Sunset

Have been sooo busy not had much time to keep up dated. The other night on the way to swimming it was such a lovely sun set we stopped the car and Char took this picture of the Islands on strangford lough close to where i grew up

hello peeps

i have been busy!!!!! up to my eyes in beanie hats

off to take a few pics and be back in the morning

mud bath!!!!!!

we spent the weekend at ballywalter house at the game and country fair and this is what we had to deal with MUD! on the friday it was a bit damp and as the day went on the weather became wetter and a little bit more muddy. and when we arrived on saturday morning the placed was more like a sea of mud than a green field, good job it was only round the road from us and we didn't have far to travel.
but as usual loobylou and i made the best of a bad thing and had a ball, although we didn't make much money and as you can see we could still smile about it.

the guy beside us is a local artist and this was his first fair of this kind and he soon found out that we were good people to know and kept him supplied with constant cups of coffee and a large amount of witt and wisdom from marriage (bless he is only married a year, 'it il soon wear off' we told him) to getting sales at a fair

and although the weather was better today the mud was still there and the punter were sooooooo busy keeping their hands in their pockets we made very little in way of sales

but we looked good anyway!!!!! well at least the next fair is in a church hall where we will be away from the mud ......

busy,busy,busy

i have a very busy few weeks in front of me! me friend loopylou and i are off to a big game fair at the weekend and then a small fair in our church to help raise money to extend the halls and then the next week off to the big farm show in belfast and followed by a lovely weekend in the local national trust property (just round the corner from me!!!!) so off now to sort out the car for the first drop off and set up tomorrow, hope the lovely weather we have been promised arrives in time for the weekend and i think i will spend monday in bed, or at the sewing machine making more of everything ......

huffy puss

i have been very busy over the winter making stock for the up and coming craftfairs and not much time to sit about and relax- so after the success of my new labels i thought i had a few minutes spare i would make a load more and got stuck in, but i had a big problem ....... in the shape of hammy!!! as you can see i was not paying him much heed and he thought it was about time he got a little tlc

so after walking over me and the table a few times he settled down for a nap?????

tags take 2 !!

well with a bit of fiddleing about i have managed to make my own handmade -handstamped tags !!!!!!!!!!!!! ad you can see i went for the oval shaped punch and a cream card


and when i had punched out the required amount i stamped some with my new stamps ( as you can see i have went for the usual green for the handmade in ireland one )

and then with the single punch i made 2 holes to allow the back of the brooche to fit in

and there you have it and a lot cheaper than having to buy luggage tags by the thousand now i can make my own and i'm sure i'll find some other use for these lovely tags

just hope this makes the punters want to buy even more of these lovely little brooches

tags

have been looking for a long time for tags to put on my crafts and not having much joy. until i visited the craft show in the kings hall, belfast last weekend and was talking to the lady who runs the craft depot in bangor and she made a few sugestions. so off to have a think about what she had said and i visited the shop today and picked up the big punch we had talked about and some card to have a go ......
off now to have a wee play around and will let you all know how these new handmade tags turn out !!!!!

rosie

meet rosie


i have been on the lookout for a bust for a long time to display my shawls etc and i had a blowup one but Char squished it one day and it now has a hole that i can't fix. i had picked up a copy of the local ads for free in the hope of finding a new link box for the tractor and fell in with this instead !!!!!!! isn't she just great
sent hubby a picture and he said she could stay of she could iron and do a bit of housework

here rosie is wearing one of my beanies and a lovely blue neck warmer

hope she likes being my new best friend?

busy day

been a bit of a busy day today - i have finished the heart chalkboards i have been working on now for a little while and i have also finished some of the brooches and felt flowers that i have been working on over the last month .

these are the large ones that are a bit like a corsuage (not sure if these are spelt right but you know what i mean ) and the ones below are a mixture of felt flowers which are, i hope, in this years colours of the purple that there is so much of about and the others are the little knitted brooches that i have been futtering with for a while until i got just the way i liked them

Board!

Had a go at this . I cut the hearts out of ply and sanded and then painted with blackboard paint added the fabric to hang it with. Its 33 cm by 33 cm approx ( my sawing is still a bit wonkey)

Hurry up!

Hammy thought i had done enough ironing and it was time to feed him so if protested on the ironing board followed by his brother who huffed when i put them off

hello again

hello and a happy mothers day to one and all from my shiny new laptop !!!!! what a surprise i had this morning when i came down and found the box sitting waiting for me (hubby got a bit fed up with me always having to use his as my old one had got so slow - its an age thing!! ) and the boys had made cards and paper flowers in school at the end of the week which i love.......
off now to play with my new toy and get this blog on the road again ######

fat thursdays

will it's that time of year again and the diet books are out with a vengance, but not for me but my mates in work and after 3 week of the 3 day crackers and cheese and tuna and ........ oh i could go on but they have had enough had we are now to have a new day, fat thursdays and for this i have made a raspberry ruffel cheesecake and it might not last until the morning as i could sleep walk and scoff the lot ..... the girlies would kill me if i don't turn up in the morning with this in toe

busy weekend

well the weather has been rubbish and we have spent a lot of time inside again this weekend but in saying that a few things have happened that need to be mentioned - Char has been having swimming lessons for a year and a half now and has been doing really well, so much so that he got his 25 meter badge on friday and today we spent with other family and friends at a baptisim of my cousins young daughter. great days craic and way to much nice stuff to eat, and i ate so much pudding (well some one had to do it) and fresh cream that i can feel my waist band expand as we speak ........

off now for a 20 mile jog hahahahahahahahahahahah sorry was getting a bit carried away the off to bed with a bag of crisps !!!!!!

a bit windy

what a night we had last night! the weather forecast had been bad for the weekend and northern ireland was to get the worst of it, so we battoned down the hatches and spent the evening watching tv and keeping the fire will stoked and the candles burning (the electric was flicking and we light a few candles incase it went out and we wouldn't be left in the dark) and the boys and i just put the night in without doing very much of anything - and keeping an eye on the rabbit as the last big storm the hutch sailed around the yard but all was ok this time. so tonight because i sat at the fire and warmed my toes i have a mountain of ironing to do!!!! and most of these are hubbys shirts which are my least fave things on the ironing board........
so peeps have a good weekend and on with the housework (sorry for the use of the bad words 'ironing' and 'housework')

christmas secret santa

on the lovely craft forum that a same to spend way to much time on some days we had a secret santa and below are the pictures of the wonderful things that i recieved


good job it was a lovely fairy and i think a wood nymph as we had been so busy on the run up to the big day that we had run out and bought a tree and stuck a set of lights on it we had nothing on the top of the tree!!!! so now once all the bits and pieces have been take down the two have been packed away carefully ready to be the first things out for next christmas

we had all agreeded to open our secret santa gifts on christmas day and i was a little sorry that i waited as i should have had these lovely little people on my tree for a lot longer but the boys thought they were so good i knew that they will be the first things on my tree next christmas

HAPPY NEW YEAR

hi folks its been a while since i talked to all you lovely peeps out there in blog land. i have been up to my eyes coming up to the christmas period with family and crafty things and now the boys are back at school and i'm back at real work and hubby is in bed with the flu. i hope you all had a good christmas and a peaceful new year and lots of good ideas for the new season. the kittens are now a big part of the family and as well as being almost full grown and are now due a small visit to the vets!!!!!!! so off now to bed now to get refreshed for a long weekend of crafting