Adventures to be had

In a few days time my parents will be going on a well deserved holiday, so this weekend we will be having a little 'goodbye' lunch with all the family.  Over the years I have made a few little things to adorn their caravan, so when I saw this pattern on Pinterest I knew that I had to make this for their next trip.  Something a little different to the usual crochet and knitting that I do, but something I still really enjoyed making.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and get to indulge in all sorts of crafty goodness.

Anna
XO

M.I.A

Wow, has it really been that long since my last post? That’s a bit naughty on my part. But it wasn’t like I was sitting there with idle hands, I have so much to share. Where to begin….hmmm….

I guess first and foremost I need to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year. I hope that you all enjoyed this special time and you spent it with loved ones, those that mean the most to you.

We had a very special Christmas this year in the world of Esme Rudy. I was very lucky to have spent it with my wonderful family (all 30 something of us). Yes you read that right, 30 plus relatives all together for 5 days in the one spot. This year I got to spend Christmas with some of my family who haven’t been together at this time of the year in over 10 years.  Four generations all together.

And of course when we all get together, celebrations are called for and when you are having a party, decorations are in order. Of course me being me, I couldn’t help myself, so I was in charge of this.

Using my favourite source of inspiration (Pinterest) I was overwhelmed with ideas but in the end I had my favourites. So here was our handmade, homemade Christmas…

                   Hung up above the fire place was our christmas Wreath.


Details on how to make the deer head can be found here.

       
          Our Christmas tree (wonderfully decorated by all the grandchildren) 



Details on how to make the Christmas tree can be found here.  The link to make the paper star on top of the tree can be found here.

                                 Mini stockings for all made by me.

    We decided not to have a chocolate advent calendar this year, so here is the Santa’s beard advent calendar that we used.

I did lots of cooking during the Christmas period as well. Cakes and biscuits but my favourite would have to have been the choc fudge balls and Cranberry, Pistachio, dark chocolate bark. Every time I made a batch of either they disappeared quicker than I could blink.

Also during this time there was lots of hooky and sewing time, gifts for other people and also a few little things for us;

                         An Owl wall hanging for a special little baby girl,

                                             A Little boy frog,

 

 

A Felt fairy for a special little niece,

 

                    Front door wreath for our home (inspired by Me Me Rose)

                   Peppa pig for Little O (I got to be a pattern tester for a
                                    wonderful friend Bebe Rouge)

Now it’s time to get stuck into all my new projects that I have been saving for the New Year.  Is it just me, do you have a list a mile long too?:)

Happy crafting everyone.

Anna
XO

Busy little hands

I have to admit that I have been very lucky as a few weeks ago I was asked if I would make some of my things for Wyreena, a local gallery's Christmas gift exhibition and then a call went out for crafters to make things for Little Red’s Craft Cupboard and I got accepted too.  So the last few weeks I have been busily making things, trying to get enough products made. 

In the past when I have made things for a big order my brain seems to run away with all these fantastic ideas of things that I could possibly make and I get a bit overwhelmed, and then don’t know what to do, sit on it for a bit and then do that last minute panic that I won’t get enough made in time.  So this time I decided to just settle on a few well trusted items.  In the past my children’s toys have seem to have sold well, so I thought a few of these and maybe some new smaller in size Christmas ornaments.

And here are the final products...

A little group of owls (did you know that a group of Owls is called a Parliament?  Neither did I until a few seconds ago J), a little Miss and Master Frog, some crochet hanging birds, crochet stars and my favourite little Santa hat brooches.

I also managed to squeeze in another little frog for a Little Miss L.  I thought that maybe a little dress might have been in order and of course a little flower to pretty it up.

Besides all the crochet one of the other things that I have been busy with over the last few weeks is my garden.  I must admit it got quite a bit neglected over Autumn and Winter so when spring started it was a bit feral and needed quite a lot of work, but I have managed to get it back to how it used to be and this year I have been rewarded with the most beautiful display of my roses yet.  Last week we had some beautiful warm (almost summer evenings) and I would sit on my front porch step just drinking in the beautiful scent in the air.  It was such a fond reminder of how it used to be at my grandmother’s house.

Just looking at the pictures it seems I have a bit of a thing for orange/peach coloured roses.  I don’t know why as I don’t think I own a single thing in these colours J

 
Anna
xo

Little Critters

I have finally finished making a special little present for Master W but when it came to taking some ta-dah moments all of a sudden everyone got a little shy.  Apparently they don't want a big reveal until they are in the safe little hands of Master W.  So for now these are they only snap shots I could get.

It took me several attempts to get a photo of this little guy.  Every time I went to take a photo he hopped away.  At least I got this one of his big smiley face.

This little Miss was very shy.  It took all my efforts and that of the grasshopper to help bring her out.

This young thing kept buzzing around my head.  Finally he settled for quick rest enough for me to take a quick snap.

And no matter how hard I tried to take a photo of this little one all I could get were his wings.  He was just too quick for me.

Hopefully Master W will bring them all into line so I will be able to take some better photos to share with you.


Anna
XO

Crafty Challenges

So I’m letting you know that this post sort of comes in two parts.  Please bear with me, make yourself a cup of tea, take a seat, join me and come along for the ride....

The story begins a couple of months ago when two of the ladies whom I work with decided to do a “Chip-tox”.  For them, this meant that they would go 100 days without any form of chips what so ever.  Hot chips, potato chips, Twisties, Cheezels, if it was anything to do with a potato, or even closely related then it was banned for the 100 days.  Now I’m not going to say it was easy for them, there were days that they did struggle but we gave them as much support as we could and in the end they made it successfully.  Not a chip had passed their lips in those 100 days. 

One of these ladies just happens to be my boss, so a new concept was bought to one of our team meetings.  For the month of August we were all going to give up one thing.  We were given a week to all decide what this would be and then at the last team meeting in July we  all write down what it was we were going to give up and signed our names to it.  (Please don’t get the wrong impression of my boss, she is the loveliest lady and all this was done in fun, and some people did decide to take this really serious and give up some big things). 

We had people giving up chocolate, coffee, bread products, Face book, soft drinks, one even gave up being lazy and decided to committee to an hour exercise session (of any type) once a day for the month, and then came the big stuff, one lady decided to give up smoking.  I on the other hand really struggled with this, I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink coffee, I have to limit my chocolate intake anyway due to food allergies,  I really had no idea...

...and then it hit me!

 What is the one thing that I am guaranteed to buy at least once (maybe twice) a week? 

Craft materials! 

Anything from wool, to threads, to papers, to hooks, to needles, I have never been one to pass up a craft bargain or new product.  So that was my thing, I had to give up purchasing any new products what so ever for the month of August.  Now when I made this decision it didn’t occur to me that I had not only my birthday during the month (I love a good birthday craft spend up), but also my nieces and my own Little O’s.  How could I make things for them if I can’t buy any new products?

It was time to sort through the stash.

This ‘sort through the stash’ might sound easy but it’s not really when you have it all in different places around the house.  I wish I had a little craft studio or my own special room but I don’t so my craft supplies are all in little hiding places around the house.  It took me several days to get it all together but in the end I was able to successfully find everything that I needed and it didn’t look like  I was going to have to purchase a thing.

For my niece Miss C I was able to make her knitted doll (see previous post below) out of wool that I already had in my stash, but for my Little O I was going to be a bit more creative...

As previously mentioned there was a theme to his party and I was going to be limited to my colours, but I was able to gather supplies that I think complimented it.  It was hard work especially when it came to making his present. I didn’t have the right colours but I just had to make do...

And in the end I think I was successful.  Little O had the most wonderful day for his party, the winter sunshine was glorious, the children were outside playing, the adults were also enjoying themselves, all in all I think I did a good job and not a new craft product in sight!

Anna

XO