Ha! I remembered!!!

Well today has been fun! Not!! I finally started the dreaded bedroom swap. Kiddie has been complaining for some time now about the noise of the wind and the rain in her bedroom. When there's even the slightest hint of bad weather she appears at our bedroom door in the early hours. She did get the slightly bigger bedroom when we moved here anyhoo. So my OH decided that maybe we should swap. I must confess I had been thinking about it for a while - my dad's genes kicking in. He used to move furniture round and swap rooms over all the time whene we were kids. I think he got bored on a Sunday afternoon. Anyway, I let hubbie think it was his idea and planned to do it at the start of the Easter hols - ha ha. I finally began the task on the last day of the break. Typical!!

I was going to post 'before and after' pictures but when I looked at the photos I'm too embarrassed to post them. Our rooms look such bombsites but then... they were. Everything was all over the place while I started to take furniture to pieces. Oh what the heck!!

It'll make the 'after' pictures look that much more impressive! :0)

The wardrobe in kiddie's bedroom has now been demolished. The beds have swapped places. Tomorrow OH is NOT playing golf - how fortunate! Instead he is moving our wardrobes. He 'loves' DIY so much I think I will make myself scarce until the deed is done.

Watch this space. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post pics of two bedrooms fit for a spread in Ideal Homes magazine! Hopefully...

This evening I've been surfing blogs and have re-found a fantastic person's blog and her pages on Flickr. middleagedteacher is just great. As the name suggests it is the work of a lady in Sydney who teaches English at a girls school. She logs a daily diary of the fab outfits she wears to school and they are truly amazing. I wish I had this much style.

Short but sweet today. I've not made anything today and feel a bit wobbly because of it :0(. Maybe I had better go and do a bit of felting just to calm the shakes.

Why oh why oh why can't I remember to add a title?!

After posting the bouncing balls advert for Sony Bravia the other day, dogdaisy92 has sent me this which made me roar with laughter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h47mB9AOmhM

She does the most fabulous embroidery/textile stuff. It fair makes me drool. Clink on the link to see her pics on Flickr and then you can visit her etsy shop. One day I'll have my own.

Today I have completed my first commission. A friend from school and her kids saw my badges at the table top sale back in February, and her littlest asked if she could have them in her party bags for her birthday. So 'mum' sent the list of names and I made the badges for them all. At the sale most of my badges were made from recycled magazines and comics, so the kids' ones were 'Charlie and Lola' and suchlike. I was worried that the new ones wouldn't be what she wanted but, once you've got a name on large enough to be clearly visible there's not a lot of space on a 38mm badge for much else.

I scanned some gingham fabric, put it into Photoshop then added the names over the top. The older girls wanted a different design so I played with all sorts of filters and patterns in Photoshop and came up with the middle picture, which almost looks like fabric I think.
Anyway, once they were all finished I dropped them round this afternoon and they were over the moon with them. As a result I received my first earnings:

Woohoo!! Real pound coins and everything!! Maybe I should frame 'em. I'm just glad that they were happy with the badges. Check out some of the names btw!! Aren't they great?!

Before delivering the order I went to visit incy's mummy and pick up my parcel of goodies. Look what that nice lady - Sam - has given me. Tomorrow I am mostly going to be making tassels for my belly dancing dolls. I have given Sam a little prezzie as a 'thank you'. Shhh - don't tell her what it is.....

I AM A VISIONARY.

Why? You may well ask. Well, when I went to that jumble sale the other weekend - you know the one, fill a bag for a pound - there was one little gem that I didn't add to my Flickr pages. I was going to wait and unveil it as a 'before and after' but instead I have decided to reveal it now in all it's unloved, mildewed glory.

Ahh bless... I can hear you all humouring me now, but NO I have not lost my marbles. This WILL be a fantastic beach trolley. Just think how much clobber you could stuff in one of these babies - towels, cozzies, barbecue, booze, wellies, coats, scarves, kitchen sink..... Even carrying it over sand between two people would be easier than lugging loads of holdalls and carriers bags (sorry - wash my mouth out). With a bit of Cath Kidston oilcloth, some car spray paint and some tlc this will be my practise run for when I get my VW camper (you know the one that currently resides in Cloud Cuckoo Land). It will be a funky, surf-chic beach wagon. Watch this space..... Everyone will want one!!!!

Catching Up and Kaleidoscope

Wahey! Today I've been to visit my other other half. The other half of ethel and edna - Ann. We had a fab time catching up. I showed her all my very non-fine art dolls and needle felting stuff. She showed me her fur covered toilet seats and hoodies made from bubble wrap!!! All that conceptual stuff seems so long ago now. It made me appreciate all over again how I can now make things because I enjoy making them, and there might be the possibility of selling them at some point. It made me laugh to think what Big Ian would say if he could see what I am producing now.

I have been a big bad blatant copyist today!!! After seeing incy's post the other day I really wanted to do a mosaic of my own Flickr favourites to brighten up my blog. She does know really and I'm hugely grateful to her for providing the link to big huge labs and their feast of toys to play with on Flickr. So here it is -

Row 1 (left to right):

1,2,3. incywincy 4. *BeautifulThings* 5,6. whatkatiedid.next
Row 2:

1. meike 2. Swirlyarts 3. C.Karen 4,5. whatkatiedid.next 6. Willowpoppy

Row 3:

1,2,3. Willowpoppy 4.bugsandfishes 5. createitcottage 6. creativebumblebee

Row 4:

1. PhaedraPhoenix 2. jellybelly*jellybrain 3. Blooming Felt 4. lis_glass 5,6. BBC Radio 2

Row 5:

1. BBC Radio 2 2. moomintravels 3. jellybelly*jellybrain 4. woodtattoos 5,6. shessosweet

Row 6:

1. glowing sunsets 2,3. made by moxie 4,5,6. whatkatiedid.next

Hope you agree with some of my choices. The colours and textures just make me go 'Ooooh', as do the pics of Russell Brand (;0) hehe )

Excited!!! :0)

Sorry. I'm just a bit excited so I had to do another quick little postette. I looked at my blog after making my last post and it just looks "proper". It looks like a real crafty person's blog and it's mine.
Finished now.

Booooiiiinnnggg!!!

There is a programme on TV at the moment about advertising and my fave ever ad came on. The quality of the video isn't great but here it is.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bb8P7dfjVw



It's just so lovely to look at, even better if you could afford the telly to watch it on. :0) Oh they've now played my current favourite - the Skoda "My Favourite Things" one (ha ha) with the car made out of cake and sweets and chocolate. Wouldn't you just love to eat it?



What a result! Small kiddie went swimming with her chum this afternoon...




...and never came back! I went to collect her and she was invited to stay to tea which then expanded to stopping for a sleepover. That's two in one week. At this rate she'll be moving out next week! he he he #



Yet more links but this is a serious one. For those who don't know (and there's no reason why anyone reading this would) my dad lost a 5 year battle with cancer in October 2006. He was just 61 and had always been mega fit and healthy. The last person you would've expected to get 'it'.

Well this year mum is doing the Race for Life in Sutton Park and she has got organised enough to set up online sponsorship. If anyone would like to sponsor her to help raise money for Cancer Research UK then please follow this link.

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/kaybywater

The care and support that dad received was amazing, and the trial drugs that he took for the last 18 months helped with the ongoing research that the charity does as well as extending his precious time with us.
Anything you could give would be fantastic. Thanks.

Better Mummy - Rubbish Wifey!

I am feeling very virtuous today. Can you see my halo shining? I have a tick list of good deeds that I've done.

1. First, we had kiddie's friend round to play for the morning so she was very happy. No more guilt-trips about not having a brother or sister to play with, well for a while at least.
2. As an added bonus, this afternoon the same friend's daddy has taken all 3 kids swimming. Just what kiddie has been wanting to do all week.
3. After lunch I went and gave blood so now I NEED to have a quiet sit down to conserve energy. The ideal excuse to 'work' on the computer. :0)

This was after a VERY "dubious" end to yesterday and start to today. I think if I was a paid employee I'd be on my final written warning as far as OH is concerned!

• No olive oil when he tried to cook last night.
• No milk when he went to make us a cup of tea just before bed.
• No milk for breakfast this morning.
• No clean boxers - well one pair to wear but all the rest in the tumble drier - wet!! And he needed spare for after workout today.

eek! In an effort to redeem myself I have washed and dried every pair of boxers I can find. I have blitzed the kitchen, hall and front room. I have been to Tesco's and bought milk and also steak for tea. Hopefully he won't sack me just yet.

I am currently lousing up the new feature on the Forum cuz I haven't been putting titles to my blogs. I need to make 8 - 10 new posts WITH titles to sort things out, so I may do a series of quickies as and when the mood takes me, just to bump the numbers up and stop messing things up for everyone else.

Have listed a couple of my things of Craftjuice for peeps to take a looksee. If you like 'em please vote for them. Would be nice to generate a bit of interest in my stuff. Thanks so much for looking.

silly girls #6

silly girls #6
Originally uploaded by ethel and edna

Evie decided she would like "very much please mummy" a girlie to go with Pinky Rose. BUT she wanted longer hair like her own and she didn't like the original nose so could that be altered too?
Here is the finished result - Evie as a Silly Girl. Should I call it Miss Picky?!