Happy Birthday Princess!!!

It’s hard to believe a whole year has gone by since we first welcomed Arabella into the world. (Although it’s equally difficult to remember life before her!!)




To mark her first birthday, I wanted to create a pink princess party we’d never forget (well the princess herself won’t remember it, but hopefully she’ll enjoy looking at the photos in years to come!). John designed some gorgeous invites and we ordered a fab outfit on Etsy from HugWear



Here is my beautiful princess modelling her outfit! (It’s almost impossible to get any non-blurry, face-on pics of her as she’s sooooooooo lively~ was walking before the 10month mark and can now out-run me!!!! Don’t know where she gets the energy, as she never sleeps longer than 20mins!!!)

And what does every princess need???

A pony!!!!!

I also whipped up some cupcake toppers and a high-chair banner and was in my element buying, baking & making pink goodies to decorate the kitchen. I was only allowed to decorate the kitchen as big brother, Dylan, wanted to scare all the guests first with the hallway and garden decked out for Halloween!!!

We’d a brill day sipping pink champers and nibbling pink delights (including some luminous pink painted sausage rolls, and groovy ham roley-poleys sambos!)

(This was only half the goodies.... We're still stuffed!!!)

House almost back to normal now... roll on 23rd November when we do it all again for Dylan’s 6th birthday pirate extravaganza!!!!

Happy First Birthday Arabella



A Great Weekend!!

I just love going home to Clonmel to visit my parents. They are great with the Grandkids and I always come back with treasures from my childhood.

This week I found my old letters/numbers stamping kit from the ELC- perfect for making Christmas paper and gift-tags as the ink is red. Will be great for getting Dyl to make words too. Also found my Easter egg moulds so will have fun making them nearer the time. And I brought back a load of postage stamps for future swap-bot swaps!!!

My Dad let me use his mobile phone upgrade to get myself a snazzy new phone and my Mum pooped in to O' Reilly's pharmacy and managed to snag the last 2 baby goodie bags from their baby giveaway day. Loads of free samples and leaflets!!  The only thing I missed out on this weekend was the Clonmel Market at Dudley Mills- they always have great crafty bits so will def have to make it next time.

Finally this weekend we booked our Summer holiday to the French Med- Can't wait, just hope Arabella can cope with the heat...

This morning our postie brought me a very pleasant surprise a RAK from PJ, a Little Bo Peep and a sheep iron on for Arabela's blanket. I had totally forgotten it was on it's way. Must get my swaps sent this week too. I'm due to send 2 small envies of Irish stuff e.g. stamps etc and a penpal letter.

Also to Do this week:
- Walk Everyday
- Attempt to cook a new recipe (My New Year's Resolution)
- Send out the last few baby pressie Thank Yous...... (3 months later!!)
- See 'Tangled'

Phew, better get to it!!! xXx

Feeling Motivated....

Ok so himself still hasn't redesigned my blog for me (I'm no good at the technical stuff...) but feel it's time I posted something anyways.

Have been mad busy over the Summer, getting ready for baby number 2 while trying to entertain a four year old. The good news is he's practically all sorted now for big school!! Baby stuff is pretty much under control too... Just need to pick up the little essentials nearer the time (12 weeks to go!!) Then there's the small matter of decorating the spare room/ nursery. We are renting at the mo so cant go painting/ hanging new curtains etc...

Have successfully made bunting (in both our girls and boys names) to hang but need to make the room feel more welcomming for the new baby. Have decided to sew up a number os decorative bitsNbobs with the time I have left. My grand project (before this have only sewn a few patches...) will include:

• Redoing the lining of the moses basket I had when I was a baba (25 years ago!!!) Found a great tutorial on SewCanDo- Love this blog!!
• Making a diaper/nappy stacker- and get this I've even come up with my own pattern (I'll probably lose all confidence the moment I start and google one but for now I will use my own!!)
• Making a pair of fabric shoes from one of the loads of tutorials available out there!!
• Creating a tapestry/ playmat to hang over the boring curtains in the room at the mo- will hopefully work as a black-out blind too...
• Some other sort of wall art, framed picture, quote etc... all ideas welcome!!

Wow I feel very motivated right now but dunno how long it will last. Have figured out my sewing machine though- wouldn't my home ec teacher be impressed (or shocked) if she could see me now!! I wasnt allowed near them in school as struggled with foot pedal control and managed to cut a hole in the middle of, and burn with an iron, the apron I was supposed to be making. Have reintroduced myself to the sewing machine but the iron remains my nemesis....

Fingers crossed, and a deep breath as I dive back into the World of Crafting after an absense of about 12 years!!!