****Last Chance to enter my GIVEAWAY****

My giveaway will be drawn tomorrow so if you are up late tonight blogging please leave a comment to be entered, simply click the dotty sweets at the top right of my page, good luck :)

A Very Late Crafty Sunday, Sorry

Well, what can I say other than sorry for being a day and a half late. I've been away for the BH weekend and figured I'd have internet access to up load all this yesterday but didn't so here we go. As I mentioned last week I was on mission this week to get loads made as its now half term which will mean very little making, well I succeeded and am really pleased with myself. As I am so late I wont blab on any more so here's my makes....

.....2 sets of Pegs.......

.....2 Sets of Magnets.....

.......2 Brooches.......

.......4 Cards........

........4 Necklaces.......

......A Baby Girl Heart........

......and 5 "Pretty as a Picture Doodle Sets".......

these are a new line for me, I bought the 5 magnetic flower pegs in France and have had no idea what to do with them. So a base coat, some decoupage, some spots, a button, 15 sheets of sugar paper, a pencil and pretty packaging and my kits aimed at little girls are born !

Its amazing what absent kids mean.........

No kids this morning, look how much I've got done.........

ok they are all only half finished and need more work but I feel very productive. Will reveal finished things on crafty sunday xxx

Followers + Fans = Freebies !!!

Just wanted to say a big welcome and thankyou to my new followers. Thanks for popping over to me and deciding to stay, I intend to check out all your blogs when I have the time one evening.

Also wanted to thank those of you who have entered my Giveway and remind those who haven't that you've only got a week left, I am finding your colour choices fascinating, why is green so popular ?

You may have also noticed that I have a link to facebook that has popped up on my sidebar. Yes I have at last got with it and set up an account. Please take a look and if you like what you see become a fan & spread the word !

As for future giveaways.... one is planned for when I get 50 face book fans and another on here if I ever reach 100 !!

(p.s hope you like the summery follower and fan pics dont you just love mooching about on google images !)

Crafty Sunday

Well I'm afraid I've not much to show you this week, its all been a bit dis jointed and I've been far from my usual organised self. I normally make on Mondays & Friday when my son is at nursery and Thursdays when I'm in the shop. However Monday was taken up with delivering far too many parcels (have I mentioned I am a DHL home courier on Mondays and Tuesdays ?) and then painting with yr 6 at my daughters school. Friday was more painting at school, supermarket and preparing for the arrival of my parents from France for the weekend. And then came Thursday where I went to the shop armed with things to do but I forgot my paint brushes !!!

I have however between moments of family life managed to get this plaque finished that I started last week. I am using up letters at the moment before ordering another full alphabet on ebay. I've chosen red because this seems to be THE colour for kitchens at the mo.

My other make (if I can claim it as that) is the painting I have been doing at school. Not sure if you remember my post ages ago where I told you all how I had been asked by the Head to come up with some sort of mural on the school hall wall. I was going to do the project with the 16 year 6 leavers. I took photographs of the school which in places is very old with ornate Victorian chimney pots, tiles, railings, doors etc and asked them to combine the features with their memories of the school and its 'best bits'. They worked really hard on the designing and decided on an abstract montage in the schools burgundy and gold colour scheme. Its not quite finished yet but here's where we are up to.

From my photographic collage to ...............

So thats me done for another week, planning on doing loads this coming week as the one after is half term and

2 kids + 0 school + 0 routine = 0 making !!

P.s please see the post below this to enter my GIVEAWAY !!!!

My First Giveaway !!!!

Well, well my first giveaway, how exciting ! When I first began blogging I decided that if I ever reached 50 followers I would have a giveaway. I figured it would be quite a milestone for me as it seems I was the only person in the 21st century to never have heard of blogging ! Anyway here we are so it brings me to thankyou's time......I cant thank you all enough for following me and my ramblings and leaving me your thoughts and comments. A big welcome for all the new followers who have popped up lately. Finally a special thankyou to Sana at Raggedy Revival who pushed me and taught me how to blog. Blogging has become such a motivational tool and I am constantly surprised and inspired by the lives of you lot out there, so thankyou.

Now for the good bit......it seems only right that my first giveaway is as spotty and dotty as I can make it. I have all sorts of polka dot bits and bobs for you so here's what you need to do to enter.... All my designs come in an array of colour combinations as I feel we each have a style combination that sums us up. Mine with out question is "Pink & Green", however despite being so not me I also have a thing about "Duck Blue and Brown". So whats yours ? There are loads in the pic at the top of the page but its important you choose wisely because I will make a set of goodies in the winners chosen colour. So leave a comment with your combination and the winner will be picked at random on JUNE 1ST giving you just under 2 weeks.

Up for grabs is a selection of dotty papers printed from my Repro Depot Pattern Books, some sweets for you to make dotty patterns with,a bundle of dotty ribbon, a set of spotty pegs, a dotty key ring, a mystery plaque made just for you, the latest Cath Kidston mag plus a few other dotty bits I need to find on my travels. Good luck, Jo xxx

Crafty Sunday

Well welcome to my first Crafty Sunday, sorry Sunday is nearly over but I have so busy enjoying the weather and the garden that I sitting inside doing a post has been the last thing on my mind. Anyway onto this weeks creations, its been a productive week of little bits and bobs, quite pleased with how much I've got done actually.

A new line of painted dot and button necklaces. They are meant for children but I am quite liking them myself so not sure who will buy them but they are good fun.

7 more key rings to get my stock levels back up, I do have some in the shop but its the more subdued colours left so needed to do a batch of bright ones. Sorry some are without the ring but I'm waiting for them to come.

Finally a load of girls bookmarks again to get my stock levels back up, I'm also thinking I should really get some of these on Folksy.

Anyway thats my lot, please click on the crafty Sunday pic on my sidebar to cross over to Me & Ma where you can then check out all the others taking part.

P.S I have taken note that I've reached 50 followers !!! wow thankyou all !!! I will get my head together over the next few days and sort my first GIVEAWAY, all very exciting, watch this space xxx

Ahoy Calling All Knitters Please !!!

Knitters out there your skills are needed for a very good cause.

I will get to the details shortly but first I have a little story to tell you about how I got to hear about it today, proving that it really is a small world.

On July 10th 2009 Riffleman William Aldridge was one of five soliders from 2nd Battalion the Riffles who lost his life in a series of I.E.D explosions whilst on foot patrol in Sangin Disrtrict of Helmand , Afghanistan...and he was one of the eight to perish within 24hrs. He still remains the youngest solider to be killed at just 47 days past his 18th birthday.

William was from my village, Bredenbury near Bromyard, Herefordshire. Although I only met William once his younger brother has been with my daughter through nursery and they are now in the same class at school. During the nursery and school runs I have therefore got to know his mum well.

So, on to today........ I was in the shop and received a flyer in the post, postmarked Bristol advertising a knitting event in Hereford. I duly placed it on the counter for all to see and thought no more of it until that was I discovered their blog. On seeing the profile name I put 2 and 2 together and worked out the flyer had been sent by William's Auntie. On contacting her I then discovered she had no idea who I was or that I knew the family. She was simply just targeting businesses for a bit of free advertising, what a small world.

Now this where you come in, Knitting 4 Heroes are raising money for Forces charity's and running events in memory of William. They have had knitters all over the country donating knitted squares to make a huge Union Jack as well as other donations of patriotic knitted goodies. They need all the help they can get and have just launched their latest challenge. So Please please check out their blog if you can help, they never turn away knitters and have tasks for all ablilitys. Their cause is so worthwhile, for more information also click http://www.williamaldridgefoundation.org.uk/

Job Done...latest orders all delivered

Just thought I'd share with you my latest batch of orders. All done and delivered leaving me time to catch up on re stocking bits for The Hope Emporium Shop. I am concentrating on getting stock levels up at the moment before trying out a few new ideas I have. I love designing new things and am so tempted to crack on with them but I cant as I have a "To Do list" that I am determined to stick to. I know lists and schedules are a little bit anal but it has to be done, would you believe it if I told you that as I'm not going to make during the 6 weeks summer hols I am doing Christmas decorations in July!, yeah right I hear you say, I'll let you know if I stick to it, bets please?

A few plaques (thank goodness for the blue one as I am having a very pink time lately)

And a Baby Memory Box for a christening gift, perfect for keepsakes. The wording round the rim is something I came up with that I think makes it extra special "first photo, first curl and baby things so tiny and small and magical moments to remember before you grew so tall"

Flowers & Followers

Its "Oohh Ahhh Fresh Flowers" time again in my kitchen, well they are actually a week old but I have waited until they are at their best before sharing them with you. I couldn't resist going back to lilys this week when I saw them for a bargain in Aldi at £3.49, well within my oohh ahh budget. However I was in for a big surprize, the label said "oriental lilys" which I have always known to have pink middles, so yellow was quite a shock ! I am a very pink girl but the colour doesn't bother me as they are fresh and summery and the smell is infectious.



Just wanted to take a minute to celebrate my latest followers and as I always do show a picture to resembles them. So welcome and thankyou to Sewn Up, Funky Monkey, Deb Thompson, Becki Marie, Emily Pickle and Blueberry Heart, I'll let you decide which style legs are most like yours ? I really do get excited by new followers as its great to know someone actually reads what I ramble on about. I also love it as it leads me to pop over to your blogs and have a mooch about and a good read and find loads more interesting blog people. So thankyou xxx

How did You Spend Your Friday Night Girls

So what did you get up to last night ?

You'll never guess what I got up to

.........not a night in , not a night on the town.............

but a night in with the girls, wine, a packet of haribo and BUTTONS !!!!!

As you may know I sell my products locally in The Hope Emporium as well as volunteering to run the shop with my friend Jane. Hope is the charity which have set up the shop to support local mums back into work that fits in with family life. We sell work by many crafters and makers aswell as raising money for the Hope Family Centre Charity. In an effort to raise more money for Hope we had a idea.....

Buttons, Beads, Lace, Ribbon and anything creative="Craft bags"

So last night we got together with bags of donated bits, off cuts of ribbon, fabric scraps and all the bits we could all just about bear to part with and got bagging.

What a night, I had great fun!

We bundled ribbon

We bundled lace

We made vintage feel bags

We made girly bags

And we even made boys bags

And of course the wine and the bag of haribo made it extra good !