Mad Mummy...

Come on England...

2010-06-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Our household, along with many many others, has been taken over with Football and The World Cup......So what's a Mad Mummy to do when she comes across an England Rugby shirt in Hubby's wardrobe clear-out pile......Make it into a dress for the Little Miss of course!!Come on England...

x Steph

Cupcakes, a little birdie and a Wedding...

2010-05-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

About 18 months ago, I answered a plea from a very lovely lady. She had seen a picture of a little silver birdie clipped to the top of a cake stand and wanted to find one of those birds for her own Wedding Cake display. As I was reading her blog post http://mollycupcakes.blogspot.com/2008/12/calling-for-help.html I had the exact elusive bird sitting on my windowsill waiting to be packed away into the loft for safekeeping until the following Christmas... Well, of course I sent it to Catherine, and our friendship began...

Today my Family was delighted to be invited to celebrate with Catherine, her Handsome Husband Ben, and gorgeous Cupcake family...

And after partying, there seems to be a funny face competition...!!

Wishing Catherine & Ben Happy Ever After and lots of love...

x Steph

Holiday, Volcanic Ash & a Computer Virus...

2010-05-16T01:35:00.000-07:00

Oh, what a month... April turned out to be even more fabulous than we hoped, what with a wonderful trip across the Ocean to catch up with friends. We packed lots into our two week holiday which then turned into three and a half weeks due to the Volcanic Ash!!!

As you can see, there was much brother burying on trips to the beach...

trips on boats...

free tickets to Busch Gardens for stranded passengers ;0)

double Birthday celebrations (hubby and my Birthday on the same day!)

And a little bit of homework, a 3d cat (which we were very proud of!!)

Then almost as soon as we had got home and turned on the laptop, we were invaded with a nasty computer virus :0( Luckily that enabled lots of sewing time (ie I couldn't be distracted!!), and now life is slowly returning to normal (whatever that is...!!)

x Steph

Happy Easter...

2010-04-02T01:35:00.000-07:00

When looking for some "special" fabric, something different to the material I usually use for all my baby blankets, I came across Saints and Pinners http://www.saintsandpinners.co.uk/ Here I found a fantastic selection of fabric, excellent customer service and speedy delivery, what more could a girl ask for!!

William's Gift - Blanket and Initial T Shirt...

Coordinating Blankets for the Twins... Bags...An outfit for a little girl's 1st Birthday...
A Quilt...And finally, last Saturday we were encouraged to turn off all lights for an hour in the evening, so to promote this at school, we had "turn out a light, wear something bright!" mufti day!!Wishing you all a very Happy Easter, we are off on Easter Sunday, on an aeroplane, to search for the Sun and to catch up with friends, wish us luck ;0)

x Steph

Dr Seuss...

2010-03-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

Just a quickie, as I'm helping with Mother's Day crafts at Brownies tonight, but didn't want EVEN more time to pass before I posted the below photos.

Last Friday the children were allowed to dress as a favourite book character to celebrate World Book Day. We are Dr Seuss fans and after seeing a costume that Dana made http://www.dana-made-it.com/search/label/Costumes I thought I would give it a go...

As you can see, it was a rather frosty morning!!

The little munchkin also had a dress up day at preschool, the theme was "Around the World", so I made a tunic (adapted a pattern for a boys shirt, leaving off the collar, overlapping the front panels and making it longer) and after googling "how to make a turban", was rather pleased with the finished outfit!!x Steph

Car seat made new...

2010-02-23T05:07:00.000-08:00

A very dear friend of mine is expecting Twins any day now. She already has a gorgeous Daughter, and therefore one car seat, so when double trouble (!) was predicted she asked to borrow my baby car seat. This is it, brand new carrying Little Miss, eight days old. However, eight and a half years later, it was looking a bit sorry for itself! Whilst on the internet one day, I stumbled across a truly inspirational blog, Made, http://www.dana-made-it.com/search/label/Carseat%20Covers and was motivated to transform my zebra print seat... ...into this!

The Twins are one of each sex, and as there is already a girl in the family, and hence lots of girlie things, I decided to cover it for the boy! I had some Laura Ashley cowboy fabric waiting in my stash for something special, and this was it... I can't tell you how happy I was with the finished result (as was my friend) and I'm looking forward to meeting the little ones and seeing it in use!

It just so happens that Dana (Made) is having a month celebrating boys, there are so many wonderful ideas for those of us who love to create, but perhaps fall short of ideas for boys, check it out...http://www.dana-made-it.com/

x Steph

Half term fun...

2010-02-22T02:49:00.000-08:00

...What fun we had!!
Unfortunately the week started with the funeral of D's lovely Aunt, and although sad, was a happy celebration of her, and a rare get together of all the little cousins x
We have had pyjama days, baking days, crafting days and on the last day of the week we took our three small people to London to go to Dinosaurs Unleashed... It was FAB!!! Huge, life sized, moving dinosaurs!!

From there, we went on to Covent Garden, where we met up with Little Misses Godfather, and the youngest ended up performing (very entertaining!!!)

Then on to Chinatown for a delicious dinner!!

Now it's back to school (hooray!), a mountain of washing to tackle (boo!), work to be undertaken, but best of all some gifts to make for a lovely friend's newborn Son!

Hope you are not getting too soggy where you are...

x Steph

Blankets...

2010-01-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

Last year consisted of rather a lot of blanket making, but I think I saved the best until last...I had come across the fabric below on a trip to Ikea sometime in the Autumn, and had in mind to make a quilted blanket for Little Miss. Unfortunately time/inspiration/bravery seemed to be somewhat short in the run up to Christmas, but in those quiet days before New Year I LOVED making something special for my beautiful girl! I patchworked randomly in gorgeous bright colours (mainly pink of course!), then machine quilted that, with the wadding, to a fleecey blanket before putting on the above fabric as a backing/front (depending on which way she has it!) and binding it. She absolutely adores it and i was thrilled with it too!

A great crafty end to 2009...

x Steph

Birthday treats...

2010-01-19T13:32:00.000-08:00

So today is a year since I witnessed the arrival of my friend's second child, Happy 1st Birthday Evie xHere's what the postman delivered to her this morning...

Hope we don't get the snow that's forecast (AGAIN), life was only just starting to get back to normal (whatever that is...!!)

Stay warm,

x Steph

Going snow crazy...

2010-01-12T01:14:00.000-08:00

The little people are loving it, Sledging, Igloo building, Snowmen (and women!) galore, days off school (all back now though thankfully!), rosey cheeks and LOTS of hot chocolate!!!

It seems like it's not going away anytime soon, Stay warm...

x Steph

Happy New Year...

2009-12-31T08:54:00.000-08:00

...to one and all!

I'll be back in the New Decade... Tonight I'm reminiscing on the past decade (possibly the best!), in which I had my babies, met and married my Mr Right and gained another gorgeous girlie and spent happy times with friends, old and new. Here's to the next one...

xxx Steph

A rare quiet day...

2009-11-04T01:19:00.000-08:00

...without children until this eve (yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!). I have so much to do in the workshop, seems lots of babies have been born recently and what with Christmas, presents and fayres to think about, but it's been far too long since my last past, so the first thing on my list this morning is to recap the past month...

I recently took part in the rainbow swap, my colour was grey, and look what a fantastic package of goodies I was sent by Cal http://calscosycorner.blogspot.com!! So much loveliness, lots of crafting bits, a huge cushion cover that will look fab in our newly decorated conservatory, and a very funny Christmas survival guide! Thank you Cal, sooo pleased with all you sent me (hope the move has gone smoothly and you are settling in well xx) and thank you Lululiz http://lululizinlalaland.blogspot.com x...

Walks in the woods (and lots of tree climbing and leaf, twig and chestnut collecting!)...

A visit to the circus...

Little Miss left Infant School in the Summer, to start Juniors in September, so I asked the very talented Emma http://littlebrownrabbit.blogspot.com/ to create a picture to remind her of her time there. The school emblem is a rabbit, and all the classes are named after woodland creatures, so we had a robin, badger, fox and bunny. She was thrilled with it, so thank you so much Emma!!...

Little munchkin surprised us with independent writing on his blackboard...

Early Halloween fun - dangling doughnuts...

Bobbing apples...

Half term getaway...

Ending with a day trip to Butlins on Halloween (fantastic fireworks!)...

x Steph

More cake...

2009-10-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks have passed since little miss turned 8, so thought I would share a couple of pics from her special day...A signed CD from Pixie Lott (and one VERY happy girl!) x

Back soon with news of the past 2 busy weeks and pics of my FAB goodies from the rainbow swap...

x Steph

Roald Dahl Day & a Lego House...

2009-09-20T13:23:00.001-07:00

... Last Wednesday was Roald Dahl Day, so school asked all pupils to dress as a character from one of his books on Friday! Little Miss went as The Fantastic Mr Fox...(not the best of photos, but other children were in all the others)

This weekend was spent mostly cleaning (the oven took FOREVER!!), but this afternoon we ventured out to Denbies Wine Vinyard, where James May has built a house from Lego...It was fantastic! Apparantly he even spent the night in the house last week, but sadly it is being taken down next week...How was your weekend?...

xxx Steph

Oh what fun we had...

2009-09-16T01:19:00.000-07:00

It's over halfway through September and already we seemed to have crammed alot into the month! This is a busy time of year in our house, the youngest two have birthdays, and so do it seems alot of their friends!! Of course that means lots of parties, celebrating and making presents!!! And of course that also means cake making... Now, here in the mad house we are quite partial to baking, however when the requests are for a light sabre cake and a poodle cake, I have to say I was a little concerned with the challenge!! My Aunt is a fab cake decorator and was due to come and stay, however she had a bad turn and wasn't able to make the journey from Liverpool ,so having made promises to the children based on her help, I was daunted at flying solo!! I had also made the mistake of showing the little munchkin a picture on the very clever April's blog http://cakemakestheworldabetterplace.blogspot.com/ of a light sabre cake she had made, so that is what he had his heart set on!! Thanks for the tips April!! As you can see below, it turned out quite well...

And finally I shall leave you with a picture of the Birthday boy with his Daddy, with a birthday rainbow sent from Heaven with love... A perfect end to his perfect 4th Birthday...

xxx Steph

Back to school...

2009-09-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

Yippee.............two back, one to go!! Eldest started secondary school and Little Miss started Junior (middle) school today, so a few nerves but secretly I think all were excited ( I know I was!! )
Of course a certain little munchkin had to get in on the action... He is sooooooooo ready for school, but has another year of preschool as he's a September Baby!!

Hope back to school goes/went smoothly for everyone and Good Luck to those starting school (and their mummys! x)...

xxx Steph

Didn't we have a lovely time...

2009-08-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

... at the seaside!!

We were so lucky with the weather, and even on the dull days we crammed in loads!

Beach visits, Dinosaur museum, rock pooling, boat trip round harbour, cinema to see Guinea Pigs, bowling, sand sculptures, pottery painting, adventure zone, eating, drinking and most importantly LOTS of family time! (even fitted in some fabric shopping!!)

Now it's back to normality (although what is that). Today I think we should tackle the dinosaur project that little miss has for holiday homework, and then I should think about the 80 cupcakes that I have been asked to make for a friend's 40th on Friday!!!

xxx Steph

Off to the Seaside...

2009-08-07T09:06:00.001-07:00

Just a quickie as I am supposed to be tackling the ironing and packing...

Tomorrow morning we are off to Weymouth to stay with family right by the beach. Keep your fingers (and toes!) crossed for some good weather, I'm sick of the rain (as is everyone else I'm sure!!!)

See you in a week or so.......................
xxx Steph

July...

2009-07-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

July is always a tough month for me, Sad anniverseries, and as much as time is supposed to heal, I find as the time passes, each year is harder :(

It is always a busy month too, as these photos show...
Lots of making (nothing new there...!)
Sports Day...Winning the most fantastic package from Catherine @ Mollycupcakes (thankyou Soooo much hon, lovely lovely lovely (!) and well timed to brighten a tough week xxx)(look at the cheeky munchkin trying to eat one of your cupcakes!!!)Little Miss as a Polar bear (why do I always get the challenging costumes to make?!!) in her Year 2 leaver's performance...Teacher's present, she had been in Foxes class...Eldest's birthday...Husband said there was a heatwave predicted for this week, don't know where he saw that, it's freezing here today!! Right, must crack on, am child free today and have a to do list that is neverending (keep getting distracted by the computer though...!!)

xxx Steph

60 days...

2009-06-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

...give or take a few, that I have been MIA!

So, what has been going on in our mad world in that time...

Well, there was THE party of the year (!!)

...lots of Cricket has been played

...A sponsored bike ride

...some making

...Some plate spinning dressed as Darth Vader (again!)

...And Little Miss designed a flag for the school fayre bunting competition

Back soon, please forgive my lack of posts, coping with the munchkin, sewing and trying to figure out how to prettify my blog has been a bit overwhelming recently!!

xxx Steph

Excited...

2009-04-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

...That's me!!

Now here's for a little fact about me...I met my husband through internet dating(!) and one of the many reasons I knew he was the one for me is that we were born on the same day, in the same hospital (4 years apart though!)!! This weekend it is our Birthday, so lots of planning, shopping, cleaning, more shopping etc has been taking place!! It is his 40th, so my MIL has told me that "it's all about him" (!!) (several times!).

I am getting very excited though as it draws nearer, as we have a big party planned with lots of friends and family, little misses Godmother even flying in from Spain for it (which is another source of big excitement in our house!!)

I shall report back with lots of pics, but in the meantime will leave you with photos of the Easter hols...

Springtime swap goodies that I sent to Taz (thanx pixie dust/ faerienuff! for organising...x)Egg hunting on a beautifully sunny day...

Chocolate football boot...Trying to photograph an apron, but the power ranger kept distracting the model!!

xxx S

Happy Easter...

2009-04-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

...to you all!

A quick post to wish you and your families a very Happy (choc filled) Easter!!

xxx S

How tomorrow turned into a week...

2009-03-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

I seem to keep saying this, but where did that go?... SO much to do and not quite enough time (not alone there I know!)

So, this past week has consisted of lots of sewing (nothing new there!), throwing a baby shower/coffee morning for one of the Mums at nursery (and therefore cleaning & tidying the house!), and little munchkin's Star Wars obsession growing daily. We have to wrestle him out of his dressing up outfits for bed each night!!

I also received my heart swap parcel from the lovely Taz (Ratbag). This is what she sent me:Lots of fab goodies... A cute decorated little birdhouse, a heart shaped cushion that she embellished with buttons (I'm sure I had the same cushion on my bed when I was younger, now Little Miss has it on hers!), a long necklace of wooden hearts, a pretty turquoise heart necklace, a great felt & button heart brooch (am wearing it now), heart post it notes, 2 beaded hearts and lots of sweeties!!! Love it all, thank you! Thanks also to Catherine of Mollycupcakes for arranging the swap xxxThis is what I sent her, I had read on her blog about her tattoos, so thought the fabric was appropriate for her!! I'm pleased to report she loved her parcel too!! We are partners again for the Easter/Spring swap, so I'm busy creating for that too... xThe following photos are from Little Misses Godfather's birthday party, his lovely girlfriend invited us to lunch to surprise him and got the little people to help make cupcakes for his birthday cake...

Ooooo, look at those colours...!!! Much fun had by all!!My Mother's Day flowers from the Little Munchkin...

A blanket for baby Pearl using CK London fabric (I had asked in store if they were going to sell the fabric and was told only oilcloth could be purchased, then found it for sale on good old ebay!), and a garland for Rory...And finally, today's Easter service in Church...Roll on the Easter holidays...

xxx Steph

2009-03-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hello again! I have been meaning to post on here for ages, but each day comes and goes, so rather lots to catch up on...!!

Well, what have we been up to?...

...We did something funny for money...
...Fluffy Foxy (the class mascot) came to stay (thank goodness he didn't get mean with the rabbits!)...
...Some making - a nappy cake for a friend to take to a baby shower...
...A pencil roll and covered notebook...
...Little Munchkin took some used to getting back to Nursery after his op...
...We celebrated Sy Patrick's Day...
...And Darth Vader moved in...

Back tomorrow with more from the past two weeks, must dash and tackle my pile of orders...

xxx Steph

Spring...

2009-03-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

Isn't it nice to see glimpses of Spring, beautiful flowers appearing in the garden and fresh, crisp days...

I've been busy getting back to normal now little one is back at nursery (boy, that was a long 2 weeks!) and am excited to be taking part in 2 swaps, so lots more creativity is on the cards for me!

Some of the things I have made over the past month:

Must dash now to pick up little miss from school...

xxx S

Where did February go?...

2009-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

...indeed, where DID it go? One minute we had snow, then glorious sunshine and a brief tease of Spring, and now the rain is pouring down (again!).

February was spent trying to keep little munchkin well enough to have his tonsils removed during half term (He had been due to have them removed in January but we were turned away as he had a temperature). All went well and he was very brave, eating biscuits and crisps less than an hour after coming back from surgery!!

As you can see, still full of beans and no suffering going on...!

Before half term we decided to make some teacher treats for Valentines...

Had the class mascot to stay...

And had a fun day trip to London on Valentine's Day...(Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Covent Garden to see the street performers and China Town for early dinner, finished off with yummy icecream in Leicester Square!). We had a really great time together and I was very proud of my little people and their behaviour :) x

Well, that's all for now, better go and check if Hubby is off to watch Football or if it's rained off... Back soon with some pics of what I've been making while stuck indoors with the little one...xxx

The calm before the (snow)storm...!!

2009-02-04T04:19:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit late posting these pics, but in between hanging out lots of soggy clothes to dry, trying to conquer the washing pile, pandering to the every whim of 3 little ones who are off school / nursery (again), and contemplating my orders, I'm also trying to get the hang of this blogging lark!!

This was Monday...

The little people had SO much fun..

As did a certain Big one...

There's loads more snow forecast for us apparantly... Have to say I'm loving it!!

Keep warm, xxx S

Butterflies...

2009-02-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we spent a lovely (but bitterly cold) afternoon at RHS Wisley. They have Butterflies in the glasshouse there at the moment and it was wonderful to walk amongst the beautiful plants spotting butterflies.

As usual a certain amount of goofing around too...

A very creative weekend...

2009-02-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was rather a crazy day here, with lovely visitors, so thought I would let you know what we have been up to...

Friday was an inset day for the eldest, so after a quick (?) trip to Ikea and the supermarket, it was time for some baking... Cheese & chilli scones, toffee & choc chip muffins and (the best) chocolate cheesecake (ever). The recipe was courtesy of Meridian Ariel's blog and it was truly scrumptious!!!

Saturday morning was the usual rush with little people's football and gymnastics, then time for lunch (parsnip & chorizo soup courtesy of Thrifty Mrs Blog - really yum!) and more choc cheesecake - double yum!!

Our friends recently had a baby girl, and I was lucky to witness her arrival into the world as I also did when her sister was born, so after lunch it was time for some special presents...

A sleepsuit with her name, a buggy blanket and a giant playmat that will be a snuggle blanket when she is older...

Better sign off now as dinner almost ready, more tomorrow with todays outing...

xxx S

Excited (and nervous!)...

2009-01-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

Well after spending many hours (a day, no surely not!!) perusing blogland, I decided that today was the day that I took the plunge!!

Thank you Catherine (Mollycupcakes) for your encouragement and kind words about the parcel that accompanied your little Wedding birdie, I am looking forward to reading more of your plans and seeing lots of lovely pics of the build up to the BIG day... x

I'm going to keep this brief today as little people are not being too understanding why Mummy is not dishing up tea... More tomorrow with pics of this afternoon's baking and making...

xxx S