Shopping sprees and savings

Winter is definitely upon us in the Southern hemisphere. I am delighted as I have always been a very Wintry type person. I love piling on tons of clothes, making mugs of soup or hot chocolate  and snuggling up in my room with  some cross stitching, crochet pattern or even just a good book. I would have done well as a bear because hibernating is like second nature to me, not to mention bulking up for the Winter ...pass the oreos please!

Don't get me wrong, I love a warm Summer day as much as the next person but my philosophy has always been that it is easier to keep warm in Winter than it is to keep cool in Summer. I am literally a walking hot water bottle 365 days of the year and if has to be below zero for me to start shivering, which means I swelter in Summer. Winter also gives me an excuse to stay inside and craft which is were my passion lies

Shopping splurge

Anywhoo, enough about the weather and more onto crafting, I went on a shopping excursion recently and blew a very big part of my budget on crafting supplies. I should have left most of my money at home (or at least some as I am almost broke for the next two weeks) when I visited the Scrapbook factory shop. I was there for an hour but could have stayed 3 more and would still not have seen everything. It has still not registered yet that I have blown such a large amount on my supplies because each item was a) so reasonably priced, b) on special or c) items I will get a lot of use out of like ink stamps and paper punches.

Online creative journalling class

I have however sort of balanced my financial splurge out by joining an free online class via Creative passions. It is a free class about creative journalling. I am so excited that I could pee... almost. You have to register with them and then enroll in a class and then there are 4 lessons  which you will receive via email. I have never done this type of thing before but am intrigued to say the least. I will keep you posted on my progress.

crochet cuteness

I came across an awesome free pdf. pattern for a My little Pony doll, which I am delighted to say  thrilled me to no end. It was pure nostalgia at its best for me. You can find the free download here. The pattern is really easy to follow and I cannot wait to make the whole set. I even woke up this morning with ponies on my mind and though about doing a really tiny pony with crochet cotton and a tiny hook.

Here is rainbow Dash. So easy to make and cute to look at.

Teeny Tinies

I was super chuffed this week when my dolls house bureau (see last post for tutorial) was featured on a website that I joined a while ago. Icklebits is an online community dedicated to the love of miniatures, it has over 900 free tutorials and almost 500 articles. The owner of the site is Donna and she is really sweet and helpful and I love the way the site is very interactive and even has a points system. I have not been working on an actual room in the house but have plans for a ice cream shop diorama and also. I have been expanding my dolls house office but the piece that I am most proud of was my little tray that I made. I have seen so many websites that show you how to make a simple tray out of a cabochon backing but have not been able to come across one in my travels. I was so down the other day that I got out my tools and made my own tray, which in my opinion is even better than the ones I have seen, if I don't say so myself. Here is the before and after.

These are actually really small and the handle was made using a one hole punch.

Today seems like one of those where I have plans to get everything done and lists for lists and yet I still cannot hit the "Go" button but I suppose there comes a time when you procrastinate no more and that time is now for me so I will love ya and leave ya and hopefully by my next post I will have tons to share with you, so for now.... Ciao.