weekend fun!

whew! we've had a busy weekend!

yesterday we decided to take the children to the kids showing at the cinema. it was UP! - something they hadnt seen, and at reduced rates was a good cheap way of spending the morning. tho the snow which had fallen during the night and covered the road made the trip there a little hazardous! luckily by the time we came back, some had melted and it wasnt quite so skiddy for the car.

after the cinema, we decided to treat ourselves at a restaurant. they were so nice to the children - giving them colouring books and pencils, and helium balloons. it was the nicest eating out experience we've had as a family for a long time. even daniel was well behaved.

then today, olivia had a cubs trip to ice-skating. shes never been before, and was a little nervous, so mum went with her and we skated together, tho im amazed how easily she did it by herself once she had her confidence! it was the first time ive been skating since i was a teenager, and boy did my feet ache by the time the 2 hours were up, but i think we enjoyed ourselves!

dad took the younger 2 to the local indoor play area whilst we were away, and 3 tired out children should hopefully mean bedtime is a little easier :)

hope you have all had an excellent weekend

one world one heart giveaway :)

are you ready for a magic carpet ride?

if so, click on the above picture to be taken to Lisa's blog where all the fun starts! take a ride around the hundreds of blogs participating in the one world, one heart giveaway.

if you have arrived on your magic carpet - then welcome!! please make yourself at home here and spend a minute looking around to find out all about me :)

So what am i giving away?

this raggy doll!

she is made completely from recycled fabrics, and has a removeable skirt. I kind of think her colouring reminds me of valentines day :)

she is not a child's toy, but i can see her sitting in the car, or keeping watch on an office desk. she is about 55cm from head to toe.

to participate in the giveaway please leave a comment below with some way for me to contact you should you win (comments without a link back to their blog or an email address will not be eligible for the giveaway) - i am happy to post worldwide and the giveaway is open to everyone as long as you have a blog. I am however NOT responsible for any postal restrictions or taxes imposed by your country.

the giveaway shall close at 8am uk time on 14th february, and i shall announce the winner on the 15th. if the winner hasnt replied to me within a week, i shall choose another winner.

im really looking forward to visiting all the other participants - this is such a fun event and a great way to meet new friends :) hope you enjoy the rest of your magic carpet ride

quilt for Haiti

this gorgeous quilt is currently on sale on ebay here.

it has been produced by the stitch for charity group and all proceeds are going to the Haiti Fund, so well worth a look!

Sew Much Ado Ruby Lou Doll AND Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sew Much Ado Ruby Lou Doll AND Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

cathy's giveaway apron

Cathy is giving away an apron to mark her 200th post. nip over and have a look at her blog - its lovely :)

rageddies giveaway

Cath has got a lovely giveaway going on her blog - go take a look!

Gambia school bags

there was a notice in our church saying a local lady was going to Gambia and wished to take some very lightweight school bags with her for the children there. so i used the pattern here to create a couple of bags. they use very lightweight materials, but are lined and seem strong enough to carry several large books/folders with no difficulty - yet fold to practically nothing!

i really hope these can be sucessfully used by the children in Gambia, and im hoping to create another couple before sunday :)

the simple womans daybook

outside my window...

it is wet n dismal, but at least it isnt snowing!

i am thinking....

time is getting on and it will soon be time to get coats on so we can walk to school

i am thankful for.....

nice neighbours who dont mind toooo much the amount of noise my children make at this time in the morning :)

i am wearing....

jeans, a green top and a grey cardi with my trainers

i am remembering....

the funny dream i had last night

i am going....

to school and nursery, and then to an art club for the youngest, followed by nursery pickup

i am currently reading....

a book called mothers milk. am about half way through and still havent made my mind up if i like it or not

i am hoping....

its not too cold when i go outside

on my mind....

the haiti earthquake :(

noticing that....

my children are growing like weeds

from the kitchen....

hmm i dont know what we are having for dinner tonight, but there is some lovely home made mushroom soup for lunch

one of my favoruite things......

the colour yellow

from my picture album......

a photo of hubby with our friends daughter who we looked after this weekend.

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

happy new year!

here are some of the gud bits of 2009 - there werent loads, and im hoping for many, many more in the next 12 months .

happy new year to everyone - lets hope it brings us all health, wealth and happiness :)

my daybook - monday 28th dec

outside my window - it is now dark! cold and wet :( the snow has now melted so at least it isnt so treacherous on the paths and roads

i am thinking - bout my sis in law and her hurt and how i can possibly help her.

i am thankful for - a lovely family christmas, and the fact we are all healthy and able to look forward to 2010 with enthusiasm and happiness

i am wearing - my jeans and a new green top i received for christmas.

i am remembering - that 2009 has been a traumatic a

nd difficult year for us as a family, but we have shown amazing strength and have gotten thru all the tough times together. i am proud of us all.

i am going - to get a mince pie to eat with my cuppa :)

i am currently reading - breaking dawn the 4th book in the twilight series - its brilliant!

i am hoping - 2010 is gonna be a successful and happy year for us and everyone we know

on my mind - my friends who are struggling at the moment with loneliness or heartache. they are never far from my thoughts

noticing that - my daughter is still up when she should be in bed by now!

pondering these words - 'everything happens for a reason, and sometimes bad things are really good things in disguise'

from the kitchen - mmm roast beef dinner today

around the house - lots of tidying up and sorting out in an effort to get the house back in order and find a place for all the christmas presents. its not an easy job lol

one of my favourite things - my beautiful real log fire. how cosy!

from my picture journal - my little star :)

read more daybooks here hosted by peggy

recycled t-shirt yarn

I saw a tutorial ages ago here about making yarn from old t-shirts, so when hubby decided to clear his closet out this afternoon, and i saw the pile of t-shirts, i couldnt help but have a go! now i have 5 lovely little bundles of 'yarn'. any ideas what i could make from it??

christmas time!

Happy day after boxing day lol :)

we have had a super christmas as always. it started on christmas eve with the arrival of aunty sue and carol and Bob. we went to the christingle service with the children where daniel did his usual centre of stage performance (honestly hes such a character lol) and had everyone in stitches with his antics. good job his grin isso cheeky he can get away with it! we then had a fish supper, and tucked the kids up in bed.

christmas day was the usual blur of presents and wrapping paper. santa was very good to the children once again - so many packages! Daniel loved his 5 ft crane (santa didnt think about where that would be housed exactly) and the girls got DS's. Jess got a double pram for all her babies and olivia got a special pet panda which she needs to feed and make better.

nanna and grandpa arrived and i prepared the christmas dinner. we had turkey and goose this year - our first taste of goose and i think everyone enjoyed it! a little drama when i managed to tip hot goose fat down my arm - quick stripping and cold water have meant my arm didnt blister thankfully. after dinner, everyone settled down - the children with their toys, the adults with tea and mice pies, infront of the big log fire.

boxing day was spent tidting at least some of the mountain of presents away (to be continued today!) befoe t mving camp to my mum-in-laws where the party continued! the children received yet more toys and we ate until we were stuffed :)

all in all, a very enjoyable christmas time! hope yours was just as enjoyable.

happy christmas everyone!

hoping everyone has a happy and peaceful christmas time :)

we have snow, the house looks magical and the children are excited and giddy - what more could we want?

oh yes - my hubbyhas been seen by the consultant and signed off - he is now fit and well - just in time for christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!! all our christmas wishes coming true at last.

hope everybody elses are too

A H'artfelt christmas blog PARTY!

ok, so its more like lunchtime than morning now, but hey, i dont get the chance of a lie-in very often!

i'm so loving being part of the H'artfelt christmas blog party - have you taken a look at those blogs? wow they are fantastic!!

i'm starting to feel all christmassy :) the tree is up - all 8 foot of real pine tree - sweet smelling and green and cheery - and i love nothing better than decorating it wth lots and lots of homemade and handmade decorations.

i started a tradition when my children were born of buying or making them a special decoration each year which when they leave home into their own homes, they can take with them to decorate their own trees. here are a few of those:

here is a really really simple way of making a handmade tree decoration of your own. these are hearts - to symbolise the love we all share, especially at christmas time.

using some recycled materials (these were some shirts of jess's she had gotten too big for) cut some heart shapes out in varying sizes and styles - big and fat, long and thin etc. they dont have to be perfect because we are going for a handmade feel to them.

then just sew them round - i did mine by hand as some of them were a bit small and fiddly for machine sewing, but leave a gap somewhere and turn them and stuff them - i used a bit of pillow stuffing from an old pillow.

then attach a string or embroidery cotton, and sew a sweet little button where the string attaches to cover the knot. such a sweet little decoration which takes maybe ten minutes to sew up :)

craft neutral bauble swap

this is the fantastic swap package i received from kirsty of www.felinedream.craftyblogs.net she included a sparkly felt chrsitmas tree decoration, two lots of buttons and a piece each of red and white sparkly felt. such a lovely parcel - thankyou kirsty!

and this is a photo of the package i sent to her. a knitted santa decoration, and a little plastic zipper bag with a selection of ribbons, some salvaged fabrics and glittery netting, and a little assortment of beads, embroidery floss and buttons.

a little xmas present

here is a little xmas present i have made for a friends little boy. it is a drawstring bag with half a dozen bean bags (filled with rice and lentils for different weights) for him to throw around and play with. i'm making my son one also but will save it for his birthday - just incase he or the girls cotton to the fact it is made out of the same materials mummy made his bedding from.

zip brooch

I went out last night, and a friend of mine had a brooch on which was basically a zip rolled up into a flower. it looked fab, so i had a little go myself and this is the finished result:

i basically sewed a button into the first round of the zip to hold it in place, and then folded the zip round, sewing it as i went, to hold it in place on the back. I cut a circle (ish!) shape for the back, and threaded a safety pin into it before using my hot glue gun to stick the felt onto the back of the zip.

a stylish accessory which took less than half an hour to make and cost me nothing!

what we've been up to!

on friday evening i went with my girlfriends to see :
if you havent seen it yet, it is definitely worth seeing, although there werent as many of the 'swoon' moments in his one as there was in the first, as it focuses more on jacobs story (swoon moments are those where their eyes meet across the carpark etc). still very romantic, and finished on a bit of a cliffhanger to make you NEED to see the third.

i am going to borrow the books off a friend now as i'm sure they will be even better than the films :)
then today, Jess and I made a new muffin recipe. these are gingerbread muffins with lemon icing, and i have to say, they taste divine! very soft and sweet and spicy and tangy all at once. mmmmmm - ive eaten 3 already - oops

then the kids wanted to do something christmas crafty, ad we had loads of pipe cleaners and lolly sticks, so we made these christmas trees.

basically, using a hot glue gun, i made a square base out of 6 lolly sticks - and the tree is a pipe cleaner with 'branches' of pipe cleaner twisted round the main stem. i hot glued the tree to the base, nd then let the kids decorate them with little christmassy shapes, pom-poms, glitter glue etc.

while the finished productisnt exactly a wow piece of art, it entertained them for a couple of hours so was worth it :)

what have you been up to this weekend?

play fruit giveaway :)

http://alittletipsy.blogspot.com/2009/11/feature-friday-melissa-doug-toys.html

what a super cute giveaway! ALL my children from the 2 year old to the 8 year old would play with something like this.

ends 25th nov

The Last Minute Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!! (with free bonus pattern in post)

The Last Minute Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!! (with free bonus pattern in post)