1st March (Mawrth)

Bore da a Dydd Gwyl Dewi Dedwydd i chi!
Good morning and Happy St David's Day to you!

Another OWOH Prize!

My lovely One World One Heart prize from Anja in Slovenia arrived today - isn't it pretty! I love it! I can't make up my mind where I want to wear it - bag, coat, jumper? So I think I will be moving it around quite a bit..... I might even try to make something similar myself - I hope Anja won't mind. I've pictured it with this little frame containing a favourite photo of my grandmother. Its decorated with Celandines (did you see my post yesterday) - the sunshine yellow felt is exactly the colour of the flower I photographed yesterday.

Anja has such a lovely blog - I hope you will visit her at Drobtinice (Crumbs) soon .

More signs of Spring

Although it was a grey day I took another favourite walk this afternoon and found signs that Spring is surely on its way even though there are still patches of snow on the surrounding hills. I can remember nature lessons in primary school where we had to draw the male and female flowers of the Hazel. I was always fascinated by those tiny shocking pink flowers. Also today I found a single Celandine flower under the hedge - it was closed as there was no sunshine but I love that olive green colour brushed onto the underside of the bright yellow petals.
The travel books say there are more sheep in Wales than there are people and this is definitely true at this time of year - lambs are bleating everywhere in the fields. I seem to remember that lambs always came in the Spring when I was a child but nowadays they are often born before Christmas and have to endure freezing, wet and stormy weather instead of gamboling in the sunshine. This mother didn't like me being so close to her lamb and stamped her foot!

New Boots!

I won these gorgeous little boots on Donna's blog, The Ribboned Crown, during the One World One Heart blog event earlier in the month - they arrived yesterday and have taken their place on my craft desk perfectly. Aren't they pretty and such an original idea! Thank you so much Donna!

A forgotten gift!

When I got home from our visit to France last week I realised I hadn't brought a gift for one sister - I don't know how I missed her out as everyone else was catered for. So I decided to at last try and create something with the sea glass I picked up on the beach whilst I was there. This is my first attempt and I'm not completely satisfied with it but I learned a bit in the construction so hopefully my next will be better. I saw some great instructions for drilling sea glass on Anji's blog here - am I brave enough to try it - not sure yet! But her drilled jewelry is gorgeous! I will present the necklace in this little favour tin - I lined it with some azure coloured felt cut with a Nestie and decorated the lid with a circle punched from a French bus ticket I saved - easy! Hope she likes it.

More Snowdrops?

How about this for a recycling idea! I don't expect the petrol tubes used to make the snowdrops are available in your local tobacco- nist today but I'm on the look- out for a substitute.

This page comes from a wartime issue of Stitchcraft magazine. I assembled my collection of this crafty magazine a few years ago and I'm rather embarrassed to admit to having a copy of every issue from January 1944 to December 1969 - I decided to stop at 1969, though I'm still on the lookout for pre-1944 issues missing from the run!

We've heard a lot about the "Make do and Mend" movement our mothers and grandmothers were encouraged to adopt in those difficult days but looking through my wartime issues of Stitchcraft there was much to enjoy if you were a crafter. I thought I would share some ideas from the 1940s and 1950s magazines during 2010 and although this project may not be to your taste, there are many makes that we would enjoy today. I love this funny embroidery design from the same issue - unfortunately I don't think the transfer is still available!

Snowdrops in the Garden

Yes, I've actually done a bit of tidying in the garden today - there's such a lot to do. The sun was out and things are starting to push through the soil under all the dead leaves of autumn that still lie on the borders....... bringing on the guilt that pushed me to do something about all the mess. But I have to say that once I start tidying its so satisfying that only the darkness creeping up on me sends me inside for a cup of tea.

I hope I'm motivated enough to carry on the good work tomorrow - if the sun shines.

OWOH Winners - Yipee!

I'm very happy to announce I've found my One World One Heart winner and three runners up using the Random Number Generator. And the WINNER is (drum roll)........

Sam (The Life and Times of Me) here

Congratulations Sam and thanks for entering my very first giveaway.

My three runners up are:

Pea (Carole) here
Miss Koolaid (Sophie) here
Kathy "Inkin' It Up" here

I hope you are pleased with your prizes ladies and I only wish I could send something to all who took the time to leave such lovely comments - but it would take me till next year!!!! So I can only send you all a huge THANKYOU.AND guess what! I'VE WON THREE PRIZES TOO - WOOO HOOOO. As soon as I receive them I will be proudly showing them to you here. I can't believe I've been so lucky as I never usually win anything........ hmmm....... perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket this week too!

Oh, and I nearly forgot - ONE HUGE THANKYOU to Lisa for organising such a wonderful event. I do hope we can do it all again next year.

Back home just in time for OWOH ride end!

Arrived home from visiting my sister in the South of France last night after having to stay an extra 2 days because of SNOW - yes really! Nice airport just couldn't cope with it and all flights were grounded! I know it was probably very inconvenient for many of my fellow travelers but it was no hardship for us as we didn't have any commitments waiting and were able to go back to my sister's nice warm flat. And our extra day was a beautiful day - we spent a lot of it sitting or walking on the beach in the sun - most of the snow disappearing quietly in the night.
However, while my son was taking his afternoon snooze on the beach I was busy adding to my collection of crochet flowers ready for the last day of the OWOH blog event tomorrow - you can see them in the photo with my souvenirs of the trip. I found the silicone cake cases for sale at a bargain price in a favourite shop selling hundreds of different preserving jars and olive oil bottles and I've again added to my collection of sea glass - I really must do something with it soon! I've seen some lovely jewelry on my carpet trip and have some ideas for encasing the nicest pieces of glass in silver wire. Watch this space!

Now, I want to thank everyone for visiting my blog over the last couple of weeks and leaving such lovely comments - I've never had so many visitors and I've been delighted by so many sweet compliments. I hope to visit all commenters at my leisure over the next few weeks when all the frantic blog hopping has ended. There's lots I want to investigate thoroughly.

And I want to specially welcome each and every one of the new followers to my blog - its so flattering to have you interested in what I'm doing and its a great incentive for me to carry on creating and blogging. I'd like to buy you all a posy of mimosa from the flower market.

So tomorrow evening I will be choosing my winners - I think I will have enough flowers for three second prizes so I will ask the Random Number Generator to pick me 4 numbers - good luck everyone! And good luck to me too - fingers crossed I can win a prize somewhere.

PTI Challenge Day 5

Here's my entry for Nichole's challenge today - which is to use an emboss resist technique on a project. I thought I'd make a bookmark as this stamp (Darkroom Door Wildflower set) is long and thin. A card would just keep falling over - very irritating when its on your mantlepiece!

I do like this effect but I think I need to invest in some clear embossing powder that can give a greater detail. I'll have to do some research to find which is the best.

As with the previous days' posts, Nichole is offering a fabulous prize for the lucky winner - if only it could be me!

Something to look forward to.....

I've found so many wonderful blogs through the One World One Heart Magic Carpet event organised by Lisa (click on the ticket on my side bar to start flying). A blog post that has really stuck in my mind is this one from Tessa - An Aerial Armadillo. I just love her Papa's mantra - what a lovely man he must be. And how wise - we all need something to look forward to, whatever it might be - a huge event like a holiday or Christmas, or a tiny thing such as something pretty arriving in the post or the first of your seeds pushing through compost.

Jeni and I found each other through a family history website a few years ago. My cousin and I have been researching our family for many years but we were never able to find very much on our two fathers' family as their parents died before we, their grandchildren, were born. So we were very excited to find Jeni in Australia as she belongs to that lost family. Jeni and I met in 2008 when she came over to Wales and we had a lovely time haunting graveyards and visiting the places where our family had been. I'm so pleased she can visit again this coming Autumn - something delightful to look forward to.

And I'm very lucky as I've something to look forward to much sooner than the Autumn - on Saturday I'm off to visit my sister in Nice for a few days. AND..... I will get my camera back - yipee!

OMG!!!!

Well, to say my gasted has been well and truly flabbered is an under- statement. I am so delighted with my involve- ment in Lisa's blog event and so chuffed with the response to my giveaway. Comments have now passed the 200 barrier so like other bloggers I am adding some more prizes. I've decided to carry on crocheting flowers until the event closes on 15th February and hope to be able to put together at least three or four more gifts. Unfortunately I don't have any more seeds so instead I will add something else to the flowers - such as this little decorated notebook. I'm looking forward to deciding what to make.

I'm still trying to produce decent images with the pencam but am failing miserably. I'm so looking forward to getting my camera back next week! But here's a picture of the embroidery silks I've been using to make my flowers. I bought this vintage tin on ebay a couple of years ago. As well as the silks it contained a half completed embroidered picture the owner had purchased from a Woman & Home magazine in the 1950s. I just love being able to appreciate and use something that has lain unloved for many years.

Anyway, my new crocheted flowers will be stored in a decorated glassine bag and will be accompanied by another little handmade gift. I notice one or two comments suggest they wouldn't be able to have the seeds due to customs regulations - I think this may be the case for Australia and I will of course check with the winner before sending the seeds. I remember a friend who emigrated to Australia a couple of years ago was not even allowed to take her cane furniture with her!

I'm so enjoying visiting all the other bloggers taking part in Lisa's event - I'd love to visit them all but there are over 900 so far and I'm only on number 350! I've added at least 50 blogs to my following list already - there are so many talented crafters out there in the world and its so lovely to see what they are all doing. You must visit at least a few if you have time - and you may win something wonderful! Click on the Magic Carpet link on my sidebar. And we should all give Lisa three cheers for all her hard work in organising this fabulous event.