Return Bead Swap

These are the bead swaps that I had from my partners. I gave them my suggested colours of

Pale pink, Pale mauve, Pale green and cream and didn't they do me proud!

Marcy did me a gorgeous pink and green square box and filled with glass and mother of pearl beads in the above colours. The picture really dosen't do the centre ring of mother of pearl justice. I love the bead bag they came in too.

I know just how I want to make these up.

Molly made me a gorgeous butterfly decoupeage box and filled it with some lovely vintage beads. I especially like the green beads on the chain that Molly chose for me from an Antique Mall. Iv'e already laid these out in a design which also gives me enough scope for earings.

Claire made me up a flower box with the most amazing leaves attached. They are so fine just like a Dragon flies wings. I love the assortement of beads and the sweet( sorry for the pun) sweety as the focal point. Again I have an idea of how Iwant to make these up and even how to attach the sweet.

So all in all I think I'm going to be pretty busy, for a while anyway!!!

P.S. Cat lovers check out Marcy's hilarious blog post on how to give a cat a pill.

Glutton for Punishment.

I've joined in the Swap for all Seasons matchbox swap. Where you decorate 25 little matchboxes and add a gift inside. Now me being penny pinching thought "I don't want to buy 25 matchboxes and have hundreds of matches left over I will make them myself. Easy Peasy!!!!"

I found a template for a larger box found what the measurements of a matchbox are and scaled it down to size. So far so good.

Made up the 1st proto type. Perfect. Made the 1st little box up. Again OK. Two days later I have only got 2 boxes done. Why? I am finding it exasperatingly difficult to get the measurements precise when cutting out from old Christmas cards using a pencil and ruler so I have given in and ordered A Scor-Pal scoring board. Cost? £29.99. Could have got a Martha Stewart Scoreboard for £19.99 but having watched a You Tube video doing a comparison between the two fancied the Scor-Pal more. Hope I'm not disappointed.

Bead Swap No 3.

This is the last bead box swap. I was searching around for inspiration on how to design the last box when 'The Doc' stuck his head around the door and waving an empty toilet roll in the air said "You don't want this for anything do You?"

Erm actually yes !! Problem sorted.
So here it is. I had some small pieces of assorted silk samples enough to cover the roll and using a flower die cut petals out. Small beads sewn randomly on the lid and flowers finished it off.









Molly was my bead partner and told me her chosen colours were Purple, Teal, Pink and Emerald Green. I found this bead selection the hardest to put together as they are my colours too. I put together about 3 different selections before I was happy with the result, not because I didn't want to part with any but because I was very critical that if I didn't like it Molly wouldn't.
Thankfully Molly did.

I am entering this in the following challenges.

All Sorts Challenge. They are asking for Park inspiration. These flowers remind of a dahlia. Anybody who has been to Kew Gardens or RHS at Wisley at this time of year will have seen borders full of them.

Aud Sentiments .They are saying Anything Goes.

Top 3 at Craftalicious.

I like making things.I like making things for other people, but it is also nice to enter some into the various challenges and even nicer to be in the Top 3.

I made it on Craftalicious challenge 5 "Make your own Flowers" with the bead box that I made for my swap partner Marcy. Thankyou Gina at Craftalicious.



I have found 2 more swaps to enter.



Victorian cuff Swap.

This is me to a T. Just itching to get started.



Countdown to Christmas Matchbox Swap.

You make 25 decorated matchboxes upwith a little gift inside post off to the swap host and get back 25 boxes. One to be opened each day of Christmas. Cool!

Now my 1st thought when I saw this swap was I will give them to Faye, but then everyone knows that Fluff would just open the whole lot in one fell swoop so no mummy is having them first and then next year Fluff can have one posted daily to her. I can just hear the screech of frustration followed by "that is soooooooh unfair"!!!!!!! but Mum always knows best.

While I was away!

While I was away Faye snuck an award to me.

There are a few rules attached.

Firstly to thank the person that gave the award. Thankyou Faye for thinking of me.

Next to tell you 3 things about myself so here goes.

1. I hate the colour black. I once had a car sales man try to sell me a black car, x demo with 1,000 miles on the clock but on being told the colour I refused to even go into the car compound and look at it! I ended up with silver model with 17,000 miles on the clock. I loved that car.

2. I hate Jeans. I don't own a pair, never have and never will. I mean how can you possibly accessorise with a pair of jeans!! Nope. I don't do jeans end of story.

3. I can't stand pictures hanging on a wall wonky. I have been known to straigten pictures up hanging in hotel receptions and in resturants. Have had some funny looks but what the heck a picture has to be straight right!

Lastly to pass onto 5 other people.

Terry Ouloub. A gorgeous lady who loves colour as much as I do.

Catherine. A fellow cat lover.

Val. We have so much in common.

Shelly. Also a fellow cat lover.

Ceeyra. A young lady who never lets life get her down.

The winner is?

Hi Everyone,
Thankyou all for entrying my little competition, I really appreciate you finding the time to stop by and leaving your captions. There were soooooooh many entries I had a hard time choosing a winner. I must be a glutton for punishment because I have picked not one but two winners and they are

The Crafty Den (Denise) with
"Well you did say you wanted a thick pile carpet!!!"

and

Rose Petal (Sandra) with
"Its a hard life you know, I need my beauty sleep"

Congratulations ladies. Please get in touch via the email at top of page leaving me your colour preference and address and your little bags will be with you a.s.a.p.

Thankyou to all my new followers I will be visiting your blogs shortly.

Blue Boy Caption.(Now Closed)

Time for another competition.

This was Blue Boy always doing what he loved best , well when he wasn't eating that is.
Now can anyone come up with a suitable caption please to fit the photo. The one/ones I like the best will win one of my little Japanese hand made bags made in their favourite colours.




So if you want to be in it to win it just be/become a follower and leave your caption on this posting which will stay open until Thursday 26th Aug.

July 1876.

Iv'e had it in my mind for sometime to do a project using pages from an old book that are discoloured with age. Not having anything suitable at home I took myself of to the local charity shop to see it they had any.

They had this lying on a shelf at the back of the shop as not good enough for sale but let me have it for £1.

Well when I got it back home I discovered what a gem I had in my hands. Namely the Poetical works of 'Sir Walter Scott' published in December 1867 price 7s. 6d.

The book had evidently been used frequently. Several pages had the corners turned down to maybe mark a special point of interest and throughout the book pansy petals had been pressed between the sheets.

But the best find of all was the name plaques one on the inside of the front cover and one on the back cover. Eliza Evans June 1876.


Oh Eliza, who were you, is this your maiden name or your married name.( Not your D.O.B as you would have only been 9 yrs old when printed) and how did your book turn up all these years later in a charity shop. How I do so wish you could talk to me.

My dilema is do I go ahead and cut the pages up as planned and make something from them or keep in my own little library which in years to come will probably end up yet again in another charity shop. You my followers you decide.

Dancing Girl.

Sherry has now received her prezzie in the post so I can now do a reveal. On her blog every month she show cases the most amazing little dresses that she makes for the 'Dress up challenge' so I knew exactly which little bag to make her from my Japanese book of hand made gifts.

As I had already done a swap with Sherry earlier in the year I new her likes and dislikes so could choose the right colours. The ivory silk is left over from 'The tablecloth challenge' and the skirt panels are from original silk japanese kimonos soucred from Japan.

This is the front.

And the back. There is an inside pocket lined with felt which is deep enough to hold a special item of jewelry or a little bottle of cologne.

Hope you will enjoy Sherry.

Choklit Cup Cakes. Not one but two.

Now who do we know that likes choklit!!!
The wailing started again last week which translated was ' Can you do me a Choklit cupcake with pink icing and hundreds and thousands on top a.s.a.p. Um can you make that two please?' Oh well I didn't want to go to bed anyway.

Cupcake No 1.

Cupcake No 2.

Secret ingredients included!!!.

I am entering these into the following challenge.

Crazy 4 Challenges who just happen to be asking for Cupcakes.

Bead Swap 2.

My Second bead swap partner has now received her stash so I can now reveal.

Marcy's choice of colours were Green,Copper,Sepia, and Ivory. I decided to have Copper and Sepia as the bead colours and use Ivory and Green for the box.



The bead collection came together really easily and for the box I decided to make a collapsing one that is loosely based on a design from my Japanese book of small gifts to make.

I had seen a tutorial for making the silk flower and decided to have a go using some of the ivory material I had left over from the Table Cloth challenge. Having made the flower 1st, the box just sort of evolved and I had enough material to make a pouch for the beads which sits inside when the box sides are folded up into the lid.

I am entering this into the following challenges.

Craft Your Days Away are asking for your favourite things. My favouirite pastime is creating boxes.

Rosie D's challenge are asking for More than one fold. The box folds up and each petal of the flower on top is a circle folded several times.

Just Scraps are having an Open House so anything goes.

Creatalicious are sayng Show some 3D.

Craftalicious are saying Make your own flowers and are asking for at least one flower on your project.

Bead Afternoon.

Well I think I can safely say that fun was had by us all. When we got to the workshop I got told 'Now mummy you always have pink so you can't this time' and then Faye went and nabbed the pink ones for herself!!! This is the result. Pretty fab hey.

If Faye can have pink so can I. I made my necklace as a choker so had enough beads to do earings too. I do so love to have everything matching.

And The Doc and Sweet Cheeks? Both sleeping like a baby after an afternoon of non stop playing!!

Chateau Cobwebs

It's all hands to the post this weekend here at Chateau "Cobwebs" as Sweet Cheeks is visiting with Faye. So far today we have washed the cars with Grandad, helped feed the cats, run riot in the garden and now peace reigns as Daniel has gone off to play with his friend Flynn. (His mummy and Faye are best mates from school days).
Phew! and it's still only 10.30am in the morning.
Faye and I are off to bead making class this afternoon at my local craft shop so The Doc will be in charge, 'but what do I do 'said Doc, erm have fun!!!
Just had a nice long soak in the bath only to find sweet cheeks got there first so I shared it with a fish, a whale and a turtle.
Grandchildren. Don't you just love em.

Off now to measure up a certain Pink Netbook which has been left lying around.

Top 3 at Charisma.

Yipee! I made the top 3 at Charisma cards with my little bag 'Dutch cat' which I entered for their challenge "Something with a Tail". Thankyou so much. I am really pleased.

Again I have several projects in the pipe line.

Faye has just given me another one. Please pretty please can I make her a pink felt zippered bag with pink and yellow felt flowers on it to house her new Pink Netbook!!!

Reminds me of the time when she was 6yrs old and when asked how she would like her birthday cake decorated said " Can I please have a Pink Elephant cake made with sponge, jam and icing. and don't forget mummy he must have a trunk."

She got her pink elephant with trunk and am now off to the drawing board to come up with a design for the netbook case.

Children, don't you just love em.

Not a very good photo but the only one I could find of said cake.

Concertina pocket.

I saw this wrapping paper in the local supermarket.and just had to buy it. I thought I would make a bag from it and started trying out different shapes of carboard to cover but nothing was working. Then I happened to open the draw that my paper and colouring pencils were in and the rest as they say is history.

The paper flowers were crying out for butterflies so I obliged.

I now have my drawing paper and pencils neatly stored together.

I am entering this into the following challenges.

Flutterby Wedensdays. They are asking for a butterfly, fairy or angel.

Pile it on. They want butterflies, bugs and bees.