Crafting Crusade Victory

I have a crafty confession to make.....

I have this obsession with trying to turn non-crafty people into crafters!  I just can’t help myself!  I think I’m trying to help people but, alas, they don’t always appreciate my efforts – oops!  Does anyone else ever feel that others are missing out by not having caught the crafting bug???

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I had a small but significant victory in my crafting crusade.  My little sister, Jessica, came over for the weekend.  She doesn’t do ANY crafting, and has NEVER shown any interest in my suggestions that she might like to try knitting, or sewing, or felting, or card-making, or crochet, or..... (well, I did try suggesting a LOT of activities).  I’ve always thought that this was a great pity, as she was always amazing at things like Art, Design Technology, and Creative Writing when she was at school.  Clearly, she’s VERY creative, and has some natural talent for arty things. 

While she was visiting, she spotted my little pile of patchwork cushions, and said how much she liked them.  I had a cunning little plan, and suggested that she should make her own right there and then.  I’d tell her what to do, and she’d be finished in an hour or so.  And she agreed!!!  Hooray!!!

We had lots of fun during our ‘sewing workshop session’.  She picked out some fabrics to go with her bedroom, cut them out, sewed them together really carefully, pressed them, put the cushion backing on, and stuffed the pad inside. 

Here she is, working on her cushion, and being camera-shy:

And here she is with her finished cushion, still being camera-shy:

Her first attempt at sewing EVER!!!  I was SO impressed!!!  What do you think, dear readers?  I’m sure Jess would love to hear your thoughts on her cushion..... 

Well done, Jess – I’m really proud of you!!!  What shall we make together next time you visit???

And who will be my next craft-conversion victim.....  ;-)

Carly

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Giveaway Winner

This post's just going to be a quickie, to announce the winner of my little blogging birthday giveaway.

I like to do things the old-fashioned way!  So, no random number generator here.   I wrote all your names on little slips of paper (I was amazed by how many entries there were), folded them up nice and small, put them all in a cute little tin, mixed them up a bit.....

Stuck my hand in.....

And picked out a winner.....

The winner is Kazzy from the wonderful Country Rabbit blog.  If you’ve never stopped by her corner of the blogosphere, by the way, I suggest you pay a little visit.  I think you’ll like it there!!!    

Kazzy, congratulations to you!!!  Please could you email me your mailing address (craftedbycarly@yahoo.com), so that I can get your prizes sent off to you.  Here's a sneaky little reminder of what what you'll be getting....

Hope you’re all having a good start to the week!  Is the weather looking up where you are???

Carly

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CAL Monkey

Thank you for all your sweet comments on my last post.  I’m glad you appreciated our silly Jubilee antics!!!

I have to admit that there wasn’t TOO much crafting going on while we were away.  With all the preparations for out ‘Open House’ party, I’d been ridiculously busy with my sewing before our trip, and so I decided to give myself a bit of a break for a few days.

BUT, you know me.....  imposing a TOTAL crafting ban on myself (even for just a couple of days) would have been IMPOSSIBLE!!!  So, I took along my CAL monkey.  And what a fun and relaxing holiday project it was! 

Before we left, I’d made his head: 

And I’d given him a body and some legs:   

While we were away, I made all his other body-parts:

And I sewed them on.  The day we got back from Center Parcs, we had our new IKEA sofa and chair delivered.  My little monkey was ALMOST as excited as I was about this grand event, and INSISTED on having his photo taken sitting on the new chair:

For my first non-granny-square crochet project, I was pretty pleased with him.  The only problem was that his head was a bit wibbly-wobbly.  To resolve this, I crocheted him a little red scarf:

Can you tell what a poser he is???  He loves to work it in front of the camera!!! 

Now he has his little scarf, his head doesn’t keep lolling to one side, and he looks like a real dandy!!!  I’ve named him ‘Mortimer’.  I think it reflects his personality..... and it begins with ‘M’!!! 

I know that my crocheting looks a bit odd.  I wasn’t aware I was doing something not-quite-right until it was pointed out to me.  Now I need to work out how to do it properly.  Then I need to get me some pretty-coloured yarn.  Then I’m going to crochet a whole stack of little monkeys.....  Thank you SO much, Sarah!!!  You were the BEST teacher, ever!!!

If you haven’t entered already, there are only a couple of days to go until my GIVEAWAY closes (on Monday night).  So, if you’d like a chance to win a super book and some Crafted by Carly goodies, take a quick look at this post.....

Wishing you all a wonderful (and sunny) weekend.....

Carly

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Half-Term and Jubilee Celebrations

For our half-term break, we went to a Center Parcs in the Netherlands with my parents.  It wasn’t the same park I wrote about in this post.  That was De Eeemhof.  This time, we went to De Kempervennen. 

We did a lot in just a few days, but I was awful at remembering to take my camera out with us!!!  In some cases (like our visit to the pool), this was probably a good thing!  So, I’ll show you what I can of our fun little trip.....

It was the JUBILEE while we were away.  Good old Mom had scoured the shelves of Asda and Wilko’s to source us plenty of flags and bunting and other Union Jack bits and bobs.  In fact, one of the two suitcases they brought over with them was half-full of all her patriotic purchases!!!  We decorated our chalet with it – inside and out.  We even decorated our bikes! 

It was nice to see that lots of other Brits staying there had done the same!   Maybe it was because they knew that Her Majesty and Prince Philip were ACTUALLY going to BE there!!!

My two favourite bits of the holiday were hiring out a pedalo.....

..... and visiting the little farm.  There was a cute little Bambi there:

Here’s Simon getting bored of waiting for me to have enough of the cute little Bambi and his friends:

But, I was glad I stuck around, because the Bambi let me stroke him:

Although these photos make it look like the weather was okay, it rained cats and dogs for most of the time.  So, we spent a fair few hours in the jungley ‘dome’, drinking the most delicious hot chocolate EVER.....

..... animal-spotting.....

..... and watching Prince Philip on the 50 cent merry-go-round:

The weather was so awful one night that we lit a fire in the chalet:

Despite all the rain, we had a super time and lots of laughs.  Mom and Dad, thank you for a brilliant week!!!  And, Dad, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY for tomorrow!!! XXX

I’ll be back soon, to tell you about my holiday crafting.....

Hugs,

Carly

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1st Blogging Birthday Giveaway

A year ago today, I took the plunge and put my first ever blog post out into the big, wide world.  It was a bit scary.  What if nobody had visited me?  But, it was also really exciting!  And I'm very glad I did it!!!  

It doesn’t seem like a whole year ago.  In fact, I almost missed marking the occasion altogether.  I only checked the date of my first post a couple of weeks ago, when I’d read about somebody else’s blogging birthday.  As they say, time flies when you’re having fun!

And I HAVE been having fun – LOTS of it!  And that’s all thanks to you, my lovely blogging friends!  Thank you, thank you, thank you for visiting me, for being interested enough to follow me, and for all your lovely, lovely comments!!!

To say ‘thank you’ and ‘you’re amazing’ to all of you, I’m going to host a giveaway.  If you enter, you could win this little bundle of prizes:

It includes.....

a rosette pin (made by me)

a little purse.....

..... with spotty, blue fabric inside (made by me too)

a make-up/toiletry case (also made by me, of course)

‘The Wonderful Weekend Book’ (not made by me, but loved by me)

To enter, all you need to do is:

1)  Follow my blog

2)  Leave a comment under this post

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!

I’ll leave the giveaway open for two weeks, and pick a winner out of a hat (or maybe just a little jar) on Monday 25^th June.  Of course, it’s open to everybody, no matter whereabouts in the world you are. 

Good luck!!!

Have a super week.....

Carly

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Cheerful Rosette Pins

Oh my goodness!  It's been over a week since my last post - and I feel like I've let myself down.  I have been trying really hard to post at least once a week.    

My poor excuse is that we've had visitors (my sister and my parents) and we've been away for a few days - to the Netherlands.  I had planned to write a post last weekend, before we left, and schedule it to pop up mid-week.  But it didn't happen in the end.  Sorry, lovely blog readers!  

But, the past week has given me quite a few ideas (and photos) for future posts.  

For today, though, as this has to be a 'quickie', I thought I'd show you some of the little rosette pins I've been making.  Yes, it's another of my making obsessions!

I've hung them all up, along a row of pegs, in my crafting room.  I have to say that they look very cheerful and happy there, and I'm enjoying just looking at them.  I'm not sure I want to sell them now.

I'll be back very soon - on Monday.  It will be my 1st blogging birthday and, to celebrate, I'm going to be doing a little GIVEAWAY.  So, don't forget to stop by then.....

Have a super weekend!

Carly

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