Paper Pom Poms

This weekend Lillia turns 6.  I can barely believe it has been almost six years since we were hurtled into the path of parenthood and our lives changed forever!

This year we decided to step away from the frightening practice of inviting the entire class (30 kids!!) to birthday parties and to allow her to choose just 6 friends to invite to a small party at our home.  As a result we are all rather looking forward to the big day on Saturday!  The theme for the party is to be "meadow"- think all things ladybird, toadstool, bunting and flowers! I have had much fun whipping up various little decorations (more on these later this week) but none so much fun as making these wonderul paper pom poms...

The instructions are on the Martha Stewart website, all you need is some tissue paper and some floristry wire, they are incredibly simple to make, yet SO effective don't you think?

I made a white one and a pink one before I completely ran out of tissue paper, so it'll be off to Hobbycraft for me tomorrow!  I think a few of these hung around the house and garden will be just beautiful.

 

Perfect for a spring-time birthday! And what good timing as this week Spring has really arrived, it is warm and sunny, I have washing drying in the garden. We've been able to start pottering around outside clearing up dead leaves and planting seeds, and generally enjoying some vitimin D from the sun! Phoebe is particularly enjoying being outdoors, she is enjoying playing on the slide and see-saw and picking up twigs and leaves...

My own handmade garden pot has been placed in its new home on the patio.  The green glaze on the main body of the pot is patchy as this is how it goes during firing, I love it as it makes it look mossy, like it has always been in the garden.  I just need to decide what to plant in it...

Strawberries perhaps?  Or sweet-peas? Hmmm.  A nice decision to need to make!

Hope you are enjoying the Springy weather wherever you are!

xx

London in the Spring

There is no denying it now - the air is noticably less nippy the mornings are lighter, the evenings slightly longer, there have been sunshiney skies and a few rain showers.  Spring has definitely arrived. 

I do love this time of year.  Birthdays galore, daffodils, freshness and the smell of wet mud. Luv-er-lee.

On Sunday we decided to take advantage of the Springy weather and took a trip up to Greenwich to walk around the park amidst the neat old buildings and shiny new cafes and museums.  The skies were blue, the air was fresh, we even walked about without our coats on!





Lillia loved being able to run about in the wide open spaces and play hide and seek amongst the trees...






Although suggesting we play hide and seek here was probably not one of our finest suggestions...




:)

We huffed and puffed our way up the steep hill to the observatory (you have to pay to get in these days!) and looked back down towards London...






It struck me as strange standing there so content with my little family, enjoying a relatively lazy day together, taking in the rather impressive view - when in fact I was looking towards the route of my car journey to work that causes me so much anguish.  The route that runs from the right by the Dome, past Canary Wharf and into the distance to the Gherkin.  I drive this three times a week before 7:30am, and back again in the afternoons.  It takes me away from my girls, my home and my sanity.  It was strange to look down on it from a distance and think about that.

After a pizza lunch we headed home, picking up some bridesmaid dresses along the way.  Lillia is to be a flower girl this year and I promised my friend I would take pictures of the various dresses she wanted her to try.  I took photos outside the front of the house, and they came out beautifully in the afternoon sun...





I can almost smell the roses and hear the clink of champagne glasses can't you? 

Little bags

You know what it's like - you're dashing out to the shops, hubby's doing the childcare, you've got two hours, tops, just for you.  You don't need the bag you use for family days out - massive, slightly worn, stuffed with wipes, snacks, tissues, spare clothes.  You don't need your work bag - slightly less massive, stuffed with tissues, ipod, book, travelcard and, if you're like me, snacks.  You need a bag just big enough for your keys, your mobile and your purse...ok, and a snack.

So I made one...

It has a pink bunny as a nod to the season - a bit springy and easter themed (ok, I'm a bit late for easter!)  I really like this bag, it is made from a cut of old wool fabric, lined with organic cotton and appliqued with recycled felt and, as planned, it is perfct for carrying those little essentials.  So I made some more...

And there's more to come too!  Not quite sure what I am going to do with them.  I was planning on opening an online shop and maybe selling a few things, but I am just not convinced that I would be able to dedicate the time, and I'd be too nervous that my handywork wouldn't be good enough and I'd have a ton of annoyed customers!  So for now I continue to sew for pleasure, and keep giving my friends and family bags, dolls and purses :)

xx

Little green shoots

We've had some seed growing action this week!  It's generating much excitement.  Lillia's sweet pea seeds that she planted at nursery were the first to show up and are doing very well indeed...

And there are more than a few hints of green are to be seen in our seed trays...

Sweetcorn above and, below, tomato!

Hoping to get some of these planted out in the garden this weekend, seeing as the weather is supposed to be so lovely.  Hopefully I'll have shaken off this hideous bug by then *cough splutter*

xx

My new kitchen hook

I love cake I do!

I love making it and I love eating it and I love neat, colourful little images of cake too.

When we went shopping on Lillia's birthday earlier this week we couldn't resist a visit to the Mystical Fairies shop at Bluewater here in Kent. 

We went in to find a little birthday treat for Lillia, which we did in the form of a decorate-your-own princess mirror, but we also came away with a little treat for me too...

I've needed a hook for my kitchen calendar for ages and now I have the perfect cakey one to use...

It is perfect for hanging my calendar (a freebie from Ideal Home magazine)...

Now I'll remember all those April birthdays...including mine!  ;)

Hope you are all enjoying the Easter weekend xx

A week of creations

The power cable went on our laptop rendering it…well…powerless. This was, however, rather fortuitous as it forced me to stop gawping at the internet and get on with some proper creative time. We got the new cable yesterday so I am now reunited with blogger, my photos and the full excitement of t’internet once more, so here I am ready to share some of the products of my days away from the world wide web.

I have been having a lot of fun with felt...

I've been making some easter/spring-time themed items...

And basically have a lot of fun cracking on with making things...

I have also had time to make a start on a "manly" sewing project for hubby's birthday, I felt it was time he got something out of the hours I spend fussing about with fabrics...

I am rather excited about this particular project, but I can't reveal too much in case he checks in here and the surprise gets blown.  I just hope I can get this finished successfully and on time as it is a new technique to me, it requires lots of sewing in straight lines, which isn't my strong point!

I have also managed this week to tackle my first ever zip, very exciting!  I was rather pleased actually, I made a little zippered purse for Lillia...

On the outside I used a french quilting fabric that I picked up in Uzes last year, I love this fabric and I only have a small amount so I was happy to use it on something that will get played with every day.  For the lining I used organic cotton gingham from Gossypium...

I can't tell you how much I love this fabric, the colour is just lovely and it is so soft :)

I am hoping to able to get some good shots of finished things and more works in progress tomorrow when I have the time and the light.  All will be revealed soon enough!