I'm back!

Hello all - I hope that you are all well and enjoying your summer (whatever the weather!).  It feels as though I've been 'absent without leave' for ages but we've been enjoying some rest and relaxation (not to mention hot sunshine) in Greece on the stunning little island of Santorini for a week and returned home on Wednesday evening this week.  So, after doing repeated loads of laundry, I decided I'd better get myself organised with a blog post before you all think I've abandoned ship!

Grumpy Poppy stayed at home with my sister-in-law, who apparently cannot understand why she has the nickname of 'Grumpy' as she has been adorable all week! Typical!  She must just save the grumpiness for us!  But I'm sure she's pleased to see us really - even if it just means she can resume her rightful position on the bed again!

I will try my bestest in the next few days to catch up with everyone and see what craftiness has been going on in my absence, but just thought I'd share a couple of latest makes that have gone into my Etsy shop :

I made this cute set of 4 crocheted coasters in a sweet doily pattern - the yarn is just gorgeous, a soft variegated one that is lovely to work with

I think they'd made a cute 'house-warming' gift!

And a little cross-stitch picture that would also be ideal for a 'new home' gift.  I don't tend to do a lot of cross-stitch these days, and not much for sale, but will probably do more again once the autumn arrives! 

Hope you like them both!  And don't forget to check out the Etsy shop - I'd love to hear your thoughts about it as all feedback is helpful! 

And I just thought I'd share a couple of pics of Santorini with you - I'm waiting for my son (who is chief photographer on holiday) to let me have some of the photos he was busy taking, but these are just a couple from my phone!  We took one of my son's friends with us too - and the boys had a good time in the pool and exploring! 

A Santorini sunset! The 2 little figures in the distance are my son and his friend taking pics! 

And a rare one of me - as I don't like having my photo taken! - with the boys.  And yes, I did feel very short!  My son is the tall blond one looming over me lol! 

Apologies for the photo overload!  Just thought I'd share a few 'sunshine' images! 

I'll try to catch up with all your crafty blogs soon, and thank you as always for the lovely comments you leave for me - they mean such a lot! 

Back soon,

Kim x 

I'd like you to meet Elsie! (Or Princess Elsa really!)

Hello all and I hope that you've been having a good weekend. A busy one here with laundry and list-making before we head off to Santorini for a holiday in the glorious Greek sunshine! It was lovely to have my gorgeous daughter Lauren and her boyfriend Tom here for a visit, albeit a brief one! They've had a few days up in the north west visiting families!  But we're heading down to Sussex next month for a few days to see them both so that will be lovely!

But I've been busy over the last couple of weeks making an order - a good friend of mine had spotted this pattern on the internet (it's got a lot to answer for, that t'internet lol!) and had asked if I could PLEASE make this for her cute little granddaughter's 3rd birthday.  Along with many little girls (and boys!) she is a big fan of the Frozen movie, but my friend had said that she much prefers soft and cuddly dolls and toys so this would be the ideal dolly!

 

As she gained shape and character she became known in our house as 'Elsie' (rather than the Princess Elsa character in the movie that she is based on!).  She is crocheted in Stylecraft DK and stands about 18" high.  I've never made a dolly like her, and was quite pleased with the finished results.  This was despite the rather sarcastic comments from teenage son about how he thought she was too scary to be given to a small child.....

The shoes, dress and cape can all be removed, as we all know that half the fun for little girls in having dolls is to dress and undress them!  The eyes and fingers were probably the trickiest and fiddliest bits but the overall result was quite sweet.

The 'hair' also had some yarn mixed in that had a glittery effect which was suitable for the character, and the cloak was made with some organza fabric.  This was different to the crochet pattern, but I decided to make up a pattern of my own for the cloak, added some fancy stitching and a glittery marabou feather trim.

And I had a very sweet "Thank You" message on my answerphone from the little girl who has now taken ownership of her today! 

And I hope you like the pics of the finished result too.  If you are interested, the pattern was on Ravelry from Mary Smith called 'Ice Queen' (with a few slight variations of my own!)

Back soon,

Kim x

Quick cards (that don't look too quick!)

Hello all and I hope that you've been having a good week?  It's been the first week of my summer holidays from work at school - although that implies that I've been lazing about! I wish!  It's just a chance to catch up with lots of other jobs really - although it's always nice not to have to rush about to be somewhere else and my brain is gradually switching off from all work-related mush that is usually competing in my rubbish short-term memory with all the home-related stuff! Our gorgeous daughter Lauren is coming home tomorrow with her boyfriend for a short stay - they've been on the 'grand tour' of trying to visit all parents, etc.! But we're going down to stay in Sussex to see them for a few days next month which will be lovely.  And next week we're heading to the Greek Islands for a week - our annual dose of hot sunshine!  We're taking one of our son's friends with us as well this time so it will be good for our son to have some company (rather than having to make polite chit-chat with his parents for a whole week! And if any of you have or have had teenage boys I'm sure you'll understand exactly what I mean lol!).

Anyway, apologies for all the usual waffle.  I just thought I'd share a couple of 'quick' cards made for the 'general cards' basket that I keep at home, when we suddenly need a card or when friends or colleagues ask if they can have a look for a card in a hurry!  Most of the cards I make tend to be for specific people or for orders for other people, but it always helps to have a few spares in.

Although these were fairly quick to make I'm hoping they don't look 'rushed'

I've used the large LOTV sentiment stamps which are brilliant for quick cards!  The papers are from LOTV, flowers from WOC and I've used plenty of distress inks. The ivy die is from Joanna Sheen and the corner die is a Spellbinder one, with little brads attached.

Again, this uses the LOTV stamps and papers. The flower die is a Marianne one, with some ribbon from stash. 

So fairly simple cards, but I think they work quite well. 

Thank you as always for stopping by the blog - and for all the lovely comments that you leave. They mean such a lot. 

Back soon,

Kim x

First Kiss...

Hello all - yippee it's Friday! And an extra loud 'yippee' from me today as it's our end of term! Yay! Apologies to all those still working, but the last couple of months (and especially the last couple of weeks) have been so busy that I'm just celebrating the fact that I'm now OFF for a while.  There often seems to be a sort of mad rush before the end of term, but I'm sure that seems to have been intensified!  But anyway, I feel as though I can now breathe a big sigh and start to chill - a takeaway is on order (yum) and a holiday drink will also be on order later!

I'm hoping that I will gradually have some time to catch up on all the little jobs that need doing, the crafty projects that need finishing - and more especially, time to catch up with friends, both the ones in the real world and the ones in the blogging world!  So please forgive me for being a bit absent in the last few weeks but after being busy at work on a computer all day, I've tried to keep my 'puter use at home to a minimum (or the headaches hit me hard!).

Anyway, I thought I'd share a card made recently for my lovely daughter Lauren's birthday - and features one of my oldest and most favourite rubber stamps from Sarah Kay called "First Kiss"

I've coloured the image with copics and promarkers

The backing papers are from LOTV, with flowers from WOC. The sentiment stamps are from LOTV - although I realised when I looked at the photos that I'd cut off part of the 'Sent with love' sentiment in my picture - and I'll already posted the card so couldn't take another pic! 

Hope you like the card and the sweet image! 

And I hope you enjoy your weekend - and get some relaxation time too! 

Back soon,

Kim x

Fairy Birthday Wishes!

Hello all - Monday arrives again so quickly! The weekend seemed to pass by in a blur as usual, but this is my last week at school before our summer break - yay! I work a few days over the summer but it will be soooo nice to have a break as it seems to have been a very busy few months!

We've got a busy couple of days in our family too - as yesterday was my beautiful step-daughter Lucy's birthday and today is our daughter Lauren's birthday. Yes, two birthdays so close together - just like the sisters are very close (and look very much like one another!).  So I just thought I'd share Lucy's card with you

I've used one of the gorgeous fairy digi stamps from Mo Manning, coloured with copics, graphits and a touch of pencil - and plenty of glamour dust sparkle added to those wings! 

The papers are from LOTV, as are the sentiment tags. I've added a DooHickey die cut flower with a button centre and a super-cute charm from stash

Hope you like it! 

I hope that you have a great week whatever you have planned - and that the sun is shining for you (but without some of the thunderstorms that we've been having lol!).

Oh, and I just thought I'd share a pic of the birthday girls Lucy and Lauren (Lauren's on the right!).

I apologise for being something of a bad blogger and not visiting everyone's blogs as much as I'd like - and I'm hoping once I'm on a break from work that time won't be quite so pressured. But thank you for all your support! 

Back soon,

Kim x 

All about the blues...

Hello all, and I hope that you've been having a good week?  The usual sort of busy one here, and I don't think it'll get much easier until we break up for the summer holidays from school!  I've still been busy doing all sorts of crafts - but that counts as relaxation therapy really!  I was helping a friend last night who's making some gorgeous frilly girly dresses for a Rose Queen parade, and got a couple of cute cards finished - but I can't share those until the relevant birthdays have arrived lol!

But just thought I'd share some crocheting with you.  I was inspired by the gorgeous 'coast' blanket on the Attic24 blog with its fab shades of blues and sea greens and used some of my lovely Stylecraft yarn to make a wavy stripe cushion.

I love the 'beach' feel of the blue waves! 

And then I decided to use some of the yarn to make a blanket with a 'v stitch'

Do you think it's got a feel of the seaside? 

I hope you find some crafting time in your week - and that it's good therapy for you too! 

Back soon,

Kim x