Awards, Seaside Trips, RAKs and Sunny Gardening

We've had a lovely couple of days as Mr Twiggy has taken some leave from work.

As the weather looked so nice yesterday we decided to go to Filey - YAY!! and had a very jolly time, here's some photos....................

Twiglet & Mr Twiggy building sandcastles and digging holes on the beach.

Of course, a visit to Filey is not complete without a trip to the wonderful Sterchis chocolate shop and guess whose shop is next door? it's Natalie @ Summer By the Sea, so I popped in to say hello(I'm not a stalker honest :) I don't know how Natalie stays so slim being sandwiched between Sterchis chocolate shop and their lovely cake shop - yummy!

Here's what I bought, chocolate ladybirds for Twiglet and rose and violet creams for me (I would have preferred plain chocolate but had to make do with mainly milk as that's all they had- harumph!) so now you know, Twiggy likes old lady chocolates :)

Fear not those of you that can't get to Filey, Sterchis now do mailorder, so why not treat yourself. I should get commission for this! http://www.sterchis.co.uk/

When we got home I'd received some terrific post, my copy of Gardeners World, hmm lovely, some felt fabric and pony beads that I'd ordered, but most fabulous of all a gorgeous Just For You card from the lovely Glitterbug from the Crafts Beautiful forum. All very lovely, but Glitterbug had also sent me a massive bundle of crafting goodies, how kind and thoughtful. I REALLY appreciate it ,thank you honey, it is so kind of you to think of me especially as you have a lot of horrid stuff to deal with at the moment. Big hugs to you :)

Today, we had a few errands to do and spent the afternoon in the garden as the weather is so gorgeous. Hope it's been nice where you are and that you had the opportunity to enjoy a lovely Spring day. I've been kindly given some awards this week the first one is an Excellent Blog award which was given to me twice ! by Mary Kate @ La Vie Est Belle and Indigo Blue.

Mary Kate also passed the Cute Bear award to me too, so thank you so very much ladies. I love that people enjoy my witterings and when you take the time to leave lovely comments or pass on awards it really means a lot.OK, so I'm going to pass the E for Excellent award to 5 of my favourite blogs rather than 10 !!!

They are :-

Daisie Days

Blissed Out

Anglesey Allsorts

Daylily Lane

Sals Snippets

But you know you're all fab and I think you all deserve it anyway, don't you? As ever links are on the right, so please do have a look at these fabby blogs ;)

I pass the Cute Bear Award on to each and everyone of you who've taken the time to read my ramblings and leave lovely comments on my blog. To all of you a big, appreciative THANK YOU !!!

Thought I better add some crafty info too :) so here's my entry for the blind card challenge that is currently running on Papercrafters, I love these clutter cards.
I've made a couple of little doo dahs based on some doodles in my sketchbook, what do you think?
My rubbish photo doesn't show them that well but they are little hearts and the back of them is red, pink and white heart fabric. They could well make their way into my Etsy shop. Talking of Etsy I've had another sale - woohoo, discovered when we got home last night that a lovley lady over in the US had bought my other little cherry cushion. I better get sewing................................................... Hi folks, just to let you know I've added these little doodahs to my Etsy shop, but I've renamed them Happy Hearts as Twiggys doodahs sounded a bit risque :)

Greetings Earthling, ohhh and another cupcake..........

My goodness, what's this is it a UFO of some kind? What does it want and who is driving it? Well the answer is it's a UFO mini cushion, it's being driven by an alien going by the name of Algenon and he's just stopped off to say hello on the way to my Etsy shop...............................
Here's another cupcake pincushion that is destined for the exact same destination.
So what have you been doing today? We visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park with my sister in law and family. What fun, Twiglet made a beeline for the zulu warrior statues, they were very big, very naked and very well endowed. He wanted his photo taking with them, oh look mummy what a big tinky........ I'm going to hold his hand, click goes the camera, Twiglet that was not his hand! goes Mummy - ho hum. It made quite a few people smile - the little minx :)

Mr Twigs took this super photo for me of a new exhibit that I was really drawn to. It's sinister and menancing but I love it, blimey, I'll be digging around secondhand book shops for Dennis Wheatley books soon ;) If you're ever in this area do pay a visit to the park we've been going for years and I've taken Twiglet there since he was teeny. In fact Twiglet and his little mate are the president and treasurer of the Under 3s Sculpture Appreciation Society and I have photographic evidence to prove it. Will have to dig it out for you sometime.(Also great cafe with fabby cakes). Right end of Twiggys Yorkshire tourist information, I should be on commission for this. Goodnight.....................

Etsy sales, more lovely post and messy crafting...........

I really do love our postman well not him but all the lovely little packages he keeps bringing for me.

Firstly, this week we received a pretty package from the very lovely Vicky at Anglesey Allsorts. It was my PIF prize.

Not just for me, but one for Twiglet too, how kind is that?

Hmmm. beautifully wrapped, I don't want to crease the paper, oh I can't help myself..........

Look at these gorgeous little bags that smell as good as they look and lots of little flowers and bits for me to play with.And for young Master Twiglet, 4 cute little finger puppets and a stack of butterfly cutouts and glitter !!!! magic. Thank you sooooo much Vicky. I'm not going to do my PIF immediately as I've just done one but more importantly want to make some bits and bobs for it and will probably make it a bit of a milestone one, so bear with me folks.

Well as if that wasn't enough, I received a totally unexpected Random Act of Kindness from the super ace Queenie from the Crafts Beautiful forum. When I openend it this morning I was overwhelmed. It is a little book on the theme of being inspired (Queenie knew I'd opened my Etsy shop and thought it was apt :) with some wonderful quotes, my favourite being by Ralph Waldo Emerson `Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail'. Queenie wouldn't know this but I'm a big fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson and like to dip into his quotes for a bit of inspiration now and then.

Isn't it beautiful (apologies for my rubbish photos that don't do it justice, the creepy shadow is the light fitting!!!! Such a lot of time and care have gone into this book and I'll treasure it forever Queenie, thank you so much.

To up the magic quota even more I've had two Etsy sales this week and can't tell you how excited and grateful I am, thank you so much to lovely Vicky at Angelsey Allsorts and Jo at Blissed Out.

Oh more excitement - this will make me sound like a complete nerd - my new washer arrived yesterday, so it's like a laundry here today - hooray!!! Phew, panic over.

Finally, Twiglet and I have have had an at home day today and done lots of crafting and even more cleaning up :)

Here's some pics................

Twiglet discovered if you kiss glitter it gets in your teeth, are all 2 year olds this barmy?

Here's a piccy of Twiglets painting apron, just because it's cute. Why can't I get one in my size, I LOVE Miffy, it's not fair - harumph!

3,2,1, blast off as Master T shouts quite a lot, yes I know it's sideways, have you not realised yet I'm not very technological :)

Now keep your eyes peeled because Algernon will soon be paying my blog a visit on his way to my Etsy shop, he's heard about Planet Earth and thought he'd take a look.....................................

Woohoo I've just opened my Etsy shop !!!!!

After much deliberating, I have NEVER sold any of my stuff before because to be honest I think it's a bit pants. Well I've finally done it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that. I've been sewing away all weekend, and this is what I've come up with. Hope you like them...................

A couple of cheery cherry mini cushions ( I realise first one is sideways, but I'm tired ;) ..................And a couple of calorie free scrummy cupcake pincushions.............

Anyhoo, go take a look see, so it looks like my stuff is really nice and I'm dead popular:) in fact save me as a favourite or if you really want to go nuts buy something. Ok, end of shameless self promotion. Link is http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5384097 Would appreciate your feedback though..............

Well I've had one of those days today, don't usually talk about `life stuff' on here, but over the weekend my washer packed in, then remembered we have to pay for our hols this month and my hot pad I NEED for my cranky old back gave up the ghost, cue snivelling Twiggy, oh and it's that time of the month.

Anyhow, alls well that ends well, my lovely father in law has written Mr Twigs a cheque for a washer, I've borrowed my mums hot pad and can buy one tomorrow and if we tighten our belts will be able to pay for hols. So no furtive trips to button/craft/ fabric shops for Twiggy for the forseeable future! Will have to make do with drooling over your lovely blogs.................

Luck Be a Lady Called Twiggy ! and a Lovely Museum Visit

We've had a lovely day today and I received a few lovely things in the post - yay - which has made up for the rather trying week I've had.

Anyhoo, as I'm not working this weekend we thought we'd have a fun day out and visited the Yorkshire Motor Museum in Batley which is nice but I think Twiggy will enjoy it more when he's older. Mr Twiggy was in his element though.

Next we visited the Tolson Museum and it was fantastic. I can't recommend it enough, it is child friendly in a beautiful old mansion house setting and the staff are lovely. We will definitely return, I'd rather like to go along on my own sometime as there is a section dedicated to the cloth mills of Huddersfield and I was drooling over the cloth samples and beautiful Victorian samplers even though I had to have a very quick look at them. Here are some photos for your delectation - proves what a nice place it is to allow photography.

Look at all these lovely needlework essentials.
A Victorian style school room.
An amazing sampler that was made by an 11 year old girl, it really is marvellous, I'm just sorry that my photo doesn't do it justice.
Finally, a childs bedroom, with some amzing old toys, a super rocking horse and the cot has a gorgeous handmade patchwork quilt.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Tolson Museum, please do, you'll love it.

Ok, tourist information plug over. When I got home I'd received two parcels - ooh excitement, I love parcels, especially unexpected ones.

The first one was from a very kind and generous lady from the Papercraftersunited forum , Jacqui had asked us to send her a SAE and she sent us by return a lucky dip bag full of goodies as she wanted to rid herself of some of her craft stash.

She had packed so much into my envelope I've had to take two photos!

As if this wasn't enough.................
Look at this!!! Thanks Jacqui your generousity is much appreciated and I'll put it all to good use.

Now as if that wasn't enough I also received a surprise parcel from the lovely Tiggertastic from the Crafts Beautiful forum.
Inside was a beautiful handmade RAK and a stunning handmade handbag charm - how lovely is that? Thank you so much Tigger, what an unexpected and generous gift.

As I had a free afternoon, I've been quite industrious making RAK ATCs and a card.
Here are my cherry blossom trio.
And my vintage beauties!
And a card that I've entered for the 3 and 3 challenge on the Papercraftersunited forum. The rules are you must use three shades of the same colour and three shapes, which was harder than it sounds!

Finally, I received another lovely RAK this week from Karen AKA Copse from the Crafts Beautiful forum, it's so pretty. Thank you very much Karen.

So all in all a good day, what a lucky Twiggy :)

Sals Competition

Over on Sals Snippets Sal has a competition running and has set a challenge. Which is to enter your name into Amazon or Ebay and blog the book titles that come up along with amusing comments. It's good fun so why not go and take a look, link on my favourites list to the right. Now I've cheated a bit, if I looked under Twiggy there were just loads of books about funnily enough Twiggy so I've searched under my non stage name (if you see what I mean) Sarah. I'm not promising amusing comments ok? here goes...................

The key to understanding sarah is to realise that she is in her own little universe.In fact some would say, she is away with the fairies.I mean, just look at this she is now pretending to be a Sarah Jane, just so she can get close to scrummy David Tennant , the current Dr Who and we all know what kind of action adventure she's after!How could she do that to Mr Twiggy and little Twiglet!!!!!Let's give her a wake up call, altogether now, OH SHUT UP SARAH !!!

Here's my view, well sort of..............

Vicky over at Angelsey Allsorts asked us to post a piccy of the view from our kitchen window. Well our window looks straight into next doors kitchen and although it's very clean and tidy it's not very inspiring( also Mr neighbour) often walks around topless - it's not pretty, so I wanted to protect his modesty.

Instead, I've posted the view from our lounge window, which I love and its one of the reasons we bought this house. Hope you like it...............

Lovely Post & Wahey.........

The wahey is because, I don't have to work for the next two weekends - yay !!!

Anyhow, have you had a good weekend? We've had lots of snow in Yorkshire but it hasn't settled - boo!!

Thought, I'd share some of the lovely post I've received recently. I'm a member of the fab forum Papercraftersunited as you know. Recently we had a vintage card competition which was won by a lovely lady called Marianne from Denmark. I really loved her entry and the vintage label she had used , so do you know what she did? posted a packet of labels out to me! how kind is that?

Here they are, too delicious to use really....................The post came early on Saturday so I was able to open a parcel of fat quarters that I'd ordered from Ebay, they are scrummy. I really wanted to stay at home and have a play, ho hum. Twiglet has earmarked the choo choo fabric (that's what it's called honest) he wants me to make him a train. He does have a lot of faith in his mummy which is quite lovely but it doesn't half keep me on my toes. Keep your eyes peeled for Challenge Twiglet, I've still not got around to making him an Idris the dragon from Ivor the Engine. I love the fact that Twiglet loves the 1970s retro kids telly me and Mr Twigs watched during the 70s. The latest programme we've introduced him to is The Magic Roundabout, he loves it and dances when the theme tune comes on - fab!!!

Well after a visit to the pet shop Mr Twigs tells me that apparently our fish died because there was too much ammonia in the water, this was because we shouldn't have introduced three fish to the tank at the same time - hmmm would have nice to have received this advice when we bought them, me thinks.

Anyhoo Sping seems fine and has just discovered his reflection so it's very entertaining watching him flipping around like crazy as if to say, who is that handsome guy, check me out!!!

We are going to wait for a week or so and buy just one more fishy for the time being, however, I'm not sure how our alpha fish will feel about that:)

Twiglet and I love CRAFTING as he calls anything that involves paper, pom poms and glue sticks and we have some ace books. Thought we'd have a bash at something from this book which is terrific for little artists.

and produced this fine looking bus....................

Please note that Twiglet has drawn passengers, Grandma is in the first window, then mummy with Twiglet on her knee and the passenger at the back with the big round head is daddy - haha!

And finally, excitement, our seeds have started to grow, so far we have lots of oriental salad (below), beetroot, one tomato and courgette and two sunflowers. Considering the artic like conditions in our porch I'm rather pleased.
Now don't forget if any of you are Damages fans like me, it's the series finale tomorrow night, oh Glen Close is so scarey...............

It's Friday Already !!!

Above is a photo taken in Whitby on a very chilly January day.

Where on earth has the week gone? Well I hate to be the bringer of bad tidings but Poppet & Emo are no more!!! I suspect Sping has finished them off as he's been very giddy this week - hmmm. Mr Twigs and Twiglet are revisiting the pet shop tomorrow. Just to add to this gloom, I've got a dodgy back and hip now - what an old gimmer. Twiglet and I are very disappointed today as we usually play out with friends on a Friday - ho hum.

Anyway, onto more jolly things. Firstly I've got a few things to catch up on, the first thing to mention is a lovely You Make My Day award that I've received from Jo at Formerblonde. Right back at you honey, I love reading your blog too, thanks very much for the award.

Secondly, I've been tagged again, big thanks to Louise at Home is Where the Heart Is - how many Twiggy facts can you take? If you feel you know enough about me already, feel free to skip the following bit :) Here's my little meme.

4 people I e-mail Jan at Daylily Lane, Helen a friend from Papercraftersunited, Just started emailing Vicky at Angelsey Allsorts, Mr Twiggy - usually to say, will you fetch a pint of milk. home - lol

4 things to eat Chocolate,Cinnamon & Raisin Bagels, Rhubarb Crumble, Creme Brulee (all very healthy).

4 movies I’d watch again Little Women (watched it last night),Into The West,The Godfather Trilogy,Brief Encounter.

4 places I’ve lived Pontefract, Wakefield, Where I am now !!!

4 Places I have been Malta, Ireland, Austria, Rome.

4 TV shows I watch
University Challenge - I don't get many questions right !, Damages, I watch Brideshead Revisited a lot on video - does that count? QI.

4 places I’d rather be Living Would have said in the country (but I do now) so Filey on the Yorkshire coast. Above my own book cum craft shop. In a little farmhouse near the sea in South West Cork. To be honest, I'm happy where I am, for now.

4 things to look forward to.Going on holiday in Wales this Summer. Finally getting off my bum and opening an Etsy shop. Watching little Twiglet grow up (though this is tinged with sadness - sigh). Spending sunny weekends with my little family.

4 people to tag. Daylilly lane. Summer By The Sea. Sal's Snippets. Live, Laugh,Love.(Links on the right hand side). Phew, what an essay.

Mr & Mrs Guggy are very proud and pleased to announce a new arrival - Babby Guggy - aww bless, he's sat on the book that I used to create him, well that coupled with a pair of Twiglets teeny baby socks.Received two nice parcels today to cheer me up. Firstly a lovely Birthday book that I'd ordered, I'm so disorganised I keep forgetting to transfer birthdays to my new calendar every year - no excuses now.

And a lovely surprise from Karen (AKA Copse) from the Crafts Beautiful forum, thanks hun, what a lovely thought, I've met some lovely people on there.

Finally here is a card that I made for the recent Just for You card challenge on the Crafts Beautiful forum. hope you like it. Have a nice weekend, think of me while I'm at work :)