Brown paper packages tied up with string...

Recently on blogs, Pinterest and the Internet in general, I have seen lots of different ideas for wrapping gifts. I think it's especially nice when gifts are wrapped in brown paper with some pretty embellishments. I have had quite a few gifts to give recently - birthdays, house warming and thank you gifts - and decided to try out a few ideas...

Pretty ribbon and a little crochet flower...

Doily, felt heart, pretty button and pink string...

Bright pink ribbon and a little button...

 

Doily, felt flower, stripy pink string and a little ribboned tag...

I like wrapping gifts like this, it's fun adding on all the pretty little extras to make them look nice.

Thank you for for the lovely birthday wishes! They really made me smile :)

Back soon with some crochet...

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A very lucky girl

It was my birthday over the weekend and I was lucky enough to receive some very lovely pink and crafty gifts...

Love these pretty buttons from my mum and dad. I think my family know me pretty well...

A lovely handmade card from Miss M. Note how she has discreetly included my age on the front...!

We have a nice little birthday tradition in this house where you choose which kind of cake you would like for your birthday. This cake is called fantasy cake and is from Lisa Faulkner's book Recipes from my Mother for my Daughter. G and Miss M made it for me and it was so delicious, kind of like a strawberry bakewell... So, I am another year older but I don't mind, I had a lovely birthday and was made to feel special by my lovely little family.

Thank you so much for the lovely kind comments about my cross stitch, I really do appreciate them so much. Also, welcome to my new readers and followers. Back soon with another finished make - I am on a roll with finishing off the WIPs these past couple of weeks...!

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Cross Stitch

It is my gran's 80th birthday this weekend and I wanted to make her something nice to keep. I decided to do a nice cross stitch picture for her and bought a kit a few months ago. I completed it last week and off it went to be framed..

 

 

I used to do lots and lots of cross stitch but hadn't done any for ages before starting this sunflower picture. However, I really enjoyed doing this and have plans to do another soon... (when I finish all my other WIPs though!). This was a kit by The Stitching Shed - they have lots of pretty cross stitch and needlework kits and I have done quite a few of their designs already. I plan to give this to gran on Saturday as we are all going out for dinner to celebrate her birthday. Hope she likes it...!

I mentioned in this post about a little cross stitch picture I had finished a while back but had then forgotten all about it! Well it went to be framed also...

 

I really love the bright red of the frame, I think it complements the little picture really nicely. It's such a cheery little picture and makes me smile when it catches my eye.

The chart for this little picture can be found in the gorgeous book above - Home Sweet Home Cross Stitch by Helen Phillips. This is such a lovely book with some really nice samplers in. Helen also has a beautiful blog which is well worth a look too.

So, I am doing pretty well with finishing off my WIPs at the moment, I just have a baby blanket to finish and then I will allow myself to buy some new yarn and start some of the other projects which I have in my head - of which there are many!

Thank you you so much for visiting me here! Back soon...

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Perfectly Pink

There seems to have been a lot of pink around here these past few days...

Fresh pink grapefruit for breakfast...

Pretty pink roses...

Miss M's pink shoes and tights. That girl just loves pink...

A new piece of very very pink soap...

Stacks of pink crochet squares for a baby blanket...

Little pink baby shoes. Made from some leftover Rowan Handknit Cotton. I love knitting baby shoes...

Pink crochet brooches made for a couple of the girls at work. Made from Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, such a lovely yarn to crochet with...

So lots and lots of lovely pink!

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my little chair, I have decided to keep it in our room after all, where there is less chance of someone actually sitting on it!! Back soon with some cross stitch...

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Little Chair Makeover

I have finally finished my decopatch project which I have been happily working on for the last few weeks!

I bought this little chair in the local Shelter shop last month. It only cost £4 and I thought that it looked like a perfect deopatch project. I think it may be an old school chair or a child's desk chair. It's a little smaller than the chairs we have at our kitchen table and I noticed that someone had written their name on the bottom of it!

So G sanded it down and then gave it a light coat of cream emulsion for me. Then I got to do the fun bit! I really enjoyed using decopatch to decorate this little chair although I will admit it was a little fiddly in places. However, I am so so happy with the end result...

I used decopatch paper number 570 and needed 8 sheets to complete this little project. I can't decide now where this little chair will live, it would look really nice in Miss M's room but I am actually really tempted to keep it for our bedroom, I like it so much!

Thank you so so much for the lovely comments about the pink sweetie blanket - they are so appreciated. Happy weekend.

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Pink Sweetie Blanket

After completing my giant granny blanket last month, I couldn't wait to start another! Miss M had requested a snuggly blanket of her own and I was happy to oblige! I loved making this for her, and mostly worked on it in the evenings whilst catching up on some tv (mainly Broadchurch and The Great British Sewing Bee, I have loved both of these...)

I was told that the blanket had to be mostly pink and now that it is finished, it's proud new owner has declared that it be called "The Pink Sweetie Blanket"! And I must admit that the colours are very similar to the little bowl of sweeties above...

It's not a very big blanket, well it's child sized and just the right size for Miss M to cuddle under. She does love to cuddle under a cosy blanket whenever we watch a DVD together.

I used a 4mm crochet hook and again used my favourite Stylecraft Special DK yarn (the colours this yarn comes in are just wonderful). I used 3 balls of shade 1080 pale rose, 1 ball of shade 1061 plum and one ball of shade 1083 pomegranate.

I am now desperate to begin another blanket and am planning a red one for the living room, however first I have lots of other projects to finish - my decopatch project, gran's cross stitch, a new baby gift and cushions for a friend at work. I have told myself that I must finish these first before I buy new yarn for another blanket but we shall see...!!

Hello to my new readers and followers and thank you so much for the lovely, lovely comments recently. I really do appreciate them.

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Colour

Well, the weekend is now over and it was a quiet one for us, but when I look at the photos taken over the past couple of days, it has been full of bright cheery colours...

Miss M's crayons. She has been busy drawing dozens of pictures with these...

I love the cheery colours and pretty pictures on this tin which G brought home from work...

A colourful (and healthy!) fruit salad enjoyed for breakfast yesterday morning...

Some colourful threads. My gran gave me a basket full of lovely threads which she no longer uses when we visited on Saturday...

Sorting out my buttons. I have a new project planned for these bright and cheery ones...

Baking fairy cakes with Miss M...

Sorting through my craft stash and finding a finished cross stitch picture I completely forgot about! I love the pretty colours in this. I am planning to have it framed this week...

The week ahead is going to be a busy one, but hopefully there will be some more happy, colourful moments too.

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