A Bunny Mummy original

Good morning.  It's a gorgeous day here today with the sun shining, birds tweeting and singing and baby magpies demanding food from their exhausted parents in their oh so persistent way.  :)  The cats, the dog and the chooks are all sunning themselves which sounds like a perfect idea to me.

Before I indulge in some time outside, I want to share with you what I found in my postbox yesterday.  Look at this gorgeous crochet bowl that I was very lucky to win in a giveaway by Jacquie from Bunny Mummy.

Inside view of bowl, beautiful work Jacquie!

Upside down

 I have long admired Jacquie's crochet work and her generous spirit in sharing her knowledge through tutorials.  The above link will take you to her tutorial on just how to make one of these gorgeous bowls.  I am very proud to have Jacquie original in my home.  The colours are gorgeous and the crochet work is beautiful, something for me to aspire to.

Jacquie also added a few gorgeous surprises in her package.

A lovely fabric heart to hang (green and purple are my favourite colours), a candle melt and a gorgeous little notebook with an owl on the front.  I LOVE OWLS!!  The notebook is the perfect size to pop in my handbag, I'm always looking for something to write on when I'm out and about.  There was also a beautiful card which reminded me of the nature notes posts that Jacquie does once a month on her lovely blog.  Thank you Jacquie, I feel very spoilt.
 
Wherever you are today, I hope you are having a fab day,

 Anne  xx

Give away winner

Thank you everyone who entered my giveaway.  I appreciate your encouraging comments (you don't know how much) and taking the time to participate.  After much mixing of names (Nathalie you were included) in the hat, I asked Miss G. to draw a name out and winner is LOUISE from  Ramblings of a Roachling.  Congratulations Louise.  When you have a moment, could you please email me your postal address.  I will be away for a few days down the beach so will post the parcel to you early next week.

I've realised the hardest thing about having a give away is that I wanted everyone to be the winner.  It's really hard when there is only one.  :-(  Thank you for following my blog, I do so appreciate you being interested in my
little world.

I'll see you soon, hopefully posting from the beach. 

Anne xx

This morning I went out into my garden room to have my coffee and someone had been very hard at work making this.

The web was attached to one of the chairs but I didn't have the heart to move the chair and destroy this spider's hard work.  I was intrigued to see the zig zig line down the centre of the web and wonder if this is for extra strength.

The day has been beautiful, warm and balmy and no thunderstorms for which I'm very grateful.

  These lobelia have self sown in the garden room.  I love it when nature takes over in a nice way!

While I was sitting drinking my coffee, I couldn't help but look around the back yard full of flowers, sunshine, a dragonfly or two and be grateful to live in a country that has freedom.  Freedom to own some land and a house.  A country that has stability and enough food to eat and so many more things.  It was nice to just sit and appreciate, taking some time to enjoy the environment.

Look at that beautiful blue sky.  In the centre of the photo is a tree fern which I imagine would be over a hundred years old.  We have been living here for over 20 years and it was quite tall when we moved in.  Our roofline can be seen in the bottom left hand corner.

Here is another tree fern.  Not quite as old, but nonetheless just as beautiful as the other one.  About five years ago I saved this particular tree fern from being smothered to death by ivy.  It took about 2 years of constant pruning and pulling out roots to get rid of it as I didn't want to use poison in the garden.  A Japanese maple is growing underneath

While I was out taking photos, I was joined by our other cat Bungee (you mostly see pictures of Stripey) and he leapt up onto the garden seat to get in on the action.

Here he is dazzling white in the sun.  At the vet he is listed as a domestic short hair, colour, white and champagne.  A bit exotic for a cat don't you think?  :)

As well as enjoying the outdoors, I've spent a bit of time in this.

This is what I call creative bliss.  I've been working on some things the last couple of days and as this table is where we eat, the family has been consigned to eat on the couch.  Ooops!!  We have a study which is filled to overflowing with all manner of things creative as well as an electric piano, part of a set of drums in storage, a filing cabinet, a table which is supposed to be a craft table (general dumping ground) and a number of plastic storage boxes crammed full of things that need storing.  One day I hope to have this room under control so I can go in there and craft to my hearts content without disrupting the household.

Tomorrow I will be announcing the winner of my 100th post give away.  Thank you to everyone who entered.  You've still got time to enter if you wish. 

One last thing, (can't shut me up), Miss G. and I will be going away for a few days during the week to stay near the beach in a friend's beach house.  Miss G. really needs a break after a hard year of study and I need the sea.  I find the sea air agrees with me very much.  So we will have about 4 days of walking on the beach, sleeping, watching DVD's, drawing and sketching (me), novel writing (Miss G.), reading, reading, reading, late breakfasts, sitting in the sun (hopefully no thunderstorms) fish and chips and definitely  NO COOKING!!  For those that might be concerned about my eating habits (mum?), it won't be fish and chips every night.  :)  I hope I can take some lovely photos to share.

Until tomorrow, have a lovely day/evening,

Anne  xx

Musings, creativity and a question

 Even though I've taken a few days break from blogging, that certainly doesn't mean I've been idle.  I had a bit of a meltdown last weekend, a culmination of a number of things and as I'm somewhat recovered, I have a few things to share and a questions to ask.  It's going to be a  long post.

Miss G. has finished the school year (sigh of relief), and is now on holidays which in part means I get a break too.  No more school drop offs and pick ups for about 2 months.  BLISS.  One more year of school and then she has finished.  She can then contemplate uni and a more adult life without quite so much parental involvement needed.  I really wonder how parents with more than two children continue the momentum.

Back to blogging.  I've continued reading all the blogs I follow and especially related to this post by Terrie at Creative Haven.  I was confronted by my huge mess a couple of days ago when a cousin of my husband's was in town with her husband and they wanted to catch up.  An invite to dinner was given and that meant I had to confront the shambles and disorganisation of my house.  I had never met this cousin before and I'm afraid my pride would not let me welcome them into a grotty house.  This forced me to do many things I haven't done for so long like wash the windows covered in dog slobber, put things away where they belong, wiping down cupboard doors in the kitchen, folding up blankets from my nephews visit and putting them back in the linen cupboard.  And the list goes on.  It was actually very good for me to be forced to do these things as I now have a relatively tidy environment in which to live and it's very nice.  I love looking out clean windows. Fancy that!

My general clean up included by my side of the bedroom which was an eyesore of books, magazines, Christmas  shopping, shoes and .....wait for it........DUST BUNNIES.  There was also the bedside table which was covered in clutter, including pens, pencils, pens, pencils, pens, pencils, you get the idea.  Contrary to my messy living habits, I like to have things organised (figure that one out?), somewhere to put things.  So I had an idea for a no sew pen, pencil holder.  Here's what I did.
.
Materials
small scrap of fabric
ribbon
pinking shears
double sided tape
jam jar
and the offending pens, pencils of course

Measure the size of the jar and cut enough fabric for an over lap when you wrap it around the jar.

Place two pieces of double sided tape on the right side of the fabric at one end.

Place the jar on the fabric with the double sided tape facing up and roll jar toward you, pressing the down on the overlap of fabric.

Add some ribbon and tie in a bow.

Place your pens and pencils in and there you have it, a pretty solution for a untidy problem.  Bedside table now looks gorgeous.

For all the people who like to decorate with neutral colours, using hession or burlap, calico, raffia, twine, or even a ribbon made from a strip of ticking that has been frayed would look nice.  Embellishments could be added too.  Oh, I've just had another thought.   How about making one of these with a Christmas theme to put your candy canes in if your aren't hanging them on the tree?  Might just have to make one of those too.

Someone else who benefitted from my bedroom clean up was Leanne, she can now be seen and admired again.  She is my teddy and I've had her since I was a baby, so she's 48 like me. 

 She use to be a soft blue.  A bit of rolling around in Western Australian dirt soon changed that as you can see.    When I was little, I attempted to improve her looks with blue eyeshadow above her left eye.  I used chalk.  :)  She is sitting on a very old stool which was made by my Grandfather.  I remember sitting on it when I was about 4 or 5 years old with my Granny next to me while we watched kid's t.v. 

I've made a few other things in the last couple of days.  A christmas tree decoration.

I made two different size bird templates, cut two large birds from blue hessian and two small birds from fabric scraps.  I wanted this to be a double sided ornament.  I hand sewed the pieces together using embroidery floss with the ribbon loop being sewn in between the hessian pieces as I went.  I added some rhinestones for a bit of bling.

I've also made this Christmas tree from a poly styrene cone.

I covered it with a curtain fabric sample and glued silver glittery ric rac on the sides.  To cover the bottom of the tree, I used three pieces of white and silver Christmas ribbon and joined them together by sewing gathers at intervals where the silver ric rac is positioned.  Apart from the gathered stitches used on the ribbon, I used a hot glue gun to hold everything down and together.  I love my very new hot glue gun.

Now for the question.  I'm sorry to go on about this, but I really am confused.  When my 100th post was up, I decided like most people seem to do in blog land, to have a give away to celebrate this small milestone.  I made four items which I hoped would have some appeal.  But as only two people have put their name forward (thank you ladies), I can only assume that this is not the type of fare people are interested in receiving.

There are many blogs out there who offer truly gorgeous things in give aways.   Some items are bought and  some are hand made, so I thought my hand made offerings would be acceptable.  So if you wouldn't mind, could you please enlighten me as to what constitutes a good give away.  You may not wish to comment publicly on this topic and I would be very happy to receive an email for you.  Please be honest, I will take no offense.   And please don't suddenly enter my giveaway because you feel sorry for me.  I'm not the kind of person that needs to be propped up that way.  That being said, if you missed my post and like my give away items, please enter. :)  Give away closes 5th December.

Have a gorgeous day/evening everyone,

Anne  xx

Short break

Just to let you know that I am taking a short break from my blog.  I won't be away for long, I just need to catch my breath.  Because of this I have extended the closing date of my 100th post give away
until the 5th December.  I will be looking at your blogs and might make a comment here or there, honestly I've go too much to say to be silent for too long.  :-)

See you soon,

Anne xx

100th post - Give away time

It's hard to believe I'm up to my 100th post. This blogging business is so much fun, time consuming, yes, but fun. I've met so many wonderful people doing all kinds of interesting things. Some are artists, some are crafters, some are decorators, some love to bake and cook and some talk about life. It's a fascinating world out there and I'm so happy to be a very small part of it. Blogging has challenged me to create more than I ever have before and I love it. It has been very good therapy for me as you will know from this post.

To celebrate this small milestone, I have a give away for you.  As some of you may know, I like to make things.  Things that are practical, helpful and pretty if possible.  So I've made four items that hopefully someone might be interested in receiving, and here they are.

The first item below is called a back sack.  It's made from cotton fabric, lined and is a cross between a back pack and a shoulder bag.  The bag is designed so that when you pull the straps, they act like a drawstring.  This is not my design.  I downloaded it a long time ago but can't find the link now so I can't credit the designer.

Thanks to Miss G. for being my model.

The back sack folds down quite small so you could pop it in your main shopping bag and use it for a spare.

The next item  is a roll up travel pouch for jewellery.  Or maybe even crochet hooks? :)  It's made from cotton and once again I can't take credit for the design, although I have added some of my own decorative touches.  The design came from a craft book my sister-in-law had and I don't have the authors name or title of the book.  Some of the jewellery I've used in this photo for display purposes, I've inherited.  Lucky me, I love old jewellery.

When you fold up the pouch, it's kept closed by tying the ribbons as can be seen in the first photo of this post.

The next item is an air freshener sachet (I showed you how I made them  here ), that can be used in the car or anywhere else you'd like, perhaps the wardrobe.  Put some dried lavender flowers, rose petals or cotton wool balls with a few drops of your favourite essential oil into the little calico bag and close.  Put the little bag into the pretty fabric outer bag and hang it wherever you want a nice aroma.

 I've left the ribbon long so you adjust it to suit your needs.

And now for the final item.  I've made bits and pieces of jewellery from time to time, earrings, bracelets, necklaces but never one of these.  It's a little bit quirky and I've used jewellery findings in unusual ways as decoration and added some charms.

It's a kilt pin brooch and quite heavy with all the added bits and pieces, so is probably best worn on a heavy winter scarf or jumper.

The materials used are costume jewellery items found at most craft stores. 

There's a very strong possibility I'll be adding something more to this give away.  Something to surprise you so I'm not telling.

If you would like to enter, leave me a comment telling me something interesting about yourself, anything.  I'd love to know a bit more about you.  If you are a follower, your name will go into the hat twice.  The close off day for entries is 30th November and anyone can enter.  I'll send a parcel anywhere in the world.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day/evening.

Anne xx

Gardening moments

After a very wet, miserable and long winter, my garden is in need of some serious attention.  We are having a spell of warm and sunny days which is beautiful gardening weather.  First on my list was to fertilise the vege garden with good old cow poo and mulch with pea straw.  I love the combination of cow poo and pea straw as it is slowly turning heavy clay soil of my garden into beautiful soil.  One thing I'm not happy about this year is the number of ants that have taken up residence in my garden.  The vege garden is riddled with them, grrr.  Anyway, here are a few photos of what I did yesterday.  The roses were treated with cow poo and pea straw too.  Lets hope they reward me with lovely flowers.

I seem to have terrible trouble trying to get good photos in the bright midday sun.  Sorry about the quality.

Somehow in a few short months, I have managed to rack up 97 posts and with the 100th post not far away, you know what that means.  The 100th post will be a give away post.  I'm not sure what it will be yet, I'm working on it.  Stay tuned.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone,

Anne  xx