The slow realisation that Christmas is on it's way....

As a kid, and on a family holiday in America my mum and I went to a craft class one evening in San Diego.  We did some rubber stamping, which for a craft-challenged kid was an easy way for me to make cards and things that looked good, back in Blighty I got into the hobby and made Christmas cards etc for everyone.  Then years later when I left home for university the little collection of stamp bits and bobs I had gathered were unceremoniously sold by my mum at a car boot sale.  Gutted.

Well several more years later I am building my little collection back up and what better starting point than Yellow Owl Workshop?  I've bought a number of presents for friends but had to buy this set for myself:

As the title of this blog would suggest Christmas has somewhat snuck up on me so this morning with a mini hangover and not a lot planned I settled down to make some cards for Christmas:

There are several more designs but I want to keep them a secret for the people who might receive them.  Other craft projects on the go: knitted petrol blue scarf, yo-yo placemats for Christmas table (yes, yes that is still on going), and Christmas gift tags.

Watch this space...



The Perils of Primark

Need I say more?

Brillant Burning Barrels!

Last weekend MozzyMr, the Brummies and I went to Ottery St Mary for the annual tar barrels.  This was perhaps my 7th time at the barrels, over the years I have developed the F.E.A.R.  The following photos are of the women's barrels (the man's barrels are the main event, there are also children's barrels, yes children's barrels) because I was too scared to throw myself into the massive crowds and potentially collide with a HUGE hulk of a man CARRYING A FLAMING BARREL OF TAR these photos don't give a good sense of just how busy it was. 

Towards the end of the evening I was getting braver, I suspect we will be going again this year perhaps this time next year I'll have pictures of the men's barrels too *whimper*.



Belated Birthday Brillance!

I warn you now some of the photos contained within this blog are just plain WRONG.

Stoofer is my new birthday chum, he was given to me by the lovely Brummies who visited at the weekend.  Fun was had by all.

The Big Knit

Tad late with this post, new job is crazy busy and I tend to come home slump on the sofa and not do anything of note so haven't had much to blog about to be honest.

Anyway, thought I would show you these:

I made them for the big knit, if you haven't seen the big knit campaign before, in November Innocent Smoothies adorn their smoothie bottles with these hats and a proportion of the money taken from the smoothies sold goes to Age UK.  Last year I could only manage plain hats, this year stripey, next year fruit designs?

Right off for an amble on the beach to celebrate a friend's Birthday then on to a firework display with folk from work, have a nice weekend!

Micro Harvest Festival

Yep, we got pumpkins.  Got so many of them we have one each to carve, two each to eat, and another three on the way, the kitchen looks like a micro harvest festival.  Thankfully my lovely friend Kathy Swan gave me the River Cottage Veg Everyday recipe book for my Birthday so I can't wait to tackle some of the dishes. 

The last of the sunflowers we grew for our wedding have flowered and gone to seed, we had one large trug full of seeds, many went to friends and family and the rest have been feeding the birds.  I'm all about getting animals to our allotment that eat slugs and snails, as much as I don't like frogs I don't like slugs more so was happy when Laura (who we share a plot with) lifted the rhubarb and discovered Brian:

Cue Marsha from Spaced style "Hello Brian" every time he ventures out.

Lucky Girl

So this week I turned thirty.  It is an understatement indeed to say I wasn't happy about it, there were tears, there was grumpiness, there was moping about, but equally there were craft projects, there was a Mario Kart themed party and there was cider.

Nice surprises from family:

Last minute but very great Mario Kart themed costumes:

(Back row): Shy Guy, Toad, Bullet Bill

(Front row): Waluigi, Birdo, Princess Peach

Luigi cake:

and then came the tidy up *sigh*:

So after all the moodiness what has turning thirty meant? (Lets bullet point!):

• An excuse to be daft, who doesn't love crafting silly costumes out of paper mache?
• An excuse to eat cake for breakfast
• An opportunity to be spoilt
• I can pretend to be wiser (strokes chin and looks thoughtfully out of the window)
• I can handle my drink better than when I was younger (clearing up after Mario party is a testament to the fact that my friends can too)
• I can own a shopping trolley, I can take it around a car boot sale with me and I don't care, weeeeee!

Big thanks to everyone who made my birthday great x