we scored pretty well with our bargains!