New Shop goodies and a giveaway!

Hello there!
I have been busy creating and putting new items into my Etsy shop.
I did some scrap book pages using cardboard, tore it up and even painted some...it was a lot of fun! I did this one of my dd...


See the little quote bubble? I have made these. I have a "My Girl embellishment set"
which consists of 4 quote bubbles and 6 paper button flowers.



One I did of my son, tore the cardboard and painted it with white craft paint and then some gold in the folds and the edges.
Got some of these paper button flowers -sets of 6 for sale. Called "My little guy".
I also have a My little guy embellishment set consisting of 4 quote bubbles and 6 of these paper button flowers here.



And a travel embellishment set too....also 4 quote bubbles and 6 paper button flowers, just peel off the tape and stick onto your page!

How to enter:

1. Take a look through my shop and leave a comment here in this post on something you liked.
2. To double your chances to win, blog, facebook or tweet about the item in my shop that you liked and then leave ANOTHER comment here with the link to your blog/tweet etc.
3. Maximum of two entries per person.
4. Winner will be announced FRIDAY 1 October 2010

What will you win?

*a set of your choice {While stocks last, if not available, then something similar!}
of one of the above- My little Guy, My little Girl or Travel set.

Have fun!

Two new additions to our family...

Saturday hubby comes home with a cardboard box, a smile, big eyes and a look that says:
"It wasn't me, honest!"

I took one look at the box....this was our conversation....

"Oh no...."

"what?" (*worried surprised look*)

"Please....don't tell...it can't be a dog"

he smiles, my heart drops to my feet and through the floor...

"Is it a puppy???"


" I was naughty" *duh! clearly there is some type of small animal in the box!

So I gingerly opened the box..what would I find?

Two of the sweetest little bunnies I ever did see! 7 weeks old....

Meet our two new additions to the family...Flopsy and Mopsy (I know, so original!!)

They are just too adorable and tame for words. I fell in love immediately...

Sunday hubby built the coolest "run" for them. Today he is finishing it off with a roof (wire one so sun, air etc can still get in and then we can leave their little hutch open all the time.

For now, they have been shut up in their little hutch and we have been taking them out to run and play on the grass while watching them intently....

Look at that adorable little fluffy tail!!


Blurred, but so cute!!So it' all fluffy tails and lettuce leaves at the moment!

I wanted to show you this photo I took last week....I have no idea what this insect is....It did not make any noise while flying, no buzzing and no flapping could be heard. It had a black and orange body, sort of like the colors you would see on a butterfly and a long proboscis...anybody know what it is?

Tutorial: Turn a T into a bag!

Hello there! I am super excited today to show you what I made TODAY!
And I thought that as I went along, I would take photo's. The idea that if it flopped, it was no biggy, no one would know and I could ditch the pic's (and evidence!) but that if it looked half decent, I would post a tut on it, soooo....yup, it came out half decent!

This Tut will show you how to take a little knitted top or crocheted top that you don't wear anymore and turn it into a bag!(maybe it's too small or you just don't wear it anymore) In my case, I love it...but it requires waaaaaay too much cleavage, something I don't have!!! It was one of those impulsive buys...you know...."I shall buy it....I shall wear wonderbra's with this . I shall look fantastic.".....

.....

It didn't work...

so plan B.....

Okay so first of all, all you do is turn the little top inside out...


Then place it on top of some fabric that you want to use for lining. these knitted tops or crocheted tops require lining if you are going to turn them into bags, cos they are so "holey".
All you do is draw around the top from where the back line starts to the bottom of the tee and across the bottom and up the other side.{in pencil on the WRONG side of the fabric}

Then take your fabric and fold it in half with the right sides facing each other.
I did a rough sketch to show you what I mean...(right click to view in new window and click to enlarge)

Now you have two pieces.

now you are going to iron in or fold in a 1cm seam all the way around your piece of fabric and then tack it to your shirt {the shirt must be inside out}

Once you have done that, then simply sew all 4 sides {both pieces of fabric either side}


Then you can turn it the right way and admire it for a few seconds....
back to work....make sure to squish the corners out.


Now you will have to cut the straps of the top because you will notice they won't be in the right direction for a bag! So simply cut them each in half and rejoin them -each strap must be joined to the strap on the same side.
Now it's time to embellish it!!
I made some crocheted flowers and sewed them on with buttons to the front of my bag.

And here is the finished bag!! I guess I love this because it looks like a top but it's a bag!! and of course I love to recycle and invent things out of other things!

.

This is what you see inside....


You can see the bottom of the bag...didn't worry too much about the inside seam...but I love pretty lining!! You could finish it off with a zip or press-studs or close it off with a buckle...whatever you want.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!! I would LOVE to hear your comments....

Lazy days of summer have began!

Ahh....summer....well technically we are only in Spring...but we had such a lovely hot weekend! I felt like summer!

On Friday, we went to the nature reserve for the afternoon. Afternoon's at the nature reserve involve the following:
*eating
*walking
*taking photos
*seeing how many different animals/birds we can spot
We spotted : tortoise, guinea fowl, pheasant, finch, cape weaver, hummingbird, sparrow,
buck.
The grass is full of a zillion different little wild flowers.






Saturday we went to the beach!!!! Yay, first time since last summer!! So good! Didn't swim cos the water is still FREEZING! But nice to lie a bit in the sun and feel sand between our toes!

Hope you had a good weekend, what did you do??

Sunshine, flowers and picnics{and winner of class!}

Spring...what a lovely time of year. My favorite time of year! I love the fact everything is new and clean and starting over....To see little green shoots....

to see my garden in full bloom...it's amazing!





Even the cat seems to enjoy spring!
Yesterday was a beautiful day. After school my daughter and I sat outside under the trees in the garden and had our lunch picnic style whilst doing homework.


and eating strawberries....We admired all the new flowers in the garden... {smelt a few too}
I made some crochet flowers


And even found time to drink a cup of coffee in my all new favorite chair located in my bedroom, next to a large window. The sun streams in and I can look out at my garden, put my feet up and read a magazine. I sneak into my room sometimes to do this ... {heck, it beats sitting on the loo to get a few minutes of peace!!}





Where is your favorite "nook" in your house? I would love to hear!!

Just quickly wanted to announce the winner for the class that I should of done on Monday!

Congrats to.....


*drum roll*

redjanfan
{congrats!! You've won a free spot in my class. You will be getting a mail shortly with the details!}

What can you do in 5 days?

Obviously quite a lot! For 5 days I have been stuck at home with my sick son.

So I have been making a lot of things...my Etsy shop is filling up....
NEW!! paper button flowers just in.

and then when the creativity gets a bit much, taking the camera and seeing what I can photograph...

What goes on in a little girls 7 year old head when you come across this?

"oh save me from the clutches of the evil dolly with the yellow shoes!"

"At least if I do get strangled, my make up is perfect!"

or this...
"and so tucked safely in their beds...unbeknown to them a giant with a Sony x200 was spying on them..."


I foresee more desperate attempts at seeing life from new perspectives for me...
But for now...it's time for some sewing....Have a great weekend!