Holiday 2012

Last week we finally went on a holiday!  My first for nearly 3 years, and let me tell you, it was a looong time coming, and it was soooooo good!  I just RELAXED the whole time, wonderful!  And I am afraid I didn't really want to come back home to the hum drum of every day life, doing laundry and endless dished, tidying and stressing about getting to places on time. It was so nice to spend hours reading, and putting my feet up, not worrying about cleaning and tidying, playing with Orren, spending time talking to my husband, doing cross words, visiting lovely old houses and romantic ruins, walking on the beaches, not having to be anywhere in particular.  It was bliss.  

We didn't travel far, just to the North Norfolk coast to a little fisherman's cottage in a village called Blakeney.    Thankfully we had some wonderful sunny, if a little blowy days, and only one day of drizzle.  

On our holiday we:

• Walked along the Quay at Blakeney,
• Visited three National Trust properties; Felbrigg Hall, Blicking Estate and Oxburgh Hall,
• Visited two lots of ruins; Binham priory and Baconsfield Castle,
• Visited three seaside towns and walked on their beaches; Wells-Next-the-Sea, Cromer and Sheringham,
• Ate lunch at the Blakeney Hotel,
• Had lots of picnics,
• Laughed a lot,
• Took lots of photos:

Anniversary

3 years ago, I married the man of my dreams!  Now we have a little baby!  I can't believe it, I feel so blessed.
We met on 25th August 2000 at Reading Music festival and became boyfriend and girlfriend one month later.  He was in his first year of Uni and I was still in school!

Who knew that at just 17 years old I had met the man who would later father my baby! It was an old fashioned romance and he was my childhood sweetheart, still is!

9 years after we met we finally married in the most perfect wedding ever (I know everyone says that, but it's true!)

We exchanged cards and agreed not to give gifts, although he surprised me with flowers when he came home from work (naughty!) Then we went out for a meal with our little family.  A lovely afternoon. Thanks Hubby!

Valentines day treats

I presented my husband with a thoroughly crafty valentines this year after spending most of Monday baking, sewing and dipping!
I made a simple card combining felt and blanket stitch with embroidery thread.  I simply cut a heart shape from a piece of red felt then stitched a blanket stitch round the edge for decoration.

I then sewed the words onto the heart using a chain stitch.

I stuck it onto a piece of white card and sewed a running stitch round the edge of the card to add decoration. I punched holes in the card with a sharp needle before sewing to make it easier.

I had my first go at making cake pops following the instructions on A Beautiful Mess.  Only I made mine far too big so couldn't put them on sticks, I discovered they were too big to my detriment when one splatted!

I then dribbled chocolate over them and added sprinkles and drizzled chocolate for decoration.  

I used Betty Crocker Devils Food cake mix and Betty Crocker Chocolate fudge fondant icing.

I used up the rest of the Betty Crocker mix by making "I love you" cupcakes, iced with the chocolate fudge fondant icing. 

Also dipped some marshmallows in chocolate and sprinkles.  Hubby was very pleased.  And I was very pleased with  my huge box of chocolates, two boxed actually, and a bunch of red roses.  Hope you all had a lovely, crafty valentines day.

Well we are finally back from our Christmas travels, as much as I love visiting family, there is nothing better to me than arriving home.  I am such a home girl and really like my home comforts, not a fan of living out of a suitcase at all, it felt really good to walk through the door to my house which I had left lovely and tidy, and because we don't have any pets that live indoors (both our families have dogs) I immediately felt the effect of having clean, dust free air, delightful.
Now I am home I feel I can start work on all the little plans that have been coming to my mind over the week we have had away, I always find when I am away I want to do things that I can't do away from home, especially sewing projects, of which I have several in mind.  I am feeling so fired up for making right now and really getting Serendipity Child off the ground.  I have a few other plans in mind and I am not sure what direction I will be taking with them yet, I am going to need all your help on making some decisions. With my one day extra per week I am hoping to start living my dream, take some steps down the path of working for myself and hopefully feel happier and truer to myself in the process.
Tomorrow I am going into town to try and make the most of the sales before I start my "Buy Nothing New For A Year Challenge"!!  Yes, I will tell you more about that soon I am sure.  I also want to get some fabric, then I am going to start making, making, making, as much as I possibly can, and getting things into the shop.
Sorry I am babbling, let me share with you some of the things I got for Christmas:

These two gorgeous Penguin Hardback Classics to add to my collection, I think my mother in law was a bit confused, I had to explain "it's all about the covers":

 This lovely wire metal heart to display photos, haven't decided where it will go yet, but very pleased with it, have wanted one for ages:

Put this poster and the mirror below onto my wish list thinking that I could take the mirror out of the frame and use the frame for the poster, sadly the poster is too big so will probably string some bunting across the frame or something:

 Fabulous retro clock for my kitchen:

Useful craft books for getting my craft business off the ground:

Wonderful Weepies album, ooooh yes:

Hubby got me this soooo cute ceramic house bread bin from my favourite Lisa Stickley, goes so well in our turquoise kitchen:

I really want to show you some photos of them in situ but haven't got round to it yet, plus some of them are not yet in situ!  Still in their bags and boxes in fact. Needless to say I would highly recommend using an Amazon Wish list in future, you can even add items that are not sold on Amazon to an Amazon Universal gift list, so you could even add Etsy items.  Best thing I ever did. What wonderful things did you get for Christmas?