it's official - i'm a mad doll lady!

the dolls in dolly corner are looking nervous eh?
or perhaps expectant . . . . .


Do you remember this perfect Patch doll
that i picked up in the charity shop back in October?
Well i sold her on Ebay
for a HUGE profit

anyway i've being looking at Blythe dolls for ages and AGES
and
now i own one of my very own!

i was expecting her to arrived nekkid
but she came with a selection of super cute dresses a stand and a hat
{thanks Katy}

she also came with a cheerleaders outfit
which my son {who was off school poorly} stole
and dressed up his boy Brat doll Dylan
:) :D :)

isn't she pretty?

here she is with Sindy and Pippa
yeah yeah i am a mad doll lady
:D

time flew by . . . . . .

well i didn't mean to take a blogging break
but it appears i haven't posted for a month

hmmmm . . . . . .
i have been suffering with crafty paralysis
i've been making bits here and there
but nothing is gelling together
it's driving me quite a lot crazy

i've been trying to get my latest swap finished
i've had all the stuff made for awhile
once i'd decided what i was going to do
and that took a stupidly long time
but just can't get it how i want it
i think i have crafting OCD
i sure as hell don't have it in the housework department
only the very bare minimum day to day chores have been getting done

but the sun has been shining here now for days and days
it is still very cold and Jack Frost is still about
but the Guinea piggles have been mowing the lawn again
and washing has been drying on the line

i think it's really happening
i think Spring has sprung . . . . . .

a little lucky and a lot happy :)

Normally February is a boring and depressing month for me,
bored of the grey skies and the cold and rain,
just getting desperate for spring to come
but
i got a lovely little boost to start the month :)

my cotton reel button stamp was featured
in this beautiful French magazine

there are loads of lovely things in it
{i'm on page 90}

http://www.mespetitesmainsmagazine.net/

*******

i also got lucky when i entered a few of my cross stitch designs
in a competition over at Cut Out + Keep
{if you don't know this site do check it out - it has hundreds of crafty tutorials}

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/

my "how to frame an embroidery in the hoop" tutorial
won me two Cath Kidston craft books
how exciting eh?
i'm looking forward to them arriving
and having a good read!

*******

now i just need to crack on with my Tim Burton Swap
someone give me a kick up the butt!

t-shirt hacking

take an old t-shirt
this is one of Molly's
it's a size 8

cut straight across under the arms

put top to one side for later

cut of bottom hem
you don't have to do this
but i like the way t-shirt fabric rolls up

ta-da
easy scarf/tube/snood
{feel free to ignore my miserable face}
you can put a couple stitches on the cut hems
i'm not gonna bother

now cut the arms off!

try it on and mark your thumbhole
cut small slit

ta-da!

very long fingerless mittens

or long'n'slouchy fingerless mittens

a matching set
to keep you warm
fast and for free

time to pick the carcass
i've already made one set of these
and i made yo-yo's with the scraps
maybe to decorate the set
or maybe as hair things
or a corsage?
hmmmm. . . . .

i've also made this kind of tube scarf with an oversized mans t-shirt
i wear it wrapped around double - it's lovely and warm.

how fast they grow up!

pin-cushion

one of my new years resolutions was
to regularly stock my shops
i'd got a bit slack by the end of last year
so yesterday i had a photography and listing session

singed flower hair grips

singed and stacked fabric flower grips

you can find the hair flowers in my etsy shop

ETSY SHOP

i was very pleased to find the pin-cushion sold already :)
i'll be making more very soon

*******

in other news
the boy lost his first tooth yesterday
*sigh*
how fast they grow up

ready to put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy

gappy boy!

i think i need to make a little purse for teeth now
i have the design in my head
it will be cute!

Crafting in 2010

So here's what i made in 2010
i'm going to try and be more focused on my crafts this year - well really i'm going to try and be more focused on everthing - i've spent way to many hours sitting here staring at my computor screen
*
*
*
*
yeah yeah i said that last year too
but i really REALLY mean it this time

*
*
*
honest.

Christmas

this little wolf boy woke us up at 2.45am

he would not go back to sleep
i tried everything
i was good cop
i was bad cop
nothing worked

look at that face
can you beleive he was up so early?

we opened LOTS of presents
in front of a roaring fire
whilst the HUGE turkey cooked.
Then the family arrived
and we ate until we couldn't move!

then it was time to open MORE presents!

this was from my Uncle Geoffrey
it was his late Mother's button box

and full of treasures :)

and this massive haul of Russian dolls was from my Mum
some are singletons and some are families
the big set is HUGE!

this is my favourite set
my Mum was going to throw these out
because they are plastic!

there will be lots of new dolly pin-cushions soon!

just some photo's of my decorations :)

this light was from my Father-out-of-Law
we were very VERY naughty and opened it before Christmas
{we knew what it was - we choose it!}
but in our defence
it looked gorgeous with our decorations!

here's what i received in the crafter...oo christmas ornament swap
a chainmaille christmas tree - how cute is that eh?
plus after christmas the postman came with a lovely box of chocs from Hotel Chocolat
i felt very spoilt!
thanks Kats x

and to top off our day
my Aunt and Uncle called round
and we all watched the christmas episode of
DOCTOR WHO
i loved it
the 2.45am alarm clock boy was still awake
Katherine Jenkins' singing very nearly finished him off mind you!
what a long day
but a lovely one too

*******

it was such a long day that we completely forgot to walk the dog!
we made up for it the next day
with a lovely walk in the snow at the nature reserve
it looked so beautiful there

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas
and here's to a fantastic New Year.