Catch up .......

Thanks for all your lovely comments about my 'Creative' post, I am glad you liked all of our creations :-)  Now I apologise in advance as this is rather a photo heavy post as I wanted to do a catch up with what we have been up to for the last few weeks :-)

The weather has been glorious here for weeks now, in fact I don't think I have ever wished for rain so much :-o  We have had around a month and a half of no rain here so our gardens and farmers fields really could do with some now.  This has however meant we have had loads of fun outside :-)

Above and below are photos of the Marina which we are lucky enough to have in our village, this is the one place where my kiddies never argue so we spent quite a lot of time down there  ......

We went to Scotsdales (a large garden centre) in the holiday too, I know how to treat my kids lol, mind you they love it there :-)  Middle Sweetpea couldn't help but give the bronzed chap a kiss, you can't take her anywhere!  Little Sweetpea wasn't so sure about him and kept chatting about the 'man with no eyes' all the way home.

The kiddies have been playing in a den they have created in the field bank.  They have since made a little picket fence along the bottom of it and they spend a few hours together making a flag for it.

Much fun was had with the amazing amount of dandelions that popped up this year.   Little Sweetpeas hair even seemed to be trying to get in on the dandelion act :-)

They spent ages picking and blowing them.  I had to refrain from pulling up in the car near roundabouts as I had a real urge to photograph the hundreds of dandelions surrounding them - I didn't think the general public would like a view of my backside up in the air taking photos of them :-)  Luckily we found a field full of them !

We popped to my grandparents (the sweetpeas great-grandparents).  I couldn't help but take photos of my Nan Glynn an Grandad Pete's fab gnome filled garden .....

And we all just love their retro caravan ... in fact my hubby and I have lived in this caravan for a few months in my parents yard when we were buying our second house so it really is like home for me.   I think all my Aunties (my granparents daughters) have lived in it too at some point

Later in the holiday we had more fun down the marina, this time with lots of extra kiddies.  Eldest Sweetpea is at that age when he wants to go out on his own with mates so I have been having to let him go.  He will be off to College in September so I know the time is right but it doesn't make it any easier.

One way round it was the Marina, this did mean I ended up with a few more kiddies (9 one day) but at least I could keep an eye on them all and know they were safe.  We did have a scare with one of my Nephews who came to ours to stay as he nearly drowned, luckily Middle Sweetpea saw him, his big brother was sent to fetch him back and Eldest Sweetpea pulled him to the bank.  Scary stuff and that showed them why I was being boring and telling them all to stay in sight and not jump off the bridge etc!  I was just about to jump in myself but then realised Little Sweetpea would follow me if I did so it would have caused more issues, all was safe and well in the end - phew.

Little Sweetpea has loved it down the Marina too, it is so relaxing there.

Another thing she has loved is dancing, she insists I pop music on for her to have a quick boogy.  Goodness knows where she gets her moves ....

For the Royal Wedding of William and Kate (now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge just down the road from us :-)) we went to Swaffham Prior street party.  I haven't been to one of these since I was about 3, it was great fun.

A whole road was shut off and everyone came out to celebrate ....

Even the phone box got in on the act :-)

And my Dad here is chatting to a mate who is trying to look serious even though Dad was wearing a funny hat :-)

Then I saw this gorgeous Camper Van there, oh how I want one.  One day, one day you will be mine ....

Then on May Day we did our annual pilgrimage to Reach Fair where we met my parents (Mr Sweetpea had to work yet again - in fact both of us worked most of the bank holidays :-().  We had a lovely time but it was a bit nippy,  tea and scones soon sorted that out, they were being served in the little local church and we ate them whilst sitting on the church pews.

Eldest Sweetpea managed to win a goldfish whilst Middle Sweetpea got in a mood as she didn't :-(  We went out and bought a friend for this little fella the next day to cheer her up.  After winning him Eldest Sweetpea wasn't sure it was a good idea to win him as he was upset for all the fish left behind.  Dart & Spark (the fish) seem happy in their new home.

A gold star for anyone still reading and who hasn't dropped off :-) x

Creative fun .....

Hi everyone, I am sorry I haven't been here for a while, where on earth does the time go?  I am sure the earth is spinning faster making time go quicker - even eldest Sweetpea commented on how fast time was going recently and kiddies usually think time goes slowly so it must be going very fast!  I seem to find that I can either spend time reading blogs or writing one, not both.  All you bloggers write such lovely blogs I have been too busy reading them :-)

I thought I would update you on the creative side of our family tonight.  With Easter recently and our Sweetpeas getting lots of chocy I thought I would make the girls some little felt bunnies, I also made my ickle sis one too :-)  I popped some lavender in them to make them smell yummy.  This design was inspired by The Linen Cats gorgeous bunny purses - so lovely.

Chocolate nests are a must in our house at Easter so we HAD to make some - so scrummy!  I make ours with shreaded wheat to give a real nest look.

I have also used a sewing machine!  Wwwahhooo!  If you have only recently joined me you will wonder why I am so excited :-)  One of my New Years  targets (I don't do resolutions as I always break them) was to use a sewing machine, I haven't used one since College.

Well a lovely friend of mine lent me her sewing machine after reading my blog and then it sat there for a couple of weeks and another mate then came and threaded it up for me.  I had to break the fear factor of it so it sat there for another 2 - 3 weeks until I finally plucked up the courage and got a few moments of quiet in the house.

I made some little bags for the kiddies Easter egg hunt in the garden.  Nothing too big but great fun learning to make them.  I even had to learn to wind the bobbin up whilst doing it as that ran out of thread so that took about an hour lol.

Eldest Sweetpea wanted a more manly bag so he went for some owl fabric with a leather strap.  I was really proud of them and really enjoyed myself.

Little Sweetpea won a colouring competition at the local Library, she was really chuffed about it :-)

Middle Sweetpea did some hand sewing and made a lovely lavender pillow with a chick on the front, I must blog a piccy soon as she did really well and I was amazed how quiet she was when she was making it (she is not known for being quiet :-)).

And eldest Sweetpea made a tree house - I was gardening and then suddenly heard hammering and drilling and there he was up a tree creating a house.  He even has a pulee system to pull his dinner up there.

He also wanted to sleep there the night but we did say no to that just in case he fell out, we did let him stay out there for a while though.

He also made a fab go cart at the beginning of the holiday , I think engineering might be his thing :-)

I have also been creating more things for my little shop and am loving making things, in fact I get rather frustrated if I don't get to make a little something each day.

Chick up-date - they are growing so fast!

Hi everyone, I thought you may like an update on how the gorgeous little chicks are getting on, wow they grow so quickly.  They are now nearly 4 weeks old and we have 8 out of the original 9 that hatched (the poor little one that was having problems had to be put out of its misery :-().

They stayed in their brooder for the first 3 weeks to keep them warm at night and to check they were all happy and healthy. Here is a piccy of them all crashed out under their heat lamp, they used to all run around cheeping, eating and drinking and then all crash out 10 mins later.

We then started popping them outside for a little while in the day to scratch about in the grass.

I find it amazing that without a Mummy hen as a teacher they still know what to do e.g. scratching around, having mud baths etc - instinct is an amazing thing.

Inspired by Myrtle and Eunice (pop over there for a fab felt chick tutorial and a giggle) here is a piccy of the chicks doing a little dance:

Doing to do-si-do...

And a little Flamenco ...

Put your beak in, your beak out and shake it all about ...

And I am sure they were listening to Groove Armada here , I see you baby, shakin that ass lol.

This is them another week older as they look today - wow they look grown up but are still as cuddly :-)

The kids and their mates have been loving cuddling these cute little chicks and I think the chicks love it too :-)

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

Pinata Tutorial - How to make your own Pinata

A few weeks back I decided to make a Pinata for my little girls birthday.  I thought I would write a little tutorial as it was fun to make and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying it from a shop :-)  Be warned though, you will need to do this a few days before the party (rather than 1 day before like I did lol)  to let it dry thoroughly.

So, what will you need?

Newspaper, ripped up in quite large strips.
A balloon.
A small bowl to hold the Pinata as you make it.
A large bowl to make up in the glue in.
Tissue paper to decorate.
Some string.
Water.
Flour.

Make up the paste that will hold the newspaper together, for this you just need 2 cups of water and 1 cup of flour.  Mix it up until there aren't any lumps.

Blow up the balloon and then pop it into the bowl for support.  Start dipping the newspaper stips into the paste mixture and then layer it on the balloon until it is all covered but leave a hole  large enough to put sweets in, this is where the balloon is tied (this should be sitting in the bowl).  As you can see from the above photo this is quite messy so make sure you either do it outside or on a surface that is easily cleaned or thrown away.

Make about 3 layers and if possible make the top a few layers thicker (the top of the Pinata so the area that is nearer the bowl as when you take it out of the bowl that will be the top of your Pinata).

When it is completely dry make two holes near the entrance, thread some string through this .  Now cut up some tissue paper and decorate the Pianta however you wish, we used strips of tissue paper in various colours.  I glued this on with PVA glue but double sided sticky tape would work too.

Now fill the Pinata with sweets or treats and some cut up tissue paper to add to the effect when it explodes :-)

Hang it up and have fun!   

Remember it is best that the children do this one at a time to lower the injury risk, we used a wooden spoon to smack ours :-)  Here is a good video link for more info on how to make one - click here.