Blythe!!!!

They're here! I have started a new blog for my Blythe ramblings, although I'm sure they'll make their way over here from time to time.

SakuraBlythe - this is my Blythe blog. Come and take a look :)

Studio Calico - I think I love you!

This is the very peculiar bag that my kit box arrived in - was very worried to start with - thought it might have been damaged or something. But it was ok! As this is probably my last kit for a while I documented the process - have photos of the box being opened etc. Yes I am obsessed!

This was the beauty within. I got up at 4.45am last month to get the 2 add-ons I wanted. No, needed! This was possibly my favourite kit ever. Really looking forward to scrapping with it. I'm hoping that my stopping buying kits for a while will not only help my bank balance, but also get me using the kits I already have.

Yesterday I discovered a new obsession - Kokeshi dolls from Japan. Not the new ones, but the beautiful weathered vintage ones. Ruth collects Momiji dolls, which are a kind of modern version, but these have so much history. If you do a search on Ebay you'll find some from sellers in Japan.

I'm tired now - its been John's day off so we've spent the day not really doing much, so not sure why I'm so tired. We did walk to school and back twice I suppose, but its not that far. And I do need the exercise if I'm going to fit in these jeans by next week.

I don't know what Ruth's been eating, but she must have grown another couple of inches. She now comes higher than my shoulder. Will have to get John to take some photos. Alex has swimming and tennis tomorrow, so he'll be tired when he gets home = grumpy. He loves tennis though - we've spent most of the evening today playing with plastic rackets and a foam ball in the hall. Que great hilarity as the ball bounced off doors, walls, our heads and basically anything but the rackets.

Creativity

Seems like my new crafty space has been an inspiration. I made this card for my Grandma's 80th birthday. The photo isn't fantastic but I was quite pleased with it - I'm not much of a card maker these days. The flower was based on a tutorial over at the Studio Calico blog.
I also made her this necklace using a glass square kit from Etsy. It was the first one I made, and it came out rather well too.
And these are two little (tiny!) cushions I made for the kids. The stitching's not perfect, but the kids love them. Alex had been asking me to make them for weeks. They're only about 4"x6" and the pictures are Adirondack Paint Dabbers through Stencil1 stencils. I'm not sure why he wanted them to be so small but they're certainly cute. And got me using my sewing machine :) I have lots of gorgeous fabric, patterns and craft books which I'd been too scared to do anything with, but now I might actually get on and make something more ambitious.

Transformation

Yes, so I know its a tip, but we have recently moved (like weeks ago), and my scrap space was not exactly a prioity. But now the rest of the house is mostly done, finally I was ablt to put my desk together and start unpacking!!!!!

So this is what my scrapping stash looked lik 24 hours ago......

....... and this is what it looks like now. Not 100% finished, but mostly there. I'm so happy to have my scrappy space back. Really makes me smile everytime I walk in the living room.
This si my desk - love the cake stands :) I have punches on the small one, and stamps, adhesives, buttons and other bits and bobs on the tall pink ones.This is a close up of the ceramic cake stand. I found the ceramic rose when I was buying curtains. Can't remember the name of the shop, but it only cost £1 (the curtains were a LOT more!).

So all in all, (inter)national scrapbooking day well spent I think. May even get to scrap tonight. Whoo hoo! Have to make my Grabdma's 80th birthday card and present too. Hoping my new space will be inspirational.

And all of this was inspired by Scarlet over at Studio Calico, with her NSD challenge - maybe not finished in time, but thanks for the kick up the backside to get it done :)

This is where I'll be all day tomorrow. It's a college trip to the House of Commons and House of Lords. Should be interesting. We have to get to college for 7.15am though which is sooo early! Will have to leave home at 6.50am!!!!!!!!!!! It'll take about 3 hours on the coach, so Laura and I are taking our Ipods and a book and being anti-social.

Got a new lawn mower today after the old one blew up (black smoke started billowing out last time it was used. Garden looks so much better now. And the sun has been out most of the day so I.m feeling all happy.

Ikea stuff will be coming on Friday. Can't wait to get everything unpacked and put away. Most stuff is out of boxes, but there are still enough around to make it feel a bit of a mess. The new carpets are still looking great. The house will look lovely once its finished. Will just have decorating left to do then.

Just about to make our favourite dinner - mozzarella and tomato with garlic doughballs. Then have to get kids bathed and too bed so I can attack the massive pile of ironing. Then 2 episodes of Desperate Housewives - yay! Loving this season.

Still not done those assignments for college though. Really have to finish then ASAP. Have to take car back to garage on Wednesday though for latch to be fixed and Ikea delivery will take most of Friday (we're getting a LOT of furniture).

Have been looking at Laptop bags for the new laptop I got yesterday to replace the old one that I have to give back to college in June. So far my favourite is this one from Cath Kidston.
Its so different to the normal boring black ones you see all the time. I love her retro fabric patterns. Have ordered some fabric from Etsy which is similar to some of hers. Will have a go at making a bag soon.

Rain rain go away

Its so miserable here - hasn't stopped raining for 2 days. We have damp appearing on the bathroom ceiling, so have to wait in all day for a building inspector to come and have a look. To cheer myself up, I've dug out some sunny photos from the last few weeks.

These are the owl cakes I made using one of the recipe books I was given for Mothering Sunday. Love owls, and these were almost to cute too eat. Almost, but didn't stop me finishing them all off (with a bit of help form the family of course!). Pilchard enjoying the sunshine a few weeks ago just before we moved. Love this cat so much. Even though he's moulting all over the new carpets and puking up hair balls (yum!). No amount of brushing seems to help much although my hands are showing it when I don't move the brush out of the way fast enough when he gets fed up and attacks the brush. Helps that he's so photogenic :)

This was my lovely family on Easter Monday.. We went and found a geocahe that had been evading us for a year, and then climbed British Camp. Ached for days afterwards!

These little lambs were guarding the cache. I love lambs. Makes me feel all happy and summery. We hand-reared a lamb in New Zealand when I was 3, so they're very dear to my heart.

My Studio Calico kit came yesterday! Love it as always. Haven't had much time for crafty stuff recently, but did make a few fabric yo-yos from Heather Bailey's tutorial while watching TV the other night. Really happy with how they came out :) Going to try my hand at sewing a few things. I love fabic and have quite a bit so might as well stop being scared of messing up and have a go! If you know any good ewing inspiration sights I'd love it if you could link me up :)

A Little Sad...........

Found out last night that people have moved into our old house. I know the move was final the moment we gave the keys back, but still, it feels different. Don't get me wrong - I love this house. It's just that there were so many memories at the old place. At least the house won't feel lonely now :) Hope the new people are happy there.

About to take Alex for a much needed hair cut (see photo in last post). His hair is in his eyes now! He looks so much more grown up with it short. They're both growing up so fast.

Hoping a few deliveries I'm expecting come today - especially my Studio Calico kit. Just hope it doesn't arrive while we're out.