Giveaway Goodies!

My goodness, I have been overwhelmed by giveaway prizes recently! It tends to go in phases when I win quite a few in one go, then don’t win any for ages…recently I have been pretty lucky when it comes to random draws! Isn’t that the fun of giveaways??? I wanted to take this chance to share with you some of the wonderful gifts that I have won.

The first giveaway was from Azura Chan, in partnership with her friend Ain. To celebrate her birthday, she was giving away a ‘Jar of Love,’ that I was lucky enough to win.

 

How adorable is this little jar? I can certainly see that there has been a lot of love put into decorating it!

But what is inside???

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Craft Haul!

Sorry about the lack of written post recently, I have been pretty busy recently and I had a backlog of videos that I had recorded so they are quick to share but I will get back to doing some written posts asap!

Until then though, here is my recent mini craft haul!

5 Craft Books I Can’t Wait To Get My Hands On…

Every once in a while I like to have a nosey at what books will be coming out in the near future, particularly craft books. It is often hard to get a taste of a craft book without being able to look inside it at the photos and projects but the other day I came across five title that, just from their synopsis, really stood out for me and have worked their way onto my wishlist! Since there are so many craft bloggers out there who read my blog, I thought I would share them with you! I have listed them in date order (newest releases first) but the dates are only the suggested UK publication date so bear in mind that they may be subject to change!

1. Sew and Stitch Embroidery is by the owner and designer of Penguin and Fish, a company specialising in adorable stitched and sewing projects.

 

That massive cushion sold this whole book to me! I can’t resist these cute designs! I am still perfecting my embroidery skills but what a great way to practise! I cannot wait to try these adorable projects! This one is due out on the 31st May 2013.

2. The second book that caught my eye was Hoop-La!: 100 Things to do with Embroidery Hoops by Kirsty Neale.

A Good Day for Post

It isn’t the first time I have shared my love of post on my blog…last August I wrote about how much I loved receiving exciting parcels and letters in the post and on Friday I was unexpectedly inundated with it!

The first letter that I opened, while probably the least exciting for you to read about, was the most exciting one for me!

I have been offered a place on the MA course that I applied for! I am so excited! I was starting to worry because I hadn’t heard anything for a while but since this has come through the door I have felt much better! All I have to do now is to get a good reference and a 2.1…no pressure then!

The next thing that dropped through my door will probably seem much more exciting:

How to back a cross stitch bookmark

So, as promised, I will share my step by step instructions for how to back a cross stitch bookmark. This is the first time I have ever done it so the final outcome is not as neat as I had anticipated but by the time I come to do the second one I’m confident it will look a little bit neater!

Anyways…

You will need:

• A cross stitch bookmark
• White card
• Ribbon
• Matching thread
• Needle

1. I started by trimming the excess fabric so that there was just 2cm of fabric above and below my design and ironing it from the back. Cut the piece of card so that it is slightly shorter and slightly narrower than your bookmark. I used white card so that it wasn’t visible through the aida but if your fabric is a different colour and it shows through you might want to find a piece of card that is as similar to your fabric as possible.

Another project on the go…

Haha I know, that’s the last thing I need! I’ve got the last few days of this week to go though then I have a three week holiday from uni. Even though I have three essays to write and six books to read, I’m sure I can squeeze in some craft work!

I don’t want to give too much away because I am still working out the logistics of the project but it involves this:

Mothers Day Presents

Yesterday it was Mothers Day here in the UK and I wanted to share the presents I bought for my Mum with you. Sadly I was working so we didn’t have chance to do anything during the day but I did have time to bring her breakfast in bed with a bag of gifts!

I have inherited my love of books from my Mum and my Nanna and this year I knew which one was the perfect one to get. My Mum grew up reading The Flower Fairies books, but she never got the ‘Flower Fairies Winter’ which wasn’t published until the 80s for some reason. Unfortunately, it was never published in the same style as the other books that she has so it doesn’t match but at least she finally has the whole set! She sat and read it in bed after eating the toast I brought her.

I wasn’t planning on buying her two books but after buying this one I was still looking for another present and she picked this up in our local craft shop:

Some Finished Stitching

I finally have a finished stitching project!

Getting Things Back on Track…

Sorry everything has been pretty inconsistent here recently, the stress of my final semester of university has been catching up with me and I have got pretty run down and ill on and off the last few weeks so my blogging (as well as everything else in life at the moment) has been suffering. I have just over two weeks until my three week Easter holiday from university which will hopefully give me a nice break (as soon as I have done the reading and the three essays that need to be done for the week I go back!) So if there are some gaps in my blogging over the next few weeks I’m probably having some ‘me’ time to try and stop myself from going insane or developing another illness – or I’m just catching up on sleep!

One thing that has been suffering as a result in my increased workload is my crafts, which have taken a back seat while I focus on university work. The one that has been particularly neglected is my cross stitching, which had sat for weeks without any work on it. Last week however, I managed to squeeze in a bit of relaxation time on a few evenings to make some progress on it.

More Craft Buys! (I Can’t Help Myself!)

I’ve been shopping again! And I wanted to share some of my buys with you! First up are a couple of bargains that I got last weekend when I went out with my boyfriend when I found these in The Works:

I got a pack of 50 6×4 pastel coloured cards that were reduced to £1.99 in the sale! The pack has pastel blue, green, pink, yellow, orange and red cards and, fr such a great price, I couldn’t leave without them! I’ve not done much card making in the past so I am looking forward to trying a new skill.

I also got this from The Works: