Daily December :: the 7th

Hello Lovelies,

the boys did a good job of decorating the tree yesterday, but they forgot my special tins.....

They contain a lot of our handmade ornaments collected over the years. Stuff made by me......

Gifts from kind  bloggers........

More stuff made by me....still love the simple red and white theme of these.......

Hand knitted cuties collected from a local Christmas fair over the years........

And most precious of all....things made by the boys when they were little..........

I love handmade ornaments and to rediscover these each Christmas is a joy. Our tree wouldn't be the same without them.

Jacquie x

Halloween Moments

Hello Lovelies,

this was the messy scene on my conservatory table yesterday. The boys had had great fun carving pumpkins and, so did I :0)

It's not something we did when I was a kid....Halloween was a very quiet affair, with maybe some apple bobbing games and scary stories.

I remember watching E.T. as a teenager and being baffled by the scenes were the children got dressed up in fancy dress and went out walking the streets....we had never even heard of Trick or Treat.
( home pizza delivery was also a mystery...well, so was pizza....gosh I sound OLD!)

Before I had children I thought the whole idea a menace......but now I love it.

Around these parts anyway it's the most wonderful, fun night. When the boys were younger they would get dressed up, go around friends houses ( with us adults hovering in the background)  and the atmosphere was really great.

Occasionally their knock on a door , which normally revealed a smiley face, would produce a scary mask and a loud boo!....we would jump out of out skins and laugh while our hearts thumped.

These days the boys like to stay home, but love to answer the door to littlies, so some decorations are needed to show we are still keen to join in the fun.

I was just going to put out pumpkins till I saw THIS post and totally loved Jackie's black paper decorations.
 I  shamelessly copied her ideas. Making a paper template for some bats, and using the off cut bits of paper that were left over to make a mouse too...........

I was so enjoying this paper play and the idea's kept popping into my head. As fast I I made one thing I was planning something else........don't you love it when that happens..........

 A witch sillouette...no problem, just google it and copy a design you like.

we couldn't wait for it to get dark, so we could light the pumpkins..........

  this witches cat was middle and youngests design on that huge pumpkin we were kindly given.

 Here's mine and eldests...........can you guess who's is who's..........

 Yep, mines the house :0)

The paper decorations were all displayed in our front room window, so they could easily be seen from the road..........the witch on her broomstick........

the bats with scary orange eyes........

 Tissue paper on the back of hole-punched circles.

Tombstones with the same tissue paper backing..........



As you can see we have vertical blinds.....not very pretty, but practical to diffuse the light in this south facing window. They were also great  to light up our window from within......with a lamp placed strategically behind them.

and here's the whole window..........

I love it!

I had the paper banner already, but the rest is totally hand made from a few bits of black paper and card  I had in my stash.

It was SO MUCH FUN to do and I hope it made loads of people smile. We got lots of knocks at the door and happily handed out little treats to local children, young and old, who seemed to be having a great time.

and most peoples favourite bit? .......my little mouse.........

Jacquie x

My New Bag

Hello Lovelies, it's me again :0)

I'm so enjoying this week's holiday with my boys, plenty of time to do stuff together and write blog posts.

This post is about a handmade item I purchased from a talented blogger last week. 

Following a comment left one one of my posts by Julie I came across her lovely blog. THIS post really caught my attention.

I loved the Seagull themed makes.....especially the shopping bag. I had a bad case of the wanties :0)

Happily Julie makes things to sell so I e.mailed her and asked if she would kindly make one for me. In less than a week a parcel arrived. 

Eeeek, I love getting this sort of post don't you. Inside the outer wrap I found a pretty tissue paper package........

And inside was my new bag, complete with a cute label......

It's beautifully sewn and has a lovely crisp white lining with a sweet name tape......

And here is my personalised version ( I chose red and floral bunting ). It's a little creased in these pictures, but isn't it wonderful. I love everything about this bag. The sturdy striped "ticking" fabric, the bunting and the wonderful machine embroidery.........

Julie wants me to make it clear that the seagull design is not hew own, it's by a super talented designer called  Helen who writes THIS blog .

  HERE is the original post about her design. If you want to get your hands on this pattern it's part of Helen's  e.magazine.....THIS issue, which you can look at a preview of.....it looks wonderful.
 I love all the sweet little touches Helen has thought of....like this cute verse to print............

There are so many aspects of this project I'm sure I would struggle with ( I've never tried free motion machine embroidery for one ) so I was more than happy to purchase a ready made version :0)

I do have a love of seaside themed things and especially seagulls. My new bag goes perfectly with my little crochet tin that's often featured here........

And it's the perfect size to hold a crochet WIP. Probably one that is a bit smaller than my almost completed blanket. I'm thinking a few balls of yarn and some treats to take to the beach.........

Yes, I can't wait to take my bag to the seaside where it will look right at home.......

If you would like your own version ( or something different ) you can contact Julie via her site HERE. In fact if it's a gift Julie is happy to send it to the lucky recipient with a card.
This bag is £20 including U.K. postage and Julie is very efficient.....I'm sure she will be able to give you an accurate costing depending on postage costs to your location if you are outside the U.K.

It feels good to be able to spread a bit of handmade love this Easter and support talented makers. Both those who design and those who produce such gorgeous things.
Jacquie x
P.S. just in case you were wondering....this is not a sponsored post, I bought my bag and loved it so much that I wanted to share it with you lovelies.