Check List :o)

CHECK LIST :

1.  Tell all the lovely bloggy people what a lovely Christmas we had.  ~check

2. Make sure all the Christmas gift wrap that has worked it's way all over the house (!) has been cleared up. ~check

3. Make sure that all the pine needles have been picked up, well as many as you can pick up each day ! ~check

4. Check bed every evening, as even though beds are made in the morning, pine needles miraculously appear between the duvet and base sheet by bed time. ~check

5.  Make sure you tell bloggy friends that you have a dodgy camera at the moment, so there may be a lack of photos in blog posts until it's sorted. ~check

6. Keep making lists for everything, as that's what is getting you through these Christmas Holidays with out too much stress. ~check

7. Make sure you steal little daughters wii machine with 'Dance' discs to do several dances every day to try and help keep fit, as sitting round on your chad crafting isn't helping the size of your tummy or bottom. But do make sure that during dancing you don't step on those pesky pine needles ~check

8. Keep on track with the new Etsy shop reveal for January, and try harder to get the new products photographed nicely, even though you have camera problems ~ half check

9. Stop being a crochet snob!!   Even though it took you 2 hours (!!) to knit a small square of fabric about 2inches by 4 inches, that doesn't mean that knitting is naff, slow and boring, just persevere and get on with the knitted piggy. ~check

10. Wish all the lovely bloggy people who visit here a fantastic NEW YEAR!  ~check :o)

Thankyou all for making my blogging experience such a happy one.  I do love getting round to seeing you all, and love it when you pop over to me, 'specially when you leave such happy comments :0)

Take care all of you, and have a happy, healthy splendid New Year.

Hopefully I'll be back sometime next week with my resolutions :o)

Be careful now, but have fun.

Love Donna xx

It's Christmas time :o)

Well Hello lovely bloggy people.

Hope this post finds you all fine and dandy?

I've been a bad blogger recently haven't I? Sorry, but I've been feeling a bit like the weather...cold, wet & miserable!  But don't worry, i'll get over it soon I'm sure :o)    It just seems harder this time shaking off those grey days....I think some frost would do me good! You know, one of those bright, crisp white mornings with the sun sparkling off the white crystals...or even some SNOW!!!  lol

Anyway, enough moaning.   I haven't exactly been doing much to tell you about.....A bit of thrifting here and there. I found a fantastic sewing book in the charity shop!

It's called 'The Pictorial Guide to Modern Home Needlecraft'. It's one of the BEST sewing books I have seen! It's fantastic with plain, common sense advice and basic (note that basic word :o) instructions which are just fabulous to understand.

But girls, guess how old it is?

1946!   Honestly though if you find one, snap it up because it's brilliant!

I also found this lovely Wade fluted dish.  The jurys out on wether it's an ashtray or just a dish actually. I really liked the colour, and the prettiness of it, so I'm kinda hoping it isn't an ashtry lol.

Here's a picture our tree at last.  It's so nice to have a real tree again.

But they are jolly expensive this year aren't they?  Some of them were £45.00 plus!!!

Mine wasn't I hasten to add! But it was nearly there I can tell you.

I was thinking of not getting one, and just using our fibre optic one that we have in the hall way.

This picture's looking up the hall towards the front door. With the fibre optic tree on and our retro style outside lights on...

I love looking out at them:O)

Well, have you all finished your Christmas shopping then? We haven't! Have still got some to do on Monday, but the children broke up from school today, so it's gonna be hard shopping with them in tow!

I'm off tailing my eldest daughter round town tomorrow. Literally :o)

Well, her girlfriends want her to go shopping with them, and as you know she has seizures every day, and I can't just shift the responsibility onto a group of 15-16year olds can I? 

So they're all going round together, and I'm following at a distance to be there in the event of a seizure. I know I'm gonna feel a bit strange spying on a group of kids I can tell ya! lol.

My big girl is so good. Bless her. What 16year old do you know that knows she can't go anywhere with out her Mum or Dad even shopping with her friends, and doesn't even moan about it.. Bless her.

I've been trying to persuade my little girl (12year old) to come with me, but she doesn't see the fun in it either ..lol.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get back on here before the big day, as I can show you my finished makes then.

But if not my lovely people,

HAVE AN AWESOME CHRISTMAS!!!

you hear?

And a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And if I don't speak to you soon, I'll speak to you next year :o)

Take care, and have fun.

Love Donna xx

Tags and embroidery

Well hello lovely bloggy people :o)

Hope this finds you all fine n dandy this last day of November.

Autumns' arrived here in the south/west at last!  We had our first mild frost at the begining of the week, and that old wind has been a bit raw round here!

I've been busy with a few Christmas makes, but I have to admit to being a bit miserable of late!

I've had the lurgy now since we came out of hospital (grrr) and it's just not going!

Still, I thought I'd better get round to doing at least two posts during November, and today is my last chance to get the second one in!    :o)

I've been a bit obsessed with tags of late.  I used to do a lot of 'tag art' when I was in into papercraft in the late 90's early 00's, and I seem to have picked up the habit again with fabric crafting!

I've listed a few in my Etsy shop, but I'm making summery ones at the moment when I get a spare minute, to list in the New Year.

It hasn't stopped me buying some gorgeous paper ones though when I've seen them.

look at these cuties..

I saw these in the charity shop for 20p a packet, and they were just so cute and whimsical i couldn't leave them there.

I think they're probably from the eighties.

The ones below are going to be the ones From Santa this year, so these are well hidden..

And these ones I just loved :o)

And I actually bought the BBC 'Homes and Antiques' magazine whilst in hospital, just so's I could get my mitts on these lovely tags!  lol

I've been doing some embroidery too....

Using some of my old rubber stamps to stamp on some cotton,

Then embroider round the edges and watercolour in the middles....

I haven't got round to watercolouring the middles yet,

But they're sweet aren't they?...

And i've been making some of the things below, but this is just a little peek, as they aren't quite ready yet..

I also keep meaning to tell you I won my fight!!

You probably don't remember, but back in September I told you I was off up the school to start what I knew would be a long drawn out process with the school over my eldest daughters post 16 education (i.e. Year 12/6th form)

She can only go to school part time due to her seizures, and obviously some of that time she isn't there either as she is ill.

But they still said that she had to get the full monty in exam results in order to get any 6th form education with them.

(in my daughters case, this would have meant getting 100% in her exam marks, where as other children without any special needs only have to get about 55%.)

Well, after a bit of a battle, they've said she can go in the 6th form!! Which to us is brilliant news! 'Specially as the nearest colleges are about 40 mins away depending on traffic!

They've said she can much earlier than we anticipated, which we think is great, as we were expecting to fight right up until next June if need be!  So that is a real worry off our minds I can tell you :o)

The last thing we would want is for her to leave school next year, and sit on her bum isolated from everyone!  Goodness, I couldn't let her do that now, could I?

Anyway, it's all sorted now as far as me and the Head of 6th form are concerned.

I'm not supposed to tell anyone yet (you won't tell anyone though will you ;o) as she is going to be the exception, so I felt a bit of a fraud when I was talking to one of the deputy heads the other day about her post 6th form education, and he was saying how they won't take her !

Still, it's not my job to tell him now is it?

And we haven't told our daughter yet either, as she is taking her mock GCSE's at the moment, and we don't want her to think (not that we actually think she would, but you never know;o) that she doesn't have to try 'cos she's already got a place!

I have to admit to feeling a tad guilty telling you all, but I do know a few of you are so caring and I'd sure want to know if it was you ;o)

Anyway, that's it for me oh, 'cept I  promised to show you all this..

Aaaaww...

My youngest daughter has been re-cycling and making Christmas things.

this is her snow globe...

Made from:

An old coffee jar, a christmas picture printed off the internet, some polystyrene and glitter.

She's made something else too, but I'll show you that in the week :O)

Right, I'm off now to get three advent calendars as I forgot them.. I know, how un-organised can you get lol.

Take care my lovely people. You've cheered me up having a yack :o)

Love Donna xx