Gorgeous Gifts

Last week was MEANT to be my last week at school (had I not been signed off 4 weeks early).  And, to my surprise, Simon came home with this amazing basket of gifts for me (from my lovely class and their parents).....

The whole thing looked so pretty, I was reluctant to start opening any of the goodies to begin with.  Look at the toadstool paper!!!  

I'm not normally an overly-emotional person (and I COULD always blame my pesky pregnancy hormones), but I was really overwhelmed by the gifts as I opened them up.  Clearly, those little kids and their parents know me SO well, and put SUCH a lot of effort into selecting things that I'd love.  There MAY even have been a few tears.  

Here, have a little look at my gorgeous gifts.....

[a knit-your-own-teddy-bear kit]

[a red and white spotty Cath Kidston mug]

[pearly, heart-shaped buttons]

[pretty ribbons]

[a 'thank you teacher' bookmark]

[a cute toadstool ornament, now on display in my crafting room]

[a box full of multi-coloured buttons]

[and a precious book made up of pictures drawn by each of the children]

What a wonderful leaving present!!!  And what a lucky teacher!!!

Just in case any of the Owls' parents happen to be visiting, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!  

Now I'm off to start on my knit-your-own-teddy-bear (I think I might well be able to do it laying down).....  :-)

Carly

x

   

2nd Blogging Birthday Giveaway

Today’s my second ‘bloggiversary’ – hooray!  I really can’t believe that I’ve been doing this for two whole years!

I LOVE blogging.

 
I sometimes feel as though I put too much pressure on myself to get posts up, and I sometimes get annoyed with myself for spending too much time sitting in front of my computer. I get a bit nervous before I post things about myself, or before I do a show-and-tell of something I’ve made. I worry that people won’t visit me here, or that they might not like what I’m doing. I feel guilty if I haven’t visited certain blogs for a while, and I feel bad if I don’t get around to replying to the comments people leave me here..... 

But, I REALLY DO LOVE BLOGGING!!!

I love playing at being an author and a photographer, and I love keeping a record of all of the crafty (and some not so crafty) things that I do. I love receiving comments and emails from 'visitors', and having the chance to ask for feedback on what I’m doing. I love visiting other people’s blogs, getting inspired, and chit-chatting with like-minded souls from all around the globe. And, most of all, I LOVE all of the wonderful bloggy FRIENDS that I’ve made over the past two years!!!

I really can’t believe how great blogging pals are – and I’m so grateful to all of you for visiting me here, writing to me, encouraging me, and just being such blinking brilliant friends!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 

 
And, to say THANK YOU once more, I’m going to host a little giveaway. If you enter, you could find yourself winning these summery Crafted by Carly goodies:

There’s a stripy (CK fabric) sunglasses case.....

..... with a spotty-dotty lining.....

..... and two little rosette pins (one blue and one red).....

All matchy-matchy, of course!

To enter, all you need to do is:

1)  Follow my blog

2)  Leave a comment under this post, letting me know what’s YOUR favourite thing about blogging 

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy!

I’ll leave the giveaway open for two weeks, and randomly pick a winner on Tuesday 25^th June.  Of course, it’s open to everybody, no matter whereabouts in the world you are. 

Good luck!

Hugs to you all!

Carly

x

Cowboy Dress

Two years ago, I made my first ever dress.  I loved it, and have worn it A LOT!  As soon as the sun comes out, IT comes out.  But, apart from a couple of fancy-dress costumes, I haven’t made any other clothes for myself since.

I’ve always wanted to get into making my own clothes, as I rarely see anything that takes my fancy in the shops.  So I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to have another go.  I think it was partly because I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do a good job (perhaps the fact that the first dress worked out okay was just a fluke) – and partly because I could get a quicker 'fix’ from making accessories and smaller bits and pieces.  

THEN, along came ‘The Great British Sewing Bee'..... and inspired me to get a move on.  What a fantastic series that was!!!  I loved EVERY second of it!!!  As soon as the first show had ended, I got to work planning a dress-making project.  I decided to use the same pattern I’d used for my first dress (New Look 6888).  I used some red and white spotty fabric that I’d had in my stash for a while, and the Cath Kidston cowboy-print fabric that my lovely friend Lisa gave me as a gift a few months ago (you can see the gorgeous goodies she gave me here). 

And here’s the dress.....

I LOVE it!!! 

And guess what???  I’ve made TWO more garments since.  Show-and-tell sessions to follow shortly, of course.....

Carly

x

Mothers' Day Crafting

Happy (British) Mothers' Day to all the moms out there!  And, most of all, happy Mothers' Day to MY WONDERFUL MOM!!!

Here's the card I made for my mom, with some teeny-tiny little paper triangles, a black pen, and a set of alphabet stamps:

And here's the present I made for her.  It's the purse from the lovely Cath Kidston 'Stitch' book, and my first ever attempt at cross-stitch:

  

We're going to have a good, long Skype session later on.  I wish it could be a real-life chat, though!  But..... we don't have to wait too long for that now, thank goodness!!!  :-)

I LOVE YOU, MOM!!!  

Carly

x

Gifted Goodies

In my last post, I told you all about our trip to Schloss Burg with our visitors.  We had such a great weekend with them!

And look what my LOVELY friend left behind for me.....

Some Cath Kidston cowboys fabric:

Some Cath Kidston fabric-covered buttons:

Some teeny-tiny red and pink buttons:

I’m super-excited about all the new project ideas my cute new goodies have given me!

Would you have guessed it that my friend is also a keen crafter???  I bet you could tell!  AND she’s a blogger, too!  Please pay her a visit and say hello.....

Thank you, thank you, thank you for my pressies – and for braving Duesseldorf in January to come and stay with us!!!  xxx

Until next time.....

Carly

x

Crafty Christmas Pressies

Now that I've shown you some of the things I made for my friends and family for Christmas, I’d like to do a little ‘show-and-tell' of some of the super-duper pressies THEY gave ME.  I must have been a VERY good girl this year, as Santa was exceedingly good to me!  Although I got all sorts of wonderful gifts, I’m just going to post photos of the crafty ones here..... 

[I can't get enough Christmas crafting books!!!]

[my cute CK knitting bag]

[I LOVE Alice!!!]

[some more CK goodies]

[possibly THE prettiest Tilda book yet]

[yarn inside, strap on wrist, off you go - INGENIOUS - from madebyloumms]

[I can't get enough Scandinavian crafting books!!!]

[gorgeous vintage ribbons and CK badges]

[a bit of Kirstie]

[someone dropping hints that I should spend more time in the kitchen, perhaps???]

[a colourful crochet book]

[some shiny little birdie embroidery scissors]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, my fantastic family and fabulous friends!!!  You (clearly) know me VERY well!!!  With SO MANY new toys, I don’t know which one to play with next.....  

    

After I’ve had a bit more time to look through the books, I’m planning to do a few reviews to post on the blog.  If you’re interested in any of the books I mentioned (if you’ve been thinking about buying any of them or putting them on your ‘wish list’), let me know and I’ll try to review those first.  Likewise, if you have any of these books already and have tried any projects from them, I’d love to see some photos and/or hear about how it went!

Until next time.....

Carly

x