As you may know I am mainly a cross stitcher at heart but today at the long grizzling request for some new barbie clothes  -  i decided to take the plunge and start a few pieces.

Due to an early attempt after browsing the Internet, I knew that i had some wonderful fabric that would work well with Barbies Petite measurements (bitch - she doesn't have to worry about snacking!)

Thanks to the lovely Jess-  the owner and  fellow fabric hoarder at  Craftiness is not Optional   i found the most fantastically simple tutorial to use.

Jess uses idiot proof step by step guides to producing not only barbie clothes , but anything from play food, to hair accessories and even Toddler clothes -  she even has the most beautiful and willing models  -  her adorable girls :)

I highly recommend a look even if you have no plans to make anything because trust me  -  after reading her blog , you soon will have all the tools out to make your own treasure trove of stitched goodies.

Below are my first attempts at a skirt and a dress for Barbie and all though my sewing machine has gone on the blink , the instructions are hand sewing friendly ;) and only took a few hours to do inbetween playing cafes and watching Mary Poppins :)

This was the very first attempt using Jess's post, the stitching is a little wonky but i am pleased all the same .

And as you can see Barbie is more then pleased to model her latest dress :) (admittedly this was meant to be a tshirt but i got abit carried away with the tape measure :) )

So like i said head on over to see Jess and see what your hands get itching to make .


Today's Soundtrack was brought to you by the lovely Dame Julie Andrews :

Sewing Mojo Returns ;0)

Well In the last few months my Sewing mojo has been up and down

I have gone through weeks of nothing and then the last few days i have been on fire :)

At the beginning of the month i made this for my friends birthday :

And 2 days ago while i am waiting for my threads to come in the post for my first HAED project, I have  started this :

As you can see it is alot of green to contend with but i am actually quite enjoying it and making good progress (for me).

On the postcard front we havent had much in the way of them or letters, Christmas has caused us to put it on the back burner while I have been busy with work , and the snow hasn't helped either.

I am hoping to get back into it this new year.

Olivia (and Jessie) was very impressed to receive this through the post over christmas.

We have also had fun in the snow :) and Olivia experienced sledging for the first time ever  -  she enjoyed being on the flats rather then down the hills.

Well thats all we have done  (apart from school and working ) so on that note we will sledge off and catch in later in week :)

Naughty Us!

Well as you can tell from the date, we haven't blogged in a long time.

With Olivia Starting school and life in general being busy , we haven't had the chance to blog and have even neglected Postcrossing and our pen pals, and with the run up to Christmas , I can predict that it may be neglected longer ;(

So in a quick run down, here in pictures is what we have been up to lately :

September :

This month saw Olivia start school. She loves it and has lots of new friends.

How Grown up does she look :)

Here is her first piece of school work too :)

October:

This month brought, Halloween, a trip to the Deep and a visit from Bobbie Budgie  - Grandma and Grandad's Budgie.

The Deep is an Aquarium in Hull. Its very well set out and has lots of education interactive displays, so it is fun for all ages.
Olivia's favorite fish was a shark which she called Big Bad John.
He looked like this :

Visit here to check out the fun and plan your own day :  www.thedeep.co.uk 

For Halloween Olivia was dressed as a Cat. We held a mini party at my parents for all the grandgirls and then took them trick or treating ;) Thank you to the kind neighbours that filled up the girls pumpkin buckets with goodies.

And Finally this is Bobbie -  Handsome boy isn't he!
He came to stay with us while my parents where in London.

November:

This month was our turn to go to London. We met up with Daddy (Andy) and we stayed with our friends, Ian and Gemma in their flat in Bowes Park , just north of Kings Cross.
It was a well earned trip to the big city that was only dulled slightly by the pain that is tooth ache :(
We visited London Zoo and was enjoyed by all , you could say there were 5 children that day as us grown ups are still big kids at heart.

My favourite as ever was :

But the grumpiest animal was this zebra - but the picture has turned out like a jig saw.


Olivia and I got to go down on the train and we had a treat of traveling  in First Class  - I have never traveled in first and it was wonderful not to be cramped in and I can't lie that it wasn't nice to have free food and drink.

Look Gromit, room to play D.S !!

So that was the past few months.We are now on the countdown to Olivia's 4th birthday on the 4th of December and also along with every other family who celebrates it in the world , we are suffering the mad rush towards Christmas.

Work is crazy busy but I think its the best time of year, It will be my 3rd Christmas at Paperchase and it is still as exciting as the first. We have some great gifts in and you cant help but love being covered in glitter -  well it certainly helps in our shop.

Go here to see the great gifts we have on offer :
www.paperchase.co.uk 

So The next 6 to 7 weeks are certainly going to busy ones. I will try and check in now and again but promise to start afresh in the new year, when the fun wedding count down begins ;)

Have a safe weekend and keep dry and warm.

Sandy and Olivia xx

Snail Mail Fortnight....

...... this is what we have received this past couple of weeks.....

Few little mail goodies that have cheered up a couple of cloudy weeks in our world.

Many thanks across the world.x

today ...

We received a post card and a "tag" parcel .

Our postcard comes from The Netherlands -  From a lovely lady called Yvonne  - she even has a cat that has the same name as Olivia :)

My "tag" parcel comes from "Manda10" in Hungary and was part of a cross stitch  -  which has to be one of the best "tags" to receive. I love sharing my passion for cross Stitch -  Olivia likes it best when we get Stickers :)

How does a "tag" work you say ?


Well your more or less choose a random person to send things too! And a random person also picks you to send things to as well. Its a little like Christmas with strangers :)

You just find a "tag" group that seems interesting to you e.g a postcard or stickers or cross stitch and tag the last person that has commented. you then message them and ask for there address and send on to them :)
Then some one might tag your comment and send you something :)
On the Postcrossing forum, there are hundreds to choose from ...

See!---------------> For Postcards :

http://forum.postcrossing.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=68


AND/OR 


For other exciting things :

http://forum.postcrossing.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=90

There is also a thing called "Swapbot"  -  but that's a story for another day as I only discovered it yesterday.

So go on get "tagging" and see what lovely things you will get zooming through your letter box :)

Oooo

While we were out a lovely postcard fell onto our door matt :)

 It has travelled from Russia :) Olivia loved the teddy stickers on the back xx

I must tell you my letter box has cheered up loads since we started postcrossing  - beats getting bills and takeaway menus etc x

Its Been A While....

.... since we posted. Boy has August been an a busy a month with us.

It brought my first nephew :)

Oscar Maurice joined us here in the world on the 15th and he is very handsome - a perfect little man to mix things up with all the little girls.

Also this month saw us attend my cousins wedding  - she looked beautiful and the day was wonderful , was nice to see family all together. I wish Chantel and Paul a long and happy life together... roll on my wedding next July !!

Olivia and I also enjoyed trips away with Andy/Daddy this month  -  A camping trip to Whitby for 3 days at the beginning of the month and then last weekend we went to stay with him in Reading -  and the two train journeys via London with a 3 year old went better then expected. While down there we went to Chesington World Of Adventure - Olivia got to see Madagascar live - she loves this movie !!




Reading is where Andy works Monday to Friday at the moment - He is in the Army and on a course, so is away in the week. We hope to live together next year when we are married  -  A big move to Ipswich  - very very Scary.

So now we are home we are playing catch up with laundry and making the most of our last few days together before I return to work and Olivia starts nursery on the Tuesday afternoon. - will keep you posted on that  - i can see tears (mine) falling.

So what have we received this week ? I forgot to take pictures of what we sent (my bad sorry) , but we have a few postcards traveling at the minute so keep your eyes pealed.

the above group come from Germany, Poland, The Netherlands, Austria and Portugal :) Andy was mightly impressed with the bicycle postcard.

Letters we have received :

This little pile is from the lovely Shannon and her daughter Jocelyn  -  they live in Canada and we have become good pen pals :)

This lovely Hello Kitty letter comes from France from a lovely lady called Jessica - here's to more letters to read :)

This is from Lok in Hong Kong xx

And Finally this is from Cathy and Helen in China :)

So best get down to replying to the lovely letters and work out if i can send any more postcards or i am over the limit :s

take care all xx