And the winner is...

Thank you for all the comments/entries into my fab prize giveaway. One of you lovely ladies has won a £50 Mothercare voucher and a month's supply of Fairy goodness.

And that winner is......... (drum roll please!) ...........

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:5Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Danni...

 Danni said...

I love your knitting, I wish I had the patience, when I go on maternity leave I think I will give it a go. I really enjoy reading your blog, I am creative but usually struggle to find the time for projects like these. I look forward to your future posts.

Please enter me for the prize draw. xx

9:23 PM

Congratulations to you! Please forward your address to me and I will contact the lovely people at Fairy, and hopefully your prize will be winging its way to you very soon :)

And that's not all, there's a runner-up prize that's not to be sniffed at (actually it is, because it smells lovely!). Another entrant will win a month's supply of Fairy products. 

Here we go...

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:2Powered by RANDOM.ORG

P.S. I don't know why it keeps reading max 100 as I definitely entered max 5! So please kinda ignore that bit, it's not showing accurately when I copy and paste!

 Jo said...

Oh I love the wrist warmers I like the black ones especially, bet they will keep you snuggly in the bitter cold.

I would love to be entered into the giveaway please

10:56 PM

Jo, please let me have your address and I'll make sure your prize reaches you shortly. :)

Congratulations to both winner and runner-up, and really sorry to those of you who didn't win this time. I will try and sort another little giveaway of some sort very soon.

And I'll be back later on with a little crafty update.

xXx

Keep calm (holidays are coming!)

Hi again all, and a (slightly belated) Happy Thanksgiving if you are reading this from the US. I expect by now many of you are trying to snap up some Black Friday bargains in preparation for Christmas. Me too lol! I normally try to have most of my Christmas present shopping done by now, but this year I am failing miserably. I'm meant to be knitting a few, but that's going slower than I'd hoped and I'm just out of ideas for the usual suspects. What do buy someone who has everything? And what on earth do you do if you know several of these people?!

Anyway, in between the Christmas knitting and the job hunting I managed to steal an hour and make these replica Second World War poster prints, which I'm happy to share with you. I want to re-decorate our downstairs toilet in a similar theme/scheme and I'd love to get one of these printed up, framed and hung in there somewhere - or even a few smaller prints hung in a row. And they were so easy to do, just a free Photoshop brush, a free font and a background colour, each in their own layer.

Then I altered the wording to get these. Oh how I wish I still had my own craft room, sigh.

They also make great gifts if you order them as photo products - like my favourite mug here. The image was made for me by a friend earlier this year, then I ordered it as a photo mug.

All the files I've shared in this blog post are about 1 meg each, so should be suitable for right clicking and saving and printing at up to about A4 size - go ahead, they are yours if you want them. Or if you're desperate for a particular colour just shout and I'll see what I can do. :)

Back soon.

xXx

P.S. Don't forget you only have two more days to enter my fab giveaway to win £50 of Mothercare vouchers and free Fairy goodness. See here. 

WIP Wednesday

Today is WIP (Work in Progress) Wednesday, as titled by the fabulously talented Tami.

So I now share with you my current WIP, which is this Juliet scarf, knit using a lusciously soft Louisa Harding dk yarn. This, if I get it finished in time, will be my mother-in-law's Christmas present, but I'm finding it really hard going. It's knitting up slowly (it's really not as long as it looks!) and the 12-row pattern is so demanding of my concentration - and there is zero chance of learning it. It's not one for tv knitting that's for sure. I also fear the pattern isn't showing through as well as it should, even though I'm using the specified yarn and needles. Maybe blocking will sort that out? Either way, I really must press on with it, only 31 days until Christmas, yikes.

In other news I have this morning finished the Cabled Fingerless Gloves I had on my needles for my sister-in-law for Christmas. They are so soft and well fitting, I really want to keep them - but I won't as the yarn I ordered in my favourite grey colour has arrived waiting for me to cast these babies on for myself. First I must cast on my next Christmas project - to help break up the tricky scarf knitting - and I think it will be either the Mustard Scarf for a friend or the Lupo Beret for my youngest sister, hmmmm decisions decisions!

I have other stuff to show you, but I can't, as they are for my middle sister and I know she will be reading this, so you will have to wait until a) after Christmas and b) after her baby is born, hopefully around her March due date. Sorry!

This week I have also been playing with the fantastic new iPhone app for scrapbookers  - Sketches2Scrapbook. It's from the creator of Twisted Sketches and provides dozens of sketches and layout examples to kick start your inspiration while on the move. It's so simple but so handy and I love being able to find ideas to start off my layout while flicking through the images on my phone. Find more details about downloading the full version here, or simply search on the App Store on your iPhone. There's also a free lite version of 12 sketches if you'd rather try before you buy, but it's inexpensive and definitely worth it.

Last of all, don't forget to enter in my prize giveaway this week. You have until Sunday night to grab your chance to win a month's supply of Fairy goodness and the overall winner will also receive £50 worth of Mothercare vouchers (just think of the January sales!). More details here.

Stop by soon for some Photoshop play-around goodies. Bye for now :)

xXx

Giveaway time!

If you read my last post, you'll know that I promised a fab prize giveaway thanks to the lovely people at Fairy. And here it is - just the thing to cheer up an otherwise boring Monday...

Fairy Non Bio has won Gold in the Best Baby Friendly Detergent category and Fairy Fabric Softener has also won Silver in the Best Baby Friendly Fabric Conditioner category at the Practical Parenting Awards 2010.

To celebrate, Fairy would like to offer a month’s supply of Fairy Non Bio and Fairy Fabric Softener as well as £50 worth of Mothercare vouchers to one lucky reader of my blog, along with a month’s supply of Fairy Non Bio and Fairy Fabric Softener for one runner up as well. Caring for your baby’s clothes by washing them with Fairy leaves you assured that they will be soft and gentle next to your baby’s delicate skin.

To be in with a chance of winning one of these two fabulous freebies, simply leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post and I'll randomly select a winner and announce back next Monday. Good luck everyone!

In other news, I have been poorly (boooooo) but now I'm better I have been knitting like crazy to try and catch up on my Christmas gifts. I have just finished the first of the most lush-feeling wrist warmers ever, knit using RYC Cashsoft DK and this Ravelry pattern. I'm so gutted I have to give them away, but as soon as all my gifts are done I'll be using the grey version of this lovely yarn that I have ordered and as long as it's in stock and reaches my letterbox I'll soon be knitting my own pair. For me. Just me. All mine. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

They feel sooooo soft on my skin, I really want to keep them (but won't as they are for my lovely sister-in-law). 

That reminds me, 'me' left a comment on a recent post to ask where she could find the pattern for these mitts I recently completed.

The pattern is called 'Ritzy Stable Mitts' and can be found on Ravelry here. Hope that helps! I will try and remember to link back to patterns every time from now on, sorry!

Right, off to knit another mitt, be right back soon and don't forget to enter that giveaway - you have to be in it to win it!

xXx

Terms and conditions:

·         To enter, simply leave a comment in response to this blog. This free prize draw is open to all residents in the UK over 18 years, excluding employees of Procter & Gamble UK, any affiliates or agents and the families of such employees and any other person connected with this promotion.

·         All entries received by midnight on Sunday 28th November will be entered into a Free Prize Draw, the first entry randomly selected by an independent person will win two bottles of Fairy Non Bio (18-wash size) two bottles of Fairy Fabric Softener (750ml variant) and one £50 Mothercare Voucher. The second entry randomly selected will win one bottle of Fairy Non Bio (18-wash size) and one bottle of Fairy Fabric Softener (750ml variant).

·         In the event the claim for a prize is not received by the Promoter within seven working days of such notification, the promoter reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Please allow 28 days for delivery of prize.

For more information on Fairy, visit www.softeningyourworld.com

Last but not least

As promised, here are the last of my weekend away layouts. Hope you like :)

This seriously needs something. I really shouldn't start a layout at 1am. Zzzzzzzzz.

I love this layout. It's a slight scraplift on one I saved from I-can't-remember-where but had in my iPhone picture roll. I love the instant photo of (almost) us all, which is courtesy of Laura and her fab collection of instant, vintage, retro and funky cameras, and I love the colours. The title was inspired by what I reckon was the most used phrase of the weekend. True story. Lol! I love it!

And this last one I completed just before we left to head all the way up the M1 home. Well, I say completed, it still needs some fab little ink drops all over if I am to stick to the scraplift by Rachel, who scraplifted from Shimelle I think it was. Both totally gorgeous layouts, which I think might be on their respective blogs to enjoy in all their glory. Oh and a big thank you to SJ for the tutorial on making the fab pleated paper rosette thingy-ma-bob!

It has definitely been nice catching up on some much-needed scrapping. I find it so hard to do at home - by the time I have got everything out and taken forever to decide which photo, papers, embelishments, etc to use it's time to pack it all away or I risk the boys trashing it all in the morning. Sigh. I miss my scrap room.

Saying all that though, hopefully this will encourage me to get more done - I think somehow I will be doing :)

Before I go, I just wanted to let you know I will be running a fab prize giveaway on my blog, which will start this weekend and remain open for one week. The runner-up will win a month's supply of Fairy non bio and fabric softener and one lucky winner will receive the same as well as a £50 Mothercare voucher - thanks to the lovely people at Fairy. What a fab early Christmas present, *jealous*. More details and t&cs when I return, watch this space so you don't miss out.

Oh one last thing. Just to answer a question for Emma, who asked about how I felted my slippers. Basically I put them on a 40 degree wash and cancelled the wash, drained the water and fished them out after about 10 minutes to check them, and kept doing that a few times until they were ready (a bit time consuming and annoying but hey ho!) Next time I would probably just leave them on for almost the full cycle as they still came up a little too roomy and I'm sure I read that someone had successfully done that, but the pattern comes with instructions so give them a read and go with whichever you feel more comfortable with.

xXx

Next and next

Just popping on to share a few more of my weekend away layouts, definitely think these are better than the last ones. I hope you think so too.

Hmmm, well that one isn't too bad - next!

Not quite 100% on this either, but I love the photo and my black title and journaling, hurrah for journaling!

 That might well be my favourite from the weekend, or possibly joint favourite with another, which I'll show you next time.

 That one is me and my best friend at her wedding a few weeks ago. I was meant to be taking on the challenge of scrapping using a vintage-looking sanitary paper bag from the cabin toilets, and wasn't feeling it at all so I did this instead - and then cut out the vintage-looking lady and added her on anyway lol! Job done!

Right, that's your lot for now, sorry. I will be back really soon to share the last three (yeah, I know, that doesn't add up, but there are actually 11 in total, not 12 as I thought!)

xXx

At last, some layouts!

I promised, so here they are, the first of the 12 layouts I think it was that I completed the weekend before last while on a scrapping weekend with the girls.

I'll post them in order so you can see how much I progressed!

This was the first of a few layouts where I scrapped my lovely new Hipstamatic photos, love, love, love that app!

 Can't help thinking this next one is too much like an autumnal layout I did a couple of years ago - please tell me I have improved even just a little bit since then?!

Oh dear, I'm not sold on that last one, I think it needs a title, or journalling, or just a lot more, erm, something? Sigh.

Oh well, I promise there will be much better to come in the next post - keep your eyes peeled for it!

xXx