Spring has almost sprung :)

I've been enjoying all the extra sunlight the last week and I've been doing a fair bit down the allotment. I've been mostly digging, pruning and clearing ready for our mass delivery of poo tomorrow morning. We're also getting some seed potatoes delivered so we need to be down the plot bright and early tomorrow.
I'm also planning on waving goodbye to my vinyl collection this weekend. After a scour of the web I've found there is a second hand record shop in Letchworth that takes vinyl so I've dropped them a quick email and we're planning a trip this weekend. It will be a bit of a wrench saying goodbye to my record collection but I haven't had anything to play them on in donkeys years so I'd rather someone had them who could play them and enjoy them.
I've also been playing with all my new beads but haven't made anything wearable yet. I'm just experimenting with some old wire and the new round nosed pliers I got from beads unlimited. I'm getting the hang of looping the wire so I'm hoping to make myself a bracelet with my new goodies so watch this space.
I've also been reading loads just lately. I've finished Nick Hornbys' Juliet, Naked. I read it in less than a week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very likeable characters and very funny in places. I'm now reading Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. Its also really good so I'm already about a third of the way through it.

I've Died and Gone to Beading Heaven :)

All the goodies I won in the competition on CO&K arrived today at work and I'm so excited. I normally get most of my jewellery making stuff second hand and have learnt most of what I know about making jewellery from taking apart old or broken jewellery so having some brand new and proper jewellery making things is about as exciting as it gets! Its even come with instructions on some items I can make with my new stuff. Here's some piccies of my new stash :)





Now I'm off to play :)

I haz a win \o/

I got an email yesterday to say I had won joint first prize in a beading competition on Cut Out & Keep. I'm not totally sure what the prize is but I'm just so chuffed to have won something :) My winning entry was my tutorial for a crocheted wire bracelet (piccy of one I made for myself below).



I've mailed back with my address so hopefully a prize will be winging its way to me. I can't wait!

I've also had a fun and cheap day today visiting some of the charity shops in the Fleetsville area. They're a bit of a stroll but usually well worth the walk. Today I picked up a new work bag for £1.99, some more beads and chain for £2 and a book by Joanne Harris. I'm pretty chuffed with the bag. Its just the right size for work and has lots of handy compartments for my phone, purse and other assorted stuff I carry round with me.



On Friday I was also able to pick up some more seeds for the plot. I've picked up some cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn, lavender and courgettes. They should go nicely with the ones I fished out of the shed last week. I found tons of squash and pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, parsnips and onions (red and white). I just need to get my arse in gear now and do some digging and weeding so they are ready to go in when the time comes. Fingers crossed it will stay dry.

Crocheted cuffs

I've been having fun and getting back into crocheting again. I've been having a go at making some crocheted cuffs and have been using some of the inchies I made before Christmas and using them as details on the cuffs. Its also giving me an opportunity to use some of the buttons I made last year too. Heres the first one I made. I'm pretty chuffed with the results :)




I've also been reading a lot too and I'm currently reading Maya by Jostien Gaardner. I read Sophies World last year and wasn't majorly impressed considering the hype it got but then read the Solitaire Mystery and loved it. I also read Through the Glass Darkly by him just before Christmas and that wasn't all that but Maya seems far more along the lines of the Solitaire Mystery and I'm enjoying this one far more. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.

I've also been down the plot at the weekend. I mainly wanted to pick up the seeds we had stored in the shed and just assess any snow damage. I was pleasantly surprised. All the weeds seem to have been pretty much killed off so there's a lot of tidying to do. Most of the veg and herbs we had growing over the winter seem to have survived. Even the Strawberries weren't too bad. They'd got a bit water logged because we'd left them in a tray but once I tipped the smelly water off they looked okay. I can't wait for a few dry weekends so we can get down and do some digging and planting. Roll on Spring :)

Owls, owls and more owls.....

I've gone a bit owl crazy of late and have been making little tiny owls like theres no tomorrow. It all started when I was searching from some inspiration the other night in one of my Sew magazines. I saw these cute owl buttons and liked the simple design so I set about making myself a very simple pattern.
I've now made 4 owls and I'm on my fifth! Heres a pic of the little brood on my craft desk :)



Here's my tutorial that I uploaded to Cut Out and Keep.

See Cute Tiny Owl and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

I'm also really chuffed with myself as I won a £5 voucher from Beads Unlimited for one of my tweets over Christmas \o/. I've already got a little wish list so I can't wait to put in my order.