A moment of appreciation for life

Driving home from the school run today, the sun was shining, the Cornish landscape looked crisp and clear and Little Bee's words echoed in my mind "Joe, because your such a good boy, you can have my turn in the front of the car on the way home from school today" to which Joe beamed and said "oh thank you" i smiled from ear to ear, what a wonderful thing to see such kindness between your children. 

That set me off on a good note, it got me thinking about how truly fantastic our life is. I often read little quotes on plaques and such in shop, 'live the life you love' 'happiness is the journey, not the destination' I always feel incredibly blessed to be the sort of person who can be happy, who can focus on the positive in a world which seems consumed in people seeing the negative. What a tiring and draining way that must be to live, to always see the negative in the world. 

Life has been kind to me, i must of done something amazingly kind in my past life, because in this one I hit the jackpot. I have been backpacking around the world, I have jumped out of aeroplanes, met my soul mate who supports me, nurtures me and is my brick wall, had a little girl and twin boys and now having moved 200 miles from our home town have finally come home, to our spiritual home, Cornwall. 

Hb and myself love Cornwall beyond words, its apart of us, its Sandy beaches are ingrained in who we are, it feeds our souls, it makes everyday feel like a new adventure, like anything is possible. Like being a child again. 

In our old life 200 miles away we were trapped in a cycle of conforming, conforming to the mundane routine of life, conforming to the expectations that others around us had put on us. Here we are free, like 2 birds who might take flight at any given moment, life feels limitless, opening the front door and looking out onto fields and the ocean, how can one not feel euphorically free. 

I always remember the first time hb and I visited Cornwall on a little weekend break with my parents, as we drove down the hill into Looe it was evening and the harbour was lit up by little fairy lights, and I had an overwhelming feeling, I was home. I could feel it in every ounce of my being. Hb could feel it in me, and he new this is where we had to raise our family. 

And so here we are, since being here hb has given up on mundane day jobs which leave him a little richer in the pocket but much poorer in his soul, returned to college, and fulfilled his childhood dream of training as a carpenter, passing with the highest possible grade, and now comes home with a smile on his face having spent the day doing what he loves. 

I have taken up crafts, crochet, sewing, decoupage, i have 2 part time jobs, one is voluntary, which i love, and I raise my family, in beautiful, peaceful surroundings, around equally peaceful Cornish people. 

There is a bad note, we have lost people along the way, some of them the closest to us in our past life, unable to understand our dream and vision, couldn't find it within themselves to be happy for us, but we have learnt not to face negativity with negativity, that's not our style, instead we ask them to keep it positive towards us or take a step back from us, there is no virtue in tolerating toxic behaviour. I read a quote 'at some point you have to realise that some people can stay in your heart but not in your life' this statement has been a tower of strength for me. 

As I have sat writing this I have been listening to my Buddhism meditation music, and I implore you to sit and write out your story, tell your story, focus on the positive, then focus on those positives everyday, even for just a moment, feed your soul with it. 

2015 has become a new chapter in our life, a new twist in the plot, we have become so focused on positivity that it seems to be beaming from us like rays of sun, everything just works, it fits, and it feels incredible.

 So I leave you with some words which have become my mantra, from a man who has opened my mind:

What you think, you become.

What you feel, you attract.

What you imagine, you create.

- Budda

x

Decoupage Flower Pot Tutorial

With Mother’s Day and Easter just around the corner I started to think about what would make a lovely handmade gift. After trawling through pinterest I decided on decoupage flowerpots, and thought I would share with you the process of how I made mine!

Materials Needed:

Terracotta Plant Pot

Decoupage paper (or any pretty paper you have, you can basically decoupage with any type of paper, some people even use napkins, but I find it too fiddly and they tear too easily)

Mod Podge (or PVA glue mixed 2 part glue to 1 part water)

Paint brush

Acrylic Paint

Foam Brush

Scissors

A pretty Tag

Flower

Chocolate Raisins (or chocolate snack of your choice)

One of the things I love about me is that I have a great eclectic collection of craft supplies, so at any moment I can be carried away on a crafty whim and know chances are, I have what I need. The thing I hate about me, having zero organisation and never EVER being able to locate the craft supplies I need without at least a 20 minute search first. Moral of this story? Keep buying lots of lovely supplies, but perhaps also buy some sort of decent storage solution to keep them organised in! So after the obligatory 20 minute search I came to the conclusion that I used up the last of my mod podge glue at my last craft session with the kids up the school (decoupage tea light lanterns, v. popular with the kids!) And so I’m going to start this project today, and then finish tomorrow once I’ve brought some more glue!

Any who….

The first thing I did was cut my chosen paper into little squares, ready to be glued on. I usually buy the Craftseller Magazine each month, which always has a few pages on beautiful papers, so I have a lovely collection of them now. However you can use any paper you have, napkins, magazine cuttings, old books, decorative papers, even wallpaper.

Next I painted the top ‘ridge’ of my terracotta pot, I decided I wanted to decoupage the bottom of the pot, but keep the top ridge as just painted. As you are going to cover the bottom part you don’t need to worry about being too accurate with your painting. I used an all-purpose Acrylic Paint in Blush Pink as I thought it would complement the papers nicely and be suitable girlie for a mother’s day present. I took 3 coats of the paint (allowing it to dry in between each coat) to get a good coverage over the terracotta.

I let mine dry out over night ready for decoupage the following day (this of course had absolutely nothing to do at all with the fact that i had no decoupage glue, and i WILL wrestle anyone who says otherwise!)

Time to get down to the business of decoupaging!

Take one of your squares at a time and apply a layer of Mod Podge onto the back, press it onto the flower pot and smooth it out with your fingers, ideally you want none or as little creases as is possible. If you are using napkins you will find this differcult.

Once your pot is completely covered (layering where needed to fill in the little gaps) cover the entire pot (included the painted top ridge) with a coat of the Mod Podge Glue. Let it dry. Apply a second coat and allow to dry. Its better to cover in a thin layer and add additional layers than to try to go for one thick layer.

Now if you intend your pot to be an indoor one, then you’re finished, you clever thing! However, if you would like it to be an outdoor pot, then I would suggest spraying with a sealant to help protect it from the elements.

Pop your flower in, add a pretty ribbon and tag and Tah-Dah! Your done! One lovely handmade gift! 

A week in Crafts...

This week I have been feeling like abit of a fickle crafter, my mind has been buzzing with the endless craft ideas, perhaps it’s the position of the moon, but something has been effecting my craft vibe!

Ages ago little Bee and myself brought a small jewellery making collection from eBay, I then sat under my vintage sewing machine table collecting dust, feeling neglected. This week I had an urge to get that little box of goodies out and start learning a new skill, I’ve never done any jewellery making (well except little plastic beads bracelets as a child, but I don’t think that counts!) so I thought with little Bee being almost 9 now, that it would be a fantastic opportunity for Mumma and Bubba to learn a new craft skill together.

There are so many great resources and tutorials out the on the web, my personal favourite place to search is pinterest.

Our first mission was to identify what the many little bags contained. Who new jewellery making was so technical?!

I found a fab little tutorial here, which explains how to make a basic bracelet, along with loads of other fab tutorials. I know what you’re thinking, you don’t need a tutorial to make a bracelet, just thread the beads on, well you over achiever it’s actually a lot more involved than one might think.

I quickly realised I was missing a key tool, pliers! Good old eBay came to the rescue and I managed to order 2 pairs of pliers, one normal round nose (like I know what that means!) and a pair of crimp pliers. Both costing around £3 each.

So at this point, armed with absolute minimal knowledge, we were good to go!

Let the jewellery making commence!

Obviously the beading part is the easy (and fun) part, manipulating the fastening into place is a little trickier, but with a little practise myself and little Bee managed it.

And so our first bracelets were created!

Little Bee intends to make more to sell in the little handcraft shop in our village. 

Last week little Bee had a 'head teacher challenge' to produce a piece of work on someone who inspires her, i was extremely touched that she wanted to do it on me, however the teacher said 'no parents!!' (mean!) So little Bee changed it to Cath Kidston, and i was extremely proud when she won first place! Good work little one! I think i have a budding craft entrepreneur in the making!

On to all other craft business of the week!

I have been crocheting a round cushion for the shop using the delightful pattern over at Pink Milk, i love Heathers tutorials and patterns, they are always a visual delight with her happy colour choices and also very clear to follow.

I'm making mine using Stylecraft DK in a lovely soft peach colour, 

Ive also been working on some little crochet twine baskets for the boys bedroom, they are going to be blue and the usual brown twine colour, I'm making the pattern up as i go, so as soon as i finish the first one and have a spare minute i will pop the pattern on here for anyone who might be interested!

 My next creative adventure was making these sweet little hanging fabric fish! I drew up a template myself, and after some trial and error of getting the twine hanging from them i eventually came up with the best way of doing it, i plan to pop a little tutorial on my blog for that too in the near future.

I'm selling these little beauties in our local
handmade craft shop, The Hive

 At the beginning of the week i had a lovely delivery of soap supplies, so i delved straight in and made some Shea butter and rose soaps.

Ta-Dah!

.

And last but not least, i made some little zipper cases. The vehicle one was quickly snapped up by the boys, and one has become my new craft case, for crochet hooks, pens, etc.

And here is my little basket of lovlies all ready to head of to the shop!

I would love to hear about your crafting week! So make my day and leave me a little comment!

Toodle-Pips

x

Kirsty Allsopp Bath Bomb Review

Hello Ladies,

So as i mentioned in this post my lovely HB brought me the Kirsty Allsopp bath bomb kit. I'm a big fan of Kirsty, so i was over the moon to have a chance to try out one of her kits. She has a lovely range of them which are available to purchase in Hobby Craft, and probably loads of other places! 

So i thought i would write up a little review for you all! 

The kit comes in a beautiful box, the outer packaging is a sleeve, so once this is removed your left with the lovely floral and polka dot box. Mine has now been upcycled into my embroidery floss box.

Inside you get everything you need to make the bath bombs, including 2 little heart moulds.

The instructions are adequate but are basic, and it took abit of trial and error to perfect my technique! The problem i encountered was the heart bath bombs falling apart when i tried to ease it out of the mould

Hmm... doesn't look quite like the ones from Lush does it?!

So here are a couple of tips!

Fill the moulds high, it makes it easier to compress the bomb and helps prevent getting an 'inverted' back to your heart.


Leave the bath bomb in the mould for at least 2 minutes, i found that when i tried to remove straight after pushing firmly on the moulds that they crumbled every time!

Beautiful Rose bath bombs!

Once you have eased them ever so gentle out of the moulds you need to leave them to fully set, i set mine aside on a plate and left them for about 24 hours.

I found the kit provided enough ingredients to make 12 bath bombs. So i set aside a few for myself and the rest i have packaged up as little gifts for friends and family this Christmas.

I used little cellophane bags which i brought on ebay to put two baths bombs in. Tied them with some pretty pink string and added a little rustic clay star and luggage label. Simple but pretty packaging I think!

And of course i had to immediately sample them in the bath!

And they were fantastic! I mean seriously lovely! the smell is glorious, my suggestion - run a hot bath with the bathroom door shut, it traps the scent in the room, and when you walk in its blissful.

Overall i think this little set is great, especially if you have been thinking about delving into the world of bath bomb making, as its an inexpensive way of trying this new craft without a massive financial outlay.

The packaging makes them a fantastic Christmas gift.

Ive added a few onto my Christmas wish list! I'm especially hoping jolly old Santa will drop the candle making one down my chimney!

If any of you have tried any of Kirsty's sets I would love to hear all about your thoughts on them!

Toodle-Pips

L x

My week in Crochet

As I sit in front of my open fire on a massive bean bag, sipping my glass of red wine and watching lord of the rings, I cant help but smile at how terribly content and happy I feel!

I have been crafting like a crazy woman over the past week, with Christmas fast approaching I seem to have an endless list of makes on my 'to do' list! I have decided that the best idea is to save all the items I intend to gift to friends and family till last and concentrate on orders I have, shop stock and getting ready for the two Christmas craft fairs I am doing! So much to make and so little time!

I do solemnly swear that next year I shall start my festive makes in September!! (honest i will! wink wink!)

Here is a glimpse at some of the things I have been working on this week

I have been busy making lots of brooches... hearts, bows and flowers! I think they would look lovely pinned on peoples winter coats!

The flower pattern is from one of my (many) Mollie Makes Magazines

The heart is made using this pattern over at Crochet make me Happy.

And lastly the bow is made using the pattern I posted on my first blog post!

I then simply used my good old trusty hot glue gun to stick a brooch clip onto the back of each!

I think they look so lovely all bunched together!

I know the colours aren't exactly 'wintery' shades, but its always nice to brighten things up! Plus I'm just in love with pastel shades!

I have also been making up bags of pine cones, fragrant orange slices, crochet acorns, crochet berries and handmade willow stars!

I'm simply in love with these little bags of goodness! Lots will be going into The Hive shop in Pelynt, Looe, some for the Christmas Craft Fairs, and then I think I may make some as little Christmas gifts for friends and family!

And speaking of gifts for the family....

My hubby treated me to a delicious Kirsty Allsopp set for making bath bombs. Its glorious. Ive made a batch of them which I'm going to gift out this Christmas. Check out my review on the set!

Ive also finished off a Christmas blanket, it is a wonderfully soft polar fleece blanket which i have added a red crochet boarder and appliqued on a stag. Lovely for getting cosy on the sofa with on these increasingly chilly evenings!

I've also been working on a rabbit pattern, I plan to make lots of these cuddly little fellas for the Christmas Fayre's.

Hope you all have a craft filled week too!

Toodle-Pips

L x 

Top 5 Crochet Blogs

Hello lovelies, Hope you are all having a relaxing and tranquil weekend. Ours has been a peaceful one mainly spent snuggled in front of the fire with a few new films and lots of crafting! Today I would like to share with you some of my favourite crochet blogs.  Now I'm sure you are aware that there is a vast number of crochet/craft blogs out in blogland, and undoubtable some lovely ones that I am yet to discover, so having someone point out a few great ones is always useful, right?

 

1. Pink Milk, if you read my last post then you will already know how much I love, love, love this blog. It's my favourite. I love the use of colours, the delicious yarns, the fantastic photography and especially the great crochet patterns and tutorials.

 

 

2. Annaboo's House is another wonderful crochet blog. Sarah has actually just written her first crochet book for beginners, which will be available to buy in the new year, read all about it over on her blog.  She also has a fantastic collection of free crochet patterns/tutorials and some lovely ones to buy from her via her Etsy shop. I have made loads of Sarah's crochet design's and her patterns are always accurate and easy to follow. One of my favourites is this little kitty doorstop I made, which is available for free on her blog.  

 

 

 

3. One Sheepish Girl is a blog that I have only recently discovered. She has the most amazing crochet and just as amazing photos of it all! I look forward to getting to know her blog better!

4. Hopscotch Lane Check out Becky's beautiful crochet blog, there are some fantastic patterns, although you do have to purchase them, they are well worth the money! I brought the doll pattern awhile back and altered it to a ballerina theme doll, which my little girl adores!

 

5. Attic 24 is a wealth of knowledge! You wont believe the amount of free patterns the extremely talented and generous Lucy has written and shared. Just take a look through the list on the left hand side of her blog and pick a pattern to get started on! At the bottom there is a little 'buy me a coffee' donate button, which I have donated to on several occasions, only seems fair considering the amount of freebie patterns I've had from Lucy!

 

I hope you will all enjoy these blogs as much as I have!

 

Which crochet blogs do you love? I would love to hear from you! Its always fun to submerge yourself in a new craftey blog!

 

Toodle-Pips! 

Lx