Swapping into Spring

As promised, today I am sharing with you my little pressies from the swap I did last month.  My pressies came from Thea, who writes the MummyCat Gets Organised blog.

A little heart keyring that smells deliciously of my favourite thing - lavender.  I actually assumed she had bought this until I read her blog and realised she had made it!  

Well dur, it was a handmade swap after all so I am not sure why I would assume it would be anything other than handmade, it just it looks so perfect!  Just look at the teeny embroidery and the delicate beading, absolutely gorgeous!  I am going to attach this to a bag and carry it about with pride :)

I also received "everlasting flowers", which are so detailed and intricate...

Clever, right?  This little bunch of flowers is made from floristry ribbon I think, they are so dinky and sit perfectly on my kitchen window sill cheering me up as I scrubbed pasta-bake off the oven dish this morning :)

Thea also sent me a large tub of homemade chocolate and pistachio fudge.  Holy moly that fudge was DIVINE.  Unfortunately I did not have the self-constraint to take photos before hubby and I scoffed the lot.  I may have to look up the recipe (I believe it was Nigella) and make some myself, though this could lead to me regaining the weight I have lost since having Phoebe...

Thanks Thea for my wonderful pressies, and thanks too to everyone who took part!  Not all the swappers have blogs but for those that do here are the blog posts about their goodies:

• Thea at MummyCat Gets Organised
• Fiona at frou-frou
• Claire at The Hookery
• Lily at Making it Vintage

Aw, now I feel all warm and fuzzy...happy swapping everyone!

x

Baby leg-warmers

We all love those chubby baby legs, and Phoebe's are chubbier than most believe me!  When you see them you just have to give them a squeeze...! 

I crocheted these legwarmers using the yarn I received from my Ravelry Christmas swap partner, the pattern was in the Crochet Today magazine she sent me too.

This is a really lovely pattern to use and the leg-warmers turn out incredibly cute for very little effort.  I love these.  Phoebe seems to like them too, though she is slightly baffled by them!

Crochet headband, goodies and...a swap?

Just nipping in quickly to share with you pictures of my first ever Crochet A Long! A Crochet A Long, in case you didn't know already, is where you choose a pattern and all work on it at the same time but at your own pace.

This one was on the Hooked for Life group on Ravelry and seemed nice and simple and useful. I didn't have the correct yarn or hook but I just plunged straight in anyway...luckily it came out beautifully and the size is perfect...

The pattern is the Cozy Flowered Headband and it's available for free, woo!

I grabbed the photos whilst the light was semi ok, which meant the only model available was me, hence why you get to see my trusty Nikon too :)

I enjoyed doing this, the CALs are monthly so there's always plenty of time to have a go and it encourages me to try patterns I might not have looked at otherwise.

I've been having other fun via Ravelry this week too as my Secret Santa box arrived from my Spoiler over the pond in Florida!  Here's a glimpse of the lovely items I got...

I also got this beautiful hat and scarf set...



(another self portrait..ahem)

Just look at the detail on this quilted bird decoration, amazing...

So it's been a good week what with finally feeling better, completing a project and getting some lovely gifts in the mail.  I love snailmail, in fact I feel a swap coming on.  Anyone fancy a little swap for new year?  To brighten up January?  Anyone interested leave me a comment and I shall organise it!

Heart Swap

I don't often sign up for swaps because I don't need the added pressure :) But when I saw the heart swap over at Beki's blog I thought it seemed a lovely simple swap to join in with; five heart themed things to be sent to your partner by the end of March. No problem, I thought, plenty of time.  I still managed to send my parcel off at the very last possible moment though :)

I sent off a modest little parcel containing heart themed bits and pieces and a couple of bits I made. 

As well as one of my radiator smellies, I popped in this hanging heart decoration...

I love this pattern - the hearts come out really sweet.  If you want to try it out the pattern is on Ravelry and I linked to it in this previous post.

But never mind what I sent! You want to know what I got, right?  Well, my partner was Sue at http://blog.suepops.co.uk/ and she sent me a gorgeous package of lovely things...

Ooh!  Look at my goodies!  Shall we have a closer look?

A handmade card, extremely sparkly...

Phoebe loved this and stared at it for ages whilst drooling and trying to grab it (presumably to eat it...)

I also received this kitsch little hanging heart...

I have added it to my growing collection.  Do you think I have enough...? ;)

I love love love this handpainted candle holder (and the little heart candle)...

And just look at this...

LOVE this brooch, it is utterly gorgeous!

Unfortunately the calculator, being pink, has been stolen by 5-year-old Lillia already, I had barely removed the wrapping before it was whisked off to perform complex additions. The bath ballistic from my No.1 Favourite Shop has been fizzed and enjoyed already, and the chocolates?  Well...er..ah...ahem... :)

Absolutely lovely gifts, I am so glad I decided to take part in the swap, lucky me!  Thanks Sue!  xx

Secret Post Club - May

I have been LOVING the Scret Post Club so far.  Kudos to Heather of Notes from Lapland for being so darn clever and organising the whole shebang.

May was my second month as a member and I received a fabulous mix of goodies all the way from Canada.  Here's my loot (do excuse the piccies in this post, I couldn't be bothered shifting upstairs to get the proper Nokia camera so the ickle one had to do, that's pregnancy for you)...

I got a seriously lovely parcel full of lovely goodies.  There was a real handmade and natural feel to all the gifts with lip balm made with natural ingredients, organic moisturiser and gorgeous natural soap ...

I have the cutest little tinned candle to light whilst I am soaking in the bath (using my new soap of course) and that crayola shaped soap?  It's made with goat's milk and is from Etsy! Lillia was delighted with that as she stole it from my stash!  Though I am pretty sure it was meant for her anyway :)

She also included something called "Fiesta Mix" - a spice blend that you mix in with sour cream and mayo to make a dip.  Hubby whipped that out of my hands pretty quick!  Can't wait to try it.

My sender, Audrey, didn't include a note or any clues to her blog so I'm afraid to say I googled her.  Sorry Audrey!  She has a beautiful crafty blog that is definitely worthy of a cup of tea and a good half hour on the laptop, I just hope she forgives me for outing her!

Now please excuse me, I have some dip to go mix up...

Secret Post Club

I am playing catch up this week, can you tell?

Nearly two weeks ago now I received my first ever Secret Post Club parcel.  Having sent mine off to the US a few days earlier I was so excited to receive mine so quickly!  Annie of Incessant Ramblings sent me some lovely bits.  A little pampering set of bath and shower smellies...

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love smellies so these are right up my street!

Annie also made this beautiful cherub...

Isn't he lovely?  He is varnished so can be displayed in my garden, where he is currently nestled amongst the herbs and young vegetable plants. 

Annie's blog is well worth a visit, she is an amazing photographer, I mean seriously good.  She also sent me a bar of proper lovely Green and Blacks milk chocolate but..er..I can't seem to find it right now...can't think where it might have gone..ahem...

I am loving the Secret Post Club, the pleasure of putting a package together for somebody, the excitement of receiving something in the post, and the opportunity to discover other crafty women in the blogisphere, other mums, like-minded people. If you want to get involved click on the link in my sidebar *points to the right* over there, you won't regret it!

xx

Day 282: Swappity swap

Day 282 already!? How fast time flies. It's only a couple of months before I reach the end of my first year of blogging. Things have certainly taken a different turn than I expected when I set out on my crafting/blogging journey - what started as an intention to include more craft in my life has evolved into a much larger and less specific reality. But more on that next month I think. Right now I am too excited to navel gaze for I have my first swap to share with you!

I have received my fabrics from my swap with Parallel Botany...

I am in love with this green flower one especially, the green (which I just can't capture properly on camera) is my favourite shade. I think this is going to have to be incorporated into a cushion for my living room so I can look at it every day, and it matches my..ahem..colour scheme* perfectly...

She also sent some lace trim, which is lovely, I didn't have anything like this before. And the fabric it is pictured on has leaping fish on it! I just love this fabric...

I am especially excited about this fabric, which I thought was the Empire State Building but then after a quick flick through my holiday snaps realised it is in fact the Chrysler Building. I have been to NYC only once and I loved it, it was for my first year wedding anniversary before mortgages, children and responsibility and it was just a wonderful trip with lots of happy memories. I will need to make something travel related with this I think...


Next up is this gorgeous blue birds fabric, which Lillia has selected as her favourite too...

Lisa also threw in this cute little flower, which I am going to pin to my work bag to take the edge off the drizzly London commute I have to endure four days a week...

To top it all off she also sent me a mixtape mini CD of happy songs which she called "Beautiful Day", which I have already listened to twice and which Lillia and I have danced to once.

I love swaps! Now I just have to get creative.

* when I say "colour scheme" it's more a series of fortunate accidental matches with some serious clashing thrown in.

Weddings and swaps

Things have been a bit hectic round here the last few weeks. My best friend got married on Wednesday in Cyprus and the weeks leading up to the big day were a blur of preparation. As well as this I was frantically and nervously preparing swap parcels for my two first swaps.

We flew to Cyprus very early on Tuesday morning, leaving our little girl with my mum. It was a big moment as we have never left her for more than one night before and this time we'd be gone for three so I found it hard, though Lillia was as happy as a lark!

The weather in Cyprus was sizzlng and sunny and we had much fun splashing about in the pool and drinking pimms before the boys all departed for the night. We spent most of Wednesday getting ready - the bride, the other bridesmaid and me - they are both really good at being girls and have lots of useful girl things like lip gloss, nail varnish and stuff you put in your hair to de-frizz it. It is a slightly alien world to me as I have never been great at being a girly-girl, but I enjoyed it very much, I used every pink and glittery bottle I could find.

The wedding was beautiful and so romantic and the bride and groom had a brilliant day. That's me on the bride's left with the brown hair...

Here's me and hubby, he was a groomsman and made the "best man" speech...

The happy couple...

It was all over very quickly. We we due to fly back late on Thursday and be back in the wee small hours of Friday morning but our plane was cancelled and in the end we got back seventeen hours late. It was a bit of a nightmare and reminded me why I don't generally fly! Plus we missed Lillia for a fourth night, arriving back after she had gone to bed. She was delighted to find us there in the morning though and although we are knackered it is soooo good to be home.

I had wanted to write a post about my swaps before I went but just didn't have a second. I took part in two - the first a general craft swap on the Here We Are Together blog, and the second a simple fabric swap from Parallel Botany.

As I am new to sewing crafts I was a bit nervous, and because I left things late of course I was under more pressure! I am not sure if either of my swaps have been received yet but I think a little teaser or two won't hurt.

For the first swap we are sending to one person and receiving from somebody else. I sent mine to Kristina who writes Growing a Better Me, though I am not sure if she knows she got me! She likes cats, black, teal, bright green and black. Here's a few teaser pictures...

For the second swap I exchanged fabrics with the swap organiser Lisa...



I really enjoyed the process of selecting suitable patterns and colours and reading through people's blogs to try and get to know them a bit. I really liked the wrapping and presenting of the swaps. I think that swaps may be a bit addictive! Plus of course there's the excitement of getting your little parcel in the post.

It's the end of a long long week so I am off to spend some quality time with little Lillia xx