A New Sock Monkey

I've not made a sock monkey for ages!!!!  Seem to only make the kitties and the elephants lately!!!  I had an order last Friday for a monkey so tried to start it on Sunday as I was in London all day monday.

It was one of those type of socks that was difficult to work with as the threads from the pattern kept coming out onto the outside so it meant I spent hours pushing each and every thread back through to make it nice and neat - I sound like I suffer from OCD don't I!!!  I am fussy when it comes to things like this and it's the same when I sew with stripey socks, I have to make sure all of the stripes line up otherwise I would not be happy!!!  I also measure when I am sewing on the limbs, ears and eyes to make sure they are all equal!!!!  Hmmm maybe I do have a touch of OCD!!

Anyway, this monkey seemed to be never ending but today, I finally finished her!!!  I'm actually very pleased with the end result but glad I only bought one pair of socks in this style as they were a bugger to work with!!!

Here is the monkey

This monkey will be on her way to Pontypool tomorrow!

Lovely Day at the Ally Pally Craft Show

Yesterday, I was up early to catch a National Express coach to London.  It's only a 2.5 hr journey to central London from where I live so not too bad.  I was on my way to the Alexandra Palace for the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show.

I had arranged to meet Caroline at Earl's Court station and we were both on time which was amazing as we were coming from completely different places!!!  We then took the tube to Wood Green where we got a courtesy bus to the show.  All nice and straighforward - a bit different from last year when I was trying to find where the bus went from as no instructions given with the ticket!!  I ended up running after a moving bus to see where it was stopping to pick up people for the show!!

This year I only took a backpack with me as I knew I wouldn't be buying enough for a trolley bag and Caroline brought the same as well.  Lucky that we did as when we arrived there was a sign at the door saying 'No Trolleys'!!!  People that took a trolley had to queue for ages to put it in the cloakroom and they were not happy bunnies!  I don't blame them though as this should have been said either on the tickets or on the website.

There were alot of people at the show but not as many as last year.  Still lots of rude women who push and shove like they are after the last loaf of bread on the supermarket shelf.  I can never understand why people do this at a show.  There's plenty of stock on the stalls, it's not rationed!!! 

I found the prices were expensive this year and I can buy most of the things cheaper on the net so I didn't buy much.  It's nice to look though to see what's available and see it being demonstrated.  This was Caroline's first craft show and I think she enjoyed herself there.

We met up with Heidi from The Crafty Goat Girl who was demonstrating on the Little Claire's stand.  She was joined by the owners Gill and Steve.  They have some fabulous stamps.  I bought a set last week at the Bristol craft show and they stamp beautifully.  Pop over to their to their website to see the lovely range of stamps that they have.

Caroline and I were at the show until they closed at 5pm.  We then travelled back to Victoria to connect with our coach/train for the journey home.

I had a lovely day out and it was great to meet Caroline as we have been in contact by email for quite some time.  Hopefully, we will meet up again!

Here's what I bought

Some MDF hearts and some excellent quality thick card which works beautifully with Promarkers (tested it today!!!)

 A vintage stamp (same brand as I bought last week at the Bristol craft show), Papermania Paper Creaser set, 2 ink pads, 2 Japanese stamps

 5 sheets of pop out Decoupage

So as you can see I didn't buy much. Nesties and other cutting dies were very expensive and so were promarkers. 

Did anyone else go to the Ally Pally yesterday???  If so what did you think of it and what did you buy!!!!

Sunny Evenings, Good Food and Seaside Drives......

Yesterday, after the fish pedicure, I met up with my friend.  The sun was shining and we had a lovely drive around town with the roof down on my friend's Aston Martin - pure luxury!!!!  Nothing better than that with my sunglasses on and hair flying in the wind!!!!

We decided to eat early and chose a Oriental BBQ restaurant called Teppan that looked interesting.  We were the only people there as it was early so food service was pretty quick.  We sat at a table which had an electric grill in the middle of it and ate a small started of golden prawns and waited for our platter to be brought out for us to BBQ!  The platter consisted of a mixture of marinaded pork, beef, chicken and prawns.  We also had a bowl of fried rice to accompany it.  It's a lovely way to dine as you can put your food on to cook and chat whilst both taking part in the cooking.  The food was lovely and very filling and very reasonably priced.  I'd go back here again as it was very enjoyable.

Here's a photo of me with the BBQ!!!  Not that clear I'm afraid, both my friend and the waitress managed to shake the camera!!!!

After we left the restaurant we decided to go for a drive to Weston Super Mare which for those of you not in the West Country is a local seaside area which has in recent years had alot of modernisation.  It used to be abit untidy and rough around the edges and I had not been there for many years!!  Although, all of the attractions were closed as the season has not yet begun, I was pleasantly surprised by how much it had improved. 

It was famous for it's lovely old Grand Pier which was sadly destroyed by fire in 2008.  The old pier was 104 years old.  I remember having lots of fun days during my childhood on the pier and then later on in my teens on Bank Holidays.

Here are a few pics of the old pier over the years.

This one is 1906 - I love this photo!!

Here again in 1915

and here in more recent years before it burnt to the ground

The new pier is a modern version, I took some photos last night but it was getting dark so not so clear

Sorry they aren't clearer!!!  The new pier looks quite nice though and is lit up at night.

Another photo taken just after the sunset at WSM

The evening was so warm that we drove all the way back from Weston with the roof down - mind you the heated seats and floor heating did help!!!!

Had a lovely day out, made me feel like summer has arrived!!!!  More sunny days and nights required please!!!!

Fish Pedicure!!!!

I've been wanting to try out the fish pedicure for ages.  A branch of Dr Spa opened in Bristol and yesterday I had a little time to spare, whilst waiting for a friend to meet me, so I went in and tried it out!!

For those of you that don't know about fish pedicures, I'll give you a bit of background information!!  The fish used are very small fish called Garra Rufa and originate from Turkey.  The fish nibble on dry skin - they actually have no teeth so it is really suction rather than nibbling!  As well as taking off dry skin they are said to help in the treatment of psoriasis and eczema, stimulate acupuncture points, improve blood circulation and relax the body reducing fatigue.

(photo taken from Dr SpaFish website)

First of all you have to soak your feet in a bowl of water for 3 minutes and then you are asked to put your feet either side of the tank of fish.  You then slowly lower your feet in and dangle them in the water.  You have to keep your feet still and then the fish will swarm to whatever areas of your foot that they find dry dead skin to suck off.  First of all it felt quite weird and they suck quite hard at times and if you are ticklish I suppose it might tickle but you soon get used to it and it becomes relaxing.   It felt strange when they swam between my toes though!!!  You get 10 minutes with the fish and then when told to, you slowly remove your feet checking that no fish are still attached of course!!!  You are then given paper towels to dry your feet and they spray them with an antibacterial spray.

I'm not sure that it made a huge difference to the condition of my feet but it was relaxing.  I've put cream on my feet so they feel quite soft but not sure if that is just the cream or abit of both!!!

I'd recommend giving it a go as it is certainly 'an experience'!!!!  As for the results, well you will need to see for yourself!!!!  I personally think it would be better if you had longer as 10 minutes is not very long.

I paid £10 for the treatment and it is a total of 15 minutes long including soaking and drying time!

If you want more info and want to know if there is a branch in your area, you can go to the Dr SpaFish website.

Home is Where the Heart is!!!

I'm not sure if you will remember the 'Home' wooden letters that I bought from Sainbury's a while back but in case you don't, this is what they looked like

They were lovely letters but I just hated the dirty greeny looking, wishy washy colour.

I bought some acrylic paint at the Hobbycraft sale for 49p in a lovely shade called 'Butter' and after rubbing the letters with sandpaper I painted them with the 'Butter' paint.  I then rubbed them down again going back to the wood in some places to create an aged look.  I then painted them again and rubbed them down - did this a few times!!  The brush marks were showing on the paint so I then used a piece of natural sponge and applied the paint again with this.  I then rubbed it down and the brush marks had gone and the surface texture was much nicer.

After wiping off the paint dust, I then set about decorating them to jazz them up a little!!  I had a look through my collection of buttons and picked out some that had texture or an interesting look.  To some of them I added twine to give a more rustic feel.  I then stuck them to the letters in different positions.  I am pleased with how my letters now look!!  Here they are

Hope you like the finished look!!!

Craft Show in Bristol today.

Today I went to a craft show in Bristol.  I took along my 9 yr old niece as she really enjoys making cards and is getting quite interested in all of the fab things available for cardmaking!!

Although it was quite a small show today it was nice as it wasn't crowded and it meant we could easily see everything and watch some demos on the stalls.

My niece had a nice bag of goodies and the stallholders were great with her and she ended up with some freebies from them which was lovely.

I didn't overbuy today as I will be going to the Ally Pally on Saturday so thought I'd leave abit of shopping till then!!!

This is what I bought today (sorry pic is not very good as it was dark when I took it!!)

The payperbox guys are lovely and so helpful - both my niece and I filled a box each and they gave her some extras!!

I bought some great stamps but these 3 were my favourites

This one is called 'Ladies in Waiting and I love it!!!!  I got it from Oyster Stamps in their bargain bin.

I didn't realise what fantastic stamps Little Claire has and as soon as I saw these beach hut stamps I had to have them!!!!

I was watching a demo using distress inks which was great as it showed me how to get a better effect with the inks.  Whilst watching the demo I spotted this stamp and again had to have it!!!!

I also picked up a couple of fat quarters for £1 each and a couple of stamps from another bargain bin and 2 brushes for using with my distress inks.

So this coming Saturday I'll be off to London for the Craft Show at the Ally Pally.  I am going to meet up with Caroline beforehand and we will go together which will be nice as last year I went alone!  If anyone else is going there on Saturday and would like to meet up with us to say hi, do let us know!  It would be great to see you.