Blizzards, blog shop and brooches!

Two blogs in one day???

Well what else could I do?

The snow has swirled across our hillsides and the view keeps coming and going. A bitterly cold wind carried enormous snowflakes which have settled and covered the fields and hills with a gentle snowy blanket. Poor daffs, crocus and little lambs.

So I spent the afternoon finishing off my little brooches and filling up the gift shelf in our blog shop.

Head over there if you are interested.

Here is a taster or two..........

WOYWW - dumflings and a mistake!

Just a splash of colour to cheer a wintry morning - we have snow on our hills!!
So, what can you see today then?

A few gorgeous yarns that I may use for dumfing or crazy felt later.

Eight of my latest brooches with a little dumfling, silk, beads and embroidery. I think I will choose a few for the blog shop and refill the gift shelf. One of Wipso's customers saw the real brooches and bought 3 last week!!!

To the right is a deconstructed fabric rose. ( ie I pulled it apart!!) I have ironed the petals and thought I might combine it with a dumfling and some embroidery to make a brooch/corsage. We are still planning our wedding shelf and have lots of ideas whizzing round. Join in if you have any great ideas to share with us - just pop over to our Bridal Challenge - we will be giving our little gifts to the best ideas soon!
And.....
At the top of my picture you can see some pretty shell pendants that I bought online from a bead company. Unfortunately I didn't look at the measurements - I just imagined they would be smaller and thought they might be nice additions to my brooches. Ha! The flippin things are about 2 inches across ( well they would be - they are pendants - I hear you say!!) They were really cheap so I am not bothered but I hope you like them Wipso - cos I bought a set for you too!!!
Time for me to head off to Julia's blog and play with Mr Linky. Come with me and have a look at all the fab things other folk have been up to...... WOYWW

My blue phase

Here, as promised, photos of my gorgeous hyacinth.

M. says they were really cheap from Tesco but I think they are wonderful.

The little florets are a delicate, lilacy blue with a waxy, velvety smoothness.

Three bulbs have produced four stems of blooms and their perfume fills my house. I know lots of folk find it over powering and it even causes hay fever like symptoms for some.

I wonder if I can use them as inspiration for my craft work. Maybe a wisp or two of silk might "dumf" nicely - watch this space!

Latest challenge!

The daffodils are out and the poppies will follow!!!

Today I have mostly been dumfing.

I had a request for more poppy cards to go in the blog shop so I have been dumfing away all day creating 2 new sets.

Above the half finished poppies, you can see the little daffodils that are nearly ready for my Easter cards. I like to send cards to my friends up in the North - and they love our crafty stuff.

There you go - its been drab and gloomy outside but my house is full of Spring!

M. bought me a pot of hyacinths for Mothers Day and they are in full bloom and the scent is wonderful. ( Wipso - wear your gas mask if you drop in !)

Will blog a pic tomorrow - pity we don't have smelly vision.

PS Poppy cards now in the shop so pop over to Sisters Crafty Creations for a look.

While you're there you might like to leave an idea or two on our wedding challenge page.

Thanks for calling!

Things to do on WOYWW.

Just a few things on my table that need sorting or thinking about today but first I am cutting out curtains down at Wipso's so this is just a quickie.

Lets go left to right.......

Coaster - very appropriate slogan.

"Bags that rock" book for ideas on knitted/felted bags.

Dish of tiny beads that M gave me for Mother's day waiting to be sorted into colours.

"Crazy Felt" book - and the twirly piece of pink crazy felt I made on funday Monday. Was thinking of making several and joining them to make a funky belt - if not it will be another coaster!!!

My latest dumfed cards - poppies. I made one for a friends 40th and she was thrilled, so I think I might keep these for other special occasions - unless I get requests for some for the blog shop.

Now I must dash so will probably pop over to see what you are all up to with Mr Linky later!!!

Special wishes to blog friend Paula - we are all thinking of you and wishing you a very speedy recovery!

First Day of Spring?

Something Wipso and I don't have in common!

I love my little Hellebore plants with their delicate blooms of soft greens and purples.

Mum always called them Christmas roses and believe it or not the white ones have been in bloom from October and are still glorious now! So, they were definitely in bloom over Christmas and survived the hard winter!

We have always said, today March 21st, is the first day of Spring and at last my garden is beginning to show signs of it. The crocus are in full bloom, their yellow and purple petals giving a splash of colour in otherwise drab flower beds.

My dainty purple irises have filled the pots beside my back door with a mass of tiny blooms and look wonderful.

My Stellata magnolia has fuzzy little buds and I have one or two red anemones showing too. Amazing, when you think of the hard frosts and snow they all have had to survive. It always reminds me of the line in an assembly song we used to sing ...

Under the blanket of gentle snow, secretly, softly, the green shoots grow.

Do we ever doubt that Spring will follow Winter?

Purple is definitely the colour of the day - these are the cards that I have been making.

I know someone who will love the colours - even if she doesn't rate Hellebores!

Have a great week and thanks for calling.

Bridal department challenge.....

Spring is upon us and we are feeling perky and productive. It's the season for romance and wedding plans. So, we are taking the bridal theme for our latest challenge and we are hoping to involve all our blogging friends as well. We are planning to launch a Bridal department in our blog shop in the next few weeks.
The above pic shows some of the beautiful items we already make. These include bridal keepsakes, like hearts and little bears, ring cushions, wedding memory journals, wedding cards and brooches. So, now we want to extend our range so that we can create a new, well stocked bridal shelf.
We both have lots of ideas but would like to throw the challenge open to you wonderful, creative folk out there. We would appreciate your comments/feedback and any ideas, on a bridal theme, you have to offer.
We will give a little gift to the 3 ideas we like the best, so please put your thinking caps on.
We have had such lovely feedback and brilliant ideas that have helped us over the last months and feel we have made some wonderful friends through the contact you have made with us. Thanks lots.

Before and after - WOYWW

First pic - my desk with work in progress.
On the left is the little hoodie that I have nearly finished for P. It just needs 6 buttons, which I hope to get in town today.


On the right under the machine is the roman blind that I am making for M's next door neighbour. I think I have served my apprenticeship in roman blind making now - 24 at the last count!!!! This one will soon be finished and off to Shrewsbury for fitting in S's study.

Oh and the finished journal on the window sill which I attempted to put in our blog shop - think Wipso will have to pop over and tidy the shelves as I am not so clever at arranging the gifts so neatly!!

Then I remembered that someone said they wanted to see the fabric stash. I have only scattered a few of the "cool colour" box that M keeps so neatly. On the left some gorgeous bits of sari silk, voile, chiffon, lurex, tie dye and lots more. Just small pieces that will be made into tiny collages or "dumfed" onto cards.


Now I have to fold them all carefully and replace them in the box!!

Also next to the hoodie you can see the items I bought from our local pound shop.
A cute little felt basket which will be perfect to hold the little egg cosy I crocheted for P. - and a choc. egg of course.
10 Easter cards and envelopes - (I know you wonderful card makers will be horrified but I loved the pics and thought I would find a use for them somewhere!)
A page of Easter stickers - my infants teaching niece might be interested in these.
I also bought a pack of self adhesive photo paper and a pack of 6 padded posting bags -6" square. All items a pound each so I think I did well. What do you think?

I am posting this early so that I can get off to town for buttons and a wedding album for M's gorgeous dumfed cover. I might just nip over to Julia's blog first and see what everyone else has on their desk today.
Thanks for popping in - Have a great day!

Choc chick.

Just a little something you might like to make to brighten your Easter Day!

My great niece P. loves white chocolate. Not that she is allowed much - just a few buttons broken up in a tiny pot handed to her by her Nanny A as a special treat for being a good girl (she is only 16 months).

So, for Easter I thought I would look out for a little white chocolate egg to hide beneath the cute chick cosy that I crocheted on "chat day Saturday".

It took me a while to do it as I haven't crocheted for ages really and I had forgotten the abbreviations. Of course Wipso was able to give me full instructions (she knows everything that woman!!) and after a few attempts and a bit of unravelling, I eventually managed it. Cute isn't it?
If you want to make your own here's the link. http://www.allaboutyou.com/craft/Crochet-pattern-chick-egg-cosy/v1

A little ray of sunshine!

Thank you for this lovely award Wipso
We certainly bring a little sunshine into each others lives don't we!


We are both alike in lots of ways and have always tried to bring sunshine into the lives of others. Not always easy, but then nothing worth having comes easily does it?

Our blogs are really just a bit of fun and not meant to be taken too seriously - life is too short.

So, thanks again Wipso.
Now I have rules to follow and I am not so good at that!
Here they are:

Pass it on to 6 bloggers
Put a link to your nominees within your post
Let your nominees know that you are passing this award along to them by leaving by leaving a comment on their blog
Link to the blog of the person who nominated you for this award

So, I went on a blog hunt to a few of my favourites - the ones who never fail to put a smile on my face.........
Wipso - it goes without saying - a fab blog from a very special person but of course she already has the sunshine award!
Felted House - a brilliant crafty blogger who also has a beautiful, mischievious kitten - and already has the sunshine award!
MarmaladeRose - the person who has inspired over 150 crafters to be creative for at least 20 minutes each day. It has certainly motivated me and linked us to some very crafty folk. Of course she too already has the award!

Now these folk can consider themselves awarded again but I guess the chain stops then so I will search for a few more to pass this award to.
How about......
Love Stitching Red I just love the way C. creates an interesting, artistic blog with beautiful illustrations, poetry and wonderful artwork.
Violet White One of our 20 minuters who produces lovely crafty items and sells them in her own online shop.
Lululiz Another of our 20 minuters whose blog is a delight where she shares her photos and crafts with everyone.

I like to think that checking out these blogs and seeing all their lovely work, stimulates my creativity and takes my crafty skills off in different directions. So, I would like to thank them for all the effort they put into sharing their work with us on their blogs and hope they will be happy to receive the sunshine award.

Shocking pink!

Is that what we still call that luscious, bright, fuchsia pink colour?

Well anyway - that's the colour of the satin that I decided to use to make the book cover for M's bright red/orange/pink dumfed fabric.

I thought a loose slip-over cover would be the best design because then it is re -usable on any A5 journal.

The book we used has plain paper pages and a stripey red cover, so it matched nicely. The cover certainly turns a plain book into something special - quite sumptuous in fact!

I will take it to show M when we go out for Mother's Day lunch on Sunday and then probably pop it in the blog shop on fun day Monday.

A little bit of dumfing and a look at our fabric stash.

Two pieces of "dumfed" fabric are waiting for my attention today. Firstly though, I had to pop down and help Wipso with some curtains. Easy job and I left her to sew them!




So here I am looking at these two pieces of fabric. My daughter spent time last week with me and we enjoyed a morning working together in my sewing room. The white piece has been dumfed with wool, silk, lace etc and beaded to make a cover for a wedding album. The little red piece is for a front cover on a journal. (Click on the pic to see them close up!)

I think I shall be finishing off these projects by making a fabric cover to form a basis for each one. Once they have been quality checked by said daughter - oh and Wipso - they will go into our blog shop!



I have taken a photo of the opposite side of my room so that you can see the neatly labelled storage boxes which I have inherited from my daughter. I expect she will want them in her craft room, once she gets it set up and running in her new home. Secretly, I am glad to have it, as it is all neatly sorted for me to dip into and she has some gorgeous bits and bobs for crafty projects in there. On the top of her boxes are journals and notebooks awaiting covers and dumflings.



My storage on the left is nowhere near as nice - just plastic storage containing fabric scraps and other sewing clutter!

Not much to show today. I shall enjoy popping over to check out Julia's blog and see what everyone else is up to.

Upcycled tablecloth flowers.

Just a quick blog to show you my latest photo frame.

I upcycled a few of the embroidered flowers from my bargain tablecloth and added them to my embellished photo frame.

I love the colours in this one.

I have lots of flowers left and will be mostly making cards and lavender bags with the rest. Unless anyone else has a novel idea or two?

I should also say that we had a great get together today - 12 of the bloggers of the Welsh Marches, and a few others, got together for lunch and for some of us to meet for the first time. What a friendly bunch they all were and so nice to put a face to the blogging name.

I had to leave early but do hope we can repeat the get together soon.

My next project and WOYWW.

I quite like the photo of my table today. By accident, it is colour co-ordinated with the projects of the week.

You can see the little photo frame I made on Friday. It has silk flowers and leaves free machined over felt, wool and yarns. I think Wipso has already popped it in the blog shop.

If you look to the right you can see a little paper rose that I made following Paula's brilliant tutorial. I think I need lots more practice, but now I know how to do it I shall try again. Wipso and I certainly had a giggle on fun day Monday as we sat making our first ones.

In the cenrte of the photo, you can see my next project. I chopped up my table cloth and I am going to combine that gorgeous wool/ribbon yarn and the flowers with free machining to make another photo frame. Its all a bit experimental but then so is everything I do. I never make the same thing twice. - Unless of course its knitting......

This week I have been mostly knitting for my great niece and her sister to be. I finished a gorgeous little cardy in Crofter wool - pinks and lilacs and then I have made 2 little shrugs. This is the tiny one for the baby due next month. P. is16 months now and loves her little shrugs, so I just keep making the pattern a bit bigger each time.

Well thats my table for today.

I am popping over to Julia's blog to see what everyone else is up to but first I have to clean my windows! I have a friendly window cleaner who cleans the outside but the inside is down to me and not my favourite job. The exercise will do me good!!