It's raining again...

So how was the Bank Holiday for you? Were you in the lovely sunny north or the wet and windy south? We seemed to be in the middle (yeah well - it's the Midlands I live in so what did I expect? lol) so it was overcast all day. The odd spot of rain and then, at the end of the parade, the sun peeped through very briefly. "The parade?" I hear you ask... Lichfield Greenhill Bower parade. I think I may have mentioned it... :0) Ginger Spice made another appearance, and in the full glare of public scrutiny. Am I mad? Here is a picture of me, my mum (Scary Spice - very scary) and kiddie as half a Baby Spice. So does it make sense now? Having seen my mother can you understand? Getting dressed up and making a show of myself is a genetic disorder. :0)

Here is the full complement of Spice Girls with two half-Baby Spices at the front making a whole one. Trudy (Posh) managed to walk the entire two mile route wearing those boots. All hail Trudy!!

And here we are en route, with the fab Nick driving his Marlin. In the background you can just make out Jake and Elwood - The Blues Brothers - who accompanied us in our quest for funds.

All in all it was a fab day, although there was a lot of hanging around before we set off. Next year we plan to make our entry bigger and better, with a lorry float so we don't have to walk - hehe. I'm already formulating ideas for a theme but any suggestions would be very welcome. Who knows, we may even let some of the school children join in ;0)

So onto other things... Are you sitting down? I have actually been doing some crafting. Shock!! Horror!! I may have been in danger of flouting the Trades Descriptions Act or something, I mean this is meant to be a craft blog, isn't it. Well here are the 12 Sillies I have been working on. I decided to have a play with these ones and give them a bit more personality. SO there are a variety of expressions, as well as hair and skin colours. I quite liked the cross-eyed ones as they were, but then the idea of them actually looking at something on their noses hit me. Butterflies, bees and ladybirds were the answer. Some of them are a bit stroppy looking but then who has girls that are perfect angels all the time? I'm just making their dresses then I'll take some more photos so you can see what you think.

The other things I've been making are these cute little fabric boxes. I found this tutorial on applehead's blog a while ago (I've linked to it before I know but it is great and I like to make sure I always give credit), and finally decided to have a go. I picked up the polka dot pillowcase at a car boot sale and the felt was in a parcel of off-cuts I bought very cheaply on eBay. They are really quick and easy to make and can hold any number of odds and ends. I plan to make another batch of these. It's full steam ahead now for my very first craft fair.

The fair - Truly Handmade - now has it's own website. Quite a few of us from the CF will be attending so come and say hello. A bit of moral support would be great, as well as getting to meet some of my 'invisible' friends in the flesh. :0)

Almost forgot. I popped over to Hobbycraft at Tamworth on Saturday. I needed to buy red, white and blue balloons for the Bower and - what a shame - Hobbycraft just happened to have a sale on. It was great actually. usually kiddie hates going shopping but I managed to persuade her with some pocket money. When we got to the store she disappeared to find something to buy with her dosh, so I could look around in peace. When she had spent up I kept giving her challenges of things to find - my balloons hehehe!

Anyway, I disgress. Here are some of the goodies I bought, 'cause I haven't got enough craft stuff honestly. It's such a shame.

Lovely grosgrain ribbon - 99p a reel. There was just too much of this stuff. I wanted one of every pattern and colour combo.

I've never used shrink plastic before and I thought it would be a good half term thing to do when kiddie is fed up. I actually saw a great tutorial using inkjet shrink plastic to make charms for a bracelet. It was done by my Toadstool swap partner, Molly applecyder.

These stamps were so chap I couldn't not have them. The single letters were 29p each and the 4 little cakes were 99p. The ink pad was £2.99 but 3 nice colours and I don't have any apart from black. More experiments for later in the week when boredom has set in. Photos will be forthcoming as we play.

Before I go I'd just like to say thanks to everyone for their fab supportive comments and messages following my last post. It's great to know that you're there and I hope you'll nag me if I come unstuck and start to waiver in the future. I'm on the lookout for a little button/meter to monitor my progress on my blog. If anyone comes across such a thing I'd love a link. :0)

I'm sure there's something I've forgotten but I'll just have to do another post when I remember. ttfn xx