Photo An Hour (ish)

Yesterday, I finally became a member of the I-Phone club (a bit behind... I know!) so I thought I would play around with the camera and various apps to do a photo an hour (ish, I didn't keep to it as much as I usually do) for you :)

Early morning for us today. Papa is away so we had to get up extra early to get all ready for work and playing with Grandad.

 No milk for porridge meant nutella dinosaur toast for breakfast - what a treat!

 Off to work, plenty of orders to pack up!

 And new Nappy Gurus to welcome :)

 Home for lunch, cheesy sandwiches for Mr Bee.

 Then off shopping ready for our week on our own. Papa Bee and Nana Bee have flown the nest for a few days so it is just us little bees for a few days.

Fridge cleaned and stocked up. 

 Stopped into John Lewis for a gift for Papa, I hope he likes it :)

 Lasagne for dinner this evening, possibly my best so far.

 Evening stroll to the park for football....

 And a workout, toddler style.

 After an easy bedtime, I made a start on a bunting cushion cover - turned out beautifully :)

So that was our day today, finally getting the hang of this iphone malarkey ;)

Birthday Party Preparation

Today I have spent most of my day preparing decorations and things ready for Mr Bee's bumble bee themed 2nd birthday party!

Here is a sneak peek...

Party Bags

Clay bumble bees (minus the wings...) Work in progress

Papercrafted bunting!

Mr Bee has started to get very excited about his birthday, and if you ask him how old he will be, he will tell you!

We are making our annual trip to Lollipops on Wednesday to make a keepsake gift for the birthday party. I think we are all getting excited for Mr Bees birthday, now we just need his presents to arrive!

Louie's Bedroom

We changed Mr Bees cot for a bed at the beginning of December and it has taken me this long to get some photographs of his new bedroom! I don't think I have taken any photos of his room since we first finished it before he was born. Some things have changed now, with the addition of a shelf on the door wall and the lovely blue star lamp on the window wall.

Bookshelf, hand made coat rack (courtesy of Papa) and various art works on the wall.

 This is my very treasured picture book collection. I have always loved picture books, and my obsession really started when I was working at Borders. Everyone always thought I was strange for buying childrens books, for myself... I got away with it a little easier when I started working in the childrens section, and often I would find books coming home with me, just because they are beautiful. It means that Louie has a lovely library of books which will last him for years. Of course, that is just a small glimmer of all the books I have accumulated for Louie, there are shelves and shelves of them all over the house.

 We couldn't get the matching duvet set as it was discontinued around the time that Mr Bee was born, but Laura Ashley still made the beautiful starry quilt, which Nana treated him to for his big new bed. You can also see the cute bunting on the wall, the star lamp and his aeroplane mobile which he still loves to gaze at.

And lastly the shelf that Papa painted and put up. We bought the shelf not that long after Louie was born but it only got put up a few months ago! It has made a home for some of the many gifts that our lucky little bee has received. Including his Steiff bear, silver christening gifts and the gorgeous felt boat picture that Grandma Val made for him. Not to mention the painting which I did in 1992!

I absolutely love Mr Bee's bedroom. I am so proud of how beautiful and perfect it is. There is literally nothing I would change in this room!

Home Alone

This weekend, Grandpa is down from the homeland, and today, Grandpa, Papa and Mr Bee have gone to Duxford for the day, to see the airplanes! 

Which leaves me at home all day, to have a day to myself (the first one since Louie was born!!!) to get a few bits and bobs done.

I had my craft group this afternoon, and Mom made some goodies, jam tarts and a very fresh and crumbly cherry shortcake, yum yum yummy.

So I got to work making some bits for the craft fair which is 12 weeks today! The first thing that I got on with was this bunting, ready to hang around my table when I do the stall. Just so everyone knows who I am ;) 

I used calico and felt letters and hand stitched each letter to the pennant. My luck was in when my cousin dropped round a BIG box of binding tape for me, a reel was unbleached and perfect for this little project. And perfect timing too!

So then I decided to crack on with starting a makeup bag, which I have been pondering over for a while now. I love this Melly and Me fabric and think it would make a lovely washbag/makeup bag set so last week I bought a shower curtain to line it with, otherwise it would get too mucky in there, and that really annoys me! So I set about sewing the shower curtain material. I had thought about doing it by hand as I expect that Percy (the sewing machine) might eat it... but with the help of a bit of parchment paper...

 Voila! One lining all done. You just need to rip the paper from the seam when it is sewn. Easy as pie.
And here is the finished article.

I think it is very pretty. It is interfaced and lined with white cotton, then lined again with the PVC shower curtain for added protection. There is ribbon detail on the side, and there is hand stitching around the zip in a contrasting yellow to please the eye.
I am really pleased with this little bag, however it does look a little bit wonky. This is only my second ever zip, and bearing in mind that I made this bag without using a pattern, I think I have done pretty well. The problem is that one end of the zip is sort of sewn in, and the other pokes out slightly.
I don't really need it for myself (although I love the fabric...) and would like to sell it. Ordinarily, I would like to get about £10 for this, as it did take a lot of time and effort to make, however if anyone wants to barter I would be more than happy to drop it down :)

It is nearly 7 o clock and my boys still aren't home! I wonder if they have gotten lost or just having too much fun :)

Bunting

I have been working on this for a while now, it doesn't take long to do but I haven't had the binding to finish it all off.
I am really happy with how it has turned out.

This one won't be going into the Folsky shop as I have booked my first craft fair in October, so as of now, anything I make will be stock piled ready for that. I can't wait, but need to get busy making a variety of stuff to take with me!

I will keep you updated with details of the show nearer the time, it would be lovely if some folks came along :)