I am going away for a few days...

...and as if by MAGIC, the craft gods smiled on me and just LOOK what the postman passed me this morning... three yummy crafty and inspiring publicatoins. I only took them from their cellophane to photograph for you - they have gone straight into my overnight suitcase all readyfor my trip... And as a sort of 'p.s' i meant to tell you - i was given the Cath Kidston MAKE! book for my birthday the other week.
Like many designer / makers / crafters i was ready to 'hate it'... but i don't! It is fun and inspiring and cute and full of easy little projects. I like it!

It is just like most of my other craft books... i have no plans to make anything specific from them, but i like the ideas and the photography and the whole concept. A bit of crafty eye-candy never hurt anyone x

A glimpse into Cath's latest catalogue... i will be swooning over this with my Mum and my Sister on our mini-weekday break...

So, .... where am i going? ummmm - don't go hating on me just because I am having a break and i so very much deserve it...

Don't go hating on me because all i will need to take is clean pants, a few good reads and the items below:

I am going to 'Champneys' darling x if you please - HERE to be precise.

What was long ago termed a 'spa' and is now a 'health farm' or 'relaxation break'...

hooray for me, my sis and my mum - we do try to go away every year at least for one night but this year we have managed 2 nights.

It might sound like a boast but it really isn't x promise! We haven't hadn't a proper holiday in years and this was a birthday treat for each of us who have a birthday within 3 weeks of each other. It is our Mummy and Daughter love-in time and i hope one day i will do such things with my girl? But, for now, she can have 'Daddy Time' as THIS is grown-up ladies only! x x x

Sewing Box

Ssshhhhh... ManFish hasn't yet noticed the 'new' arrival....
Thrifted a few days ago.
Of course i could live without one but it was 'there' in the Antiques Cellar and it asked to come home with me.... It came with Oddments that the ticket insisted were "Victorian"....! Like the Sewing Box itself.... i think not. Which is how i haggled them down in price (lesson #1 never pay full price for anything)

I have intent for it though - it wasn't purchased 'on a whim'. I wanted a carry box that had all my silks in and some buttons / scissors etc... that i can plop in front of me when I am shattered and i want to sit and watch 'Waterloo Road' on a wednesday night. Also easily transportable if i am off to my mums for weekend.... (who needs clean pants? there is only room in my car for one overnight bag, and this is now it)

Threads came with it - i haven't yet re-packed it with my treasures...

And may i sneakily introduce this *new* cushion too? I photographed the Sewing Box in front of it as it looks especially scrumptious...

I CONFESS... i was literally leaving John Lewis the other day, i was 'almost' out of the door... and it was sat there, on a shelf - alone! My sister said to me "you can't live without that now can you?" and i replied "Now i have seen that it exists -no, i cannot live without it"

It was in my car and on it's way home within about 10 minutes of my first spying it.

OOooops, consumer guilt x

The 'Charm Pack' ....

New stock item! I have called it the felt 'Charm Pack'.
12 different coloured pieces of up to 50% wool blend felt. I do lurve my acrylic felt and i prefer it for larger, more structured felt pieces, but these are a smaller pack useful for 'details' and smaller felt projects.

Each piece is 6 x 5 inch / 12 x 15cm so great for brooches etc...

The colours are all natural and muted - a far cry from usual BRIGHTS!

I made this little pin-cushion heart as a sort of experiment to see what it was like to layer and embroider... i like it more than i expected to actually and it is slightly softer than the non-wool felt.

These are the colours (i have named them all HERE)

They are for sale on my craft stall mainly as it is way too hard for me to cart around boxes of felt to all the craft fairs! So this Charm Pack was an easy size to have for sale on my travelling craft stall and at the Childrens Craft Workshops i run.

I LOVED making these toadstools from the pack too!

Available, to those who are interested: in FOLKSY £ and also ETSY $

I love a new product - it gets me all inspired x

The need for glasses....

So.... i was super busy and i took, not even ONE photo of the 80 amazing hats that i saw at The Mad Hatters Cocktail Party this weekend! Argh, i hate myself for the missed opportunity to share frivolity with you all.
Instead we have 'The need for glasses' ... Fishy style...
I call this first photo "Beer Goggles" (a blonde me in Barcelona) Then we have SmallFish wearing a respectable pair of real goggles ... of course, we are nowhere near a swimming pool...

Holiday Specs - these sunnies have re-surfaced this Spring to help shade the past 2 weeks GLORIOUS sunshine, here in the UK....

SmallFish in my favourite new Sunnies x

MrsB and I deciding whether the glasses were better in black or red (they had white too)...

I love this colour and these glasses - i remind myself of an 80's pop album cover, very 'Depeche Mode' or something?

Miaaooowww - we all preferred the glasses in RED!

I did wear these as part of my party outift at the weekend (it was a very black and pink combination)

And to finish off, CraftyFish doing silent movie stills, in the privacy of her own photographic studio ...(aka The Bathroom)

A random selection of playing with glasses x let's see your Sunnies!!?! x

A very Merry Un-birthday indeed...

I just KNEW you ladies would like an invitation to this special birthday / un-birthday party...
*squeal* i have never seen such a perfect party tea in all my days... ...to begin at the beginning, any 'Alice' fan would see that the Wonderland references are abundant. A Birthday tea for my Mummy, at which no 'tea' was actually served and alot of place swapping occurred.

Flowers from the meadow, tea cups and tea pots, sleepy doormice, cakes and sandwiches...

Cuddles and thankyou's (my mum hugging my pregnant Sister-in-law)

Oooohhh the FUN we had! My Sister and my Brother - his wife and our children, all enjoying the sunshine on Thursday like it was a Summers Day. Putting up the Gazebo - filling sandwiches - hanging the bunting... it was just magic!

Of course, ever the opportunist to display my bunting (tutorial on Alice bunting to follow soon...)

The flowers, the sunshine... these photos are lovely but i seem to have missed so much of the 'detail'.

A shadowy *fish* snapped by mt Sister setting the table (and sneaking the bubbly that i had already secretly opened in the garage, Sshhh)

AND, as if that wasn't gluttony enough... we are surprising my mum in (*checks watch*) 6hrs time with a surprise lunch out with 40 of her friends... THEN we have invited 80 people over to HER house tonight for a "Mad Hatters Cocktail Party"!! why are we so extreme in our family?

You can see why i have been a little busy my friends x

I might be sober enough to photograph a few Mad Hats tonight too....

I am expecting one or two White Rabbit costumes and i sooooo want to show you my outfit...

... Hey, a VERY merry Un-Birthday to us all x x x x x x

An Ordinary Day...

Some days are lovely, but quite like any other...It started to look good when BIGGERMummyFish and SisterFish popped over to share a pot of fresh coffee and freshly baked LemonChoc Biscotti (inspired by this lady)

The dog was outside enjoying the wamest Spring sunshine...

The beautiful child was outside enjoying the warmest Spring sunshine....

The beautiful child was outside enjoying the novelty of having Mummy's digital camera...

(we title the above frame "Dead Cow")

I might title this photo "Mad Cow" x

I love her photography skills!

And this pot of blooms was planted out for me as a birthday gift last week - it has just 'bloomed' and it brightens my garden no end.

Just an ordinary day, in the extra-ordinary life, of little ole me and my folks x

I've been making these....

Usually, i have an IDEA, suddenly.
And it can take me no longer than a few hours to design, make, photograph and list it for sale! These little fellas seem to have been hovering in the studio half-made for about a year!
I think it took my Sister's input to make me finish a few.
She loved them and wanted one for herself,,,,, it was her birthday so i needed to finish at least one for part of her gift.

I think my issue was, i wasn't 100% sure .... what they 'are'!?

... my sister used hers as a keyfob / charm for her set of car keys.

... my daughter wore hers as a Zipper Pull on her jacket.

... i hung mine on my PIMPED (!) sewing machine as a handy pincushion...

So, you can see my dilemna?
They are a bit of fun. A splash of soft felt colour in your world.

I suppose you have to be a bit of a woodland / toadstool / mushroom 'fan' to see the appeal of these. But, anyway, they appeal to me...

Lots of variations on the same design and theme.

Different colourways and button choices.

Afterall, they are supposed to be 'fantastical' - who said they had to all be in red and brown?

Oh, colour play.

When will this fun ever stop? x