A Coconut Day

I love Summer Fetes. A unique combination of cake stalls, pony rides, bottle raffles, face-painting, and other such delights guaranteed to excite most small children.

This School Fete had a coconut shy.
Aim - try and hit a coconut with a tennis ball.
Success rate - usually poor.

To lessen the disappointment for those that were determined to practice their hand/eye co-ordination on a coconut, prizes were awarded if you managed to make the coconut wobble - or perhaps the teachers didn't want to lug the 2 huge sacks of coconuts home if there were no winners.

A few tennis balls later we set off home with not 1 but 2 coconuts.

"So how do we open it?"

Hmmm, not sure, I'll quickly pop over to the Etsy forums and ask my UK Etsy friends.
They advised large bowls, wearing of an apron and an array of tools. And so the coconuts were opened - without any accidents too.






Coconut water on a warm day was a delicious treat, I just wish we'd won a few more..

Its A Moo Day!

I have been drooling over Moo cards for a while - those cute, stylish little business cards. And I eventually took a Moo plunge and ordered some - here are my Moo's!





Don't you just love them!

It's A Green Day...

It has been a busy few days for all things green and growing. A few rainy days followed by little bursts of sunshine is starting to encourage sudden bursts of strength in plants which have been looking a little pale.













Courgette plants were put into the ground, (keep away slugs keep away!) and I also gathered some flowers to bring a little positive purple energy into the house.




Inspired by all this greenfingeredness I also created my latest brooch - a most wonderful shade of green topped of with a lovely black button. I have put it for sale in my Etsy shop despite being sorely tempted to wear it myself. Though with one black button remaining in my button box I doubt it will be long before I make one of these for myself..

My How You've Grown!

It doesnt seem that long ago that I was sitting these little potatoes onto a layer of soil, covering them just so the leaves were peeking through, and watching and waiting.

We didn't have to wait long before each day required a check of flourishing leaves and stems, that seemed to grow inches on an hourly basis, covering them with more layers of soil, until the tubs could take no more.

And this is how they are today:



Tall, green, healthy, looking lush - lets hope buried beneath is a bounty of home-grown potatoes.

I have also been given some courgette plants which need a place to live - and lets hope the slug army that try to govern my garden leave them alone this year - and today received an email offering me some tomato plants. And before you ask, no, it was not some spam dodgy emailer masquerading as a bearer of tomato plants, it was my very green-fingered mother. Who grows lots of things.

Time for Tea

A day does not feel quite right unless it begins with a cup of tea. Other things I can skip without causing too much discord - toast, cereals, coffee - but tea is an Absolute Must.

So of course when I discovered teapot fabric whilst on one of my many missions to the fabric store, I knew it could be created into something sweet and unique.

Finding the perfect deep pink wool, cutting the fabric so the teapot would be seen in its entirety, lining it in a pure white fabric, and hey presto the clutch bag was finished today.

I've listed it in my Etsy shop too so I shall see if there are any other tea lovers out there.





And of course I rewarded myself with a nice, hot cup of tea.

New Bag New Bag!

So the summer is smiling upon us and I am becoming drawn towards cheerful and bright prints. I loved the colour combinations in this fabric and spent a while debating the merits of a clutch bag or a shoulder bag for it, in the end I plumped for the shoulder bag.


I also, whilst browsing in my favourite fabric store, came across a wonderful electric blue fabric - at the time I had no idea what it would or could be, but once the bag was underway I realised it would make a perfect lining for it.




How nice to have a bright colour to greet you when you're rummaging around in your bag!

My mother also provided me with the lovely vintage button that sits at the front - I so adore buttons - and of course it had to be topped off with a bit of crochet.

Craft Sale Number 1

My sister (herself full of arty and crafty goodness) has recently helped organise a Craft Sale, as a fund-raising venture for the NCT (The National Childbirth Trust) and asked me to provide some of my wares for the event. The sale was hosted in one of the homes of an NCT member, and included photographs, bangles, knitted goodies, brooches, - and lots of nice cakes. Here are a few snapshots of the day:

My sister's photographs, some in frames, are sitting to the right of this photo next to my knitted flannels and brooches.

Yay! Cloudhopping bags and brooches on display!


So thank you sis for letting cloudhopping goodies venture into your Craft and Art Sale!

And any new mums or mums-to-be in the UK check out the NCT too for an abundance of information and support on all things to do with bumps and babies.

Oh To Be 5 Again

This week has been a celebratory one, as the Small Daughter reached the excellent age of 5.

The birthday cake was made and decorated - and surprisingly I was able to hide the finished product from her until the grand occasion.



All Small Children insisted on helping with party bags to give to her friends at her party - I love using these white bags for children's parties, we change how we will decorate them each party, the final decision rests with the Party Child. Small Daughter wanted the boys to have pirate pictures and the girls to have fairy pictures, - no stereotyping there then.





I seem to find birthdays a reflective time - "goodness I remember celebrating your **th birthday with you!" to friends and family, with recollections of events that have long gone, some we are glad we left way behind us, some we wish we could recreate.

And when I looked at Small Daughter on her birthday, clever, funny, happy, independent, brave, I could recall the moment she arrived and the emotions of that day so clearly, it could have been last week. So I guess birthdays are not just about the cake.

But a fine cake it was.