It's A Creative World Blog Hop - Challenge and Prize

Thanks for stopping by.  You should have reached me from Leanne as part of the It's A Creative World blog hop.  If not and you are just visiting and fancy a look at the creative talents of the team then please have a looksie at the above link for the full list of participants and links to their blogs. There are some fab prizes on offer.

For my stop on the blog hop I decided I would give you a little challenge and a giveaway but more on that in a little while.

I'm going to do a little tutorial on these felt flowers.  There are tons of tutorials around the interweb so I'm not taking any credit for the idea.

Start with a strip of felt - any length over about 8 inches will do and I made mine approx 1.5 inches wide.

Place a line of glue along one of the long edges

fold the other long edge onto the glued edge

I've found that unless you use an extremely fast drying glue then it helps to fold the strip up a bit and hold it together with a couple of clothes pegs until it dries.

Once dry unfold it and then make some cuts into the folded edge making sure you don't cut all the way through the glued edge.

the next step is to start rolling it from one end adding a spot of glue as you go

keep rolling until you reach the end trying to keep the glued edge as level as possible.  You should end up with something a little like this - mine isn't as level as I would like but never mind.  Next put some more glue on the base and cut a small piece of felt large enough to cover the base.

Stick the piece of felt over the base and leave it all to dry.

Once it is dry trim off the excess from the base - it doesn't need to be exact but it finishes it off and gives you a surface to add sticky pads/tape/glue to adhere to your project.

Last step is to turn it over and arrange the petals.  I find flattening it a bit with the palm of my hand helps.

Now for the challenge and giveaway.

My challenge to you is to make a project using any handmade flowers.  Obviously it would be fantastic if you make some of these felt flowers but any type of handmade flowers will still qualify.  Entry will be by the inlinkz button below and if you can link directly to your flowers that would be good.  Entry will be open until midnight GMT on Easter Monday (9th April)

The winner will be drawn at random and the prize is this selection of flowers and embellishments

Thats all from me.  Your next step on the blog hop is the lovely Tracey

Skywatch

Today my photo is also of a local petrol station where, as a lot of places around the country, they have run out of fuel and had to close.

This is the result of tanker drivers saying they may strike and the government scaremongering people into panic buying when there is really no need. They have to legally give 7 days notice to strike apparently and they haven't.

Our theory is that the government saw it as a chance to get people to panic buy and they now have extra taxes from the fuel duty from all the fuel sold sitting in a bank account somewhere ready to waste on god knows what. Maybe a pasty factory - that's another story though!

Skywatch

Red sky at night shepherds delight....or so they say. This red sunset on Sunday certainly left promise for a nice Monday and mother nature didn't disappoint.

Spring equinox

It's officially now mother nature's spring. The weather folks on tv have meteorological spring from 1st march but I prefer the old fashioned equinoxes.

The one sign of spring I love to see is new leaves forming on plants and trees that have been sleeping during the winter.

My honeysuckle has gone crazy over the last couple of weeks. I bought it for a silly low price in wilkos last year. It didn't really do much so I have high hopes for it this year.




The winter pansies with their purple velvet faces have bloomed well over the last few days along with the primroses.


This morning our dog walk ended up going past the allotments. A friend told me the council have got the diggers in on some of the disused overgrown plots. I'm hoping one of those has my name on it once they have finished.


You can just see the digger and council truck on this picture.

Photos Without Reflection In Specs

I really struggle sometimes to get photos of the kids without reflections in their glasses so I was happy to get this one yesterday at the park







In contrast to the best of a bad bunch on Friday when he was dressed up for a school trip back in time




Any advice on how to stop the reflection is very welcome.

First picture was with hipstamatic on my phone and the second was with my camera. First one was mid afternoon and second was about 830am with no sun. Obviously he has created his own sun block on the first with his arm but any further advice would be fab.

March Photo A Day 12 to 17

Rather than bore any readers (is anybody out there?) with photos every day I've decided to do a few days at a time.

So here is 12 to 17

12 was fork


The special forks my youngest two use with compliments of the occupational therapy department. They are fantastic for their hypermobile fingers.

13 was a sign




14 was clouds




15 was car


I was lucky that my husband was kind enough to go to work on the train and walk a long way from the station to work and back again so I could have the car 3 days last week to get hop along son with the broken leg to school. He usually walks the 15 minute journey but obviously that isn't easy at the moment. It's been a logistical nightmare at times!

16 was sunglasses


Actually sunny enough to need them at least for a short time.

and 17 was green



Green icing on cakes. My 8 year olds first attempt at using a piping bag.

Busy busy busy

My needle of my sewing machine has been flying this week. I had an idea in my head for a bag and once I had worked it out I made up a few for the next craft fair I'm doing.

I've no idea about prices yet apart from how much the fabric cost me. I think I'll have to do some research on handmade bag prices.




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Glossy Box March 2012

I've heard a lot about beauty boxes recently where you get a range of samples of products for around £10.  I was tempted by a few but since Glossy Box were having a Harrods version for March 2012 I decided to give it a try.  You can cancel if you don't want any more so I gave it a shot.
The box arrived this morning.


Something this size usually comes in the postman's bag and arrives squashed so I was pleasantly surprised that it arrived in the post van.

I had to wait to open it as, the hop along son as he will be named for the next few weeks, had an appointment at the hospital after his accident on Friday.


I opened it when we got home and found a shiny white box inside the tasteful brown and pink delivery box.


Opening that revealed black tissue paper wrapped up in a trademark Harrods green ribbon.



A leaflet with the contents described


all nestled on a black nest of paper


Here is the contents



Molten Brown vitalising vitamin AB+C bath and shower gel 50ml I was happy to receive this as I've heard so much about Molten Brown and it was the first thing I opened the lid of to smell it. I love smelling products. However I was shocked at this one. It is exactly the same scent as the Bayliss and Harding grapefruit liquid soap I currently have in my bathroom. My daughter has the bath and shower gel in her bedroom and the bottle is the same just with a different name on. I can buy that at asda so I was disappointed with this selection.

Next in line is Valentino Valentina eau de parfum 1.5ml. This is gorgeous. I've sprayed a little bit and I love it.

Then there is Clarins extra firming body cream 30ml. I'm not one for using a lot of body creams but I have to say this is very thick and I can see a little bit going a long way.

Lancôme hypnose drama mascara in excessive black 2ml I do wear mascara so this will come in handy.

Shu Uemura cleansing beauty oil 4ml this is probably a single use sachet but it is a 3in1 product so I will be able to take off my eye make up aswell as cleaning my face.

Lastly SK11 skin signature 15ml this is an anti-ageing face cream. As face creams go it smells divine. I'm still doing the Olay trial for super savvy so I'll try this once that has finished.

The contents are probably good value however they aren't things I would usually use and I bought the box not knowing what I was getting. I don't know whether I will get another. Maybe as an occasional treat but I doubt it will be every month and I will probably try a different company in April

Day 11 Photo

The prompt was somebody you spoke to today. Myself mostly today and every Sunday whilst sport is on TV

E

E, e
[ee]
- noun, pl. E's or Es, e's or es.
1.
the fifth letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
2.
any spoken sound represented by the letter E or e, as in met, meet, mere, etc.
3.
something having the shape of an E.
4.
a written or printed representation of the letter E or e.
5.
a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter E or e.

E fortnight went a little bit like this:

Watching Eastenders




A fair amount of exercise

eating too much of the wrong foods

Enchiladas

and discovering this yummy cereal



I wasn't expecting to make a trip to the emergency department of the hospital last night and unfortunately my son is starting the F fortnight with a fractured fibula.



So what did you get up to for E. The linky thingy is below if you want to share. Personally I thought it was quite a difficult letter.

March Photo A Day 10

Today the prompt was loud.




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March Photo A Day 8 and 9

It wasn't my intention to keep doing two days together but it has ended up working out that way.

Day 8 was window. I was going to do the obvious but went for the little window in the fish bowl.





Day 9 is red. I took a few and used a collage app on my phone. I think it's in Chinese so I don't really have much idea what I'm doing.

March Photo A Day - 6 and 7

For day 6 the prompt was 5pm
I went for the obvious with the time and date display on our radio

Day 7 was something you wore
This morning was a wet school run so my something you wore is my coat hanging over the kitchen door to dry.

March Photo A Day 4 and 5

The prompt for yesterday was bedside.

Tricky one for me as our bed is a snug fit into an alcove in our bedroom and we obviously don't have room for bedside tables so I've just shot it as it is.

The prompt for today is a smile.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I looked at it this morning. I figured a child smiling would be a bit cheesy.  My answer came this morning when I was out and I turned the corner to see this once a year sight - blossom on a tree.  It seems to appear overnight and never fails to make me smile the first time I see it each year.

Then when I got home I spotted this sight which made me smile. My 8 year old sometimes tucks up his monkey under a cushion to sleep so it is comfy while he is at school.  Today was one of those mornings and I couldn't help smiling at it.  Gotta love his permanent smile.

March Day 3

Today the prompt was neighbourhood.

I could have gone to the park and done nice green pictures but I decided to do the reality instead.

I went with a house shot







a shot of below ground in the subway







and a very random cheese slice on the slope on the way back up from the subway