Handmade Monday

This week has been one of crafty ups and downs. I was really excited to get an order for 3 cocktail glasses for bridesmaids at a wedding next Saturday - but gutted to get an email saying that 2 of the 3 glasses arrived with snapped stems. I felt terrible! Especially as I can't post anymore untill Tuesday with all the bank holidays.  I thought I'd wrapped them really carefully :(  Any advice on sending fragile items would be welcome!

Anyway - onwards and upwards! There has been an infestation of butterflies in our household:

                                                                 
                                                                    Tea Light Holders

                                                  
                                                                    Cocktail Glasses

                                                                  Champagne Glasses

            
                                                                  Schnapps Glasses

Looking forward to your comments as always! Please don't forget to check out the other wonderful blogs at Handmade Monday.

Anna x



Head exploding loveliness

Well, I just had to share what was the best shopping trip of all time! Here are the treasures I came home with:

I got these adorable thank you notes from Paperchase. I thought they'd be nicer than me scribling 'thank you' one a piece of paper when I post to customers.

I got some lovely paper reduced in WH Smiths - lots of cupcakes and tea cups and flowers. A strange man came and asked me if I liked tea while I was looking at them and then wouldnt leave - so warning this paper may attract unwanted attention!

I had a mini spree at the wool market and got some new lace and ribbon. I love rumaging around in their off cut baskets!

Lastly - I just wanted to SHOUT about this magazine I found. It's only on Issue 3 and I'm utterly in love with it! It covers every craft imaginable and is not just card making focussed like so many are. It also came with loads of lovely paper, ribbons and buttons. I got it in WH Smiths and I'll definatley be getting it next month!

 Well, thats my haul of loveliness. Better go and make something now!

Anna x

Handmade Monday - All Grown Up

So yesterday, my baby brother...

 ...turned 18! It's very strange to think of him as being all grown up - even though he's been taller than me for quite some time now.


Here are  a couple of things I made him to mark the occasion:

I painted this tankard with a birthday message on one side and a Pink Floyd quote on the other (long you live and high you fly). It is written in Harry Potter font as we always used to watched that together.

I also painted this pint glass. He's a science nerd, and this is the chemical formula for ethanol (drinking alcohol) - or so wikipedia assures me!

Finally, he doesn't like much but he does like cookies - so I whipped up a 'giant' cookie. 

I also wanted to share with you the cake my mum made him. As well as being a nerd - he's also a rocker so she cleverly made him this guitar cake. 

What's that you cry? Where are the butterflies this week? Oh, ok then:

Don't forget to check out some lovely things, over at Hand Made Monday this week. 

Anna xx

Spring Clean

Inspired by all the people that have shown us their decorating, I am sharing my spring clean! During term time, the house tends to be forgotten, and by the end of term usually resembles that scene from The Labyrinth:

Armed with detol, the worlds heaviest hoover, and '100 hits from 2000- 2010' I attacked the mess head on.  I kept my motivation up by rewarding myself frequently with food. Here's how I got on:

Hall:

Living Room

Dining Room

Finally...

And here was my lovely, if slightly disgruntled, cat who oversaw the process:

I did do the rest of the house...honest! :)

Have a lovely day x

Handmade Monday and Other Antics

Making has been a bit slow recently, the end of term is always manic and I've not had much chance to pick up a paintbrush. This is a accumulation of some things from the past two weeks.


Mothers Day:
 My Nan had a saying, which my family adopted: ' Don't cry - eat your cake'. Which I think means something along the lines of, ' shut up, get on with it, and have a bit of cake'

My nan died nearly 23 years ago, and the saying is still going strong. I painted this on to a mirror for my mum to hang in the kitchen:

Excuse the dodgy angle of the photo!



Emma's Birthday

My good friend Emma turns 25 this week. She makes wonderful cakes, and I painted her this mixing bowl as one of her presents.

I had to resist the urge to just cover it with cupcakes and try to think of something more original. It's hard to see in the picture, but I used pearl outliner to give it a 'hand stitched' look.



The Butterflies are Back!
I don't seem to be able to go too long without covering some poor unsuspecting glass with butterflies. Here are a couple of recent victims.

And finally

Thought I'd show of some of my class' handmade mother's day cards.  Bless 'em!

Please visit Showcase Sunday and Hand Made Monday for some amazing blogs. 

Anna x

Things to Smile About

Firstly...

It's the Easter Holidays! Woohoo!! 2 weeks of uninterrupted crafting ahead. Possibly resulting in me looking something like this:

Secondly, Mr husband has worked his magic and my laptop is now working, so I don't feel like this:

Finally, the only seller on ebay that sells my favourite paint has just started free postage so I will be saving lots of pennies!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend in the sun. I'm off to Pizza Express this evening to eat my own body weight in dough balls. What are you up to?

Anna xx