The Vintage Magpie

Bunnies In the Bath

 

Jam and fur.  Fur and jam.  Never a good mix whichever way you look at it.  So after an early tea consisting mainly of jam sandwiches and jammy dodgers these three were ready for an early bath as well.

and then a little story before bed.  The silence after that was golden.

First I shall introduce you to my first little boy..  This is Archie, and he is a darling.  A little mischievious, but all the best boys are.  He loves bug hunting and hiding in camps, and he gives the best cuddles ever. 

He is filled with dried lavender so he smells scrumptious when squeezed.  Archie is made from the softest mohair and has a little bell so you can hear him should he get lost.

This is Tabitha, sweet natured and a little shy.  She loves the story of Little Red Riding Hood, hence the outfit.   She loves to tell the story over and over.  The great outdoors always beckons her, as well as helping to bake muffins and reading fairytales.  She is naturally terrified of wolves, so Tabitha also has a bell in case she gets lost.

Her favourite treat is warm muffins and milk.

Tabitha is filled with dried lavender and so smells dreamy when squeezed.   SOLD, thank you.

 

And this is Bunty.  Bunty is a fun loving little character, full of beans. She loves hiding amongst the flowers on a summers day, and her favourite pastime is having tea parties. She also loves to be read stories, especially ones about little rabbits! Beware though, Bunty is a jam lover, and is known to make an awful mess. So much so that she has had two baths in the last two days!

Bunty is filled with lavender and so smells dreamy when squeezed.  Bunty also has a bell, mainly so you can tell when she has reached the jam cubboard.

These little rabbits have already been sent over to my shop to await new loving homes.  I have three children to bath tonight instead!

Getting Ready

I have a few new friends to introduce to you over the next couple of days, and will be trying to keep the excited rabble down after their photoshoot by letting them stay in my shop and wait for new and loving homes.

This rowdy bunch are made from a longer mohair, which is my favourite so far as it is beautifully soft and honey coloured.  The exact match to my own 36 year old ted.   However, being more beautiful is a costly business as we all know :o.  This mohair is more expensive which is why I have had to slightly put my prices up to cover the cost.  I hate doing that.

Anyway, back to the nicer stuff.  I am excited about this new bunch, and they are excited too.  So I pray for nice weather for the photos tomorrow, and who knows.. we might all head to the beach! x

 

Glorious

Finally, the sun came up and off to the beach we took ourselves.

I was thoroughly indulged as the children played

Mr F fished for our supper

and I sat basking in the fresh air, the sun on my face and a flask of tea at my side.  Pure heaven.

Not a cloud in the sky.  Somedays you truly realise just how lucky you really are.

Hope you all had some time in the sun this weekend x

Spiderman's First Tutorial - Ship in a Bottle

You will need:

An empty sweet jar (we got ours free from local sweet shop)
Blue food colouring
Uncooked rice
Playdough or suchlike.
One straw
Kitchen Roll

Here he goes...

Step One.  Put some blue food dye into a jug of rice and mix it with a spoon. (Preferably not mamas wooden spoon - which is now half blue)   

Step Two : With modelling clay (we used plasticine) shape a huge blob into a ship shape.

Step Three.  Choose which colour straw and then cut it in half.  Be careful with sharp scissors. (!)

Step Four.  Cut two triangles from kitchen paper for the sails.

Step Five.  Fold the triangle around the straw and glue two bits together.

Step Six.  Stick first sail in the front of the ship.

Step Seven.  Stick other sail in.

Step Eight.  Put the ship inside the jar and press it to stick it to the bottom (whilst simultaneously flexing your huge arm muscles).

Step Nine.  Pour your sea rice into the jar.

Step Ten.  Ta Dah!

James would be thrilled if anyone else was to 'copy his ship'... so if you have a go please let us know and maybe send the little fella a picture via my email.   I did ask him if wearing the Spiderman suit was an essential part of the creation.  He paused for a while, quietly considered it and then with a shrug of the shoulders replied 'nah'.  So fancy dress is optional -  please don't fret if you or your child don't have the appropriate all-in-one outfit  to hand - apparently he won't be offended :o

Have a great weekend everyone, in your all-in-ones or otherwise! x

Peg Painting for Inspiration

After reading (and re-reading) Amanda's wonderful book and seeing this gorgeous mood board, I decided that I was in need of an inspiration line of my own.  So, putting my ever-willing assistant to work on painting the pegs, I managed to get all my bits of inspiration gathered and treasured up on my studio wall.

When you gather it all up its quite interesting to look at what inspires you.  The postcard of the paper mache doll is by the artist Julie Arkell, who is currently displaying some of her amazing work at The Devon Guild of Craftsmen in Bovey Tracey.  The beautifully machine embroidered rabbit is by Janet Clare, whose work I have admired for a long time.

My mum, cards featuring Charlie Bears, old postcards and vintage cards.  Once I started this line, I realised that just one line was never going to be enough.  More of the inspiration lines in later posts.

Tomorrow I will have a post by James, who requested earlier today that I take some photographs of him whilst he was making his 'Boat in a Jar'. 

James : 'Mama, will you blog me?'

Me:      'What do you mean?'

James: 'Take some photos while I make my boat as other big boys will want to do it too'.

My heart melted there and then into a mess on the floor.  I was carefully instructed when and where to take photos, and warned that we were about to start with 'Here goes... step one mama..'.  It was a mixture of Art Attack, Spiderman and Blue Peter all rolled into one.

Oh Lord, I can't take it.  My cup runneth over....

Fancy a drive?

 

My sewing machine is sulking at the menders.  For the second time (I never learnt from the last time) I have knocked the timing out on the machine by trying to ram too much material through it, breaking the needle and thereby jolting the timing mechanism out so all stitching is basically buggared up the spout.  So, what with a weeks worth of sewing time lost, and nothing to show and tell, I thought you might like to join me on a drive through the beautiful devon countryside, seeing as the sun is shining and all is otherwise well with the world.

I'll start by driving you down the beautiful lanes so we can admire all the wild spring flowers bursting into life in the hedgerows.

Bus anyone?

Nope, I think we'll imagine we're in a little convertable sports car with the roof down, thank you all the same.  With Audrey Hepburn 50's style head scarfs tied under our chins, large sunglasses and a picnic basket in the boot.  Bugsy I'll be Audrey...

We must stop and have a gaze over the gate at this wonderful view...

and this one.

Did you bring your wellies?  Good, lets have a walk down this lane and take the picnic basket...

I think we'll pick a different field for our picnic.. this one's a little occupied..

Oh how I love these old farm buildings...

Now, if we walk just round the corner we should come to the perfect spot...

Where we can crack open the flask and the sandwiches.

and meet the locals.

Then its back in the car for the drive home, past a few of my favourite houses..

when you might want to pull your headscarf a little tighter round your ears, as I am known for shouting 'ITS NOT FAIR!' as we drive  past these gorgeous little abodes.

Then its back to mine, for a fresh pot of tea and to polish off the remainders of the lemon drizzle cake and the crushed bakewell tarts from the bottom of the picnic basket.

Let me know when you can come round again xx

 

And the winner is....

Due to the wonderfully high number of comments on my giveaway post, I chose not to write them all on a piece of paper and cut them all out :o, but use what was to hand.... my own personal Number Generator, more commonly known as my daughter Lauren.

I asked her to pick a number from 1 to 83.  She took this moment of responsibility very seriously, took a while to choose the best colour pen, and very carefully wrote down her answer (with her arm wrapped around the paper 'so I couldn't cheat'!)  After much deliberation - and an impromptu drum roll - she revealed the number 16.  Comment number 16 was from Kathy, of the wonderful blog My Life and Other Beads.  Well done Kathy, the bag is on its way to you. 

Thank you to everyone who participated, you all left such lovely comments.. so if you weren't the winner, please take a sweet (or three) as a consolation prize!!

Have a great week x

A Premature Invitation..

My biggest little girl is going to be 9 in three weeks time.  So, judging by the extent of her own social calendar (of which I am very envious as I hardly ever get the chance nowadays) - and judging by the social calendars of all her young friends (of which Paris Hilton would be given a run for her money),  we decided it would be best to get the invites on their way.

Its very easy to whisked up in the frenzy of an up-and-coming party isn't it?  I dread the run up and usually end up flapping about like a headless chicken, but I love thinking up games, presents and how to dress the party table.  I'm trying to persuade Isabel that a plastic Hannah Montana table cover really isn't quite as lovely as a real linen one, and surely she'd like a handmade birthday cake rather than the High School Musical one in the supermarket, and now I'm already finding myself asking questions like... 'could we have decorated cupcakes... and ...wouldn't bingo be a good game to play' (even if it is Hannah Montana themed) when what I really want to say is 'please don't grow up so quickly.......'.

Serious negotiations and bribary  bargaining on both sides are set to continue for the next three weeks.

On another note, I am really touched by the amount of entries for my giveaway competition.  You have all written such lovely heart warming comments that really brought a tear to my eye, it is so lovely to know that you are all out there somewhere, and enjoy reading my ramblings.

THE GIVEAWAY IS STILL OPEN UNTIL MIDNIGHT ON FRIDAY, all you have to do is leave a comment on the previous post.

I am intending to cajole my lovely friend Mags who lives nextdoor into being 'the hand that draws the ticket' on Saturday night (a large glass of red should lure her in), and I shall post the result first thing Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone xx

Not a Plastic Bag - GIVEAWAY !!

I've been thoroughly enjoying making these bags, which I initially started due to the fantastic crackdown the shops are making on giving out plastic carrier bags.

I am fully supportive of the idea, as I'm sure we all are, but I keep flippin forgetting to take a cloth bag with me.  So, I thought I'd run a few pretty ones up to hang on the wall by the front door to remind me as I'm dashing out.

 

On the bag shown above, I used the very last scrap of a beloved flowery Cath Kidston material I had.  This one went as a gift to my friend Sharon, whom I  had a wonderful time visiting over the weekend.

And this one...

also used up the last scrap of my Cath Kidston 'Flowers' material.

However, it will be this bag....

that I shall be giving away to celebrate (albeit late) my one year of blogging.

So, if you would like to win my little bag all you have to do is leave a comment on this post.   I shall close the giveaway at midnight on Friday so you have until then to leave a comment.   Everyone welcome, bloggers and lurkerrs alike!  I will randomly pick a winner over the weekend via names in a hat, and I will then announce the result in Monday's post.

PS.  I would like to apologise to anyone who has sent me an email during the past couple of weeks that I haven't replied to.   I've been a little snowed under with a project, so please don't think I'm being rude - I just can't seem to fit it all in!  I will try to answer you by the end of the week.  Please bear with me. x

I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it

Mae West's words, not mine - but oh how they ring true.  I'm meant to be tightening the purse strings at the moment, as in the words of Mr F 'I have spent rather a lot on things I don't need' just lately :o  and my justifications for my beautiful purchases have fallen on deaf ears of late. 

However,  I managed to sneak these two items into the house relatively unnoticed ;), and as they only cost £1 each I didn't feel too bad about it!  The rose fabric pictured above is actually a small thinish eiderdown, perfect for either of the girls to put on their beds or to play on, so it just couldn't not come home with me.

And this cute little jar with its little pink lid was just made for the weekend sweets (which cost a little more than a pound but had disappeared by the time Mr F got home so he was none the wiser :)

I've never been a great saver, money tends to burn a large hole in my pocket - and try as I might to be 'grown up' about it, I still need a lot of help and guidance, a strong arm to drag me away and usually someone to hide my purse before any kind of shopping excursion.   The power to resist is usually just not strong enough, especially in the bountiful charity shops - I definitely need to work on my 'power to resist'.  However, I'm not expecting any miracles on this front, and neither, I later explained to him, should Mr F.

Tomorrow I will be having a giveaway, in celebration of the anniversary of my first year of blogging (which I missed sometime in January!), so if you would like to win a little number I've whipped up, see you back here sometime on Wednesday.