House of Sparkle

Saturday, 5 September 2015

Return of the MAC

Hello again!

Now, I love a little freebie as much as the next person, but when you can get a freebie for doing something that is also great for the planet, well, who could wish for more?!?!

So you can imagine my excitement when I sorted out my old stash of empty MAC makeup products and discovered I had a grand total of 12 items of packaging!!!!

For those of you who don't understand why I'm getting excited about rubbish, well let me enlighten you! For every 6 items of packaging (ie, compact, lipstick tube, eye shadow pot etc.) that you return to MAC, the lovely people who work there will GIVE you a FREE lipstick!! So the fact that I have 12 means ... you got it... 2 Free lipsticks!!

I can't wait to go and have a look at their gorgeous colours and claim my 2 freebies! So my friends my advice to you is - don't chuck out your old packages, save them in a little bag in your wardrobe and before you know it, you too will be running back to MAC for your very own freebies and patting yourself on the back for all the good you have done for the planet!

See you again soon xx

Thursday, 3 September 2015

Bye bye babies! :(

So today was the first day of a new school year and I had to send my babies off into the big wide world without me (again!) At the start of the holidays I wondered (like many other parents) how we would get through those long summer weeks. Don't get me wrong, I was looking forward to spending quality time together but, when I was awoken early on that first day off by the sound of bickering, closely followed by 'Muuuuuuuuuum...'(who knew this little word could be dragged out this much?!?!?) followed by: 'he kicked/hit/scratched me', I must confess I was wondering whether I'd make it through!

However, after a few days we all began to unwind from our long school year. Once the children de-stressed and got their energy back, it turned out that they were really quite lovely (well, most of the time!) I re-discovered those lovely, sweet, little babies I gave birth to all those years ago!

We had all kinds of fun and frivolity (more about that on a later blog) but we didn't fill everyday with exhausting activity, some days the children asked to stay in their pjs so I obliged (I quite like staying in my pjs all day to be fair!) It's amazing how much fun it can be just to snuggle up and watch DVDs especially with the great British weather being true to form for most of the break!

As we prepared to go back to school in our last days off, it suddenly struck me that I didn't have babies anymore! Joshua is about to turn 7 and Olivia, my baby, is going into Year One!! It's quite scary because, while I was growing up, I always thought I was going to 'have babies' and that would be that. What I didn't realise was just how short a time they are babies for!

So I guess what I am trying to say is that I am so thankful for these holidays, I know not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to spend all the holidays with their children and I am so grateful to have been able to re-connect with them! I am so proud of the people they are becoming and I wish them so much luck in the next step of their journey in life.

Sorry for being soppy! If it helps they were both incredibly grumpy after school and are back to driving me nuts again (but they're still my babies and I did miss them!)

Best wishes to all of you who are sending your babies into the big wide world!

Elizabeth x

PS. NO - this sadness over my babies growing up does not mean I want another one! I am NOT having any more! (before anyone asks lol!!)

Wednesday, 2 September 2015

Crochet creations!

Hello!

Those of you who know me will know how much I LOVE to crochet! I will sit and crochet most evenings while the TV is on in the background, I crochet in the car on long (or sometimes even short) journeys and I will even crochet while sitting in the garden sunbathing (on the rare occasion we get some sun here in England!).

My mum taught me to crochet when I was quite little, just starting me off with making a simple chain but I didn't really progress from there at the time. Once I had my first child I was keen for him to have a special home-made stocking, like the ones my mum had crocheted for me and my sister when we were little, so I asked her to teach me. These were a great way to start as they are made up of Granny Squares which are super-easy to learn and work up quite quickly so it's not long before you are getting results which I find really helps me keep going when I am learning a new skill. One of the reasons I'm not so keen on knitting is that you feel you're working really hard but can't really see any results for ages!

Since making the stockings I have made a few blankets from Granny squares which is so simple as you just join them all together with a darning needle and yarn. I then do a little border either in Double crochet stitches or Trebles.

Here are the bits I've made! Hope you enjoy them. I personally love looking at crocheted bits. They are sooo yummy!

This is a stocking that I made for my friends daughter (after making mine I seemed to get lots of commissions for these from friends!) The ones my children have are bigger as I made them 4 squares tall (I can't find a photo of them at the moment. I'll take some more this year!)

These are the squares I did to make my own blanket. I used 5 different colours and alternated them to make different squares. I always finished with round 6 in cream (so never used cream on round 5) this meant the blanket would look like it had a cream background. I joined the squares in cream and also used it for the start of the border.

Here it is all finished! So cosy!!

First I tried a scalloped edge...

...but I decided I preferred the shell edge.

I also used Granny Squares to make a blanket for my friend's baby which is so cute!

By this point I was a Granny Square Pro! I decided to give other patterns a go and I am now well and truly hooked (get it?!?!)

I will blog another day about other bits I have done with links to the patterns.

I hope you have all enjoyed all this crochet yumminess! I've got a granny square pattern below for those who want it. Please comment with any suggestions for blogs or anything you would like me to do if you have ideas. Thanks!

Bye for now!

Elizabeth x

The pattern I use for my Granny Squares (for those who crochet) is as follows:

Round 1
-Ch 5 sl st into 1st ch
-ch 3 (counts as first tr)2tr, ch1 3tr, ch1 3tr, ch1 3tr, ch1 sl st into top of ch3.
change colours

Round 2
Starting in a ch space ch3 (counts as 1st tr) 2tr ch 1 3tr ch1, *Then into next chain space 3tr ch1, 3tr ch1
repeat from * twice more then sl st into top of ch 3

Round 3
Starting in a ch sp between the two clusters of trebles from before ch3 (counts as 1st tr)2tr ch 1 3tr ch1,
*Then into next ch sp (the larger space with the cluster from the previous row below it) - 3tr 1ch,
Then into next ch sp (Between two clusters again) 3tr ch1, 3tr ch1,
Repeat from * twice more
Then into next ch sp (the larger space with the cluster from the previous row below it) - 3tr 1ch,
Then sl stitch into top of ch3

Round 4
Continue to work as before making clusters of 3tr in each ch space and 2 clusters of trebles into the spaces between the previous 2 clusters of trebles (these form the corners to the squares)

Round 5
Continue as in round 4

So these are the squares all sewn together ready to make my stockings. Then I just crocheted a long strip of Treble crochets long enough to go down one side along the bottom, round the toe and up the other side to join the two together.

Please let me know if you find any errors in the pattern! Thanks x

Monday, 31 August 2015

Our New Look Play Room!

Our new house has a conservatory which we decided would be a playroom. That way all the toys and arts and crafts stuff could all be in one place and our living room could be a lovely, tidy, more grown-up space. Yeah, right! who are we kidding? It'll just mean more space for the children to spread their mess lol!

Anyway, the conservatory was very dated with mahogany paintwork and grubby, magnolia walls. I am not too keen on the rust-coloured blinds either but we can't afford to replace them all just now. There are window blinds too but I forgot to take a photo before I took them down to decorate! They were really dated too, The bottom part was cut into kind of arches with a brass rod through them!

Anyway, so here's the before (well during really as I've started sanding here!)

And... Ta da! Here's the finished playroom!

Mark-making area

Home Area on the left here and dressing up in the basket

Book Corner

Lots of storage

Listening Area and Diary/ Weather Chart

My little monkeys are loving it!

Polymer Clay Crochet Hook Handles

Today I made some hook handles out of Fimo, not bad first attempt!

(Olivia made the heart from the leftovers)

Valentines Day 2015

Happy Valentines Day! We are doing Valentines playdough using our Classic playdough recipe with hot pink colouring, strawberry essence and pink glitter. Olivia has even dressed for the occasion!

Elf on the Shelf Shenanigans

(Originally posted December 2014)

Soooo excited as Twinkletoes (our elf on the shelf) is flying back from the North Pole tonight to spend advent with us again! Can't wait to see my little ones faces in the morning!!! I wonder what shenanigans he'll get up to this year! This was him last year trying to catch our fish Goldie!

He's Back! Day 1 - 30th November 2014

My little ones were sooooo happy to have him back!

Day 2 and he brought a book for each day of advent!

This was so much fun, opening a gift each night and the children having a surprise story!

Day 3 and the cheeky elf decorated the door of the downstairs loo!!

The little tree was from Joshua's room.

He brought it downstairs to show Twinkletoes...bless!

Day 4 and he'd had a little bath while we were sleeping!

How cute does he look all wrapped up in towels?!?!

Day 5 I guess the Turtles broke down in the night as Twinkletoes was working on their truck this morning!

He's a handy little chap!

Day 6 - Dungeons and Dragons!

Day 7 Twinkletoes arrived back from the North Pole with a friend (it seems my two are too much of a handful for one elf!) the children have named her 'Rosie'!