I can now...

...be found here.

www.cupcakesandclover.blogspot.com

Its a lovely place, please come and visit me!

x x x

Things are a changing

So after much consideration, umming and ahhing I have decided to move blogs. I originally created this blog to share my creations and attempts at new crafting skills and techniques, something which I have not really done recently – life (the boring part of it) has sort of got in the way. I keep making, pitiful, attempts to look after my blog but I feel I have sort of lost my way.

However in just 7 short weeks (yes really only 7 WEEKS!) me, Martin, 2 horses, 2 gerbils and a van full of our favourite things will be taking a one way, non-refundable ferry ticket to France, to our new home!!! So I thought that now was as good a time as any to change some things around.

So from today I will be blogging from Cupcakes & Clover. This will be mainly made up of photos and bits and pieces about what I am stitching, sewing, sticking, cutting, bending and painting – I want to try and keep it very creative, with a bit of France news for good measure!

I will also be keeping everyone up to date with our daily antics, moving news, and the trials and tribulations we are sure to face when we arrive en France via Socks! Socks is the newest addition to our family. She is a stripy sock dog who loves to chase her stick in the garden and hunt in the flowerbeds! Socks has her own blog The Wanderings of a Stripy Sock Dog and has agreed to blog about our life as we get nearer to the BIG move. She thinks that the whole things is very exciting, but I’m not quite sure that she even knows where France is!

I hope that you all come visit me at Cupcakes & Clover and Socks at The Wanderings of a Stripy Sock Dog.

Love,

Me

X x x

Ebaying Like a Mad Woman

So christmas is over and done for another year and the New Year is here. There we go that was the obligatory mention of Christmas - it's rather boring in our house at christmas, all we do is sit around and eat mainly! I did manage to do some baking and experiment with a few new reciepes but thats about it!

Today was my first real day back at work as the snow hampered my efforts on Monday and Tuesday - not that I'm complaining. Being at home allowed me to focus on sorting through the tonnes of 'stuff' that me and Martin (ok mainly me) have gathered in the two years that we have been in our current house. I am having a huge clear out for a number of reasons, which I will blog about another day,and so far I have over 20 bin bags of 'stuff' to sell, swap, give away, give to charity, burn or try and fit back into overflowing cupboards!

I seem to have everything ranging from clothes which are now 3 sizes too small (I do wonder how I ever fit into them), cuddly toys, mountains of buttons, belts, bags, shoes - you name it and I've probably got it! Last night I managed to list 26 items on ebay, it sounds like a lot but is really only about 1/2 a bin bag worth of 'stuff'. If you feel like having a look please do I need all the help I can get!

I'm going to try and photograph lots of things tonight and get some pictures on here so if anything catches your eye please get in touch - all I ask is for you to cover the price of the postage!

Well i'd better dash - work to do and all that!

I'll post some piccies tonight.

Hope you all had a good christmas
x x x

Lets it snow, let it snow, let it....stop snowing!!!!

This is what I woke up to on Monday morning, very pretty and christmassy - I was very excited and felt like a little girl as i jumped on the bed to wake Martin up and show him!

My excitement quickly dissapated however when I made it ourside to my car. Half an hour later and with the car sort of de-iced I realised I had no petrol and set off to Asda thinking that as it was only 8am I had loads of time to make the 35 minute journey to blackpool where I work.

How wrong I was. After filling up with petrol I spent 1/2 hour skating around the Asda carpark (who builds an Asda on a hill I ask?!). I must thank the two very kind and patient car park attendents who pushed (and pulled) me around until I was finally on a flat bit of road and able to set off to work!

The motroway was a bit slippery but not too bad and I made it off my junction with not much trouble. It was at this point that I began to regret setting off! The roads were like sheets of glass...

...and it took me 3 hours to travel 7 miles looking at this most of the way.

I did see this though..

the beautiful ice sculpture made by ........... totally covered in snow - it looked very magical =]

I eventually arrived at work 4 hours late and desperate for the loo! After dealing with a few messages I set off back home as the roads were starting to freeze - thankfully my journey home only took 1 1/2 hours! lol

That was Monday, yesterday I did not even attempt to go to work and this morning I woke up to yet more snow! I had decided to wait until the sun came out and chance trying to get to work as I am supposed to be meeting with the Blackpool Gazette to do a feature about some people I work with. it seems though that things are conspiring against me. Just as I was getting bundled up and starting to de-ice once again the traffic on my road started to slow and then stop.

There is now a traffic jam, both ways, outside and according to Martin, who walks to work, the jam is right across Peston! Seems I am not destined to work this week =]

The time off has allowed me to make some christmas pressies that I didn't think I would have time for, pictures will follow later as you never know who is reading and I don't want to spoil the surprise. I have also been snappy happy and taking lots of pictures of the snow, as much as it is annoying me its still very pretty!

I hope everyone is doing ok, wrap up warm get your wellies on and go play!

x x x

All change

Today was my friends last day in work as she is leaving to have a baby =]

It's very exciting for her as it's her first and I'm really excited for her too. I am also a little sad as I no longer have someone to cause mischief with at work! As her last day 'treat' we all went out for a meal here. It's such a lovely, traditional pub and the food was amazing (yum).

I made her a beaded bracelet as a leaving pressie, a bit like this one (I forgot to take a picture of the one I made for her)

I'm making some more like this to give as christmas pressies to various people, they take a very long time to make but I think the end result is quite nice and sparkly!!!

I have also bought some nice new beads...

(the picture doesn't do them justice).

On a different note I have nearly finished my christmas shopping, and theres still 6 days to go (I think I'm breaking my own record). I have mainly bought books as our local book shop, Borders, is closing down which makes me sad but was great for cheap pressies, hehe! When i was younger my mum owned a book shop so I practically grew up surrounded by books and as a result I am a real book worm. I visit Borders at least once a week as I get through them so fast and I really really don't want it to close =[ =[ =[

Hope everyone's christmas preperations are going well!

x x x

The Christmas tree is up!

Get me being all organised. Last night I managed to clean through the whole house (something that doesn’t happen all in one go very often), get the decorations down from the loft (with disgruntled help from Martin), put the decorations up (picture to follow later when I can extract it from my camera), start my Christmas shopping (online) and start a new project.

I found some lovely wool at my local fabric shop ages ago. It is scrummy and yummy and pink with ‘bits’ in and I love it. I have been holding on to it for quite a while, waiting for the perfect project to come along. I have always loved ‘felted things’ so In my infinite wisdom I have decided to make a felted run, yes you heard it right, not a nice easy and small project for my first attempt at ‘proper’ felting but a big pink rug!

Last Christmas I started to make a poncho, which now lives unfinished in an asda bag at the bottom of my wardrobe. I never learn, I wonder how much of this project I will complete before I get distracted, bored, etc.

I had a lovely weekend surrounded by family at my Mum & Dad's in Cumbria followed by a visit to my Aunty & Uncle's to see some of my cousins.

x x x

Its ffffffreezing today...

...literally!

In typical ‘me’ style I managed to sleep through the alarm on the one morning I really needed to be up in time. By the time I have showered and dressed and attempted to do something with my hair which normally looks something resembling this…

…then given up with my hair, I was just about on time. That was when I opened the front door and was met with a car that looked something like this…


It’s the first time that I have had to dig out the de-icer this winter and I couldn’t find it anywhere! So 15 minutes of heaters on full blast sat shivering in the driver’s seat I was ready to go and 20 minutes late, I hope that this isn’t a sign of things to come for the rest of the day?!

I am now starting to panic about christmas as today is now oficially December. Every year I leave things to the last minute and breeze through October and November saying to my self 'its aaages away, theres plenty of time' then before you know it December has arrived and the mad rush begins - will I ever learn? I think it may be a Folksy christmas this year!

Note to self: Buy de-icer!

X x x