Saturday 30 July 2011

Race For Life 2011

We're so proud of our daughters. Last Sunday they BOTH completed the Race For Life, and did brilliantly.

I couldn't take part due to recently having my appendix removed, so my youngest daughter decided the night before the race that she would use my entry.

They took part in the amazing 1600-strong warm-up first!

My eldest daughter then jogged the 5km with our friend, and they finished in a brilliant 40 minutes!
My youngest walked it with a school friend and her mum, and they finished in just about 1 hour. Fantastic!

We'll be entering for next year's Race For Life soon - hopefully I'll get to do that one!

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Local wildlife

We've not been short of new wildlife spottings in our back garden this last week.

Firstly we found this huge fella under a plant on the rockery!

Quite a scary looking chap but apparently it is the caterpillar of an Elephant Hawk Moth.

It's very common in Britain, although I've never seen the moth or the caterpillar before.


Then this morning we spotted this beautful Peacock Butterfly basking in the sun on our new wall around the lawn - another big specimen!

I expect to see a few of these as we have stinging nettles growing in the area behind our Cornish hedge, which is the primary source of food for these caterpillars.

Thursday 21 July 2011

K1T1 July Sale

I taking part in the Knit1Treble2 team's July sale on Etsy which lasts until 24th July.

There are lots of items in many shops to choose from, each offering various discounts - take a look at the shop announcements for details.
In my shop use discount code KNIT1TREBLE2SIX at checkout for 10% off all purchases.

Quick - go take a look - only 3 sale days left!

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Warming up a damp and chilly summer

This treasury by CwtchBugs should do the job nicely!

And here's another - berry lush!

The Art of Craft Fairs

Yesterday I started writing what would have evolved into a series of posts about my experiences of selling at craft fairs.

www.ukhandmade.co.ukI was looking around to see if there were any other tips to link to and found the UK Handmade have just started an exact same series! 

The first part is packed full of useful information if you're starting out on the craft fair market. Well worth a read!

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Unexpected Interlude

There has been an unexpected break in blogging due to my dastardly appendix making itself known and having to be forcibly removed!

I went into Treliske hospital in Truro last Thursday and the surgeons removed my appendix by keyhole surgery on Saturday morning. I was home on Sunday and am now in the slow but steady recovery process.

The staff at my GP surgery and the hospital have all been excellent - I'm so grateful for their help and expertise!

Normal blogging will resume shortly, once my stomach muscles can stand more than a few minutes at the computer at a time...

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Project reveal

OK, I'll let you see the finished item from the last peek-a-boo project...

It's a beaded crochet necklace - very soft and lightweight, with fabulous summer colours.

I love it so much I'm keeping it for myself for once!


Monday 4 July 2011

The Art of Mask-making

My daughter has had to make a mask as a piece of Art homework over the last couple of weeks. She does enjoy Art and has put a lot of effort into this.

To start with I suggested she use a flat cardboard mask with an elastic strap - the kind you can buy for kiddies parties - as a base as we have a couple left over.

But no - to her credit, she wanted to make a shaped mask - the perfect fit for her face. I could only think of one way to do that - papier mache!

So here she is at the start - we covered the eye and nose area with clingfilm and I started layering on strips of newspaper coated with pva craft glue.

Once we had a few layers she sat there patiently waiting for it to dry a little - plugged in to her mp3 player to pass the time! 

Once it held it's shape, we transferred it to my polystyrene head form to dry properly. 

She added a few more layers over several days, ending in a white paper layer.

She's spent the weekend finishing this off with paint, sequins, feathers, etc. She's used a garden seedling stake for the holder which she's wrapped in ribbons. 

Excellent effort I reckon!

If that's put you in the mood to buy one for any forthcoming parties, Grin, Grimace and Squeak! make some amazing masks such as this one available to buy on Etsy.

Friday 1 July 2011

Finally it's a wrap

Remember the Pebble Wrap?

Well it's finally finished and available to purchase!

Goodness only knows what kind of mental block I had on finishing this.

Now it's done though, and looking gorgeous (in my completely unbiased opinion!)

You can see more details and photos over in my Etsy shop.