Scrapbooking

Yesterday morning I attended a papercraft fair and stocked up on a few goodies. :)

Some pretty cardstock

and papers,

a new cutting mat, jewels and flowers,

and lots of clear stamps.

The reason for this? - I'm finally getting around to scrapping about our holiday in Florida!

I bought the album whilst on holiday and most of the above stash is for this album. Now I'm in the process of printing my photos. This will probably take some time as I take way too many! :)

Crafts and Cakes ...

... what more could a girl ask for? :)

This week I have made two more hearts as part of The Felt Fairy's Monthly Make Project. These are lavender sachets.

The skull heart is made from a remnant of my son's jeans. I have crocheted Union Jack crosses and a heart onto it and it is going to be kept in my Mini.
The lace sachet is made from scraps of cream ribbon and lace.
This one is for scenting a clothes drawer.
Both of these projects were free to make as they used leftover materials from other projects and the lavender was home-grown.

Saturday morning, inbetween soil shovelling, I baked some goodies to keep everyone going:-
Blueberry Muffins
Lemon and Almond Drizzle Cake
Apricot, Pistachio and Chocolate Cookies

There aren't many left now! :)

The recipe for these cookies can be found here.

Danger - Men at Work!

On Friday we had 20 tonnes of soil delivered to our new allotment.

That was a lot of wheelbarrow loads, but my husband was still smiling!
Jay was a big help and worked very hard.

We now have 7 large raised beds and 3 smaller beds filled with soil at the allotment and the flower bed in our front garden has also been filled, as I am redesigning it. I have planted a lavender bush and some daffodils in two of the smaller beds and some rhubarb, foxgloves and other flowers at the far end of the allotment.

By the end of the weekend I had found quite a few previously-under-used muscles!! Thank goodness it is now half-term and I can have a rest! ;)

Best wishes to you all, Pj x

One Sunny Day

Finally, a sunny day and I managed to take a decent photo of a snowdrop. :) I have anti-shake mode on my camera, but I still have difficulties with blurring close-ups!

The dwarf irises are in full bloom, adding beautiful splashes of blue beside the sleepers.
The evenings are getting lighter and it feels so good to be leaving winter behind us.
This week Jay has his mock GCSEs; he seems to be taking them in his stride and next week is half term, which we are both looking forward to. In the meantime we are planning our summer holiday, hopefully somewhere sunny, maybe Turkey. This year will probably be the first time that Fay doesn't holiday with us, which will seem rather strange.

Happy Valentine's Day

This morning I came downstairs to find this on the table :-

Thank you Sweet Valentine ... but who are you and what have you done with my husband!?! ;)

And inside the box was this beautiful bead that I had been admiring. :)
"Happy Valentine's Day"

Valentine Makes

My February makes had to be Valentine linked! First I made this necklace and bracelet, from a small pot of mixed beads that I have had for a couple of years.

Then I painted some hazel twigs pink and decorated them with felted and crocheted hearts as part of the Felt Fairy's February Makes 2011.

These hearts are cut from some felted double knitting, edged in a simple crochet border and decorated with seedbeads, leftover from making the above-mentioned necklace and a flower crocheted in embroidery floss.

Also, from some leftover Rowan Cotton Glace, I crocheted these hearts.

Finally, a Valentine's post wouldn't be complete without some chocolate! :)

Chocolate-dipped Peppermint Creams and Valentine Rocky Road, choc full of Amaretti biscuits, pistachios, mini marshmallows and cherry brandy-soaked cherries and raisins.

The First Spring Flowers

My garden is slowly waking up from, what has seemed like, a long Winter. The first Spring flowers are starting to appear. These Primroses are always early in the shady corner of the garden.

The pretty faces of the Pansies are turned towards the sun.

And the first Crocuses are in bloom, beside the Winter Aconites.

It has been a very windy week here and all of my attempts to photograph the Snowdrops, that sway in the wind, have turned out blurry!

On the craft scene I have been experimenting with shrink plastic. A couple of summers ago, my husband picked up this stone from a beach and handed it to me saying it was a necklace for me.

I have glazed the front with Diamond Glaze, stamped some shrink plastic with background detail, bronze coloured shells (hidden in photo) and the word "sea".

And for Janet, the winner of my giveaway -

This is in the post for you. Hope it arrives okay.

Thank you for taking part in my giveaway. Best wishes, Pj x

January 2011

Each month I usually finish my blogging with a mosaic of my garden, but this year I am going to vary the theme. My mosaics will be of photos that sum up the past month for me.

January was a month of frosts and beautiful skies. We watched Stargazing Live on BBC2 and have resolved to get my husband's small telescope out in the future. I thrifted some pretty glass plates and a Lloyd Loom laundry box which I painted and distressed. On the crafting front I made lots of jewellery - some for myself and some to sell. I joined The Felt Fairy's Monthly Make 2011 group and took part in CL's January Blues swap. In the garden the first snowdrop and winter aconites appeared at the end of the month and the pansies started flowering in the patio pots.