Swept away by time ....

Well goodness me, I do apologise, I didn't realise I had been away for so long :-(  Time really does seem to be going incredibly fast and I can't keep up.  I thought I would do a little catch up with what we have been up to in the Sweetpea household.

Well as you will see above I have turned my cute little crochet hearts into bunting for my bookcase, I popped some beads on the end of the bunting too for a finishing touch.  In fact I loved this bunting so much I made some for my friend's little girls first birthday a couple of weeks back :-)

We have also been strawberry picking a few times , here are some that are from a local farm and also eldest Sweetpeas patch.

Of course that meant we had to have some scones and cream with them as well as jam.  I made the scones without raisins in them as eldest sweetpea hates them for some reason.  This all lead to a picnic in the garden :-)

My friends have been rather busy too over the last few weeks so little Sweetpea has had the pleasure of some playmates coming round whilst their mummies are busy bees.  Here is little Sweetpea with her mad hair and one of her best friends James.  I just loved how they held hands on the way home.

And then we had little Sweetpeas other best mate round that week too,  this is the gorgeous Bear, is he going to melt hearts or what!

They had a lot of giggles.....

Then Bear had to sit and watch one of little Sweetpeas dance routines lol..... If you pop over to my friend's blog here you will see piccies of Bear and Sweetpea Strawberry picking, excuse the photo of me in my scruffy clothes :-)

In the garden Scented Sweetpeas have been flowering, oohhh one of my fav flowers, I love cutting them and bringing them into the house.  They don't seem as prolific as previous years but we still had enough to receive 2nd prize in our local Gala competition.

Talking of the Gala, I spent many an hour last week down the local Strawberry farm helping to create our Cubs gala float.  Middle Sweetpea is the only one left in cubs of my brood at the moment and the only girl in the group - she always was a tomboy :-)  We had to create a float with the theme of Dennis the Menace as it was his 60th Birthday this year.  I had great fun creating bunting for the whole float - Helen (Bear's Mum mentioned above) also came to help.

One of my friends dressed up as Minnie the Minx, we all thought she looked rather fetching in her red wig :-)  She seemed to enjoy that role far too much lol.  Middle Sweetpea was also a Minnie the Minx.

I also went into pre-school and helped the kiddies create items for their float too.  It is a shame more parents don't help as although I found it very tiring with all the extra things to do last week it certainly was a lot of fun :-)  Unfortunately poor little Sweetpea couldn't go on the pre-school float after all as after going to do some more work on the Float the other friday she became sick and was sick from lunchtime that day until early evening on Saturday - it wasn't much fun taking her around the Gala (she didn't want to stay home with her nanny as she didn't want to miss the fun) with a bowl poor thing.

Whilst there Middle and Eldest Sweetpea joined the fun run (why on earth is it called a fun run - can't see anything fun about it myself lol).  I was really proud of them as Middle Sweetpea came 2nd and Eldest Sweetpea came 9th in their groups - goodness knows who they take after as I run like Phoebe out of Friends!

Before I go I just wanted to say a thank you to the lovely Harmony and Rosie.  A long time ago I took part in something called PIF, in fact I think I took part in it twice.  Well I posted off a few parcels as a random surprise for people and then when I returned from holiday recently I was greeted with a surprise package.  'Oooohh what could it be' I thought to myself, on opening it I found a gorgeously soft crocheted cuff and a very cute notepad with birdies all over it, they were all wrapped up in some lovely blue tissue paper.  Thanks very much Harmony and Rosie.

Also thank you for all your comments, although I can't comment quite as often as I used to I am really enjoying catching up reading all your blogs and also reading your comments here.  Take care. xxx

Gorgeous Crochet Buys

I have really got into buying direct from artists in the last couple of years.  There is something really lovely about buying from someone who you know has put their own time, effort and love into creating something gorgeous.  When I saw these ickle scrummy shoes on Jacey's Blog Coffee 'n' Crochet I fell in love with them.  Luckily in coincided with a friend having a new baby and another friend's baby turning one very soon so it gave me an excuse to buy them :-) 

Aren't they just the cutest little baby shoes you have ever seen!  They are even ok for babies who are a little older as I have read that you can pop puffy paint on the bottom of them to make them non slip, what a fantastic idea for babies who are at the cruising stage.  The recipients of these little shoes have told me they have had many an admiring comment about them on their little cutey kiddies feet.

Of course then I popped into Jacey's Folksy Shop and just had to buy the above little hat for little Sweetpea, oh and of course a rose brooch for me :-)

The package arrived a few days later and was wrapped in the most lovely birdie tissue paper!  In the parcel was the most wonderful surprise for little Sweetpea, just take a look at that fantastic crochet bag!

Little Sweetpea has adored her hat and bag, here she is watering in seedlings with her hat on , not sure there is any water left in her watering can with the angle she is tipping it in this photo :-)

Another hand made shopping experience that re-confirms why I love buying direct from the artist!  Thanks Jacey :-) x

Giveaway

Sorry, this is just a quick bloggy post - life is a bit manic with school hols and both Mr Sweetpea and I working over the bank holidays but I will be back soon :-)

Just a quick note to say that I am having a giveaway over at my blogshop as a thanks to all my loyal followers.  Pop over here and see how to enter:

http://www.scentedsweetpeas-blogshop.blogspot.com/

I hope you are all having a fantastic Easter break.

Take care
Zoe
x

Birthday, swaps and life in general :-)

Well it has been a bit of a manic week here in the Sweetpea household with yet another birthday!  Our family birthdays all seem to have clumped together with March having my birthday, my Mums exactly 1 week later and then my daughters exactly a week after my Mums :-)

The week started off wonderfully with me having Sunday off work due to the clocks going forward.  I love going to work but having the day off gave me the opportunity to go to a car boot with my mate Bear's Footprints.  By the time I got out of bed at about 10am (9am old time) she has already texted an hour earlier to see if I wanted to go - mad woman :-)  I will show you my treasure on a later blog.

Monday however it went downhill a little when I got some sort of bug which made me feel very tired and sick indeed.  I managed to lay down for about 1 hour before the school pick up but that was it so I have been battling it all week really.  For the rest of the week I ached all down my legs - so much so that I wondered if I had done a marathon in my sleep.   Not great timing as I had to prepare to the party queen's birthday party.

She wanted a monkey cake originally but thankfully she saw a chocolate one in a shop so requested one of those instead.  So I started baking and made her a chocolate one with cream and jam filling - scrum.  We decided little mini eggs and chocolate curls would set it off nicely.  The curls were made by popping a chocy bar in the microwave for a few seconds and then using a potatoe peeler to peel little bits off the chocolate.

We prepared the dining room with decorations and her party food .... (this photo is to prove to Bear's Footprints that sometimes my house can be tidy lol - she popped over the other day to find buttons and felt all over the table!).

Middle Sweetpea usually has an Easter egg hunt for her birthday but as the weather forecast wasn't too good I set about making her a Pinata.  Not sure why I did this when feeling ill but it didn't work out too badly - you can see it in the top photo.  I will have to post a tutorial of how to do this for you all soon as it was quite easy.

Middle Sweetpea thought it made a fantastic hat after it fell down - she looked like Jamiroquai :-)

The girls had a fantastic time and played happily together.  After the Pinata and food they decorated cupcakes and had fun creating wonderful colourful art on them.  Instead of party bags which I am trying to move away from for eco reasons I made up their decorated cupcakes in tissue paper bags to take home.

My gorgeous little middle Sweetpea is now a whole 9 years old!  I still remember the day I had her, she took twice as long as her brother to arrive, so much so I insisted my waters were broken as I was getting bored of waiting for her (it was only 8 hours but felt a lot longer :-)).  I remember at one point in labour sitting on a bouncy ball to try and help ease the pain when having a contraction but then I got really angry with the ball and I kicked this large ball across the room, it then ricocheted off the walls and Mr Sweetpea and I had to miss it lol!   I also electrocuted myself on the tense machine - that made me forget about another contraction lol.   She arrived exactly on her due date and appeared at around 2 pm, when I took her to look out of the window the next morning little baby bunnies were hoping around on the grass.

She was quite a vocal little one from the moment she arrived - I remember wanting a bath whilst in hospital and I couldn't fit her cot in the bathroom so I popped her in the nursery next to a couple of other babies, she was fed and changed but she having a little moan.  I lay in the bath listening to her calling me and when I returned after a super speedy bath she was still there but the other babies had been taken out to somewhere more quiet :-)

Oh how I love my headstrong, full on, no fear Sweetpea.  She is so caring and thoughtful and will become a wonderful adult I am sure.

Swaps

I recently took part in my first ever organised swap which was the Spring Swap.  I was paired with the lovely Kathy from Postcards from the PP who sent me the most fantastic parcel!  Just take a look at the gorgeous packages below wrapped in ribbon and tissue paper - she thoroughly spoilt me.

And just look at the goodies inside:

 

There were candles, ribbons, a cute owl, a wonderful chicken tea towel, some gorgeous napkins and cards and some lovely flower seeds.  There was also a cute sheep cancer research badge and some card crafing items.

This is what I sent Kathy, now I wish I had sent more than the 5 items listed on the swap - you live and learn!

A hand made lavendar pillow with beaded lavendar cross stitch.

An egg masher, I have one of these and it makes me smile each time I use it :-)  Some chocy eggs - you can never have too much chocy.

I little notebook with a gorgeous bird print on it and some ribbons and buttons.

Here is the inside of that cute pad, it keeps shut with a magnet and then opens to reveal more gorgeous bird drawings....

Lack of Sleep

Mr SweetpeaSweetpea still won't sleep through a night.  We had a weeks worth of sleep the other week but she is back to her old tricks :-(  I even had to go in her bed one night this week for poor middle Sweetpeas sake.

I must confess I am now thinking of asking for outside help as I think I am now reaching my sleep deprivation limits after just over 3 1/2 years of broken sleep.  It doesn't help that Mr Sweetpea was on earlies this week, that seems to tip me over the edge a bit.    I just want me back, the old me with a bit of confidence and a lot more energy :-(   I popped out to the pub with friends the other night and had to really physic myself up for it, I felt quite sick with worry about going but I got there and had a fab time.  I know that this is due to lack of sleep and when I do get normal amounts of sleep I do have to battle the shy inner me a bit but not to that extent :-(  Here's to more sleep!

Birthdays, gardening, cakes and makes ...

Hi everyone, I hope you have all had a fantastic week.  This week in the Sweetpea household we had a birthday, mine ! :-)   As I have said before I like to buy a pavlova for my birthday every year but this year I thought I would try and make one.  It was a lot easier than I thought and was great fun to decorate.  I got the eggs off my friend Helen as our chickens are not laying as much as they used to and used blackberries which I had frozen from the Summer (I bought the Raspberries and blueberries but hopefully we will have homegrown this year :-)).  It could have probably done with a bit longer in the oven as it was a bit gooey on the inside but then again  I like gooey meringue.  My parents popped over in the evening and bought a chocy cake so this pavlova was only eaten by me and my parents and the kiddies and Mr Sweetpea wanted chocy cake :-)

I popped to the toddler group today and my friend Kathryn gave me a lovely card with a crochet hook hidden in it, this then gave it away that it was my Birthday this week (she saw some Birthday messages on Facebook).

Now I don't mind getting older at all but I am not a fan of fuss so try and skip past my Birthdays with little fuss if possible.  The lovely Bear's Footprints had just shown me a gorgeous crochet mini cushion she had made which has lavender in it, it smells devine.  This was her first make of this kind and she then decided to give it to me as a birthday present!  How sweet of her, it must have been so precious to her as it was the first time she has made one and it is so lovely - if only we had smellyvision as it smells so yummy!

 

As the sun came out late last week (none this week I am afraid, just grey, grey, grey :-() we all got out in the garden and planted some seeds.  The kiddies and I really do love being outdoors in the warmer weather.  Little Sweetpea got busy with her new watering can that she got from Father Christmas :-)

 

And I had to find ways to label my seeds so I decided to use those old CDs you get with internet software or children's sample programmes on to label some up.  They also act as a bit of a bird deterrent.

oohh and I have been creating more daisies, I decided to make a rainbow of colours :-)

I have also been thinking about Easter so have been making some felt pouches for the hairclips for my little Facebook Shop :-)

ooh before I go, can I pick your brain???  If you are into sewing can I ask what machine you would recommend as I really want to buy one with my Birthday money and try my hand at sewing?

xxx

Thank You ....

I have a few thanks yous in this bloggy post.  Firstly thanks to Ryan from Ryan's Garden blog, I was lucky enough to win a £25 voucher for Landsend and also some seeds in a recent competition he ran.  Well, I had personally never heard of Landsend before that time so popped onto their website to have a nose.  They have some lovely things, not all to my style but I had heard after winning that the quality of their clothes was really good.

I decided to buy the kiddies a couple of items of clothes so I rang them up and ordered a lovely cardigan for little Sweetpea and some new cords for eldest Sweetpea (these came just at the right time as his last pair had just got a hole in them from wearing them so much :-)).  The lady on the phone was really lovely and helpful and she told me that as it was my first order I got free delivery - bonus!  They arrived within a few days and the quality really is wonderful, just look at how happy little Sweetpea was above :-)  Her cardi is a bit too big for her at the moment, it was age 3 - 4 but as little Sweetpea is a very small 3 she has room to grow into it :-).

Another thank you goes to Nellilou from My Life Diet, she recently gave me the Stylish Blogger Award.  Pop over to hers for a blog filled with photography, crafts and what she has been up to.

So I think I have to write 7 things about me, hhmm I apologise now if I repeat myself , this sleep deprivation lark certainly isn't good for my memory :-)

1)  I went skiing at the age of 10 and got stuck on the T-bar - I nearly went round again up-side-down :-o  They had to shut to whole lift down for me to get off and I was left with a lovely bruise in a personal area :-(

2)  Again at the age of 10 my Mum had my hair cut really short (and I mean VERY short).  She was worried my curls were growing out and I have been fearful of hairdressers ever since.  I do go now and again and feel more relaxed about it now after many years.

3)  I love hanging my washing out on my line,  not sure why but I just love it for some reason.

4)  I am a magazine rather than a book reader (unless it is a craft or gardening book).  I think I have started so many books where I have got interrupted so many times that I have got frustrated reading books.

5)  I tried to dye my hair when I was at secondary school and it went horribly wrong :-)  I have never dyed it or had it dyed since.  Ironically it was a red colour (and I am a red head).

6)  I bought my first house when I was 19, goodness that is scary, I thought I was so grown up but looking back I was only little!

7)  I am a Pisces and was born in the year of the Rabbit :-)

Now to pass this on .... if you read my blog you know I love you :-)  Take this award and write 7 things about you - as you probably know I am nosey too so would love to read them :-)

And last but not least on the thank you list is Bear's Footprints.  Now this lady grows the most enormous parsnips, just take a look below at what she and Mr Bear's Footprint can grow!  I have popped a 50p next to it for scale purposes.  She gave me a bag of these and carrots which are now cut up and in my freezer for future dinners.

We recently went to our local toddler group together and sat and tried (tried being the operative word) to crochet, it was quite comical people coming up and asking what we were making - we didn't have a clue, mine was a chain and Mrs Bear Footprints was a possible flower.  The lovely Kathryn (who does know how to crochet) kindly gave me a new hook and a DVD (thank you Kathryn), lets hope that helps :-)  At one point a little 4 year old sat and tried to crochet using my half made chain , I think she did better than me, she seemed rather content just swiveling the hook around in the wool :-)

In fact I am really loving going to this toddler group, I never went to any with the eldest Sweetpeas as they were so close in age so didn't really need it.  I get to sit and chat to a lovely group of friends who are also inspired by all things creative whilst Sweetpea just potters about playing.

hhhmm do you think you are drawn to people who love things you do - I have never seeked out artistic/creative people but all my friends seem to have that in them - strange ......

Smiley Happy People :-)

Wow, thanks for all your fantastic and helpful comments on my last blog post re green cleaning and corsets :-)  I think I may do some experiments at home with different green cleaning attempts and blog about the results - it seems it has struck a cord with a lot of you.  That really has made me smile as I want to leave this earth with the smallest dent I can on it and it is nice to know others feel the same.  My lovely friend Helen from Little Lambs has lent me a fab book on cleaning with Bicarb of Soda (along with some great craft books, thanks Helen x) so I will let you know any tips I find out from that.  Does anyone know where you can get a big quantity of Bicarb of Soda or white vinegar from by the way ?

Other things making me smile this week is the Stylish Blog Award that was given to me by the following blogs:

Emma Bear Forever - She makes the most gorgeous things and has a lovely blog filled with a mixture of crochet, knitting, felt, lovely buys, inspiration and her cute dogs :-)

Fin and Gabs - This is a new bloggy find of mine, wow she is talented !  She makes to most fab things, writes mag articles, runs a shop that I am frankly rather jealous of (stationery heaven!).

Victoria Plum - She bakes scrummy cakes, makes gorgeous things ranging from cute stockings for Christmas to Sloe Gin all whilst looking after the oh so cute little Plum.

Thanks so much, not sure I am particularly stylish but I am so happy you all love my blog as much as I love reading yours :-)

I also received the Liebster Blog award, this is for smaller blogs with less than 300 followers, thanks to Flowering Cherries for this:

Flowering Cherries - Another new find, this lady is fab at crochet (and has a gorgeous new set of bling crochet hooks), knits, does gorgeous watercolour butterflies and loves nature - how fantastic!

Thanks Flowering Cherries, I am so glad you found me so I could find your blog :-)

Now for one of these awards I have to list 7 things about me, I will add extra one or two as I have the award several times.  I have blogged quite a lot of things about me in the past so I hope I don't bore you :-)

1)  I used to have a pet lamb called Daisy - must try and find a piccy of her.  She was sooo sweet and was left by her Mum so we had her at home to rear her for a while.  I really missed her when she left and couldn't eat lamb for many years after that.   In fact I think I have now gone off lamb again after just typing that.

2)  In fact we had some random pets as a child, we also used to have a partridge called Peter, also a bat called Billy and just for a few hours a Python that someone found in their garden.  Mum was petrified of the latter and I remember her leaping onto the settee in her dressing gown as soon as she saw it being bought into the room by my Dad :-)  My Dad is a vet, hence the random pets :-)

3)  Apparently I am a Rabbit in the Chinese New Year Calendar and am meant to have a great year this year - wahooo!  I am married to a pig (sorry I mean Boar) and we are meant to be a great match thank goodness.  I used to work with a fantastic lady called Samphan from the Philippines who taught me quite a lot about the animals and their traits, it is amazing how close they are to your personality.

4)  I suffered from OCD hand washing whilst at secondary school, it was triggered by bullying.  I did however get myself out of it thank goodness, it is horrid for your life to be controlled by things like that!  Now I am really relaxed about germs, hence why we hardly ever get ill I think.

5)  I have built several web-sites in the past and managed a really big one, I rather like web-design and learning about optimising them, sad but true :-)

6)  I sometimes buy a whole pavlova for my Birthday as I know no one else in the house really likes it so I get to keep it all to myself ;-)

7) I haven't owned an iron since May last year when mine broke.  I did borrow one for a wedding in June but have used the slower spin, shake and hang method since then and body heat gets rid of the last creases :-)  Heating elements consume the most energy in our houses so that is why I don't have one - well that is my excuse and I am sticking to it ;-)  The last time I got the ironing board out the kids thought it was a surf board :-)

8) I have quite a wide range of music that I like from Orbital to the Rolling Stones, I even have the Mary Poppins music CD.

Now for the part I hate, picking blogs to pass the award on to.  I absolutely love all the blogs I read so I would like to pass this award on to a few new blogs I have found recently (pick which ever award you like).

Bear Footprints - this is a blog by a real life friend of mine.  She blogs about making things, her poor hubby's broken leg, her gorgeous kiddies and her chickens and veggie patch - pop over and say hi :-)

Bristol Parenting Cafe - this blog is about family life with 3 kiddies.  It is fun, packed full of lovely photos and craft projects.

Supercutetilly - this lady makes some gorgeous things, be warned if you pop over there you will want to buy something :-)  In fact I want to buy everything she makes. 

Red Gingham - this blog is filled with gorgeous makes, fab bakes, eco washing clay (which I must make and blog about) and her gorgeous garden filled with flowers and veggies.

Wabi-Sabi Wanderings - love this whimsical blog, packed full of eco craft projects (including some fab felt projects) and gorgeous photos of family life living in a century old farm.

Now before I go (sorry if you are asleep already :-)  I want to share with you these gorgeous piccies.  I recently sold a few hair clips to the lovely Pippa from When I Get The Time, they were for her daughters for Christmas.  Just imagine how my heart melted when I saw these photos on her blog.  Pippa has her own little Misi shop, to see her gorgeous handmade dolls click here Pippa's Misi Shop

And then another one of my customers gave me a giggle when I saw her wearing one of the hairbands I made in this photo (I haven't asked her permission to use her photo yet so you will have to pop over to hers for a giggle :-)). 

WARNING PHOTO OF SID THE SNAKE COMING UP (just in case you hate snakes, if you do look away now)  ......

To finish here is a photo of little Sweetpea who was very chuffed to be able to hold Sid for the first time.  Now eldest Sweetpea has had him for a few weeks and got used to him we allowed her to hold him,  He really is a lovely snake.