Handmade Monday - Wool & Snowflakes!

Well, I was just having a 'very quick' look on Twitter this morning, (my husband will laugh at that bit - if you're an avid tweeter you know it's impossible to have a quick look...!) and I came across a great new idea from Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts. She has created 'Handmade Monday' where people who enjoy making things can share their ideas and creations on her blog. Please do have a look at the 1st Unique Gifts blog and also Wendy's website 1st Unique Gifts - she makes gorgeous things.

What a fabulous way to brighten up Mondays - thank you Wendy!

So, for what it's worth here is my little contribution. As we all know, Valentines Day is coming up and it's inspired me to make some little knitted hearts. I haven't knitted for a while (crochet took over!) but these hearts were good fun to make, mainly because they didn't take too long. I like the idea of the personalised one, but am not quite happy with the edging yet... another one in pink is currently on the needles!

If you are interested, the red heart is for sale in my Folksy Shop .

Finally, I want to share this photo. I was at a craft fair just before Christmas, and it started to snow really heavily - those really big, fat flakes. Some flakes swirled into my little hut and landed on some of my crochet items and amongst them was this perfect tiny snowflake - I hope you can actually see it! The photo was only taken on my phone, and it looked much nicer in real life!! You don't often actually see snowflakes like that do you? They're usually all squashed by the time they land.

Well, I'd better get on with some 'proper' work!
Back soon - have a great week everyone :)

A Surprise Visit

Back in the old days before the children arrived, hubby and I used to enjoy a bit of birdwatching - personally I blame my father-in-law who is an avid birdwatcher (or 'twitcher' which is the term for an obsessive birdwatcher!).

Anyway, we don't have much time for such things any more - our birdwatching tends to be restricted to the back garden or the occasional walk in the country.
However, there was great excitement one night this week when we had an unusual visitor to our back garden - a Barn Owl! It was the dog who alerted us - she always spots anything lurking in the garden. Hubby went to see what she was barking at, and there it was sitting on our garden wall. They are normally countryside birds, so to see one in the middle of Stafford must be quite rare.



A Barn Owl

 That has prompted me to post some links to some lovely items we bought (or the kids received) over Christmas. I am a big fan of handmade things, and owls are really popular at the moment! We bought this little fellow for my father-in-law:

He's all lovingly handmade in Yorkshire, and made from felt and wire - I love the attention to detail around his eyes! If you would like to have a look at more goreous felt birds, you can find them at The Felt Menagerie .

Here's another little handmade owl - the kids got one of these each from Santa, who must have been looking at The Linen Cat .

By a strange coincidence Beth, who owns 'The Linen Cat', used to know and live in the same village as my husband! Such a small world isn't it? Even more so now that we can buy such lovely things from all over the country.

More handmade things coming soon - maybe even some of my own :)

Bye for now!

Welcome!

Well, it is one of my New Year's resolutions to start a blog - so here I am!!
Obviously I realise that I'm rambling away to myself at the moment, but hopefully some of you will tune in occasionally to see what I've been up to.

Over the coming months (years?!) I'm hoping to share with you things that I'm making, things I'm learning, things I'm doing and other discoveries along the way. The internet is such a wonderful resource!

Firstly, a bit about me: I live in Staffordshire, UK with a wonderful husband, two great kids and a dog(currently a bit smelly). Here's a quick pic of Bea the beagle!



Bea - our playful beagle, age 2

At the moment like most mums, I'm juggling several things in my life. For the last six years, I have been a franchisee for Little Impressions which is a wonderful company making casts of babies hands and feet. They are an amazing product - so much nicer than many of the home DIY casting kits you can buy (OK, I know I'm biased!) Here's an example of 'one I made earlier'.

My Little Impressions baby castings

For those of you who are interested, or if you know someone with a baby, I can visit clients at home within a 25 mile radius of Stafford, and there is a facebook page you can join - see the link on the left!

That's about it for now - time's up! If I don't limit myself, I will chat for hours and have nothing to say next time!

See you soon x