Folksy Friday

I loved searching for items to appear in this week's Folksy Friday picks as I'd chosen "buttons". Hope you like them:

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Invisible thread

On my last trip to Hobbycraft Katie pointed out some invisible thread. It was about £2.70 for the reel which I thought was quite expensive and wasn't going to buy it, but then I thought of all the finishing off I have to do when hand-sewing my Patchies and decided perhaps invisible thread would make it look far neater and more professional. I ended up buying some. I see it is far, far cheaper to purchase on E-bay and probably elsewhere!

Used it last night and had to turn the lights up really high in order to actually see what I was doing! It really is invisible, and can get you into trouble if you're not careful! My first attempt at sewing in an Ellie's Treasures tag wasn't exactly brilliant - I'd left loops of the thread protruding for some strange reason. Second attempt was perfect, but I had to constantly feel where the thread was. The end recently was lovely, just as I'd hoped and I can thoroughly recommend it, as long as your eyes can stand working close to your sewing with bright lights blazing!!

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Folksy Friday

Decided on games for this week's theme - hope you enjoy my picks:

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Folksy Friday

Roll up, roll up, it's another load of lovely picks for the Folksy Friday. This week, feeling alittle skint thanks to my two trips to Hobbycraft, I decided this week the topic is "pocket money finds" - all these lovely items are for sale at under £2!

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70 followers ...

thank you all so much for following my blog - it's lovely to have you all here.

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Which aisle would be your favourite?

When I first saw the big notice board on the road out of Peterborough a month ago that read "opening soon ... Hobbycraft" - I whooped with joy and longed to find out exactly when it was going to open. I'd visited the Milton Keynes store many moons ago and had thoroughly enjoyed the event, although I wasn't so into crafts then and came away with nout LOL! I knew this time, it would be a different story.

Opening day was last weekend, 6th Feb. Unfortunately other commitments stopped me from going (which was probably a good thing as I found out the queues were unbelieveable and police had to be pulled in to get things sorted!!). Paul needed to go to Peterborough on Tuesday afternoon so it was the perfect opportunity to pack everyone into the car and head that way too. He didn't mind being dragged around a craft store before his appointment, as long a there was a cuppa at the end of it!

Actually he enjoyed looking in all the other shops at the centre. We all liked the big garden centre, Van Hage, full of fabulous wantables (as I call them) and a lovely cafe too with yummy cakes and moreish tea and coffee.

Anyway, getting back to the point. Hobbycraft. Which aisle?

Well, Paul wasn't keen on anything really, but he was very good and didn't try and hurry us up at all.

Ben had to be dragged away from the Hornby section announcing that he'd be saving his miniscule monthly pocket money to build a huge Hornby train set which, apparently, wouldn't take long as the trains are really cheap "only £199" for one of them!!

Katie headed off to the ribbon area. I admit, this was fabulous. Every colour, size and pattern one could wish for and some good deals too I thought on complete reels. She got 3m ribbon reels, one in baby blue with white decoration and another in white with purple hearts, each for 99p, but she didn't stop there! She also bought some lovely patterned ribbon in various colours off the reel - all to make mini headcollars for her model horses.

And me, well let me think (could quite easily say all of it!). Ribbons were good, but I find when faced with too much of something I can't actually decide on anything! The beads, charms and buttons aisle was probably my fav (and certainly the busiest). The array was vast and unique - I could have spent an absolute fortune.

The whole shop was brilliant to wander around and ponder.

Have you got a Hobbycraft near you? Check out their website; if you've no local store you can order online and if that's not your cup-of-tea, you can pick up some great crafting ideas instead.

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Camera case for Katie

Katie got a new camera for her 13th birthday in January but it didn't come with a case so she asked if I could make one for her following the black and silver theme. Had a mega dig through my bag of materials and sourced three fabrics, each with a different texture, that fitted the brief. It's lined too so no excuses for scratches now!

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Valentine Heart Swap - meet Minnie

Owner of noodleBubble on Folksy very kindly set up a Valentine Swap between Folksy folk which must have been quite a challenge seeing as how so many people took part. The brief was simple "hand made heart" which had to be ready to dispatch to your designated swap person by 5th February.

I'll post piccies of the heart I made closer to the date just incase my swap decides to keep it wrapped until Valentine's Day.

However, I can share the swap that I received - the fabulous Minnie HooterNinnie that I from Oddsox. The postie delivered it a couple of days ago and I was initially going to put it aside for the 14th but Katie and Ben insisted I open it! Secretly, I'm glad they made me, I was desperate to rip open the envelope!

Inside was a lovely note telling me that Minnie HooterNinnie was my Valentine Heart Swap - I couldn't believe my luck, Oddsox's mini hedgehogs are the best and now I was a proud owner of one!

Here's Minnie HooterNinnie meeting Chips, the little Woollie Pony, for the first time. Minnie and Chips watch over my craft making and I think they're becoming firm friends.

They meet ...

they greet!

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Folksy Friday

Last night I spent quite some time thinking of a theme for this week's picks. It was going to be dogs but as last week was animal based that soon went out the window. Then I thought rain, as it's been pretty wet here this week, that moved to weather and then I caught sight of a beautiful bright tile on Folksy and thought TILES - so that's my theme for this week. Here they are:

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News to put a smile on my face

I had an email from Cuteable this evening to say I'd been featured! How exciting! Check out the entry here.

Not just that, but earlier in the week Ellie's Treasures was accepted to be listed in the Shop Handmade UK directory which is here.

Yippee!

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Who was St. Valentine and where did the heart shape come from?

Perhaps this post should be under "education" on my Our Day blog but to be honest, I wanted to put in a little bump for my Valentine "messages from the heart" that I lovingly hand-made for my shop ready for that special day. So, with just a week left of free UK postage on an item that is just perfect for the 14th February (or any other special event for loved ones), I thought I'd try and find out the answers to these questions.

So, as we all know, modern day drawings of the heart resemble love and romance and as a heart is usually coloured red, it resembles passion. The shape that we all associate as a heart was believed to have been modelled on a human heart as many ancients, including Aristole, felt all human passions came from the heart. As we know, the human heart is not shaped like this at all - it has four chambers whereas the heart of a frog, with its three chambers, looks alittle more like it! This and two other possible heart shape theories can be found on this site.

St. Valentine then, who was he? According to one of our well used sites, Woodlands Junior School, there have been, as shown in the Catholic Encyclopaedia, mentions of three St. Valentines who have had something to do with 14th February. However, most experts suggest that the actual Valentine that we associate with St. Valentine's Day was a Roman who was martyred because he refused to give up Christianity. You can read more on the traditions of Valentine's Day on the Woodlands site here.

I remember giving and receiving my first Valentine's Day card when I was about 15 when boys suddenly played a huge part in my life! I've still got the card in my special box as well as many others after that. This year I'm making up a small box of goodies for hubby Paul for this special day. The first thing I've put in is a colourful drawn heart card, getting my inspiration from the artist Jim Dine.

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