Birds and Giveaways

Hi everyone, thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes!

I hope you are all well, I am enjoying the sunshine today, its still sunny outside even though its now gone 6!

I wanted to share some of the rather lovely things that have been dropping through my letterbox this last week or so, as there seems to be a rather feathery theme!

With some of my birthday money I treated myself to this pastel pink love birds brooch from this gorgeous shop on Folksy. It looks really lovely on, and is the same design as the ones from Acorn and Will which I was much admiring on the Vintage Pretty and Shabby blog! But I had some paypal pennies so I went through Folksy.

Another birdy related thing...I was lucky enough to win this gorgeous gorgeous handmade necklace from Ali at Magic Beans. Ali's blog is relatively new, so if you haven't checked it out yet please do go over and say Hi! I put it on as soon as it arrived and have had lots of lovely compliments on it, so thank you Ali for a lovely giveaway.

While browsing Folksy, as you do, I spotted this ring (bought here) which was an absolute bargain and popped one in my virtual shopping trolley! Strangely enough it is almost exactly the same duck egg blue as the stones on the necklace and looks rather lovely when worn together. I do love Folksy, especially the handmade jewellery, in fact I am so pleased to be buying handmade jewellery as it is lovely to support a crafter.

It is rather pretty don't you think?

And lastly, I was also lucky enough to win the 'red' giveaway over at Handmade by Mia, which arrived all the way from Finland! Mia's swap included three gorgeous handmade items packaged up with a very sweet label as you can see.

Its another bird!

So inside was this little pile of gorgeous handmade loveliness!

A birdy keyring made with felted wool. Which is now hanging on my keys!

A red and white lace coaster, finished with a little heart tag.

And this gadget holder, which I have popped my camera in for now as I don't have an iPhone :(!

Oops for some reason these photos have come out the wrong way round, but at least you get the idea! I love how all 4 parts of this gadget holder are made with different red and white heart material, and the attention to detail is wonderful.

Perfectly co-ordinated Handmade by Mia label.

Mia has a fab Etsy shop if you would like to visit here!

So there we have my little birdy giveaway round up! I hope you check out some of the links, and happy blogging! X

Birthday Beauties

On Saturday it was my birthday, 23 years old, and I had some very lovely presents that I want to blog about because for me, more than anything, my blog is a diary for myself - so I can remember the things I've done, items I've made, gifts, swaps, and RAKs. So I hope you enjoy a peek at my presents. 

My mum and I appreciate pretty (yet cheap) wrapping paper. I always put the most effort into wrapping her gifts as I know it will be appreciated, and my lovely mum does the same for me.

But the first thing I wanted to show was an actual diary, now I have never been any good at keeping a diary, writing in it regularly and keeping it up to date. However, classes and parties at Emporium mean I need to keep on top of things so my lovely BF bought this for me from Paperchase.

My mum bought this pretty rose ring for me from New Look after I was oohing and aahing at it while we were out. I do like statement rings, and this one is pretty big!!

As you can see! My nails are looking a bit shabby as they are really weak and break every couple of weeks :( but the ring looks cute eh?

The BF bought me these two gorgeous and ever so romantic necklaces from Accessorize (one of my favourite shops!) he picked them out all by himself. I have him well trained I think!

With some of my birthday money I bought this pretty rose scarf for myself. I love the fushcia pink and mint green pattern.

And I really LOVE the tiny pom-pom bobble trim around the edge...so sweet!

I also bought this rose necklace (I am a big fan of roses as you may have noticed?!) in a gorgeous peachy colour from River Island.

Its sooo pretty and will look fab with the ring and the scarf - OTT on the roses!

This funky reversable bag was another gift, its a really good size for me to carry around all my junk (and I have A LOT of junk these days!!!)

And as pinky/nude colours are this seasons 'must have' I bought myself this peachy ruffle top from H&M the other day (I also bought it in chocolate brown but you don't really need two photos of the same thing do you?)

The BFs mum bought me this 30s style grey sweater with little hearts embroidered on it. Its so sweet and so me, it will look lovely with the heart necklace from the BF too.

And I shall wear the sweater with these cute ruffle pumps from Primark, with a sweet ditzy floral print on the sole inside.

Oh and my lovely mum bought me a huge bunch of Sweet Williams, this is a small jug that I've put in my room, there are another two large jugs full in the kitchen and lounge too!

I love the dainty flowers and deep pinks and purples.

And these lovely pink and white ones too.

Oh and my sister, who is just THE BEST, bought me tickets to see the first screening of Twilight Eclipse at my local cinema, VIP seats too! Oh and the Glee CD, yes I am a dork! Gleek! X

Fabric Addict Swap Sent!

Yesterday I showed you what I sent for the Fabric Addict Swap.

I sent a mix of different fabrics, mostly of the pretty, florally kind - my most owned kind!!

Some gingham, polka dots and stripes were also in there too!

Some binding and buttons (a mix of vintage and new goodies)

And some vintage lace too.

Hope you enjoyed the swap Tracy! X

Fabric Addict Swap Recieved

Last week I recieved my lovely Fabric Addict swap from Tracy at Mad About Bags, and thought I would share my pretty goodies. Now Tracy had asked if I would like pretty girly fabrics as you can see my blog is rather pretty and pink! So I said 'yes!' and these are the goodies I recieved...

Tracy kindly sent me some pretty pink and purple fabrics, including a lovely patterned butterfly print pink fabric. I am planning on using this for a rather large project I have started working on...can you guess what it is? 

I also got some lovely buttons to add to my button collection.

Some tiny little metal 'Handmade with Love' hearts that I can't wait to use on some little handmade goodies. These are so cute and dainty and will be a really lovely touch.

And lucky me I also got a wonderful bundle of haberdashery goodies including some ribbons, beaded fringing, thread, needles and poppers!

aaaaaand, thats not all Tracy sent me this adorable handmade bag, which is so sweet, and oh so pretty.

Thanks so much Tracy for a lovely swap :) and thank you to Crafty Helen for organising it.

X

Bright Blue Bunting

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the birth of my first nephew! 

I wanted to show you the bunting I made for him to go with the handmade cushion with the nautical/underwater theme. I am LOVING crafting for little people, there are not a lot of little people in my family, so its so lovely to have the chance to make something for them. This bunting is really similar to this one I made for my cousin's little boy, just using slightly different fabrics.

I used two flags of the printed fabric at the end of the string and added some sweet little blue buttons for extra decoration.

I LOVE this material, its really fresh and lovely for a little man, I am thinking I may need to increase my 'blue boyish' fabric stash now that there are little boys in the family :)

And some cute little fishes for this flag. 

Since I have enjoyed making these two sets of bunting I thought I'd list it in my Folksy shop, and if you'd like to order some for a little boy you can find it here. 

X  

Rosy Posy

This is just a quick, and rather pointless post today, as I took some photos of my earrings, for no other reason than they are pretty, so I thought I'd share!

For my cheap-but-pretty earrings I keep them in this sweet little Cath Kidston mint tin. The tin itself is lovely, although the size of it means that you can't really keep much in it! So I keep some of my favourites in here, so that they are in easy reach when I want to change them.

Now the earrings in here are mostly flowers (especially roses), bows and button style ones, including a few pairs I have bought from various Folksy sellers. So below are lots and lots of little metal rose studs in pinks, blues and peach colours. The rose with bows were bought to wear to my parents wedding.

Then I have two sets of hanging roses in a jade green and creamy colour. I have two holes in my ears so I like to wear one long dangly one and one stud in each ear. I also have some very special rose earrings bought when I went on holiday to Sardinia a few years ago, which is where I first saw that style of earring and have loved them ever since.

I am lucky that I can wear any kind of metal without an irritation, so I really love to buy cheap and cheerful earrings. I always worry with expensive jewellery that I am going to lose it, so at least I don't worry with the cheaper stuff!

Random photo at the end again, but I just wanted to blog a photo of my chocolate marble cake made by myself at the weekend. These are my favourite type of cakes to make - the ones that require no icing! And my cakes in loaf tins always seem to rise perfectly, unlike my cakes made in cake tins!

Mmm half of its gone already ;) X

Making for Baby

I am an Auntie now!

On 30th May my sister in law gave birth to their little boy and I am now officially an Aunt!

How exciting! Yes another little boy in the family and another with an 'L' name too.

So my little nephew is here and tomorrow I am going to see him for the first time which I am oh so excited about! I asked my brother a while back if I might be allowed to make something for him when he arrived and was waiting on the announcement of the name to start crafting.

Well Lucas is now here, and his nursery has a nautical theme so I'm told, so I made a sweet little personalised cushion with a sea theme. I am really trying to make a dent in my stash before purchasing any new fabric, and I have been successful so far! So I asked a while back on SCC if anyone wanted to swap fabric with me so I could have something boyish and nautical. And once again Claire came to the rescue with an underwater globaltex fabric! Thanks Claire!

Using some blue gingham from my stash, a dash of red polka dot and some details from the underwater fabric appliqued on I made a little cushion. The globaltex fabric is also glittery, which unfortunately my camera hasn't picked up, but it has gold detailing, like the treasure in the chest above. 

The back is a mix of the gingham and the fish fabric finished off with a single button hole and vintage red button. I have also started some bunting for him and the flags are all completed, I just need to dash off in the morning to buy some binding ready to give it to mummy and daddy tomorrow.

Hopefully if you click to enlarge you might be able to see the gold glittery effect shown on the fishes stripes and air bubbles in the photo below. 

And a completely random photo, but I thought my bed looked so pretty today after I made it that I took a photo for my blog! Blue (ten year old - original!) rosali pillowcase, pale blue polka dot duvet and my handmade roses and gingham quilt (yes I still need a quilt, I still get cold!)

Looking forward to lots of cuddles and baby smells (good ones!) tomorrow :)

X