Giveaway time !!!!

I am all excited today. I can't quite believe it but this is my 50th post!

As I mentioned on my last post (thanks for the kind comments left by the way!) I have a few things to celebrate, so what better way to than with a giveaway!

I decided to give one of my mermaids away and this is the chosen lady, posing on the beach ...

(and yes I think I probably did get quite a few strange looks from all the dog walkers as I photographed mermaids on the beach this morning as I have added more mermaids to my Folksy shop !)

She comes with her own bag with some shells collected from the beach and a naming certifcate. I don't really recommend for under 3 year olds, unless the doll is only being used for display and they are not really for rough play. She would make a lovely Christmas present for a little one!

I have also decided to put a few bits of fabric from my fabric collection - some Kaffe Fassett pieces and a couple of other bits. They are all off-cuts so no specific size.

All you need to do to win the doll and fabric is to leave me a comment and tell me what you think she should be called as a the moment she is nameless - I will then add her chosen name to the naming certificate for the winner!! It is open to everyone - in the UK or abroad and lurkers too! Go on, you can leave a comment as well even if you don't have a blog!

I am going to leave the giveaway open for a week, so it will close next Friday 13th November at 6pm UK time.  I am happy to post abroad and lurkers too! So if you don't have a blog you can still leave a comment. Thank you!

Nearly 50...

No, not my age!  I am nearly at 50 posts! I thought I would add a quick one in before Friday so that my giveaway can be for my 50th post as well as my one year blogiversary, to celebrate opening my brand spanking new Folksy shop (there is not much on there yet hopefully more soon), and also my thirtyblahblah birthday!
Talking of Folksy, have a look at this lovely Folksy shop where I found these fab ceramic cupcake tealight holders, I am going to have to get some of these for christmas presents!

Oh and please excuse the shameless plug, but I got a little mention  in this fab and free local magazine The Whitstable Imp. The Editor Chrissie is a multi-talented lady who not only created The Imp, but also has her own cake making business and is a singer too!

(click on the picture to view bigger and please excuse the awful picture, I had to do it very quickly when there was nobody but me and Little lady in the house so it invovled balancing the camera on a tower of things, clicking self-timer and running round to the chair! hence not very glam!)

Half-term fun

It's been a lovely half-term this week. My little man is back to school tomorrow but my little lady has an extra week off from her playschool as they have a two week half-term!

We have had lazy days, adventure days, spooky days and visiting friends and family days!

Yesterday the kids had a nice seaside walk with their dad whilst the tide was out, they thought they would go for an adventure! Whilst at the beach, they came across someone from the Whitstable Oyster Company experimenting with these baby oysters!

They were trying to see which bed the oysters will grow best on/under (not sure which, I am not an oyster expert!). How exciting, wish I had seen!  I will have to make sure I go with them next time and we can watch their progress! The light looked beautiful.

We took the kids trick or treating on Saturday. Luckily this spooky mist had disappeared by the time that we went out though. It appeared from nowhere and settled on the green by our house at about 5pm and was gone in 10 minutes or so,  very strange!

The kids got an amazing haul trick or treating! We ended up being out for about an hour as they and their friends were having so much fun!  The have enough sweets to last about a year!

I am still planning on doing a little giveaway for my blog first birthday but I haven't as yet as my mermaids look like this at the moment....

Lots of WIPs! I am making lots as I have sold quite a few at Taking the Plunge in Whitstable and at a couple of craft fairs, plus more I have planned so I have been making in bulk! It is my birthday next Friday, so I am planning on doing a birthday and blog birthday rolled into one!  So look out on Friday 6th November for a little giveaway!

Mermaids and birthdays

I was just having a look and a catch up through some lovely blogs when a thought suddenly stuck me.........didn't I write my very first blog post around Halloween last year? So I just looked back and realised I've missed it!!! Oh dear, it was on the 23rd October, so I am only a couple of days out!
Whenever I thought about my first 'blogiversary' I always planned on doing a giveaway - but as I am unorganised with this now, it will be a belated giveaway!! I shall have a think about what to send.....maybe a mermaid doll  a bit like this one...

(but not this one as it was a little girl called Flo's birthday present!) and a few bits of fabric from my stash?

I will sort this out in the next couple of days! I'll keep you posted.

Time to snuggle up with a good book!

I love reading and it is that time of year again when the heating goes back on and all I want to do is cuddle up on the sofa with a really good book (in between watching X-Factor - god, I hate to say it but I am totally hooked this year!). 

I have just finished this fantastic book.

I loved it, although it did take me a few chapters to get used to it being narrated by Death - but what an amazing read and as with all good books it made me laugh and cry. It is a teenage book and what a brilliant read for teenagers to read and learn about WWII, from a young German girls point of view.

In another life before kids I worked in Children's Publishing and was amazed at the fantastic and totally brilliant teenage/young adult novels that are out there, that I had the pleasure of reading as part of my job - so many adults miss out on reading them! Many adults have probably read Harry Potter and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy but there are so many more of these fantastic books out there - my list could be endless but authors such as Robert Cormier (very dark novels), Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines - wow!) and Eoin Colfer to name just a few of the fantastic authors whose books I have read and loved (and was lucky enough to have met).

If only I could get to my box of books which are tucked away in the shed, waiting for some shelves to made in the living room. They have been there since we started building our kitchen extension about 2 years ago and I am itching to get them out and just be able to look at them!

After singing the praises of young adult novels I will have to say that another book that I read recently and is currently up there as one of the best books I have ever read is this amazing one, which is not a YA one!

But you must read it, if you haven't yet read it, please you must. I promise you will not regret it!

Woman's Weekly Knitting & Crochet special

I apologise for not posting for a long time, been lots of upheavel in our house at the mo - but glass half full, everything happens for a reason etc I will spare you the details!

Please, please excuse me for the proud parent bit, but I am very, very proud!
In shops at the moment in the uk you will find Woman's Weekly Knitting & Crochet Special.

Look, there in the top left  - you see that gorgeous blonde girl and boy....they are ours!!!

My mum used to work for Woman's Weekly until she was made redundant in January. During the many years she worked there we have all appeared in there at some point!!   This was F's third modelling session for them, which have all taken place at beautiful houses in Whitsable, on the beach.

The jumpers were lovely and the kids...wow, they were brilliant and so amazingly behaved! The shoot organiser said D should be called Grace as she was so calm and graceful..........What!!! Not the words we normally use to describe the D we know and love!!!

Here are a few behind the scenes shots I took during the photo shoot!

And F even appears in the Knitting & Crochet special twice as he is in it again from a photo shoot he did a couple of years ago!

Ok, proud parent bit over with now!

Red sky at night

I love a good sunset and we do seem to get such gorgeous really red ones in Whitstable. I don't know if it is just being by the sea and having a horizon, but I have never seen more beautiful sunsets anywhere else that I have lived!

This is one that I saw the other night, just as the kids were about to go to bed I had to run out with my camera and try and capture it!  Not the best picture, but I love the colour of the sky.

The best ever sunset I have ever seen in Whitstable happened about 3 years ago on Guy Fawkes/ Firework night (I don't have a picture of it to hand as it was taken pre-digital camera! I will find it and scan it in!) . Canterbury Council put on an amazing, free firework display on the beach! It has never been repeated, but was truly spectacular and something I hope they will do again. Mother nature had the last laugh though, as everybody was waiting  for dusk and the fireworks to begin, the sky turned the most amazing, beautiful and stunning red colour I have ever seen!   If you have ever been to Whitstable, imagine hundreds of people on the beach by the Old Neptune watching an amazing red sky as the sunset slowly into the sea. Stunning.

Oh and I should quickly add that I am still not sure what on earth to do about Crafty at the Coast....I am going to look at somewhere tomorrow, but if this venue is not suitable then I am going to leave the fairs for this year and see how I feel about organising some next year.................will keep you posted.