Guess the postie brought me today??


My Valentine swap!!

I don't know where I found the will power to actually take it upstairs (D#1's room is the lightest to take pics) and take a picture of it before I ripped it open to find this lovely lot....


Where to start? Firstly I think Juliann my swap partner must be phycic! Apart from this that she may have had a sneaky suspicion I had a thing about

(It is amazing - Cranberry flavour? Organic? I've only had one 'application' and I think I'm addicted to it, smells lurverly) it was hiding inside this cute little pouch

With this


Juliann blogged a few weeks ago about these sweet little strawberries she was going to make, I secretly hoped she might have been making me one for the swap (oh is that naughty?)

And then there was this



It may not be unusual in the States but pink....that's pink if you missed it the first time hot chocolate!! I spied some on Heather Bailey's blog and had a shifty but couldn't find it anywhere - now I have my very own! Will have to hide it from D#1.......hehe

So other than the above mentioned there was also a hand quilted heart, some lovely fabric, some hand died silk ribbon and and bag full of Valentiney themed buttons, beads and charms and to top it all everything was PINK!!

Thank you so much Juliann - I'm feeling really special about now and lovely Lucy for arranging the swap.

I was going to tell you about crash test bunny #2 who turned out a whole lot better than the first one!! And the teddy ears and badge I made for the teddy bear's picnic D#1 is going to at school tonight.....but that will have to wait for now!

Raggy Doll Reject

Ever do something so stupid you wonder how on earth you managed it? Namely doing a wash load with dishwasher tablets!! My knickers will have a lovely glass finish! *Insert stoopid face here*

Make a softie bunny - how hard can that be?! Oh dear......ohhhhh very dear.

I scoured the net for some sort of help but didn't find much, so I set to with scissors and paper (ho ho) to see if I could come up with some sort of pattern, in theory it seemed like a good idea, the 'pattern' looked quite good, but then I'm not sure what happened......

I couldn't be bothered to get my camera out so I wodged it's head on the scanner

Remember The Raggy Dolls?



If my 'bunny' was a doll it wouldn't even qualify for a Sad Sack


Oh well back to the drawing board!!

Half term is over - I was really looking forward to us girlies spending some time together and doing some nice things, what happened I really don't know - I think I blinked and missed it, back to early starts and ironing uniforms already!

Tomorrow I'm starting a numeracy course at school, something to do with helping your kids with maths in year 1. D#2 will be going into the crèche which is going to be held in the school nursery - she's never really been left with anyone other than her daddy while I've popped to the shops or gone to the hair dressers - I can't imagine she'll be too impressed, me neither! :o(

Bunny-hop-Bunny-swap

Lucy's doing another swap, this time for Easter. The swap will be a handmade bunny and a handmade card, I eagerly signed up but seeing as I've given up making cards and I've no idea about making a bunny I may have a slight challenge on my hands! If you fancy joining in hop (hoho) on over and sign yourself up!

Special Delivery

And not of the Valentine's variety (happy Valentine's day by the way) I have a had some very special post today........



Any ideas what who it could be?




Might have something to do with a raffle somebody organised for a very good cause!

Someone got their greasy little mitts excitedly onto the case



Please note the blurry image is due to speed unwrapping and not just my poor camera skills!



Friends were made........



And gifts were given........



HP22 took a moment.......


And remembered it wasn't all a bum deal........




The two pink bums weren't my idea! Neither was this random moment......



Thank you very much Monkee Maker - you make damn fine Monkees and really brightened my day!!!




Also with today being Valentine's day a swap parcel got posted, to a lady very far away


That's just packaging so don't think that will spoil anything, I hope it doesn't take too long to arrive.

Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's evening - I think mine will be sipping wine alone as JL seems to have fallen asleep on the settee, much similar to this minus the small child who is safely tucked up in bed

Separated at Birth

Separated at birth #1

D#1 has this really annoying habit of asking what the time is, then asking again two minutes later....then again 6 minutes later....then again 3 minutes later....you get the picture, after a while it wears a bit thin so I started saying 'Hammer Time' *blush* now if she asks me and I tell her the real time she actually wants me to say 'Hammer Time'!! so last night after she'd had a bath and was putting her PJ's on we went through the usual routine and she asks 'Mummy what is Hammer Time?' a quick search on You Tube



We're both bopping away like a pair of idiots while The Story Makers is on the telly in the background and it just so happens tonight it's Webster Wordsworth who is on....didn't you always wonder what happened to M.C. Hammer?????






Separated at birth #2


Put D#1 to bed and read her a story - School Time for Sammy





The best picture I could find but don't you think Sammy looks a little familiar?????




Obviously I have a very dull life ;o)

I really really really did love Chic-a-Boo though!!!! (Still got mine somewhere!)

Stuff to Show!!

Firstly if you haven't already seen Monkee Maker's raffle for Ellie can I point in in the right direction even if you can just spare a quid every little helps. Brilliant idea Mrs MM!

This is what I was going to share yesterday



My slightly rugged recycled denim corsage/brooch.

I don't really like to share the stuff I make, partly down to lack of confidence, partly cause I'm far too self critical and partly due to someone completely ripping off something I once made.

Anyway I'm really quite pleased with it, I've been playing with different sizes and layers, this one is quite big at around 10cm, I want to make some with some fat quarters JL treated me to at the weekend.



I've been meaning to make myself a pin cushion for a while but just not got round to it until yesterday


It's based on this tutorial from Whipup with a strap so I can wear it on my wrist. Maybe my super bright ironing board wasn't the best thing to photograph it on! It's not exactly perfect but not bad considering I did most of it with a poorly D#2 sat/sleeping on my knee, it will do for now. I made some shrink plastic pins at the weekend too, the tutorial courtesy of Wee Wonderfuls was linked from the pin cushion tutorial!

It was the most fun I've ever had staring into my oven waiting for the magic to happen!

Feeling Guilty

.....for moaning that is *blush* swimming wasn't half as bad as usual, maybe it's because I had a big ole moan before hand. Some nice man even helped me down a flight of stairs with the pushchair!! D#1 later said 'Wasn't it really nice of that man you didn't even know to help you down the stairs?' Bless! Chivalry isn't completely dead after all - thank you Mr Man whoever you are for brightening my day.

Pancakes didn't go too badly either - didn't toss any though *hangs head in shame*

I thought I might share something I've been working on lately, I managed one blurry photo and my camera battery died! I'll get some more later.........

Tuesday Stress

I don't much like Tuesdays since D#1 started swimming lessons last month, seemed like a good idea at the time but I don't think I'm one of those Mummy's who can juggle 68 things at once....OK not quite that many but I don't enjoy the mad rush after school trying to persuade one small child she needs to get a wriggle on, hurry up, get changed, have a wee, un-glue herself from the PC/telly etc and persuade the smaller child it really would be a good idea to eat something even though it's not really quite your tea time yet but by the time we get home it will be your bed time and you'll be too tired to attempt to eat anything. I don't enjoy bumping a swimming bag, nappy bag and hand bag laden pushchair up three lots of steps while trying to encourage the oldest small child to walk next to me rather than in front of me (or behind me in backwards step bumping mode) because I really will run you over if you get in the way! I don't like having to abandon the pushchair in a steaming hot changing room hoping that it will still be there when I return from struggling up another two flights of stairs and squashing my way past people who really are just too busy blocking the very narrow pathway along the viewing gallery (is that what it's called?) carrying a small child who I will have to try and entertain for the next very long 40 minutes by shoving biscuits/chocolate buttons/quavers down her throat while her sister swims the opposite way to all her swimming lesson buddies (eh?! Why my child??) I really don't like the mad rush to collect the soaking fish, coaxing her to get dry/dressed/not be so nosey (she told me last week she saw 'boy's willies' *rolls eyes* then bumping the pushchair back down three lots of steps into the cold dark night then home again to cook tea for JL and sort bed time out etc etc.

I don't know why I get so flustered - why can't I be one of those mothers who take it all in their stride?



Today is Shrove Tuesday aka pancake day which selfishly adds more stress to my Tuesday, cause I'll be expected to be the pancake cooking, tossing, all singing dancing monkey but I did find this for your tossing pleasure if you have nothing else to do!

At least I have half a bottle of

So that might help the


It's only week five - I'm praying they don't do swimming lessons in half term (ie next week!)

I don't think I'm really as


as I sound..................honest!