It's Me, Sarah

Last Month

I went to the crop at Just Tracey's and did a little bit of papercrafting amongst all the chatting.  Just one layout though.  Obviously, it was Florida photographs - I really must get on and do more of them but I just don't seem to be getting into my craft room lately!  I think I am going to do what my friend Jo does and earmark one night a week as my 'crafting night' and retire to my room and hide!

The layout uses some pictures from the fabulous parades at the Magic Kingdom with some American Crafts papers by Amy Tangerine.

I am trying to keep my Disney layouts quite flat and most with probably err on the simpler side but even so I have cut the Amy Tangerine paper into strips and layered them either side of the photographs, the cloud and sun are layered together on 3d foam but the flowers cut from the patterned paper are glued directly onto the background before being doodled around to add some interest. 

I added some yellow bakers twine to the right edge as it is thin and doesn't add too much bulk.

I also added a few pages to my Smash book, I will share those tomorrow.

San Francisco Purse

A while ago I was browsing on Pinterest and, like so often happens, I saw something that I just had to make.  It was the San Francisco Crochet purse and I thought it would be a perfect little extra for Charlotte on her birthday so I bought the pattern straight away...

...and made it :)

I used some of my stash of Rowan Handknit Cotton for this bag and specifically ordered the pretty beads from eBay to finish it off.  I now seem to have a nice little collection of these pretty plastic and wooden beads so I am prepared for further cuteness should the appropriate pattern turn up.

The beads are sewn on once all the pieces of the bag are put together.  The pattern doesn't tell you what to do, it just says 'decorate it to your fantasy'.  Lovely!

It is so cute.

Actually, I had better give it to Charlotte tonight because I hid it away before her birthday and totally forgot to give it to her!

Birthdays in the house!

We had two birthdays in the house last week.  Charlotte was nine on Tuesday and Mark also had a birthday on Thursday.

On Saturday Charlotte had a birthday party at home and it was great. Bex from Dazzling Pamper Parties came and took over for a couple of hours bringing a huge pink massage table and lots of nail varnish, make-up and glittery tattoos.  We started the party an hour before Bex turned up so that we could do a pass the parcel and get the eating part out of the way before she arrived. The girls had a fabulous time and Mark and I didn't have to do anything. Next time I have Bex to do a party I will make sure my knitting is in the craft room so I can relax while she is here :)  It was the easiest party ever and all the girls were so well behaved!  Charlotte also had her friend to stay on Friday and Saturday night so it felt like we had an extra child for a couple of days.

On Mark's birthday we went out for lunch to B-Bar in the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth.  It is a Thai Noodle bar and their Thai Green Curry is delicious.  It is our new favourite place to eat and the entertainment is great!

Homely Stuff

What no blogging! Well you know what I am like when the kids are on holiday , ever so slightly distracted from my routine!

We have been busy doing 'house-y' stuff though. Last year we managed to save £9,000 to go to Disneyland so we thought that this year we would any spare money to do nice things to the house and I am loving it.

So far we have done the girls bedroom and had wardrobes built in our room. We also bought a new bed and finally got some nice curtains in our room. Our room is almost finished, I just need to make a couple of canvasses and get a dressing table and rug and it will be done, but you can't buy it all at once can you?

Mark is painting the kitchen for me this weekend. Do you remember this post from 2008 when I was lamenting the fact that he was painting over my beloved red walls? Well, now he is painting them back red for me (it only took 4 years of nagging!). Insert a little happy dance here.

On a side note:  clicking on that link to the kitchen in red was quite a shock.  Where you see the TV on the side is now the door to my craft room and we also have wooden floors throughout the hall, kitchen and craft room which are not there in the picture!  It is surprising what a difference four years can make! The poster is still on the wall though :)

We have also bought lots of bits and bobs this year like a nice mantle clock, a canvas for the lounge and a rug. I have also got my looooong sought after Dualit toaster and kettle.

Our most recent conversations concern the back garden which is really just a yard. We are going to tidy it up a bit and get some pots for plants and a nice little table that we can have a sunshiney coffee at in more pleasant surroundings. I can't wait, I don't want posh, just a little cottage-y retreat which for me is just perfect!