Cropiday!

My Chorley crafting friends and I rent at cottage in Pilling a couple of times a year and spend the weekend in PJ's eating choccies, drinking wine (and Diet Coke, not together, LOL) oh and we craft! We were laughing this past weekend as when we first started these little jollies we'd bring everything but the kitchen sink! As we've all now evolved into different crafts we don't bring quite as much! I was super productive this weekend! I made 30 Christmas Cards, 7 layouts and did a little cross stitch!
My Christmas Card design this year looks like this........

I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with them! Mark found the photo idea on the internet, both children have soap sud beards, too cute!!
I alternated between the layouts and stitching for the rest of the weekend, here are my layouts......

and progress made on Holly........

She is a joy to stitch and is coming together beautifully :D



First Christmas Fayre!

So with 5 weeks to go today we attended our first, of I'm quite sure many, Christmas Fayre's. We actually inadvertently attended this one! We decided to take my Mum on a little run out to Bay View garden centre in Bolton le Sands, the cafe there is very nice! As we approached we saw an advertising board on the road about the fayre. It was chaos there, very very busy! We did wonder whether to go somewhere else when luckily a car pulled out just in front of us and we were able to have their space! It wasn't quite so busy indoors as it was nicely spread out and we got a good view of all the stalls.
After a nice wander we went to the cafe and enjoyed a latte and piece of lemon cake. Charlie had a deluxe hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream! He is loving hot chocolate at the moment! We could see Father Christmas from the cafe and he waved to us! How could we resist a visit! I had a quick word to the elves first about going to New Zealand on Boxing Day, I have told Charlie that I have written to Father Christmas to tell him we were going. The grotto area is beautifully set up complete with a snow machine! Courtney didn't like that as it was quite loud but Charlie had a little play!

Just in the entrance there was this very cute reindeer set up pulling a dinky sleigh that the children could sit in, I was about to take a photo when Courtney noticed Father Christmas coming towards her, of course then there was no chance, LOL!

So we went in to see Father Christmas, he had a lovely chat to both of them and Charlie was enthralled that Father Christmas actually knew we were going to New Zealand! He was so lovely and as there were no other children waiting we got to spend a nice amount of time with him.

Children in Need 2012

The cake stall was open again at Nursery, this year Courtney got to 'work' in the shop! She was ever so cute trying to use the tongs to pick up the cakes! In the end Julie, her key worker, said she could use her hands as the cakes were covered in paper! She really enjoyed herself and proudly showed the cakes off to daddy when he got home from work!

Photo taken 15.11.12

Today was actual Children in Need day, many schools do dressing up in PJ's, wearing clothes inside out etc. Charlie's school decided on a theme, Heroes! That was a challenge! I started by thinking he could go as Daddy but wasn't sure how to pull it off! Then I thought of police man, fire man and even a footballer (not that I think of a footballer as a hero but you'd be surprised how many children did actually go in footie kits!) Of course in the end I went back to plan A, Daddy is Charlie's hero, I just had to work on it! In the end he wore a smart shirt and trousers and one of Daddy's ties, featuring Tigger and Pooh! As a finishing touch I made a badge. I found an image in the internet which appeared to be a book cover as there was an author's name but I photo shopped that out, printed and covered it and stuck it to his shirt using double sided tape!! Apparently one of the teachers at school also went as her Dad and she really wanted Charlie's badge!

As Charlie was dressed up, Courtney desperately wanted to as well! I rang Nursery who said it was OK to and voila, a fairy princess with her big 'Daddy' brother!

10.11.12!

Thought it was a cool funky date so used it as my title, LOL! (Unless of course you're in America, you'd have had this date last month!)

So, today I finished off November's square of the stitch-a-long! I don't know why but this felt like it took forever! In reality it has only taken a few days and I haven't been able to sit long periods of time with it so it's just 'felt' longer, if you know what I mean, LOL! I am, however totally delighted with it! As 2012 has been a big year here in the UK I decided to add the Olympic rings onto Tower Bridge! (I stitched the Jubilee cross stitch too earlier in the year so that's all bases covered!)

This means I am now ready for a new project! I've been feeling just recently a little flat when it comes to my stitching mojo. I was tempted to have a little break but I do feel inspired once I see a project near completion (like that the stitch-a-long only has one month left and I'm itching to stitch December's square) I've to be careful because cross stitching is a hobby I love but yet I never want it to feel like a chore! 

I really like Bothy Threads kits, I've stitched a couple and decided to have a mooch through their site to see if I could be inspired. I didn't have to look for long, there's so many on there I'd like to stitch but 'Holly' kind of jumped out to me. I think she's beautiful, not something I'd have normally found myself stitching so I'm liking the challenge and the robins around her border are divine! I'm not setting myself up of having her done for Christmas, I'm just going to take my time with her.

She is part of a series and I'm going to see how I get on but at this stage I am tempted to stitch 4 out of the series to form a larger 'seasons' collection.

Handmade with Love

I saw this cute Love Birds design in the August edition of Cross Stitcher. (I waited a couple of months before starting it.) It was originally going to be a quick stitch and although it was lovely and easy to stitch I kind of lost momentum as I went along! Just the last couple of days I've concentrated on trying for a finish, et voila!

Silverdale

Mark had worked in Silverdale earlier in the week and said if it was nice today we'd have a run out there. Silverdale is a small village near to Carnforth (where I grew up.) I used to visit regularly with my Grandma after I passed my driving test. It was also somewhere I also visited often as a child, our treat being going on the 'switchbacks' in Grandad's car on the way home! Imagine 30 years ago, my Grandad had an old car, not very comfortable compared to today's standards driving along a bumpy road with several small sharp mounds, the sort that make your tummy flip! It was great fun!
Mark and I have been to Silverdale a couple of times since we've been together but not for a long time. It was beautiful today, unbelievably bright and sunny. After our recent terrible weather it made a very nice change! We went down to the shore first, the tide was in so we could only walk across the rocky area. The view was so picturesque. We took the photo above there. Then we made our way to Wolf House Gallery and had some lunch after looking around. I'd promised Charlie and Courtney and ride on the 'swithbacks,' neither of them knew what to expect but their giggles whilst going along brought back memories of my childhood. I love when that happens.

Today also marks a special anniversary for us. It's not something I can ever remember talking about on my blog before but as it's important to us and still very much a part of our lives, I would like to now. Today is the 10th anniversary of my due date when we were pregnant. This means if everything had gone alright all those years ago we'd be parents to a child around 10 years old now! With Charlie only being 5 and Courtney being 3 that's a little hard to imagine!
After years of fertility treatments, firstly 8 rounds of ovulation induction, then IVF and potions (I kid you not!) we were delighted to be pregnant after the second attempt of IVF/ICSI. Sadly I miscarried early into the pregnancy. We tried IVF another 4 times but sadly none worked again. I have so much to be thankful for during the fertility journey. I leaned so much about myself, my strength and courage and how solid our marriage was. We've always been on the same page so have never been tested but I felt extremely secure. When I was 17 I was told it would be very difficult to get pregnant, as sad as I was at that age at least I knew. Mark and I were referred straight away when we wanted to try. So although it ended sadly I can always be pleased that I did get pregnant.
I'm not dwelling on the anniversary, it's just that part of us that I'll always remember. Today I am extremely grateful for Charlie and Courtney, they are such beautiful children (like any child they have their moments but hey!) We had a long road along the adoption journey too, both times, but I would do it all a million times over again to have what we have now.

Barton Grange

Barton Grange is a garden centre just outside of Preston. Every year they have magnificent Christmas displays. I was delighted when Kathryn suggested we go there on our day out. To be honest there wasn't as many Christmas displays as there has been in previous years. The decorations you can purchase were as wonderful as ever though! There were though a few nice displays and all 4 children took a liking to the dancing snowmen! (I didn't photograph them though) Alice in Wonderland was a lovely display and as you walked all the way around you saw something different.

We timed our visit well, it is half term week and all week activities have been provided for children to join in. Up until today they've all been Halloween themed but today it was decorating a cupcake! It was so well organised, each child chose a cake and could put on white, green, pink or chocolate icing! The choice of decorations was also very good, jelly beans, chocolate drops, hunderds and thousands, marshmallows, dolly mixtures to name but a few! They all had a great time and got to eat their cupcakes in the cafe after!

On the way home we stopped at a really nice pub, The Bell Flower, great food, great service and a play area for the children! Kathryn and I have never had such a great chat in ages, normally we are distracted by at least one child!! LOL!!